Recent research suggests that increased sun exposure, independent of vitamin D, lessens the degeneration of nerves in those with Multiple Sclerosis, the Sunlight Institute reported last week.

According to Sunlight Institute Founder Marc Sorenson, it’s been known for decades that those living closer to the equator have lower risk of Multiple Sclerosis (MS), but it had previously been suggested that this was a result of higher vitamin D levels. However, a study published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry in March found that while greater summer sunlight exposure predicted greater whole brain volume and grey-matter volume, vitamin D levels had no influence.

“This research opens the door to a whole new area of research on vitamin D. The idea that brain volume is correlated to sunlight exposure independently of vitamin D blood levels causes one to wonder how many other research papers, touting the benefits of vitamin D, might be reassessed to determine if sunlight exposure had its own benefits beyond its ability to cause the production of vitamin D in skin,” Sorenson writes.

Sorenson also suggests that this finding warrants discussion on other benefits that sunlight could have on brain activity and other conditions that sun exposure, independent of vitamin D, can influence.

“Could the pregnant mother’s sunlight exposure have an influence on fetal-brain development beyond the level of vitamin D produced in her body? Could that influence improve IQ? Could factors such as nitric-oxide production by the UVA portion of sunlight play a role?  And, beyond brain and nerve protection and development, could there be independent protective influences of sunlight on the myriad diseases correlated to vitamin D deficiency—diseases such as heart disease, hypertension and cancer?” Sorenson asks.

Click here to read the blog post from the Sunlight Institute.

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