A new study in Multiple Sclerosis Journal found men and women having a body mass index of 27 kg/m2 or higher at the age of 20 were twice as likely as those who had a normal body index to develop multiple sclerosis (MS).
Anna K Hedström from Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm in Sweden and colleagues compared 1571 cases of multiple sclerosis and 3371 controls from a Swedish population for their BMI at the age of 20 years and found the association.
The researchers speculated that "the obesity epidemic may explain part of the increasing MS incidence as recorded in some countries. Measures taken against adolescent obesity may thus be a preventive strategy against MS."
The study indirectly suggests that developing multiple sclerosis has something to do with a patient's diet at a young age.
Another study published in Neurology suggests patients with multiple sclerosis may be better off taking vitamin D supplements to make sure they maintain a high serum level of this sunshine vitamin.
Rogier Q. Hintzen, MD, PhD from the Department of Neurology, MS Centre ErasMS Erasmus MC in Rotterdam, the Netherlands and colleagues conducted the study and found lower serum vitamin D levels were associated with a higher relapse risk of multiple sclerosis.
For the study, researchers followed 73 patients with relapsing-remitting MS and measured serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) every 8 weeks and then used a statistical method to examine the association between serum vitamin D levels and the relapse rate of the disease.
During a mean 1.7 years of follow-up, 58 multiple sclerosis patients experienced 139 exacerbations. Compared to those who had lower serum levels of vitamin D (less than 50 nmol/L), those who had 50 to 100 nmol/L and greater than 100 nmol/L were 30 percent and 50 percent less likely to experience exacerbation.
The authors reported "The association between 25-OH-D concentrations and exacerbation rate was log linear without a threshold. With each doubling of the serum 25-OH-D concentration the exacerbation rate decreased by 27%."
The researchers said the finding suggests that vitamin D may have a protective effect against multiple sclerosis. However, they also suggested that the causality could be reversed, that is, having the disease may result in low vitamin D levels.
Those who have multiple sclerosis may not have to be hesitate to try vitamin D supplements to see if they can benefit from the supplements because low serum levels of this vitamin have been associated with more than 100 health conditions including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, depression, and metabolic syndrome among other things, according to the Vitamin D Council.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurological disease that affects the brain and spinal cord by damaging the myelin sheath that surrounds and protects nerve cells. The common symptoms of MS include visual disturbances, muscle weakness, trouble with coordination and balance, sensations such as numbness, prickling, or "pins and needles", thinking and memory problems.
Doctors do not know what causes multiple sclerosis. Evidence suggests that multiple sclerosis may be a prion disease and people may contract the disease by eating meat or drinking milk from animals infected with brain wasting disease. But there is no complete understanding of the etiology of multiple sclerosis.
