Dr Alberto Ascherio Discusses Vitamin D and MS

Alberto Ascherio, MD, DrPh, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and professor of medicine at the Harvard Medical School, discusses the role of vitamin D insufficiency in the risk of multiple sclerosis (MS) and the optimal dose of vitamin D for patients with MS.

Transcript

What role does vitamin D insufficiency have in MS risk, and has an optimal vitamin D dose been established?

Individuals with low vitamin D levels have a higher risk of MS. It’s about a two-fold higher risk in people who are vitamin D deficient as compared to people with optimal levels. It has not been determined in a final way, but I think it's pretty reasonable to think about 3000, around 3000 iu per day of oral vitamin D3 would probably be sufficient for the large majority of patients. It’s a dose that would increase the level of vitamin D from a median of 50 nmol/L, which is what we find the European patient with MS, to close to 100 nmol/L, which is the level that you find associated with optimal outcome in MS.