Keywords: multiple sclerosis, autoimmune disease, vitamin D, myelin
Disease prevention at no cost- Multiple sclerosis
Imagine your own body attacking itself. The immune system responsible for fighting disease and external pathogens, mistakenly identifies own body cells as foreign invaders. It starts a chain of reaction that is destructive of own body tissue. This is autoimmune disease. It is still unknown as to why it happens.
Multiple sclerosis is one of the autoimmune diseases. It is a chronic disease of the central nervous system and potentially debilitating. Being an autoimmune disease, the person’s immune system erroneously reacts against normal tissues in his body. In this case, the target is myelin. Myelin is a substance that insulates nerves and helps in the transmission of nerve signals. Without myelin, the brain becomes unable to send and receive messages. As a result, it causes weakness, lack of sensation and inability to coordinate movements. In addition to it, the patient may also have problems with vision, speech, and bladder control. The lesions are not always active and the person does have a no-lesion period.
Why does it happen?
Multiple sclerosis is found mostly in people living in hilly areas. The lesions show climatic variation. Their outbreak is more in winters than in summers. It is because the sunlight is not adequate in hilly areas and during winters. It was also found that people suffering from this disease condition had low levels of Vitamin D in their body. Therefore it is assumed that deficiency of Vitamin D may trigger multiple sclerosis. This explains the fact that it is not found in tropics because Vitamin D can be synthesized in body on exposure to sunlight.
Many studies have confirmed the association of multiple sclerosis with Vitamin D. People taking Vitamin D supplements have shown a forty percent lower risk of developing multiple sclerosis when compared to their counterparts not taking supplemental Vitamin D. Vitamin D also boosts up immune system and hence helpful in prevention of autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis.
Ways to take Sunshine Vitamin
Milk and fish are the major dietary sources of Vitamin D. It can also be taken along with multivitamin supplements. Above all, it can be synthesized by the body with the help of sunlight that explains why it is called sunshine vitamin.
Do not become stingy in taking the dose of sunlight which comes free of cost. It may strengthen your body against many devastating diseases.
