Vitamin D, sometimes called the sunshine vitamin, is a necessary nutrient, playing a key role in helping the body absorb calcium. New research suggests that Vitamin D could be linked to multiple sclerosis as well. Vitamin D is currently best known for promoting healthy bone growth, preventing diseases such as rickets and osteoporosis, and playing an important role in sustaining the nervous, immune, and muscular systems. While it is a hormone produced naturally by the body, it is also absorbed by the skin from sunlight and is present in many foods, including egg yolks, certain fish, and liver. Also, supplements or vitamin D-fortified foods, such as milk, can help increase its levels in the body. These fortified foods may become important for MS patients as researchers learn more about the connection between Vitamin D and multiple sclerosis is explored.
In addition to bone disease, low levels of vitamin D have also been linked to muscle weakness, loss of bone density, bone fractures, heart disease, diabetes, colds, influenza, and certain cancers. Now, scientists from Johns Hopkins University are exploring the connection between low vitamin D levels and multiple sclerosis (MS). Their research is suggesting that increased doses of Vitamin D may help regulate MS patients’ immune response.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease of the nervous system, affecting the brain and spinal cord, and slowing down or blocking messages between the brain and the body. Researchers have observed that those with MS have correspondingly low vitamin D levels.
Though only a pilot study, the scientists are encouraged by the results and hope that it will lead to doctors prescribing vitamin D as a multiple sclerosis treatment that is safe, convenient, and low in cost.
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| The nerve-damaging process caused by MS. Source: medlineplus.gov |
During the study, forty patients with relapsing-remitting MS were given either 10,400 or 800 IUs of vitamin D3 daily for six months (the current recommended daily allowance is 600 IUs). The goal was to increase vitamin D levels to 40 to 60 nanograms/liter. Those receiving the larger dose reached those levels and saw a significant reduction in MS-related inflammatory T-cells, specifically IL-17+CD4+ and CD161+CD4+. Additionally, as the levels increased over the baseline, there was a corresponding reduction in CD161+CD4+ T cell numbers. Only one patient in this group experienced a relapse.
Those taking the low dose did not experience any T-cell reduction.
Before embarking on a vitamin D overload for MS, keep in mind that research is in its earliest stages. Says Dr. Peter Calabresi, the author of the study, ““We hope that these changes in inflammatory T cell responses translate to a reduced severity of disease. Other clinical trials are underway to determine if that is the case.”
