[quote=“mogworks”] My neurologist said stem cell treatment is “5-10 years away”. Somehow I don’t think they’ll cure me then 
[/quote] I’ve been following the research for years and it just makes me want to weep at how they keep making the same mistakes and show no understanding of how the body works.
I was looking at some vit d MS research earlier “A randomised, double blind, placebo controlled trial with vitamin D3 as an add on treatment to interferon β-1b in patients with multiple sclerosis” The full text is online if you want to read it and be even more depressed.
First they used a SET AMOUNT of vitamin D for each person.
We should all know by now that the dose response to vitamin D varies 100ng/ml or 250nmol/l for each different daily intake. So you can’t give two people the same daily intake and expect the same result.
We need researchers to raise 25(OH)D levels to a set point such as 125nmol/l where we know Vit D exerts it’s most powerful anti inflammatory effect and keep all the trial participants at that level for 2~3 years and then measure the difference.
We also know that to get from the circulating plasma levels as measured in 25(OH)D tests to the active vitamin D hormone we require MAGNESIUM to operate the change.
We also know most people don’t get the recommended daily amount of magnesium and the RDA for magnesium is set far too low. People would be better taking more magnesium and less calcium. So any trial that doesn’t correct magnesium deficiency at the same time as trying to improve vitamin D status is bound to produce unsatisfactory results because although they may raise Vit d to an acceptable level if they don’t also correct magnesium there is no guarantee that vit d can be used effectively.
Another vital part of our anti-inflammation mechanism is omega 3 found in fish oil. In fact the DHA omega 3 also acts on/binds with, the Vitamin D receptor as a VDR Ligand. So correcting vitamin D and magnesium deficiency is only part of the story. If we want Vitamin D3 to work we also have to do this in conjunction with correcting omega 3 <> omega 6 imbalance. We all consume far too much corn/soy/sunflower/ omega 6 pro inflammatory veggie oils. If we had 20~30 hooligans throwing petrol onto a fire and just one fireman trying to stop the blaze he wouldn’t have much success. In the same way if we want to see the benefits of anti inflammatory substances like Vitamin D or Omega 3 then it’s absolutely no good at all just using trivial amounts of the active ingredient while at the same time allowing the consumption of the omega 6 oils that negate their effect and promote more inflammation.
Humans evolved eating only omega 3 rich free range organic meats and veggies. We also evolved to live mainly outdoors wearing little if any clothing so we made the anti inflammatory anti oxidant vitamin d3 from dawn to dusk. And from dusk to dawn we had no electric lights so from dusk to dawn it was pitch dark and we made the anti inflammatory MELATONIN from dusk to dawn.
If we had a problem with our cars fuel consumption we would expect the garage to ensure the correct air pressure in each of the tyres. Common sense would tell us that simply inflating one tyre wouldn’t solve the problem. Here we have a body with deficiency states in all four tyres at the same time. Most normal people have too little vitamin d, magnesium, omega 3 and melatonin because of the way modern foods are grown/processed and our lifestyle/environment limits melatonin/vitamin d production. If we want to see the impact of correcting our current inflammatory state we have to do more than look at one aspect at a time. Until we see researchers understanding inflammation as a whole rather than specifically tied to one aspect of the problem we won’t get any useful results.
It’s simply applying a little common sense to the problem. I can’t see research ever solving the problem but people like Terry Wahls have led the way and I think the sooner indiviuals understand the basics of how humans evolved to function the sooner they will probably make greater headway than relying on researchers for the answer.
Cheers Julia