Immunologist Prof Danny Altmann, from Imperial College London, said it may be too much to expect vitamin D to treat or reverse the effects of MS, but added the study supports the argument for additional supplements as a public health measure.
Using a genetic technique called Mendelian randomization to reduce the possibility of confounding the authors examined whether there was an association between genetically reduced vitamin D levels (measured by the level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, the clinical determinant of vitamin D status) and susceptibility to multiple sclerosis among participants in the global Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium study, which involves 14,498 people with multiple sclerosis and 24,091 healthy controls.
The authors feel that these findings warrant further investigation of the potential therapeutic benefits of vitamin D supplementation in preventing the onset and progression of MS.
Based on their findings, researchers concluded that “genetically lowered vitamin D levels are strongly associated with increased susceptibility to multiple sclerosis“.