Scientists studying the high incidence of multiple sclerosis in Scotland have urged the Holyrood Government to introduce a nationwide programme of vitamin D supplements for pregnant women and children to help combat the disease.
Under the heading Vitamin D: hope on the horizon for MS prevention? the June issue of The Lancet Neurology insists the benefits of supplementation outweigh any potential side effects and concludes “given the low costs, low toxicity … steps to tackle vitamin D deficiency in high-risk populations seem warranted.”
Vitamin D is sometimes known as the “sunshine drug”. The new research specifically identifies Scotland among a number of high-latitude countries — with long, dark winters — that have a higher than average incidence of MS. Around 10,500 people in Scotland have the disease which is the country’s most common disabling neurological condition, typically affecting sufferers from their late 20s and 30s.
The Lancet’s intervention follows a succession of studies which have demonstrated the link between Vitamin D deficiency and a number of health conditions, including rickets, type 1 (or early onset) diabetes, heart disease, infectious diseases and some forms of cancer.
The authors of the report concede that the link between Vitamin D deficiency and MS is not definitively proved, but add that assembling data on MS prevention could take decades. They argue that dietary supplement were likely to provide wider health benefits that would quickly result in a reduction in government health spending.
Welcoming the findings, David McNiven of the MS Society Scotland said his organisation would continue to support the Shine on Scotland campaign, lobbying for Vitamin D Supplements.
“The Lancet article is very encouraging because it endorses the arguments that we have been making: that vitamin D supplementation represents a low-cost, low-risk public health intervention with potentially massive benefits,” said Mr McNiven.
The new research leaves little doubt of the wider benefits of supplementation. The authors write: “If the predicted effects of raising serum vitamin D concentrations … are realised, the potential savings have been estimated to be £160 billion from the direct and indirect burden of the disease, set against an expenditure of £8.5 billion on testing and public education.”
The paper concludes: “Because any benefits for MS in particular will take decades to emerge, a long-term outlook is needed from policymakers, but future health and financial benefits have the potential to make this investment highly rewarding.”
Last year, researchers in North America suggested that high doses of vitamin D could dramatically cut the relapse rate in people with multiple sclerosis. According to scientists in Canada, more than a third of sufferers taking high levels of supplementation did not fall ill during the period of the trial, representing a marked change in the pattern of their disease.
Like Scotland, Canada has a high rate of MS and there is growing evidence that this is connected to a cloudy climate, where weaker ultraviolet B rays during the winter months are insufficient for people to produce enough Vitamin D.
Neurologists at the University of Toronto, studied 25 people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. During the year of treatment 40 per cent of patients on the low dose of vitamin D (1,000 international units daily) experienced a relapse compared to only 16 per cent of those in the high dose (14,000 IU daily) group.
People taking the high dose of vitamin D suffered 41 per cent fewer relapses than the year before the study began, compared with 17 per cent of those taking typical doses. Dr Burton found that those taking high doses of vitamin D did not suffer any significant side effects.
The MS Society Scotland has organised an international summit in September, where the link between vitamin D deficiency and the disease will be discussed. They hope to persuade Scottish ministers to take action on vitamin D as a pressing public health issue.
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