Politicians greeted the news of the first scientific research linking the causes of multiple sclerosis with vitamin D deficiency yesterday as a giant leap forward, and called for the work to be carried forward.

Health food shops in Scotland reported increased sales of the so-called sunshine vitamin, which interacts with a particular gene variant found in some individuals and alters the risk of developing MS.

The Times revealed yesterday that for the first time scientists had found a direct relationship between low vitamin D levels, caused by lack of sunshine, and the debilitating disease, which is more prevalent in Scotland than in other parts of the world.

The research, led by George Ebers, professor of neurology at Oxford University, raises the possibility that giving vitamin D supplements to pregnant women and young children might help to reduce the risk of suffering from the disease and one day could even eradicate it.

Ross Finnie MSP, the Liberal Democrat health spokesperson, described the research as a giant leap forward in our understanding of MS, giving hope of a cure.

Dr Richard Simpson, the Labour health spokesman, said: “This is a really interesting piece of research and an exciting finding. Further progress in Professor Eber's work could lead to a genuine breakthrough, which may help prevent MS in future generations. It is important that the Chief Scientist supports this work.”

A Scottish government spokeswoman said it was considering whether guidance on the use of vitamin D needed to be updated or the message reinforced. She said: “Any new research on the use of vitamins needs to be carefully evaluated in population-based trials. As this research does not fall into this category we need to treat the findings with caution.”

Dr Sreeram Ramagopalan, a lead author of the paper, said: “Our study implies that taking vitamin D supplements during pregnancy and the early years may reduce the risk of a child developing MS in later life.

“Vitamin D is a safe and relatively cheap supplement with substantial potential health benefits. There is accumulating evidence that it can reduce the risk of developing cancer and offer protection from other autoimmune diseases."

The public appeared to be making its own decision. An assistant in a Glasgow branch of Holland & Barrett, the health food chain, said: “We have had a real rush on vitamin D.”

The scientific breakthrough comes after a groundswell of expert belief in the importance of vitamin D. Last November, at a conference organised by the Scottish government, international experts urged that vitamin D supplements for Scots should be tested sooner rather than later.

Scientists from the World Health Organisation told officials from the health department, among them Dr Harry Burns, the Chief Medical Officer, that there should be large, randomised trials, as there was strong evidence that increased daily intake of vitamin D could significantly improve the nation's health.

The new research, published today in the journal PLoS Genetics and funded by the MS Society, suggests that vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy and the early years could be linked to an increased risk of offspring developing MS later in life.

The study was funded by the MS Society in the UK, the MS Society of Canada, the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council, researchers at the University of Oxford and the University of British Columbia. It established a direct relationship between a gene variant, identified as one which increases the risk of developing MS threefold, and vitamin D. A shortage of the vitamin may prevent the immune system from doing its job. Professor Ebers and colleagues believe that vitamin D deficiency in mothers or even in a previous generation may lead to the gene functioning differently in offspring.

The finding that the environment interacts directly with the background genetics of MS is a first for a common autoimmune condition.

"Epigenetics will have important implications, not only for MS, but for other common diseases," said Professor Ebers. "For mothers, taking care of their health during their reproductive years may have beneficial effects on the health of their future children or even grandchildren."

The research was welcomed by Simon Gillespie, chief executive of the MS Society (UK). He said: “This discovery opens up new avenues of MS research and future experiments will help put the pieces together.”

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