High-Dose Vitamin D3 Intake Is Associated with Decreased Symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis

Abstract

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is one of the most widespread disabling autoimmune neurological conditions of adults between the ages of 20 and 40 globally. Medical researchers do not completely understand the possible causes of MS, nor have they determined the rate of progression. A limited number of clinical trials conducted in recent years have explored the link between vitamin D deficiency and MS with vitamin D supplementation as a possible element in the treatment of this disease. The primary goal of this review was to synthesize the evidence regarding the link between vitamin D3 levels and the symptoms of MS. A PubMed search was conducted using keywords Vitamin D, multiple sclerosis, MS, RRMS, prevention, treatment and cause. 1153 articles and sources were found using the key phrase "multiple sclerosis and vitamin D," but these were narrowed to 11 based on publication dates between 2013 and 2018, clinical trials were included, while reviews were excluded and the relevance of the goals to this review. Study designs included experimental clinical trials where pretest/posttest data were presented. Articles were excluded if they were not peer reviewed or only described the method and were awaiting results. Although not all studies found uniform results, the majority of the evidence suggests that high intakes of vitamin D may be associated with improved quality of life through the reduction of certain symptoms of MS. This was especially evident in patients who started the studies with a vitamin D deficiency. It may be too early to prescribe an increase in daily supplementation of vitamin D with the hope of reducing the development of or in the treatment of MS, but recent studies indicate that high doses of vitamin D could decrease the probability of some symptoms of the disease and possibly give favorable results in treatment. Further studies are needed before specific recommendations can be made.