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The findings, based on the DNA profiles of tens of thousands of people of European descent, add weight to the theory that the sunshine vitamin plays a role in MS. Scientists are already testing whether giving people extra vitamin D might prevent or ease MS. Experts say the jury is still out. It is likely that environmental and genetic factors are involved in this disease of the nerves in the brain and spinal cord, they say. And if you think you may not be getting sufficient vitamin D from sunlight or your diet, you should discuss this with your doctor. Taking too much vitamin D can also be dangerous.
Research around the world already shows MS is more common in less sunny countries, further from the equator. But it is not clear if this relationship is causal - other factors might be at play. To better understand the association, investigators at McGill University in Canada compared the prevalence of MS in a large group of Europeans with and without a genetic predisposition to low vitamin D.
Research article can be found from Plos Medicine.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 27 2015, @07:15AM
Agreed.
They also don't tell that going outside in the local sun is completely different from a tanning bed and from leaving the office completely pale and catching a plane[1] to e.g. Spain for three weeks.
The local sun is not nearly as harmful, because your skin is already used to it, especially if you go outside a couple of hours every day starting in spring. Flying to a country near the equator will expose you to levels that your skin is not prepared for, and if you insist on doing that, sun screen is a must. Tanning beds can be even worse, often they don't even give off the correct kind of UV that creates vitamin D, but still gives the brown color that reduce how much vitamin D your skin will produce. So you get the higher risk of skin cancer AND low vitamin D at the same time.
[1] Before somebody says "but people have been living in Spain for millions of years: Yes, but they didn't fly there. They either lived there and thus fall under "local sun", or they had to walk. If you walk, your skin will be used to the sun before you get there.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 28 2015, @05:41AM
Tanning beds are a result of emission spectrum, not black body radiation. Emission spectrum is characterized by very sharp spectral lines at given frequencies, not a continuous spectrum like the sun. So agreed, very bad.
And yes, you are 100% correct with acclimatization. If you live somewhere, that is different than if you fly there and then park your butt on the beach for hours. As you said, if you fly from Ireland to Kenya for vacation, well, you better have SPF 30 sunscreen, or you'll have no skin left.
Everything in moderation!