Vitamin D linked to less MS risk

http://www.arcamax.com/healthtips/s-145905-652234-print

BOSTON (UPI) -- A large-scale, prospective U.S. study found an association between higher levels of vitamin D in the body and a lower risk of multiple sclerosis.

"If confirmed, this finding suggests that many cases of multiple sclerosis could be prevented by increasing vitamin D levels," said senior author Alberto Ascherio of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. "Although these levels could be increased by taking supplements, before any recommendation is made it is important to establish whether we are seeing a true causal association or whether vitamin D levels are only a marker of MS risk."

Ascherio worked in collaboration with colleagues in the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy to determine whether vitamin D levels measured in healthy young adults predict their future risk of developing multiple sclerosis.

The results showed that among whites, MS risk declined with increasing vitamin D levels -- the risk was 62 percent lower among individuals in the top fifth of vitamin D concentration than among those in the bottom fifth. No significant association was found among blacks and Hispanics, possibly because of a smaller sample size and the lower levels of vitamin D found in those groups.

There was no significant difference in the results between men and women, according to the study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.