Can Vitamin D Help MS?

 By Stephanie Watson

You might have heard that vitamin D helps to lower the risk for multiple sclerosis (MS). Or that it helps lessen symptoms in people who already have the disease. Evidence suggests that getting enough of this vitamin might protect against MS by holding back your immune system from attacking your own nerve cells.

But the link between vitamin D and MS isn't proven yet.

The MS-Vitamin D Link

This fat-soluble vitamin acts like a hormone in your body. Vitamin D also helps your immune system work better and to tamp down inflammation.

Those protective actions are important in autoimmune diseases like MS where your body turns against itself. In MS, cells of your immune system attack the coating around nerve fibers, called myelin, and leads to such hallmark symptoms as numbness, weakness, and blurry vision.

Research finds that vitamin D might help repair myelin and guards your nerves from damage.

Can Vitamin D Prevent or Slow MS?

Researchers aren’t sure if vitamin D can keep you from getting MS in the first place. Your body makes most of the vitamin D it needs from sunlight on your skin. People in northern climates like Scotland and Scandinavia are more likely to have MS compared with those who live in much sunnier climates. Studies show that people who get more sunlight and more vitamin D in their diets have a lower risk for MS overall.

There's some evidence that vitamin D might slow MS and make the disease less severe. Studies have found a link between higher vitamin D levels in the blood and less active disease, fewer lesions in their brain and spinal cord, and fewer relapses of symptoms.

In other studies, people with MS who had higher vitamin D levels had less severe disease and disability.

Do I Need More Vitamin D?

It's common for people with MS to be low on this vitamin. It may be hard for you to get outside to get sun often enough. Low vitamin D can also be a side effect of corticosteroids and other MS medications.

Your doctor can run a blood test to check your vitamin D level. You might be able to make up the difference by eating more fatty fish, eggs, and other foods that are high in vitamin D. Or, your doctor might suggest you take a supplement.

It's not clear whether taking a daily vitamin D supplement protects people from getting MS, or slows the disease in those who already have it. Studies suggest it might help, but this hasn't been proven. But since supplements are usually safe to take, it may not hurt to try them.

What Dosage Is Best?

Experts can’t say how much vitamin D is needed to prevent or slow MS. Different medical groups disagree on the ideal amount.

Official recommendations for adults is 400 to 600 international units (IUs) of vitamin D daily.

Ask your doctor what’s right for you. Be careful not to overdo it. Vitamin D helps your body absorb calcium, and you might end up with too much of that mineral. High calcium levels can weaken bones, damage the heart, and increase the risk for kidney stones.

If you already have MS, your doctor can check whether your vitamin D levels are too low. If so, it might make sense for you to take a supplement.

 

Can Vitamin D Help MS?

 By Stephanie Watson

You might have heard that vitamin D helps to lower the risk for multiple sclerosis (MS). Or that it helps lessen symptoms in people who already have the disease. Evidence suggests that getting enough of this vitamin might protect against MS by holding back your immune system from attacking your own nerve cells.

But the link between vitamin D and MS isn't proven yet.

The MS-Vitamin D Link

This fat-soluble vitamin acts like a hormone in your body. Vitamin D also helps your immune system work better and to tamp down inflammation.

Those protective actions are important in autoimmune diseases like MS where your body turns against itself. In MS, cells of your immune system attack the coating around nerve fibers, called myelin, and leads to such hallmark symptoms as numbness, weakness, and blurry vision.

Research finds that vitamin D might help repair myelin and guards your nerves from damage.

Can Vitamin D Prevent or Slow MS?

Researchers aren’t sure if vitamin D can keep you from getting MS in the first place. Your body makes most of the vitamin D it needs from sunlight on your skin. People in northern climates like Scotland and Scandinavia are more likely to have MS compared with those who live in much sunnier climates. Studies show that people who get more sunlight and more vitamin D in their diets have a lower risk for MS overall.

There's some evidence that vitamin D might slow MS and make the disease less severe. Studies have found a link between higher vitamin D levels in the blood and less active disease, fewer lesions in their brain and spinal cord, and fewer relapses of symptoms.

In other studies, people with MS who had higher vitamin D levels had less severe disease and disability.

Do I Need More Vitamin D?

It's common for people with MS to be low on this vitamin. It may be hard for you to get outside to get sun often enough. Low vitamin D can also be a side effect of corticosteroids and other MS medications.

Your doctor can run a blood test to check your vitamin D level. You might be able to make up the difference by eating more fatty fish, eggs, and other foods that are high in vitamin D. Or, your doctor might suggest you take a supplement.

It's not clear whether taking a daily vitamin D supplement protects people from getting MS, or slows the disease in those who already have it. Studies suggest it might help, but this hasn't been proven. But since supplements are usually safe to take, it may not hurt to try them.

What Dosage Is Best?

Experts can’t say how much vitamin D is needed to prevent or slow MS. Different medical groups disagree on the ideal amount.

Official recommendations for adults is 400 to 600 international units (IUs) of vitamin D daily.

Ask your doctor what’s right for you. Be careful not to overdo it. Vitamin D helps your body absorb calcium, and you might end up with too much of that mineral. High calcium levels can weaken bones, damage the heart, and increase the risk for kidney stones.

If you already have MS, your doctor can check whether your vitamin D levels are too low. If so, it might make sense for you to take a supplement.

 

7 Lifestyle Changes to Help Slow MS Progression Inbox

MS is a lifelong disease. Your symptoms may gradually get worse as it progresses and parts of the brain and spinal cord get damaged. But a few simple lifestyle changes can help you stay mobile and have a good quality of life for a long time.

Stick With Your Treatment

There are more than a dozen medicines that doctors recommend to prevent relapses and slow MS. These treatments can help you feel better, but only if you take them.

Treatment Timeline

The goal with MS treatment is to prevent more trouble, says Randall Trudell, MD, an expert on this neurological disease. He says there are many effective medications from pills to infusions to help prevent relapses.

It can be hard to think about taking medications for many years to come. But the sooner you get on the right medicine routine and the longer you stick with it, the better you'll control your disease.

Some people stop taking their medicine because they don't think that it helps them or they have side effects. Talk to your doctor if that happens. They may be able to adjust your dose, switch you to a new drug, or help you manage any side effects you do have.

If you've stopped treatment because you can't afford your medicine, check with the MS Society or the company that makes the drug. They may be able to help you cover the cost.

It's also important to manage any other health problems you have. Heart disease, diabetes, lung disease, and depression can all make your MS progress more quickly. See your primary care doctor or a specialist to get diagnosed and treated.

Exercise

Years ago, doctors warned people with MS to avoid exercise because they thought it could make the disease worse. Today they know that the opposite is true.

Exercise strengthens the muscles that help you walk. It also eases fatigue, boosts mood, and improves quality of life in people with MS. There's even some evidence that strength training might help slow MS damage in the brain.

An exercise program for MS includes 150 minutes of "aerobics" each week. These are activities that get your heart pumping, like walking or swimming. Work out at your own pace and level. Also stretch for at least 10 minutes each day to release tight muscles.

Use weights or resistance bands twice a week to strengthen your muscles. A physical therapist can show you how to do each exercise correctly to prevent injury.

Eat a Healthy Diet

A balanced diet is important for your health in general, but especially when you have a long-term disease like MS. Research shows that people with MS who eat a lot of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains have less disability and fewer symptoms like depression and fatigue than those who eat less of these healthy foods.

Limit processed foods and animal fats like red meat and butter. Get your fats from healthier sources such as fish, nuts, avocados, and olive oil.

Vitamin D

People who have higher levels of vitamin D in their blood are at lower risk of getting MS. Research is underway to see if there's a link between vitamin D levels and curbing your relapses. 

You can get your daily vitamin D from foods like fatty fish and fortified milk. Your body also makes its own stores of this vitamin when your skin is in sunlight. A blood test can show whether you're low in vitamin D. If so, a supplement will help boost your levels to where they need to be.

Get Restful Sleep

A lack of sleep may not make your MS progress, but it can certainly make you feel worse. It's hard to fall asleep and stay asleep all night when you're in pain, you feel depressed, or you have to get up to use the bathroom many times. Steroids and other medicines you take to control MS can also keep you awake.

Ask your doctor whether any of your MS medicines could be affecting your sleep. Treat pain and other symptoms that are getting in the way of a restful night's sleep. Try to relax and let go of stress before bed with a warm bath, calming music, or a good book.

Don't Smoke

Yet another reason not to smoke is that it can make your MS get worse, more quickly. Smoking also raises your chances of getting heart and lung diseases, which speed up MS progression.

It's not easy to quit, especially if you've smoked for many years. But when you do kick the habit, you'll start to see health benefits right away. Make a plan to quit, get support from your doctor and friends, and have medicines and other tools on hand to lessen the urge to smoke when it hits.

Get Vaccinated

Infections like the flu can make your MS relapse and your symptoms flare up. Get your flu vaccine each fall to avoid getting sick. If you take a disease-modifying drug for MS, don't get the FluMist nasal spray because it's a live vaccine. Since your immune system -- the body's defense against germs -- is weaker from MS, the flu shot, which contains a dead form of the virus, is safer for you.

Ask your doctor whether you're up to date on all the other vaccines you need to stay healthy.

From: WebMD

 

 

Study Strengthens Link Between Low Vitamin D Levels and Risk of MS

SUMMARY

• A study based on stored blood samples of 800,000 pregnant Finnish women found that vitamin D levels might predict who is at risk for later developing MS.
• Vitamin D blood levels of 1,092 women later diagnosed with MS were compared to those of 2,123 women around the same age and region who did not develop the disease.
• Women who developed MS later had average D levels lower than the women who didn’t.
• More research is needed on how to best supplement vitamin D and to know whether and who it might help. Read more more about Vitamin D and MS.
• The study was published on September 13, 2017 in Neurology.

DETAILS
Background: Researchers believe that several genetic and environmental factors influence whether a person will get MS. These factors may also impact the severity of the disease. Scientists are eager to find risk factors for MS that can be modified to possibly prevent MS and reduce disease activity. Research is increasingly pointing to reduced levels of vitamin D in the blood as a risk factor for developing MS, and studies are underway to determine if vitamin D levels influence MS disease activity.

This Study: This study -- the largest such study to date – took advantage of a unique resource: stored blood samples from 800,000 Finnish women who had undergone routine prenatal testing during pregnancy. The study was designed to determine whether and to what extent vitamin D deficiency is associated with future risk of developing MS. The team identified 1,092 of the women who were later diagnosed with MS. The researchers compared their vitamin D levels to those of 2,123 women who were about the same age and lived in the same area but did not develop MS. Of those women whose medical records were available for examination, an average of 9.5 years had lapsed between the time of the first blood sample and the date of an MS diagnosis. For this study, classifications of blood levels of vitamin D (25-hydroxyvitamin D) included “deficient” (less than 30 nmol/L) and “adequate” (greater than or equal to 50 nmol/L).

Results: The team found that overall as vitamin D levels increased, the risk of later developing MS decreased. Women with the greatest deficiency in vitamin D had a twofold increase in the risk of developing MS, and those with the highest vitamin D levels had the lowest risk of a later MS diagnosis. Most of the women in the study were considered to have deficient or insufficient levels of vitamin D. Of the women who developed MS, 58 percent had deficient levels of vitamin D, compared to 52 percent of the women who did not develop the disease.

The researchers conclude that the results directly support vitamin D deficiency as a risk factor for MS and that correcting this among reproductive age women may reduce their future risk of developing MS. In addition, a previous study of this same group of women found that maternal vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy doubled the risk of MS in their offspring, and a Danish study found that low vitamin D levels in infants was associated with an increased MS risk in adulthood, suggesting that improving a woman’s vitamin D levels during pregnancy may also reduce the risk of MS in her children.

The study, by a team including Drs. Kassandra Munger and Alberto Ascherio (Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston), was published on September 13, 2017 in Neurology.

Comment: This largest study of its kind to date adds to growing evidence that low levels of vitamin D increase the likelihood of developing MS. Since this study included only women, who were mostly white, the results may not apply to men or to other racial groups. It also did not account for other potential risk factors that may have played a role.

An editorial in the same issue of Neurology by Drs. Ruth Ann Marrie Christopher Beck addresses the question of whether there is enough evidence now to make sweeping recommendations on vitamin D supplementation. They note, “Vitamin D supplementation is a simple intervention that would be highly cost-effective even if it prevents only a proportion of MS cases...,” concluding, “It is time to take an active approach to preventing MS, at a minimum targeting those individuals with an elevated risk of MS, including smokers, the obese, and those with a family history of MS.”  Read more more about Vitamin D and MS

Studies Uncover Possible New Factors That Alter a Person’s Risk for Developing MS

Two recent studies have uncovered new lifestyle factors that may influence whether a person develops multiple sclerosis or not:

Harvard researchers -- including National MS Society-funded Dr. Cassandra Munger -- reported that children whose mothers were deficient in vitamin D during pregnancy may have nearly twice the risk of developing MS. Additional research is needed to confirm and understand this finding. 

• Read more on Endocrinology Advisor
• Read the free-access journal article

On the flip side, researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and Johns Hopkins University reported that people who drank about four cups of coffee daily had a lower risk of developing MS compared to those who did not drink coffee. Further research is needed to understand this link.  

• Read more on CBS News
• Read the free-access journal article 

MORE: Research on risk factors is complicated, and cause and effect are difficult to establish. It's important to note that not every mother with low levels of vitamin D will have a child who develops MS, and not everyone who drinks large amounts of coffee will avoid developing MS.

Read more about risk factors for MS