News - Sunshine & Multiple Sclerosis & Vitamin D (a hormone) - summer ... anti inflammatory cytokines ... switch off parts of your immune system.

[Guest guest]

Transcript

Can too little sunshine be bad for you?

Broadcast: 21/10/2005

Reporter: Airlie Ward

It may sound like heresy but after years of slip slop slap, exposure to the sun might not be all that bad. The latest research into multiple sclerosis suggests exposure to ultraviolet radiation may help protect people from the debilitating autoimmune disease. There's evidence that the disease gets worse in winter and less severe in summer, so scientists think this is connected to exposure to the sun which produces vitamin D. BETH MULLER: My first registered symptoms was when I was about 41 and I went blind in one eye which was a very painful experience and that lasted about six weeks. Years later, I woke up one morning and my left toe had gone numb and by the end of the week I was basically numb down to the waist. The neurologist said yes, it was definitely an indication that I had multiple sclerosis and enjoy myself for the next two years, here comes the wheelchair.NIALL STEWART: A disease that's, a large part of it's autoimmune in nature, so your own body is attacking itself for some reason and it attacks a thing called the Myelin sheath in the brain and spinal column, and that causes basically the brain to misfire so you get problems with balance and partial paralysis and such like. VOICEOVER: Immunologist Niall has been studying multiple sclerosis with the Menzies Centre and University of Tasmania for the past four years.NIALL STEWART: There's sort of various types of the disease. There's one called primary progressive where you get the disease and just start going downhill very rapidly and most people get a form called relapse remitting, so they'll get some symptom like a little bit of paralysis or they'll go a little bit blind or shaky for a while, then they'll get better and they might go a year or two years with no problems. Then they'll have another relapse, then they'll get better and that tends to go on for a long time. VOICEOVER: Beth Muller did end up in a wheelchair but that was when she was living in Queensland. Since moving to Tasmania four years ago Mrs Muller's health has improved. The wheelchair has been relegated to the garage and she only sometimes needs a walking stick.BETH MULLER: Living in Queensland in the heat meant that I spent the hot days inside the house with three airconditioners on all day and all night, and I really couldn't go out. VOICEOVER: That's one of the weird things about multiple sclerosis.NIALL STEWART: People with MS tend to be very heat intolerant so when it gets hot they really can't stand it, which could be another problem, because people with MS don't like the heat, they tend to keep out of the sunshine so they're keeping out of the sunshine, they're getting even less vitamin D than other people. VOICEOVER: The latest research has found vitamin D or the lack of it could be a contributory factor to multiple sclerosis.NIALL STEWART: There's a definite seasonal effect. Not only do you get more cases of multiple sclerosis the further you move away from the equator, so the further south you go the more cases Queensland has only got I think 11 cases per 100,000 compared to our 75 but you get this cyclical thing like this where in winter time you get more exacerbations or relapses of the disease. Then you come to summertime, people seem to get better, not so many relapses. VOICEOVER: Neurologist Bruce says encouraging people to get in the sun to make sure they get enough vitamin D is not about changing the public health message to slip slop and slap.BRUCE TAYLOR: Vitamin D is a hormone and round about 90% of Vitamin D is made in the skin by the action of UVR, or ultraviolet radiation. So you need get all your vitamin D and most people get almost all of it from sunlight exposure. It's in winter that it's a problem where we have low ambient UVR. If we've got to spend more time outside and therefore you need to be looking at your winter sun exposure. VOICEOVER: Doctors and have been looking at how the body handles ultraviolet radiation and how the immune system responds.BRUCE TAYLOR: We found that in winter the body's immune system switches to a form which is more inducive to the development of an autoimmune disorder or a disorder where the body reacts against itself, which is what MS is thought to be.NIALL STEWART: It certainly seems to be that the level of UV radiation affects what are called cytokines in the body, that are messengers that tell the body to do certain things, and in winter time you have what are called inflammatory cytokines and they are basically responsible for telling the immune system to attack, and then in summer time you get ones called anti inflammatory cytokines and they basically switch off parts of your immune system. VOICEOVER: People who have asthma, eczema and hayfever tend to have a lot of the anti inflammatory cytokines and don't tend to get multiple sclerosis. Those with multiple sclerosis don't seem to get diseases such as asthma or eczema. The study will include taking vitamin D levels from people with multiple sclerosis and those without, in both summer and winter. The hope is that even if a cure can't be found, that people will be alerted to the symptoms.

http://www.abc.net.au/stateline/sa/content/2005/s1489136.htm

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