A major international summit on the links between multiple sclerosis and vitamin D deficiency, supported by the Scottish government, is to take place in Scotland early next year thanks to the efforts of a campaigning schoolboy.

Ryan McLaughlin, 14, whose mother suffers from the disease, said yesterday he was delighted that that Ministers were backing an opportunity to explore the growing evidence that lack of the vitamin could be implicated in the high incidence of the disease.

The summit will bring together government health advisers as well as researchers from Britain and countries such as Canada, where much work has been done on MS, and where supplementation of vitamin D is officially advocated in the general population.

The Scottish conference will be organised by the MS Society and Shine on Scotland, Ryan’s group. News of the event follows a long campaign by The Times to highlight evidence that shortage of vitamin D, caused by Scotland’s lack of sunshine, could be linked to the country’s record for chronic ill health, including cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

Yesterday, the petitions committee at Holyrood supported Ryan’s call for new guidelines on vitamin D supplements for pregnant women and young children, and agreed to take the issue forward.

Alan McLaughlin, Ryan’s father, said he was “a little disappointed” the matter had not been referred to the health committee, but said the family was still confident that Parliament would carry out the inquiries into the disease which they sought.

He said the family had had a meeting with Nicola Sturgeon, the Health Secretary, and Shona Robison, Minister for Public Health, and had been told that the government would also support a clinical trial in one of Scotland’s major cities to test pregnant women for their levels of vitamin D.

The Scottish government told the campaigners in September that an awareness campaign highlighting the importance of vitamin D was under “active consideration,” and promised new guidelines on the use of the vitamin by children, pregnant and breastfeeding women.

However, it ruled out free vitamin D supplements for all pregnant and breastfeeding women, and said there were no plans to introduce the supplements in the form of fortified milk or other drinks at school.Link

In its response to Ryan’s petition, the government said it was fully committed to improving the understanding and treatment of MS, although it said much of the evidence of a link between vitamin D and the disease was at an early stage and further work was needed before any definitive clonclusions be drawn.

Alan McLaughlin described the Government response as “very supportive” of their broad aims. He said that Ms Sturgeon had also been supportive of the idea of government funding for a clinical trial in a major Scottish city in which thousands of pregnant women would have their vitamin D levels taken, in order to determine the prevalence of deficiency. The research would be carried out by the University of Edinburgh.

Mr McLaughlin pointed out that American scientists, meeting in Boston two weeks ago, have evaluated the feasibility of conducting what would be the largest clinical study ever undertaken to explore the role that vitamin D may play in MS.

David McNiven, director of MS Society Scotland, said: “We have been asked to deliver the summit but we haven’t yet sat down and worked out the logistics of it. It will be early next year in Edinburgh.”

A spokesman for the Scottish government said: “We’re keen to learn all we can about any possible links between Vitamin D and Multiple Sclerosis and are keeping a very close eye on all the emerging evidence.

“During a very positive meeting with Shine On Scotland the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing Nicola Sturgeon supported proposals to organise a summit on MS and its links to Vitamin D, details on this will be made available once plans are finalised.

“Shine On Scotland also raised the possibility of applying for funding for a research project involving women who are pregnant. These proposals, once submitted, will be considered in the normal manner.”

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