Vitamin D in pregnancy may prevent multiple sclerosis

"Because Vitamin D deficiency is a massive problem at the moment due to living at high latitudes and lifestyle changes (wearing sunscreen etc), mothers may need to take several thousand international units of Vitamin D3 to become Vitamin D replete."

Humans need Vitamin D, which our bodies produce from exposure to sunlight or extract from food, for healthy bones.

Suspected links between a lack of vitamin D and an increased risk of death, including from heart disease and certain types of cancer, have been the subject of medical research for several years.

Researchers have also focused on its possible role in MS.

"It is thought that maternal Vitamin D levels during pregnancy affect the immune status of the developing foetus, and hence modulates subsequent MS risk," wrote the authors.

North of 52 degrees latitude lies the northern parts of England, the Scandinavian countries, and most of Russia and Canada.

No studies from the southern hemisphere were included in the analysis.

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