Low levels of vitamin D significantly increase the risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a study led by Dr. Brent Richards of the Lady Davis Institute at the Jewish General Hospital. This finding, the result of a sophisticated Mendelian randomization analysis, confirms a long-standing hypothesis that low vitamin D is strongly associated with an increased susceptibility to MS. This connection is independent of other factors associated with low vitamin D levels, such as obesity.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur finding is important from a public health perspective because vitamin D insufficiency is common, especially in northern countries like Canada where exposure to sunlight \u2013 a common natural source of vitamin D \u2013 is decreased through the long winter and where we see disproportionately high rates of MS,\u201d asserts Dr. Richards, who is also an Associate Professor of Medicine and Human Genetics and William Dawson Scholar at McGill University. \u201cWe would recommend that individuals, particularly those with a family history of MS, should ensure that they maintain adequate vitamin D levels. This is a common sense precaution, given that vitamin D supplementation is generally safe and inexpensive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adequate intake of vitamin D is defined by the United States\u2019 Institute of Medicine as 600 international units per day for both males and females under the age of 70. Many people, especially in northern climates, may require supplements in order to maintain this level.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe link between vitamin D insufficiency or deficiency and risk of developing MS has been an important area of investigation in the MS research community,\u201d says Dr. Karen Lee, Vice President of Research at the MS Society of Canada. \u201cThis research brings us a step closer to understanding whether low vitamin D is a trigger of MS and not just a result of the disease itself. I\u2019m encouraged by the data and hope that it will prompt further research into whether supplementing with vitamin D could reduce the risk or slow the progression of MS.\u201d<\/p>\n
By taking the precaution of maintaining a normal level of vitamin D, a person at risk could decrease their risk of acquiring MS by an important degree. \u201cWhile low vitamin D is by no means the only risk factor, we have identified one risk that can be removed from the equation, which could have a significant impact towards preventing this terrible disease,\u201d concludes Lauren Mokry, who is the first author on the paper. \nMcGill University<\/link>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Low levels of vitamin D significantly increase the risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a study led by Dr. Brent Richards of the Lady Davis Institute at the Jewish General Hospital. This finding, the result of a sophisticated Mendelian randomization analysis, confirms a long-standing hypothesis that low vitamin D is strongly associated with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1339"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1339\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}