Prevent multiple sclerosis with Vitamin D daily?

by Anna

There is new hope that a simple, cheap and safe vitamin may actually work to prevent multiple sclerosis.

Researchers working at the University of Oxford in London told the Times that there is "hard evidence directly relating both genes and the environment to the origins of MS."

Thanks to the research done by scientists such as George Ebers, Professor of Clinical Neurology at the University of Oxford, there are indications that a lack of vitamin D during the ever critical times of pregnancy and early childhood can increase the likelihood of contracting multiple sclerosis.

And that, along with likely genetic tendencies, seems to be the best indication of the cause of MS in a while.

According to Canadian broadcaster CBC, "Proteins activated by vitamin D in the body can alter a common genetic variant that is connected with the disease, Ebers and his colleagues at Oxford and the University of British Columbia report in Friday's issue of the PloS Genetics."

While it will likely take many years for this research to wend its way through the scientific and medical communities, there are reports that UK doctors at least are already advising pregnant woman and young children to take Vitamin D as a preventative.

And why not?

There doesn't seem to be a downside to this prescription. The vitamin is widely available without prescription and is generally affordable.

There doesn't seem to be much of a downside to taking the vitamin regardless, especially if there is a history of MS in the family.