This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Knowledge & Support Community

A new study from Harvard School of Public Health followed pwMS for 5 years and found that those with increases of 50-nmol/L in average blood vitamin D levels within the first 12 months after diagnosis showed--
57% lower risk of new active brain lesions,
57% lower risk of relapse,
25% lower yearly increase in T2 lesion volume and 0.41 percent lower yearly loss in brain volume from months 12 to 60.

read more--
http://ccsviinms.blogspot.com/2014/01/v ... study.html

BNAC showed that it was UV rays, not vitamin D status, which was related to gray matter health and whole brain mass.

Increased summer sun exposure was associated with increased grey matter volume (GMV, r(p)=0.16, p=0.019) and whole brain volume (WBV, r(p)=0.20, p=0.004) after correcting for Extended Disability Status Scale in the MS group. Inclusion of 25-hydroxy vitamin D3 levels did not substantially affect the positive associations of sun exposure with WBV (r(p)=0.18, p=0.003) and GMV (r(p)=0.14, p=0.026) in the MS group.
CONCLUSIONS:
Sun exposure may have direct effects on MRI measures of neurodegeneration in MS, independently of vitamin D.

Have we been looking at vitamin D supplementation in MS to the exclusion of UV rays and latitude?
cheer

New study fuels debate about benefits of Vitamin D:

http://m.theglobeandmail.com/life/healt ... ice=mobile

It is important to understand who does these studies. They are usually financed by the drug companies. They can make the studies say what they want. It is their job to convince you that doing things which are healthy are bad for you. Then you are sick and they can sell you their drugs. They are not in the business of making your healthy. Evidence is very clear that vitamin D is good for everyone and most beneficial for sick people. We live in a world where no one is getting the sun their bodies need to make the proper amount of vitamin D. You believe a stupid study done by the drug company you will never get well.

http://www.naturalnews.com/027345_Vitam ... e_sun.html

Eric--
The review doesn't question importance of vitD, it questions supplementing with the oral form of vit. D. And the study subjects were mostly elderly women, between 70-80 yrs. old, and they gave them 200-1100 IU a day.

They obtained data from 44 reports of 40 individual randomized controlled trials. The vitamin D doses in the supplements ranged from 200 to 1100 IU/day, or 100,000 to 150,000 IU every 3 months."

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/819670


This is a very important distinction to make.

As we saw with the 5 year Harvard study linked at the beginning of this thread, those with higher serum levels of vitD had slower MS progression, less relapses, less brain atrophy. But is this from nutrition, UV rays, better synthesis of vit D due to lower body fat, more exercise, more time in the sun?

Interesting to see Dr. Richard Weller chime in -----
CTV did a good job reporting behind the headlines.

But researcher Reinhold Vieth, of the University of Toronto, says the research is based on outdated information. He said there is plenty of evidence that higher vitamin D levels are linked to good health.
“Older studies that are using doses that are actually at or below the recommended dietary allowance that’s current,” he told CTV News.
Vieth said studies looking at vitamin D as a preventative treatment for heart disease and cancer are now underway using much higher doses -- 2,000 or 3,000 international units per day -- to see if they will prevent diseases.
“We have to wait until roughly the year 2017 before the larger studies that are ongoing, will come out,” Vieth said.

Other research suggests it may be the actual sunlight, not pills, that make people healthier, and that sunlight exposure may be beneficial for cardiovascular health.
Dermatologist Dr. Richard Weller said more research into the benefits of sunlight and vitamin D is needed.
“I think this is an unfolding story. As we get more data, we adapt our messages as we understand better,” he said. “And I think this is an example of that.”
As for the supplements, the researchers said there was no evidence that they cause harm.

Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/vitamin-d- ... z2rMWvsyjc

Regarding the report in medpage today about Vitamin D (I don't know if this is in regard to the Harvard study linked above):

http://www.medpagetoday.com/Neurology/M ... osis/43899

Dr. Lawrence Steinman of Stanford makes an interesting comment about Vit D supplementation and the placebo arm of clinical studies:

Steinman told MedPage Today that "there are always alternative explanations" in studies of this type. Still, he suggested that the results probably do indicate some type of causation and perhaps even a result of vitamin D supplementation.

"I might wonder if these data might explain the progressive decrease in relapse rate in the placebo arm of clinical trials of MS over the past decade. Maybe more and more individuals are aware of vitamin D, and that they are taking vitamin D supplements, thus lowering the relapse rate in placebo arms of trials."

Small randomized trials of supplements have been conducted in MS patients with mostly negative results. Nevertheless, Steinman said he recommends them to his patients and to healthy people as well.

Thanks for sharing that article, Questor, it's great!
Yes, it is regarding the Harvard study http://archneur.jamanetwork.com/article ... id=1815002
Dr. Steinman's comment is really interesting.
Since the internet, patients can find out more info on nutrition, exercise, and vitamin D supplementation, and maybe this is why relapse rates are down in placebo end of MS drug trials. But it's impossible to test that theory, as Dr. Swank learned in the 1950s...you can't placebo control/double blind trial a lifestyle. But the good news is, word is getting out to pwMS, and they are taking control of the things they can control.

The Harvard researchers also said this:

They stopped short of concluding that vitamin D levels were directly causative of the clinical and MRI results, or that patients would benefit from vitamin D supplements. They did, however, venture to say that "low vitamin D was not a consequence of the disease process but rather its predictor."

I think the argument that lower Vit. D levels are a consequence of the disease process will soon become a moot point.
I wrote up a note on why our Vitamin D levels might be too low, and the factors that can cause Vit. D deficiencies--the things we can control, and the things we can't.


cheer

cheerleader wrote:BNAC showed that it was UV rays, not vitamin D status, which was related to gray matter health and whole brain mass.

Increased summer sun exposure was associated with increased grey matter volume (GMV, r(p)=0.16, p=0.019) and whole brain volume (WBV, r(p)=0.20, p=0.004) after correcting for Extended Disability Status Scale in the MS group. Inclusion of 25-hydroxy vitamin D3 levels did not substantially affect the positive associations of sun exposure with WBV (r(p)=0.18, p=0.003) and GMV (r(p)=0.14, p=0.026) in the MS group.
CONCLUSIONS:
Sun exposure may have direct effects on MRI measures of neurodegeneration in MS, independently of vitamin D.

Have we been looking at vitamin D supplementation in MS to the exclusion of UV rays and latitude?
cheer

Uv stimulates the production of fumaric acid which interestingly is the basis of the treatment BG12. Fumaric acid is also the active ingredient in sage that is thought to be one of the reasons for its benefit in slowing the progression of dementia.

mrbarlow wrote:Uv stimulates the production of fumaric acid which interestingly is the basis of the treatment BG12.

BG12, aka Tecfidera, is dimethyl fumarate. It is a different molecule than fumaric acid.

http://www.thisisms.com/forum/drug-pipe ... ml#p201134

Ok - there may still be some benefit. Fumaric acid is the compound indicated as being the reason sage dietary supplementation is useful in the treatment of dementia.

The best way to get the vitamin D is from the sun. This can only be done at certain times of the year if you live further south. There are other benefits from the sun but that does not decrease the need for vitamin D. You can get the sun rays by using a tanning bed or a sun screen in the winter. There is a problem as we get older in the mechanism which converts the vitamin D into a usable form. It is important to have the vitamin D level checked and keep it between 60-80ng/ml. It could be if you are sick you need higher levels.

http://www.naturalnews.com/027345_Vitam ... e_sun.html

I would interested to know by what mechanism the sun is benefiting multiple sclerosis if not through vitamin D. I wouldn't question the importance of sunlight though as it has some mood/energy benefits as well...but then there's the risk of melanoma

centenarian100 wrote:I would interested to know by what mechanism the sun is benefiting multiple sclerosis if not through vitamin D. I wouldn't question the importance of sunlight though as it has some mood/energy benefits as well...but then there's the risk of melanoma

Possibly through nitric oxide and vasodilation increasing cerebral perfusion.

Thanks for linking Dr. Richard Weller's TED talk, NHE!
Dr. Weller's input on the importance of UV rays to health is important, since he's also trained as a dermatologist, and believes we've shunned the sun to our own detriment. He also studies UV rays in humans, not mice---since rodents do not release nitric oxide into the vasculature from UV rays the way humans do.

I e-mailed him last year on the connection of nitric oxide, the endothelium and MS, and he's now applying for grants to study the mechanism of UV rays in MS symptom relief and progression. Exciting news.
Here's a recent publication that's come out since his TED talk--

We propose here that many of the beneficial effects of sunlight, particularly those related to cardiovascular health, are mediated by mechanisms that are independent of melatonin, vitamin D, and exposure to UVB alone. Specifically, we suggest that the skin is a significant store of nitric oxide (NO)-related species that can be mobilized by sunlight and delivered to the systemic circulation to exert coronary vasodilator and cardioprotective as well as antihypertensive effects (Figure 1). We further hypothesize that this dermal NO reservoir is a product of local production and dietary supply with nitrate-rich foods.

http://eurheartj.oxfordjournals.org/con ... /1041.long

Here's the endothelial health program, with the research I put together in 2008 for Jeff, to deal with endothelial dysfunction I noted in relation to his MS diagnosis.
http://ccsvi.org/index.php/helping-myse ... ial-health
We love our so cal sunshine,
cheer