Ready To Test?

Click here to find a ZRT Provider trained in testing diagnosis and treatment.  Professional healthcare providers may be able to offer more attractive pricing and payment options for healthcare consumers.

OR

Click here to order a retail test kit online and take to your existing Provider.
    testing.jpg
    Multiple Sclerosis Linked To Low Vitamin D Levels In Obsese Teens PDF Print E-mail

    Teenage obesity in women may lead to multiple sclerosis later in life: study

    BY Issie Lapowsky
    DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
    Tuesday, November 10th 2009, 10:38 AM  - Original Article

    Obesity during teen years was shown to be an indicator of multiple sclerosis in middle age, a study found.

    Researchers have found that teenage obesity may make women more likely to develop multiple sclerosis later in life.

    The study comes from the Harvard School of Public Health and tracks 40 years in the lives of 238,000 women. It found that the women who were obese at 18 years old were twice as likely to develop MS. The findings were published in the medical journal Neurology.

    Out of the women studied, 593 developed the condition, which breaks down nerve fibers, causing neurological deterioration.

    Oddly enough, neither obesity in childhood nor obesity in adulthood showed any correlation with the condition, according to the report.

    “Our results suggest that weight during adolescence, rather than childhood or adulthood, is critical in determining the risk of MS,” study author Kassandra Munger, ScD, told BBC News. “There’s a lot of research supporting the idea that adolescence may be an important time for development of disease, so what we have found is consistent with that.”

    According to BBC News, researchers believe that the connection between teen obesity and MS may have something to do with vitamin D levels. Some research has indicated that high levels of vitamin D can reduce the risk of developing MS. Fatty tissue, however, often reduces a person’s vitamin D levels.

    “Teaching and practicing obesity prevention from the start - but especially during teenage years - may be an important step in reducing the risk of MS later in life for women,” Munger told the BBC.

    Susan Kohlhaas, research communications officer for the MS Society, however, told the BBC that the results are not wholly conclusive.

    “This study does not account for several other factors that may play a role in causing MS. Based on that, more work is needed,” she told the BBC. “As such, it is difficult to determine whether teenage obesity could be a possible factor in causing MS in women.”