Sunlight in Youth Might Shield Against MS

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"If it's true that sunlight is protective and/or vitamin D is protective, then there's one group of people who ought to think seriously about it, and that is young parents who have MS," noted Mack. "Because the likelihood that a child of a parent with MS will go on to get MS is 3 or 4 percent. Which is many, many times the likelihood that the average person could get MS."

"So, I think if I was a young parent, and I or my wife had MS, and I had a child, I would want to take every step I could take to prevent my child from getting the disease," added Mack. "But," he cautioned, "the problem is, of course, that we know that too much sunlight is the cause of melanoma. So, that's a dilemma. We want to give the child some exposure but not too much."

Dr. John Richert, executive vice president for research and clinical programs at the NMSS, which co-sponsored the study, said that "we all have to take note of" the new findings.

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"This is one of a series of reports over the last couple of years that have at least indirectly implicated the role of sun exposure and vitamin D production with susceptibility to MS," he noted. "And this builds a stronger and stronger case that sun is one of the factors that can contribute to the development of MS."

Richert observed that MS in general is more common the farther away from the equator one lives, particularly during childhood, further supporting the sunlight-MS link.

However, he also agreed that too much sunlight brings its own risks.

"Certainly, in terms of relative risk -- skin cancer that can develop from sun exposure versus the potentially diminished risk for MS -- we don't have equations to really balance these," Richert stressed. "And there's a lot more work that still needs to be done before any kind of recommendations can be made about sun exposure or vitamin D intake."

More information

For additional information on risk factors for MS, visit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

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