Link between MS, and vitamin D to be studied

 The staff of our local M.S. Clinic suggest taking vitamin D supplements already.   But that is to improve your chances of not getting more and worse because anecdotal evidence says Vitamin D helps some patients..   

This study will be to detect a preventive effect of taking vitamin D supplements very early in diagnosis - "people who experienced a first attack of MS-like symptoms"...

Hoping to slow down or stop the disease process before it can be considered a certain case of m.s., seems wonderful but it is sure to have detractors who will say there is a speculative element as to whether the patient would have gone on to be diagnosed as a definite case of m.s. even without the vitamin regime. 

In any case, let us hope that vitamin D can be proved to be a useful tool in the fight against the debilitating progression of m.s. in people showing early symptoms...

 

Link between MS, vitamin D to be trialled

A world-first clinical trial to determine the role vitamin D plays in preventing multiple sclerosis (MS) is about to get underway in Perth.

The four-year trial is being spearheaded by prominent local neurologist and 2012 Western Australian of the Year in the field of business and professions, Bill Carroll, from Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital.

The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Western Australia (MSWA), which is contributing almost $1.1 million to the $2.5 million trial, said 290 patients from Australia and New Zealand who had experienced their first episode of MS symptoms would be recruited for the study.

Professor Carroll said about 80 per cent of people who experienced a first attack of MS-like symptoms would go on to experience a second episode or show further disease activity.

"In this prevention trial we'll be giving patients three different levels of vitamin D while others will be given a placebo," Prof Carroll said.

"We want to investigate whether there is a correlation between a patient's vitamin D blood levels and the prevention of further disease activity, which we can monitor using MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans."

He said the link between vitamin D and the inflammatory disease appeared strong, with a 2008 study confirming a significantly higher incidence of MS in places further away from the equator, where there was less sunlight.

"Variations in genes involved in vitamin D metabolism have also been implicated in susceptibility to MS, and vitamin D deficiency has also been shown to be associated with a higher rate of relapses in people with established MS," Prof Carroll said.

MSWA chief executive Marcus Stafford said there were currently no evidence-based interventions to prevent the development of MS.

"That's why this study is so important," he said.

 Source:
 http://news.ninemsn.com.au/health/8494711/link-between-ms-vitamin-d-to-be-trialled

Link between MS, vitamin D to be trialled