NEWS
November 24 - 25, 2011
MS Resarch Days 2011 Netherlands
Vitamin D: A Health/Disease Switch in MS PDF (472 KB)
Literature PDF (67 KB)
Dr. Barbara M van Amerongen (Molecular Cell Biology and Immunology, VUmc)

June 10, 2010
Symposium “Nieuw licht op vitamine D”, Rode Hoed, Amsterdam
EXTRA VITAMINE D3 BIJ MS PDF (467 KB)
Dr. Barbara M van Amerongen, tandarts - VUmc en ACTA

October 02, 2009
Eenhoorn, Amersfoort
Vitamine D tekort, hype of bedreiging?
… > more



January 17, 2012
National MS Society Convenes Summit to Explore Vitamin D Trials to Prevent MS
Researchers and clinicians from around the globe gathered recently in Chicago to develop strategies for testing whether vitamin D supplements can prevent the development of MS. Participants discussed the latest findings relevant to vitamin D and MS and potential clinical trial designs, taking the first steps to making these exciting studies a reality. “Vitamin D and MS Prevention: An International Workshop,” was chaired by Colleen E. Hayes, PhD (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and Anne-Louise Ponsonby, PhD (Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Canberra Australia), and was funded by the National MS Society.

December 20, 2011
Vitamin D in food call to combat Scots MS
Prof George Ebers, a University of Oxford professor, has said rates of multiple sclerosis are so dire in Scotland essential foodstuffs should be fortified with vitamin D.

December 13, 2011
Watch the recording or read the transcript "From the Frontlines: What’s New in MS Research for 2012" with moderator Dr. Timothy Coetzee and panelists Dr. Amit Bar-Or, Dr. Robert Fox, Dr. Colleen Hayes, and Dr. Robert Miller

December 8, 2011
Rare gene links vitamin D and multiple sclerosis
Prof George Ebers, lead study author at Oxford University, says "This type of finding has not been seen in any complex disease. The uniform transmission of a variant to offspring with MS is without precedent but there will have been interaction with other factors."

November 24 - 25, 2011
MS Resarch Days Netherlands

Vitamin D: A Health/Disease Switch in MS (P1) download pdf
Literature download pdf
Barbara van Amerongen (Molecular Cell Biology and Immunology, VUmc)

October 19 - 22, 2011
ECTRIMS/actrims
Research has now shown that Vitamin D3 (Cholecalciferol) can, not only prevent MS, but also can reduce MS-attacks, MS-lesions in the Brain as seen on the MRI and also reduce the progression of MS. Thus Vitamin D3 may even prevent the wheel chair.
These findings have to be re-established in larger clinical trials.
In the mean time MS patients and their kids are wise to keep their vitamin D level above 100 nmol/L all year round.
Breaking News: Zeroing in on risk factors for MS

Augustus10 , 2011
Global Consortium Doubles the Number of MS Risk Genes Identified
Two genes linked to vitamin D were also implicated; research is increasingly pointing to low vitamin D levels in patients as a risk factor for developing MS.

April 12 , 2011
Gestational ultraviolet and vitamin D exposure and the risk of multiple sclerosis in the United Kingdom
Giulio Disanto, Sreeram Ramagopalan, Julia Morahan, Oxford, United Kingdom, Elina Hypponen, London, England, George Ebers, Oxford, United Kingdom, George Chaplin, Philadelphia, PA

December 2 - 4, 2010
EUROPEAN CHARCOT FOUNDATION SYMPOSIUM 2010
A Reappraisal of Nutrition and Environment in Multiple Sclerosis download pdf
Vitamin D: A Health/Disease Switch in MS (P1) download pdf
Literature download pdf
Barbara van Amerongen (Molecular Cell Biology and Immunology, VUmc)

October 15, 2010
VITAMIN D NEWS FOR MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS PATIENTS
DR. C.E. HAYES, PROFESSOR OF BIOCHEMISTRY, U. WISCONSIN, EDITOR

June 10, 2010
Symposium “Nieuw licht op vitamine D”, Rode Hoed, Amsterdam
EXTRA VITAMINE D3 BIJ MS download pdf
Dr. B.M. van Amerongen, tandarts - VUmc en ACTA

May 22, 2010
VITAMIN D NEWS FOR MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS PATIENTS
DR. C.E. HAYES, PROFESSOR OF BIOCHEMISTRY, U. WISCONSIN, EDITOR


April 10 - 17, 2010
Abstracts/talks on vitamin D and MS to be presented at
62nd Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN)


March 8, 2010
Vitamin D Crucial to Activating Immune Defenses

November 10, 2009
Vitamin D and MS: Implications for Clinical Practice
Allen C. Bowling, MD, PhD
Clinical Bulletin - Vitamin D and MS: Implications for Clinical Practice

October 23, 2009
Beautiful article in Financial Times
Why governments are selling Vitamin D short

October 02, 2009
Vitamine D tekort, hype of bedreiging?
Eenhoorn, Amersfoort

February 06, 2009
Study Shows Link Between Vitamin D and an MS Susceptibility Gene

For the first time, researchers have found evidence of a direct interaction between vitamin D and a common genetic variant, the presence of which increases the risk of developing multiple sclerosis. The research highlights the importance of studying the interaction of genes and the environment to search for the underlying triggers of this complex disease. The study was published on February 6, 2009 in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics

January 27, 2009
The National Institutes of Health awarded Creighton University $4 million to continue its landmark study linking vitamin D to a reduction in cancer risk. The study’s findings, reported in June 2007, showed for the first time in a clinical trial that postmenopausal women consuming optimal amounts of calcium supplements, as well as vitamin D3 supplements at nearly three times U.S. government recommended levels, could reduce their risk of cancer by 60 to 77 percent.

As with the first study, healthy, postmenopausal women from nine Nebraska counties will be selected randomly through phone calls, beginning in February. A total of 2,300 women will be recruited and followed for four years with half of the participants randomly assigned to take daily supplements containing 2,000 IU of vitamin D3 and 1,200 mg of calcium; the second group will receive placebos.

Sources: Creighton University: Creighton to Continue Landmark Study on Vitamin D and Cancer Risk

January 7, 2009
In the study, people who had low vitamin D levels — 17.8 ng/mL (44.5 nmol/L) or lower — were 26 percent more likely to be dead at the end of the study than those with higher vitamin D levels.
25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and the risk of mortali...[Arch Intern Med. 2008] - PubMed Result

January 1, 2009
E-mail received from GrassrootsHealth,
A Public Health Promotion Organization
January 1, 2009

Dear Reader,

Happy New Year!

And, for your New Year's Resolution, you can

Sign up to participate in an international effort to solve the vitamin D deficiency epidemic now
Get your vitamin D tested for only $30 with a blood spot test from ZRT

Log on to www.ordervitamindtest.org

Fill in the health questionnaire, order your test kit--choose your subscription option; it's a 5 year project and we need to have vitamin D measurements each 6 months for that period
Spread the word:  get at least two more people to do the same.
If everyone does this, we'll have the problem solved in a year!
When I traveled across the country this last summer, one of the most frequent questions I got asked was 'how do I get my doctor to order this test?'.  We have removed that stumbling block.  Certainly, another block was the cost.  We have partnered with ZRT Laboratory in this international public health endeavor.  You can order it yourself, do it yourself, and, track your results along with our entire population for 5 years.  We expect to change the health of our nation, to prevent diseases, to make us a healthier society.
Please sign up today and, spread the word.  We can do it together.
If you have a large group of people to share this with, please contact me.  We have some additional ways of working with larger groups that might be more efficient for you. 
Thank you so much for your participation in this endeavor, D*action.  There are seldom things in life we can do that are so simple, inexpensive, non-toxic and, helpful!  It's a delight to be working with you all to make this happen.  Do have a delightful holiday!  Let me know if there's anything I can do to help.
Sunnily yours,
Carole

Carole A Baggerly
Director
GrassrootsHealth
A Public Health Promotion Organization
www.grassrootshealth.org
carole@grassrootshealth.org
PS  I'm sorry to say that currently we cannot provide the test to residents of New York. 
 


This website is about Vitamin D and MS
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease of the central nervous system (CNS), with an uncertain cause. Colleen Hayes and Donald Achaeson have suggested that insufficient sunlight exposure and chronic viral infections might be unrelated environmental risk factors for MS. These risk factors may act synergistically to enable the pathogenic autoimmune response.

The prevalence of MS is highest where environmental supplies of vitamin D are lowest. Sunshine enables the production of vitamin D3 (D3) in the skin. Epidemiological studies have shown that higher vitamin D blood levels are associated with lower risk, less relapses and a slower progression of multiple sclerosis. Higher vitamin D levels can be achieved in part by increased oral intake of D3.

Vitamin D
Scientists' Call to D*Action
The aim for blood serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D is
40-60 ng/ml (nanograms/milliliter) or
100-150 nmol/L (nanomoles/Liter)

For supplements, vitamin D3, cholecalciferol may be used.

Individuals should consult with a health care practitioner to
develop a custom plan.


Find out what your vitamin D level (blood serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D) is and take corrective action if necessary for your health.

Join GrassrootsHealth's Vitamin D Action now.