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FRIDAY, Sept. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Children with lower levels of vitamin D seem to be at a higher risk of being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
So say researchers who were expected to present the findings Friday at the World Congress on Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis, in Montreal.
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The idea fits nicely with previous research indicating that multiple sclerosis is more common the farther away you get from the equator, in other words, in areas where there is less sunlight.
Vitamin D synthesis is triggered when ultraviolet rays from the sun hit the skin. In addition, studies have also linked vitamin D with immune system function.
"In MS, the immune system is misregulated, and we do know that there's a susceptibility in the genes we inherit from our parents. We know that something triggers the disease," explained Patricia O'Looney, vice president of biomedical research at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. "We know from epidemiological studies that there's a higher prevalence of MS the farther away you live from the equator and, more recently, we've learned that vitamin D does regulate the immune system."
"This is an interesting study of how environmental triggers and the immune system can be involved with MS, provided that one has these susceptibility genes," she added.
"Many studies have given us a good link between vitamin D status and immune function in MS," added study author Heather E. Hanwell, a doctoral candidate in nutritional sciences at the University of Toronto. "We wanted to see whether vitamin D status was lower in children who had their first demyelinating event and were subsequently diagnosed with MS."
A first demyelinating event is essentially an attack of symptoms that could indicate trouble with the central nervous system. One quarter of children who have such an attack go on to be diagnosed with MS.
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