Shine On Scotland

Their Home page http://shineonms.com/ April 2010

If you had one chance to help reduce Multiple Sclerosis in Scotland, what would you do?

This is the question which Ryan McLaughlin, aged 14, from Glasgow, has an answer to. Watch the video to find out more, and please share this video on your Bebo, Facebook and MySpace pages. You could help protect future generations of Scots from Multiple Sclerosis by writing to your MSP and asking them to support the campaign.
Thousands signed our e-petition and hundreds joined our walk to the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday 16th June 2009. It was a great success and the Scottish Government have been very supportive of the campaign goals. Ryan went back at the public petitions committee on the 9th of February 2010 when he formally closed his petition as excellent progress had been made in working with the Scottish Government to take action on the campaign goals even further forward and we hope to announce full details of the vitamin d summit in the coming weeks!

Ryan is aware of the effects of Multiple Sclerosis (MS), as it impacts on the lives of 10,500 people in Scotland and one of of those affected is his Mum. His experience of MS made him determined to find a way to help the thousands of people who are fighting this chronic progressive disease, an illness which has no cure, and to lessen the impact of MS on future generations. So what is his answer?

Campaign Goals

• Providing Vitamin D to all of Scotland’s children and pregnant mums
• Clarification on the recommended daily allowance
• To run a public awareness campaign inform the public about the benefits of Vitamin D in relation to MS

Scientists have now proven a link between MS and a lack of Vitamin D. People in Scotland are exposed to less sunshine, and it is the energy from the sun which triggers a chemical reaction in the body which leads to Vitamin D being produced. MS is rare in countries close to the equator which have a high amount of sunshine and becomes more common at distant latitudes. For example, in the US rates are lowest in Florida and rise towards Canada. At an MS conference in November 2008 scientists told the Scottish Government of the link and now it needs to act on this evidence.
That is why Ryan has started the Shine on Scotland campaign, as he believes that the government providing Vitamin D to children and pregnant mums is our chance to stop future generations from suffering the way his Mum does everyday. He’s doing it for your children and your grandchildren. Will you join him in his fight?
This is our chance. Together we can change Scotland’s future through providing Vitamin D for all.

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See also Vitamin D Life

• All items in category Europe and Vitamin D 208 items
• All items in category Far from Equator and Vitamin D 111 items
• All items in category Rickets and vitamin D 119 items
• Vitamin D in the UK = VitaminDAsssociation
• Vitamin D UK 45 year olds by Hyppönen
• Sunlight Robbery - Gillie Nov 2010 full text
• Let the Sun shine on you - Gillie Aug 2011
• Death of Babies in UK due to vitamin D deficiency – Jan 2012 Gillie
• Vitamin D - Experts' Forum – presentations April 2011 including one by Gillie : PDF and Video
• Three free vitamin D books - focus on Scotland 2004-2008 All by Oliver Gillie
• UK elderly need vitamin D – 86 percent less than 30 ng - Jan 2010
• UK summers are not long enough to re-stock vitamin D – Aug 2010
• UK workshop on diet, sunlight, and vitamin D status – June 2010
• Overview Deficiency of vitamin D
• UK survey of vitamin D knowledge of midwives - 2011
• Official European vitamin D upper levels 4000 adult – July 2012
• UK Day cares being offered grants to develop vitamin D methods – July 2012
• Vitamin D insufficiency in UK youths – 37X more likely if dark skin – July 2011
• UK pediatricians have a lot to learn about vitamin D – May 2012 which has the following
  Identify additional groups of children who are also at high risk, not just dark skin (e.g. excess fat)
  Test for a rare allergic reaction to vitamin D before giving high doses.
  Dose size should increase with the number of high risk categories a child is in
  Also provide some cofactors, not just vitamin D
  Followup with maintenance doses after the loading dose.
• Scotts having extremely low vitamin D got no, or only minimal treatment – Feb 2012
• OBGYN College in UK still recommends only 400 IU during pregnancy – Jan 2012
  “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary is dependent upon his not understanding it” Upton Sinclair
• Problems with low UV and vitamin D in Scotland

See also web

• scots4vitd Added Sept 2012?
  PDF of April 2012 presentation is attached at the bottom of this page
• When there is little sun, you might consider wearing a shirt which allows sun to get to the skin
  TanThrough Shirt    Increase your vitamin D from the sun by wearing a tan-through instead of standard shirt