Using an animal model, the study鈥檚 researchers found that the motor performance and muscle endurance of mice with ALS improved when they were given higher than normal doses of vitamin D.

鈥淲e are the only group in Canada that is looking at the connection between dietary interventions and the effects on the ALS model,鈥� says 91亚色 kinesiology Professor Mazen Hamadeh (left)聽of the University鈥檚 Muscle Health Research Centre in the Faculty of Health. Hamadeh supervised the research led by 91亚色 master of science degree students Jesse Solomon and Alexandro Gianforcaro in the School of Kinesiology & Health Science.

The researchers conducted three different studies looking at different amounts of vitamin D. The first looked at the effects of 10 times the adequate intake of vitamin D on the ALS animal model 鈥� the equivalent of 8,000 IU/day in humans. Results showed an improvement in both motor performance and endurance, but no change to disease outcomes, such as onset, progression or lifespan.

鈥淲e followed up with another study because we thought we didn鈥檛 give high enough amounts of vitamin D,鈥� says Hamadeh. In the second study, the amount of vitamin D was increased to 50 times the suggested adequate intake amount or the equivalent of 40,000 IU per day in humans. Again, there was definite improvement in functional outcomes, but not in disease outcomes, confirming the findings of the first study, he says.

The researchers then thought that perhaps the recommended adequate intake amount of vitamin D was set too high and there was already an overabundance of vitamin D being administered. That led to a third study where only one fortieth of the recommended adequate intake amount was administered using the animal model, which induced a vitamin D deficiency. This study was published in PLoS ONE, an international online peer-reviewed journal, on Dec. 27.

This third study produced some interesting results, says Hamadeh. When vitamin D deficiency was induced before disease onset, disease severity was reduced, but after disease onset, it was worse. 鈥淪o at very low levels there is something happening in the cell that is causing them to function better only for a little bit of time, only until disease onset, than they progress regularly,鈥� he says.

The key now is to find out what molecular changes are occurring in the muscle, spinal cord and brain when vitamin D is administered, and that is what Hamadeh and his students are currently working on.

鈥淎LS is the most common motor neuron disease and up until now there is no cure for it. It is also a fast-progressing disease. Between diagnosis and death, there are usually two to five years. We are trying to see whether by modulating the diet, by changing the diet, we can influence not only when the disease starts, but how fast it progresses and whether it can affect lifespan,鈥� says Hamadeh.

鈥淭o find a dietary intervention that could influence a fast-paced disease after diagnosis of the disease, meaning after some irreversible damage has happened, means this particular nutrient has to be very powerful to either halt or slow the pace of the disease.鈥�

The model Hamadeh works with suffers from heightened oxidative stress, a state of increased levels of free radicals or oxidants that are produced naturally inside the cell during normal functioning and metabolism. There is an association between oxidative stress and chronic, metabolic, autoimmune, neurodegenerative and neuromuscular diseases, including ALS, Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, hypertension, Alzheimer鈥檚, Parkinson鈥檚 and multiple sclerosis.

Hamadeh hopes his research and that of his students will help not only ALS, but many other similar diseases that share common mechanisms with ALS.

By Sandra McLean, YFile writer

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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The study, conducted at the Ontario Science Centre, looked at more than 1,000 children and adolescents from ages聽eight to 18. While boys and girls reported the same frequency of persistent pain 鈥� lasting three months or more 鈥� teenage girls experienced more anxiety and tended to catastrophize over pain to a greater degree than their male peers.聽聽

鈥淏oys who experience pain may feel less comfortable expressing their feelings because they are deemed socially inappropriate 鈥� or it may be that boys simply experience less anxiety in relation to pain,鈥� says study lead author Samantha Fuss (MA 鈥�10), a PhD student in psychology at 91亚色. 鈥淓ven teenage girls who haven鈥檛 experienced persistent pain showed significantly higher levels of pain anxiety than boys their age.鈥澛犅犅�

Overall, 27 per cent of participants reported experiencing persistent pain. The study is published in the latest issue of the journal .

Study co-author Joel Katz, a 91亚色 psychology professor and , says more research is needed to understand the psychological factors relating to pain in youth.聽

Left: Joel Katz

鈥淧ersistent pain in children and teenagers isn鈥檛 a rare occurrence. There are gaps in our understanding of the time course of pain and the developmental trajectories,鈥� Katz says. 鈥淔or example, how does the presence of pain in these life stages relate to pain in adulthood?鈥�

Researchers looked at psychological variables including anxiety, anxiety sensitivity and pain catastrophizing 鈥� a tendency to worry about pain and feel helpless in the face of it.

Boys 12 to 18 years of age were significantly more likely to experience persistent pain than younger boys, while there was no difference between age groups for girls.

Fuss points out that girls more frequently seek medical attention for illness and pain than do boys 鈥� which makes their findings all the more intriguing.

鈥淥ur sample wasn鈥檛 drawn from a clinical setting 鈥� such as interviewing patients at a walk-in clinic,鈥� she says. 鈥淭his is a fairly representative sample of Toronto children and adolescents who happened to be visiting the Science Centre with their parents.鈥�

Katz notes that the greater prevalence of chronic pain in women versus men may be tied to psychological factors that appear in childhood.

鈥淎nxiety sensitivity is thought to be a vulnerability factor for the development of chronic pain. The finding that girls had higher levels of anxiety sensitivity than boys may partly explain why the prevalence of chronic pain is greater in women than men,鈥� he says.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a complex web to untangle in terms of physical versus psychological,鈥� says Fuss. 鈥淚s it that the psychological experience of pain differs between the sexes 鈥� or even age groups 鈥� or is it differences in the physical experience of pain? How are they linked? These are certainly important questions in terms of diagnosis and pain management.鈥�

Fuss鈥� research is supervised by Katz. Their work is funded by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Canada Graduate Scholarship to Fuss, and a Canada Research Chair in Health Psychology to Katz.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

The post Boys shrug off pain, girls 'catastrophize': 91亚色 U study appeared first on UAP 2026-30.