Vitamin D3

There appears to be an inverse relationship between vitamin D3 status and the probability of developing MS, most likely due to its immunoregulatory effects. Vitamin D3 supplementation therefore appears to be a possible therapy in MS.

A Phase I/II trial of high-dose oral vitamin D3 with calcium had as its primary outcome the level of serum calcium; secondary outcome measures included the annualized relapse rate. Treatment appeared to be both safe and tolerable.

A study designed to determine whether peripheral blood regulatory T cells correlate with serum vitamins D and A ratios in people with RRMS demonstrated that the level of these cells were lower than expected in the treated group. The data suggest that the combined effect of vitamins D and A may play a role in suppressing MS disease activity, in part through their effect on these T cells. The required dose to achieve this effect appears to be much higher than that obtained through standard supplementation.