Melbourne, Nov 17: A team of Australian scientists
claim to have discovered that frequent exposure to sun and the
resulting production of Vitamin D in the body could result in
lowering the risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS).
According to a study conducted by the researchers at
Menzies Institute, people living in Tasmania are seven times
more likely to develop the disease than Queenslanders as, they
claim, there is a link between sunlight exposure and multiple
sclerosis. They presented their paper at a national scientific
conference for medical research in Hobart.
The auto immune disease affects the central nervous
system and occurs more often in regions furthest from the
equator. Tasmania has the highest rate of MS in the Australian
country.
Bruce Taylor, a principle research fellow at Menzies
Institute in Hobart, said that symptoms vary depending on the
time of year.
"Multiple sclerosis attacks happen seasonally. They are
more common in spring than they are in autumn and spring is
when you have your lowest vitamin D levels," he said.
He studied 145 patients in southern Tasmania and tracked
their seasonal susceptibility to the disease.
"We looked at people who had MS and we looked at how
their own vitamin D levels influenced their risk of having an
attack of MS, which is referred to as a relapse," he was
quoted in an ABC report.
Bureau Report