Vitamin D early may avertms

A WORLD-FIRST trial by Australian scientists will determine whether taking vitaminDcan prevent multiple sclerosis developing.

The $2.5 million study, to start recruiting 240 Australian and New Zeal and patients next month, follows previous research that has shown clear links between low vitamin D levels and MS.

Lead researcher Prof Bruce Taylor from the Menzies Research Institute Tasmania said the study would include patients who had experienced early symptoms of MS, but had not yet been diagnosed.

He said the three most common first symptoms included loss of vision in one eye, numbness across the chest or abdomen, or brain-stem disorders such as double vision or face numbness.

Neurologists and eye specialists were therefore often the first to treat patients with early symp- toms and would refer people to take part in the three-year study.

About a quarter of patients will get a placebo, with the rest to go into three groups given three different daily doses of vitamin D.

Prof Taylor said the aim was to establish whether vitamin D could reduce the risk of people developing MS and if so, what was the right dose.

He said the research into vitamin D and MS had been prompted in Tasmania by the high number of people in the state with the disease, compared with those in the sunnier northern states.

The risk of developing MS is 10 times higher in Tasmania than in the Northern Territory.

Vitamin D is largely synthesised in the body through sun exposure.

Prof Taylor’s previous research has shown that MSsufferers in Tasmania with higher vitamin D levels are less likely to have an attack.

While other smaller studies worldwide have investigated the effect of vitamin D in MS patients, the Tasmanian-led research is the first to test the theory before someone is diagnosed.

Hobart’s Sharlene Brown, 40, said the study, if successful, could offer hope to people who experienced early symptoms like those she suffered before her diagnosis.

Ms Brown initially suffered extreme heat fatigue, blurry vision and, eventually, numbness from the waist down.

Although diagnosed withMS10 years ago, she can track her symptoms ‘‘back further . . . for 16 or 17 years’’.

The study, involving Royal Hobart Hospital and 21 other sites, has been funded by MS Research Australia and MS societies nationwide.

If successful, the results will be tested in a larger trial, but that will need another $1 million.