Abbasszadeh Seyed Hamzeh, Farhoodi Mehdi, Ebrahimi-Mameghani Mehrangiz, Asghari Jafarabadi Mohammad, Lotfi Lida, Arefhosseini Seyed Rafie
Background: Vitamin D - as an environmental factor- may play a role in the etiology of Multiple sclerosis (MS). Vitamin D intake and serum levels of 25 (OH) Vitamin D were compared between MS patients and healthy individuals.
Materials and methods: In this case-control study, 168 MS patients (cases) and 168 age and sex-matched apparently healthy subjects (controls) were studied in East Azerbaijan province in Iran completed the study. A validated food frequency questionnaire was completed for each subject and serum 25 (OH) D levels were assessed using Chemiluminescence Competitive Immunoassay (CLIA).
Results: There were no significant differences in weekly frequency consumption of fats and oils between the groups. Weekly frequency consumption of beef, lamb, minced meat, cream cheese, dairy products (low-fat milk, yoghurt, ice cream (pasteurized and traditional ice cream), cream, drinking chocolate milk, milk fat and curd as well as hamburger, salami, sausage and fresh mushroom in MS patients were significantly less than healthy subjects (P < 0.05). Vitamin D deficiency (<10 ng/ml) in MS patients was significantly more common than the controls (P = 0.042).
Discussion: Severe deficiency of serum vitamin D and low consumption of vitamin D - rich foods were found among MS patients and nutrition education and /or vitamin D supplementation appears to be required.