Study Shows No Significant Benefit of High-Dose Vitamin D in Reducing MS Relapse

Vitamin D is a hormone and nutrient that can be gotten from diet or supplements and is made in the skin when it is presented to daylight. It gives a few capabilities, including adding to bone health and supporting the cardiovascular system, brain and muscles. Vitamin D deficiency is linked to an increased risk of MS relapse because many people with multiple sclerosis (MS) are unable to make vitamin D from sunlight.

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society is sponsoring the Vitamin D to Ameliorate MS (VIDAMS) trial, a phase 3, double-blind, randomized, controlled trial that compared high and low doses of vitamin D added to Copaxone (glatiramer acetate) to see how they affected adults with established relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) risk of relapse. The study results were published in the May 2023 issue of eClinicalMedicine.

Sandra D. Cassard, D.Sc., led the trial, from the Division of Nervous system science at Johns Hopkins College Institute of Medication, selected 172 patients with RRMS analyzed under 10 years before enlistment. The gathering was randomized to get either high-portion vitamin D (5,000 global units day to day) or low-portion vitamin D (600 units day to day). Prior to beginning vitamin D supplementation, all began receiving Copaxone 20 mg daily injections. In both groups, the average age was about 34 years old.

The primary objective was to see if, at 96 weeks, taking a higher dose of vitamin D was better than taking a lower dose. Auxiliary endpoints remembered contrasts for new or developing injuries, mind volume misfortune and sickness seriousness.

Relapse rates did not differ between the two groups at 96 weeks (34 percent in the high-dose group versus 32 percent in the low-dose group). Auxiliary results were additionally not met. The researchers came to the conclusion that supplementing patients with RRMS with high doses of vitamin D does not lower the risk of relapse.

“Although common practice, based on these findings, prescribing [high-dose vitamin D] for the purpose of reducing clinical and imaging disease activity in established RRMS does not appear to be helpful,” wrote Cassard and her colleagues.