Friday, February 06, 2009

Vitamin D and MS link hailed

Politicians greeted the news of the first scientific research linking the causes of multiple sclerosis with vitamin D deficiency yesterday as a giant leap forward, and called for the work to be carried forward.

Health food shops in Scotland reported increased sales of the so-called sunshine vitamin, which interacts with a particular gene variant found in some individuals and alters the risk of developing MS.

The Times revealed yesterday that for the first time scientists had found a direct relationship between low vitamin D levels, caused by lack of sunshine, and the debilitating disease, which is more prevalent in Scotland than in other parts of the world.

The research, led by George Ebers, professor of neurology at Oxford University, raises the possibility that giving vitamin D supplements to pregnant women and young children might help to reduce the risk of suffering from the disease and one day could even eradicate it.

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1 comment:

mbarnes said...

Its time for everyone to know about vitamin D take a look at www.vitaminD3UK.com for some good summaries of the data