Positive Effects of Sunshine on Multiple Sclerosis Sufferers Seen

In a review published May 2009 in F1000 Medicine Reports, Dr. Bridget Bagert, from the department of neurology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center (New Orleans, USA), and Dr. Dennis Bourdette, faculty member for F1000 Medicine, and chairman of the department of neurology and director of the Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunology Center at the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU; Portland, USA), highlighted recent developments in potential treatments.

MS is an autoimmune disorder that results from a failure of the body to recognize itself. The immune system attacks and destroys the sheath that protects nerve fibers, as if it were a foreign body or infection. Vitamin D, which is produced in the skin in response to natural sunlight, is an immune system regulator. This might clarify why MS is less common in sunnier countries.

Giving MS sufferers vitamin D supplements--or encouraging them to spend more time in the sun--might be an inexpensive and simple treatment. Drs. Bagert and Bourdette pointed out that oral vitamin D therapy is now in phase II clinical trials, to see how well it works and how much would be needed. The investigators stated, "The arrival of effective oral agents will give MS patients more therapeutic options and will be a major advance in the global effort to alter the natural history of this chronic disease.”

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Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center
Oregon Health and Science University
Faculty of 1000 Biology and Medicine