Insufficient vitamin D tied to severe asthma attacks

(Reuters Health) – Asthmatic children with relatively low vitamin D levels in their blood may have a greater risk of suffering severe asthma attacks than those with higher levels of the vitamin, a new study suggests.

HEALTH

The study, which followed more than 1,000 children with asthma for four years, found those with vitamin-D “insufficiency” at the outset were more likely to have an asthma attack that required a trip to the hospital.

Over the four-year study, 38 percent of children with insufficient vitamin D levels went to the emergency room or were hospitalized for an asthma exacerbation. The same was true of 32 percent of children with sufficient levels of the vitamin.

When the researchers considered other factors — including the severity of the children’s asthma at the study’s start, their weight and their family income — vitamin D insufficiency itself was linked to a 50 percent increase in the risk of severe asthma attacks.

Researchers led by Dr. Augusto A. Litongua, of Harvard Medical School in Boston, report the findings in the Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology.

As it stands, people are considered to have an overt deficiency in vitamin D when blood levels drop below 11 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL). But there is debate over how the optimal vitamin D level should be defined — and what the daily recommended intake of the vitamin should be for children and adults.

Some experts believe that vitamin D blood levels above 30 ng/mL are desirable for overall health, and that levels between deficiency and 30 ng/mL should be viewed as “insufficient.”

For their study, Litongua and his colleagues considered children with vitamin D levels of 30 ng/mL or lower to be insufficient in the vitamin.

The researchers based their findings on 1,024 children with mild-to-moderate asthma who were part of a clinical trial testing two inhaled asthma medications — budesonide and nedocromil. Using blood samples taken at the start of the trial, Litongua’s team found that 35 percent of the children had vitamin D insufficiency, and 65 percent had sufficient levels.

Overall, the researchers found no evidence that sufficient vitamin D levels protected kids from moderate asthma symptoms; in fact, children with low levels of the vitamin tended to report fewer moderate symptoms.

However, these children were at greater risk of severe asthma attacks.

While the findings point to an association between vitamin D status and asthma exacerbations, they do not prove that vitamin D is responsible — or, by extension, that taking the vitamin will prevent asthma attacks.

It is biologically plausible that vitamin D would affect the severity of asthma attacks, according to Litongua and his colleagues.

Vitamin D may be best known for its role in healthy bone development and maintenance, but it is also needed for normal nerve, muscle and immune system function. Some studies have linked low vitamin D levels to a higher risk of type 1 or “insulin-dependent” diabetes in children and, in adults, heart disease and certain cancers.

The effects of vitamin D on the immune system, which include the inflammatory response to infections, might help explain why higher levels of the vitamin were linked to a lower risk of severe asthma exacerbations, according to Litongua’s team.

They say it’s also possible that vitamin D enhances the effects of anti-inflammatory steroid hormones — both the body’s natural supply and the synthetic corticosteroids used to treat asthma.

In this study, the beneficial association between vitamin D and asthma attacks was mainly seen in children who were on budesonide, a corticosteroid.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that infants, children and teenagers get 400 IU of vitamin D each day. Milk, breakfast cereals and orange juice fortified with the vitamin are the main food sources, though some fatty fish naturally contain high amounts of vitamin D. Experts recommend vitamin pills for children who do not get enough of the vitamin from food.

Vitamin D is naturally synthesized in the skin when it is exposed to sunlight, but long winters and sun avoidance in the summer mean that many kids may not get enough vitamin D this way. In addition, vitamin D synthesis is less efficient in people with darker skin, and African Americans are at higher risk of deficiency than whites.

Overweight children and adults also appear to be at elevated risk of deficiency because vitamin D is stored in body fat. The more vitamin D that gets sequestered into fat tissue, the less active vitamin there is in the blood.

SOURCE: here(10)00657-3/abstract

Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology, online June 10, 2010.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65M5E920100623

Ryan Mclaughlin confirms a new campaign video coming soon

Ryan Mclaughlin has confirmed that he is finalising a new film script for a new youtube campaign due to be launched early July 2010, the new Shine on Scotland campaign film will look to expand on the aim of the Shine On Scotland campaign and to raise further awareness of vitamin D and the link to MS.

Ryan Mclaughlin wants to spread the message of vitamin D and the possible prevention of  MS .

He believes that Multiple Sclerosis does not wear a flag, MS crosses all borders and unites us all together to prevent it !  MS prevention is now a global fight it’s a movement to prevent this disease for our children !


Follow the campaign at http://www.shineonscotland.org.uk

http://wwwmsviewsandrelatednews.blogspot.com/2010/06/ldn-updates-for-uk-and-other-places.html

http://wwwmsviewsandrelatednews.blogspot.com/2010/06/ldn-updates-for-uk-and-other-places.html

schoolboy campaigner calls for vitamin D programme to help fight MS

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.

Multiple Sclerosis Scotland

Multiple Sclerosis Scotland

Ryan to ask for a meeting with Prime Minister

Ryan Mclaughlin of the Shine on Scotland campaign for vitamin D as a preventitive measure against MS will step up his campaigning this week for a meeting with the UK Prime Minister Mr Gordon Brown.

The bravehearted 14 year old tried to get sneaky meeting with him a few weeks back when he visited North Glasgow College to support Willie Bain but unfortunately there just wasn’t enough time but he was promised a meeting at a later date, although a little disappointed he knew that Mr Brown was a very busy man and was happy to get a promise of a meet at a later date.

Mrs Sarah Brown is a great supporter of MS and he hopes that Mr Brown will support him.

Ryan says ” this is so important to my cause if we can get the UK government support we may be able to move forward in the prevention of  MS through vitamin D supplementation,  there are loads of people from all over the UK wanting this now – I get emails almost every day from Mum’s wanting to protect their kids , it is so cheap to supply it so why delay it’s introduction – a clinical study would cost a 100 times more than just doing it now and would take years to show results  and we must protect kids from MS now.

He say’s the  Scottish Government have been amazing and so supportive and he hopes to open the eyes of the UK  Government in a similar fashion to the Scottish Government but said he has no plans to dress as William Wallace again on any visit and it will be kept very low key.

http://www.shineonscotland.org.uk/news/2009/11/ryan-mclaughlin-to-ask-for-a-meeting-with-the-prime-minister/

Ryan McLaughlin with Miss Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon and sponsor Mark Currie from Fraser Suites

After his mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis Ryan formed the Shine on Scotland campaign.  Working with scientists to develop Vitamin D as a preventative measure against MS, cancer and other serious conditions, Ryan continues campaigning to bring this to the attention of Scottish Government.