Vitamin D or sunshine may help treat MS

NEW ORLEANS, May 26 (UPI) -- Giving multiple sclerosis sufferers vitamin D pills or encouraging them to spend more time in the sun might help treatment, U.S. researchers said.
According to research presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, high doses of the vitamin appear safe for patients with MS and may even lead to a reduction in disease relapses.

Researchers studied 25 people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, a form of the illness characterized by relapses during which new symptoms can appear or old ones resurface. The patients were given an average of 14,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D3 a day for a year and then evaluated. Twenty-four other participants were allowed to take as much as 4,000 IU of vitamin D3 a day, though most averaged about 1,000 IU daily -- the amount recommended by many MS specialists. Both groups also took 1,200 milligrams of calcium a day. The team found that only 14 per cent of those taking the high doses suffered relapses in their disease. In contrast, close to 40 per cent of the other MS patients relapsed. As well, those taking the high doses suffered 41 per cent fewer relapses than the year before the study began, compared with 17 per cent of those taking smaller doses.

The best results in the study were only observed in those who took the larger doses. People in the high-dose group were given escalating doses of the vitamin for six months, to a maximum of 40,000 IU daily. Doses were then gradually lowered over the next six months, averaging out to 14,000 IU daily for the year.

(Multiple Sources)