Vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy may increase children's multiple sclerosis risk

Children whose mothers were vitamin D deficient during early pregnancy appeared to have a higher risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS) in adulthood, a new study suggested Monday.

Multiple sclerosis is a central nervous system disease that causes problems with muscle control and strength, vision, balance, feeling, and thinking. The World Health Organization estimated that roughly 2.5 million people in the world have the disease.

Researchers at the Harvard University said while elevated levels of vitamin D have been associated with a decreased risk of MS in adulthood, some previous research also has suggested that vitamin D exposure in utero may be a risk factor for MS in later life.

In the new study published online by the U.S. journal JAMA Neurology, they looked at the association between blood levels of vitamin D in early pregnancy and the risk of MS in children in Finland.

The researchers identified 193 individuals with a diagnosis of MS whose mothers were part of the Finnish Maternity Cohort study, which includes millions of specimen such as serum from pregnant women in Finland.

About 70 percent of serum samples in the study were collected during the first three months of pregnancy.

The researchers matched 176 case patients with 326 control participants for comparison and found a 90 percent higher risk of MS in children whose mothers who were vitamin D deficient, compared with those whose mothers had adequate vitamin D.

"Our results suggest vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy increases MS risk in the offspring," said the study led by Kassandra Munger of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

They noted, however, that the study did not provide any information as to whether supplementing vitamin D during early pregnancy could help lower the MS risk. Endit