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Vitamin D Seems To Have Positive Effect On MS Patients
 

A small study conducted by researchers at Penn State and Helen Hayes
Hospital in New York has shown that a daily dose of vitamin D - 1000 IU or
two and a half times the recommended dose for adults -- causes changes in
blood chemistry that indicate positive effects for multiple sclerosis
patients.
Dr. Margherita Cantorna, assistant professor of nutrition, says the study
has not been in progress long enough to observe changes in the clinical
symptoms of the disease in the patients who participated.

However, blood samples drawn after just 6 months of Vitamin D
supplementation show an increase in transforming growth factor beta-1
(TGF-Beta), which is associated with the remission and suppression of the
immune response that produces symptoms in MS patients. In addition, the
researchers found a decrease in interleuken-2, which is associated with
the cells that induce MS.

Cantorna's student, Brett Mahon, a doctoral candidate in nutrition,
detailed the study results last week at the Experimental Biology 2001
conference in Orlando, Fla. The paper, "Altered Cytokine Profile in
Patients with Multiple Sclerosis Following Vitamin D Supplementation," is
co-authored by Dr. Felicia Cosman, medical director, Clinical Research
Center, S. A. Gordon and J. Cruz, all of Helen Hayes Hospital, and
Cantorna. Mahon is first author.

As a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Cantorna
and others had shown, in experiments with mice, that vitamin D
supplementation could completely prevent the development of MS in
susceptible animals. After Cantorna joined the faculty at Penn State, she
learned of Dr. Cosman's research program which centers on investigating
whether a low level vitamin D deficiency in MS patients might account for
the incidence of brittle bones.

Cantorna asked Cosman for blood samples from the participating patients to
see if the same changes she had observed in mice also occur in humans who
receive vitamin D supplementation. She found that the results were, in
fact, similar at the blood chemistry level.

Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease in which the victim's own
immune system attacks the spinal cord and brain. The disease afflicts
about 350,000 people in the United States alone. Its cause is thought to
be a complex interaction of genetics and environmental forces that are not
completely understood.

Cantorna and others hypothesize that one crucial environmental factor
involved in the development of the disease is the amount of sunlight a
person receives. Exposure to sunlight catalyzes the production of vitamin
D in the skin. In low sunlight, the skin produces significantly less
vitamin D.

In support of a connection among sunlight, vitamin D and multiple
sclerosis, Cantorna points out that the incidence of the disease is nearly
zero near the equator and increases with latitude in both hemispheres. In
addition, Switzerland has high MS rates at low altitudes and low MS rates
at high altitudes. Ultraviolet light is more intense at higher altitudes,
resulting in the skin manufacturing more vitamin D.

Other evidence of an MS/vitamin D link comes from Norway, where MS rates
are higher inland than on the coast where larger quantities of fish are
consumed -- which are rich in vitamin D.

While Cantorna's research and MS's geographical distribution suggest a
connection between vitamin D and MS, she cautions that the vitamin's exact
role is still unclear.

The College of Health and Human Development faculty member recommends MS
patients to continue to follow their personal physician's advice. Since
vitamin D can be toxic in high doses, it would not be a good idea to begin
taking vitamin D pills available over-the-counter in large amounts.

On the other hand, since adequate amounts of vitamin D are difficult to
get from diet and because MS patients often have to stay out of the sun, a
vitamin D supplement at the current recommended daily requirement level
ought to be considered. There are potential benefits for bone health and
for the immune system as well.
 

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