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posted by cmn32480 on Thursday August 27 2015, @01:01AM   Printer-friendly
from the hopefully-it-is-that-easy dept.

People genetically prone to low vitamin-D levels are at increased risk of multiple sclerosis, a large study suggests.

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.


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  • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday August 27 2015, @05:29PM

    by DeathMonkey (1380) on Thursday August 27 2015, @05:29PM (#228658) Journal

    Not sure the evidence supports the assertion that sunscreen blocks Vitamin D absorption. Theoretically, it should prevent some, but actual trials have shown no difference in practice.


    Use of sunscreen. Sunscreen prevents sunburn by blocking UVB light. Theoretically, that means sunscreen use lowers vitamin D levels. But as a practical matter, very few people put on enough sunscreen to block all UVB light, or they use sunscreen irregularly, so sunscreen’s effects on vitamin D might not be that important. An Australian study that’s often cited showed no difference in vitamin D between adults randomly assigned to use sunscreen one summer and those assigned a placebo cream

     
      reference [harvard.edu]
     

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 27 2015, @06:45PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 27 2015, @06:45PM (#228686)

    Healthcare is like astronomy before Tycho Brahe collected good data. There are essentially no reliable facts on which we can hang our hats and develop theories. Direct replications are actively discouraged by those people. Publishing info that directly conflicts with a previous study is considered an "attack" that hurts peoples feelings and careers, who wants to deal with making people feel bad all the time leading to enemies? So people just keep quiet and stuff it in the file drawer.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 28 2015, @05:51AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 28 2015, @05:51AM (#228859)

    An Australian study .... very few people put on enough sunscreen to block all UVB light, or they use sunscreen irregularly, so sunscreen’s effects on vitamin D might not be that important

    Around here, there is a large push to "protect kids from UV", which means adverts everywhere to put sunscreen on your kids 100% of the time, even in morning and evening because of "dangers". If you think this is not damaging, well, think again. Sure, many will ignore crazy guidelines, but there are enough helicopter parents around to screw things up for their kids.