Researchers at The Kids Research Institute Australia are continuing to hone in on the effects of ultraviolet radiation and vitamin D on the immune system.
Professor Prue Hart, head of the Inflammation Laboratory, said vitamin D was only one of many molecules produced by our skin after UV or sunlight exposure.
“It is naive to think that we have evolved with only one of these molecules being important in maintaining our good health,” Professor Hart said.
“The literature is full of reported associations of low vitamin D levels in individuals with a particular type of ill-health condition, and incorrect conclusions that vitamin D was causal.
"Intervention trials are giving equivocal, disappointing outcomes.”
Professor Hart said researchers were taking a step back and testing the effects of the stimulus for vitamin D production, ie UV exposure.
There had been promising signs in a trial of narrowband UV-B phototherapy for people with early multiple sclerosis, called Clinically Isolated Syndrome, with preliminary data suggesting a delay in their progression to MS.
Another study at The Kids is looking into links between UV exposure and vitamin D levels on the development of type 2 diabetes, with Dr Shelley Gorman, head of the Cardiometabolic Sunhealth team, investigating the effects of UV and vitamin D on the development of metabolic syndrome and obesity.
What’s next?
“We are planning a replication trial of narrowband UVB phototherapy to delay progression to MS in Edinburgh, Scotland - a city in which background UV radiation exposure is low.”