High-dose vitamin D supplementation has beneficial immune effects in MS

Low-serum vitamin D levels are associated with increased disability and disease activity in multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease. However, the optimum dose of vitamin D supplementation in MS is unclear. 

In a recent study, US researchers randomly assigned 40 patients with relapsing-remitting MS to receive 10,400 IU or 800 IU cholecalciferol (vitamin D3) daily for six months. 

They found that, at three and six months, those in the high-dose group achieved vitamin D levels within the target range of 40-60 ng/ml, but those in the low-dose group did not. High-dose cholecalciferol supplementation also resulted in clinically relevant immunologic effects not observed in the low-dose group. 

Writing in Neurology (online, 30 December 2015)^[1]
, the researchers say that ongoing randomised trials should help establish the efficacy of vitamin D3 as a novel immunomodulatory therapy for MS.