Vitamin D deficiency is most common in the winter. Over 50 percent of Americans are believed to be vitamin D deficient. Previous studies have found that vitamin D supplementation can lower the risk of breast, colon, ovarian and other cancers. Now research reports that higher serum vitamin D levels are associated with a lower risk of multiple sclerosis among white, but not black or Hispanic, adults. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease of the nervous system that affects different parts of the brain and spinal cord.
The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, investigated whether vitamin D levels are associated with risk of multiple sclerosis. Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, analyzed the data of 257 Army and Navy men and women diagnosed with MS between 1992 to 2004. The MS participants were matched to two controls obtained from over 7 million U.S. military personnel with serum samples stored in the Department of Defense Serum Repository. Serum vitamin D levels were determined from the collected serum samples.
The researchers found that the risk of MS significantly decreased with increasing levels of vitamin D. Whites with the highest serum vitamin D levels had a 62 percent lower risk of MS than those with the lowest vitamn D levels. However, no significant associations between vitamin D levels and MS risk were found with black and Hispanic subjects.
"The results of our study suggest that high circulating levels of vitamin D are associated with a lower risk of multiple sclerosis," the study authors conclude.
REFERENCES:
1. Munger KL et al. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and risk of multiple sclerosis. JAMA 2006 Dec 20;296(23):2832-8.
Posted by Elaine Gavalas on January 29, 2007 03:01 PM
