Vitamin D and Athletic Performance

[Donald Lee]

I will take your word for it.

[Stephen Sullivan]

Don't know if this has been already posted but seems like a pretty good, but pretty long presentation.

Presentation is by this guy:
http://osteoporosis.creighton.edu/bi.../dr_heaney.htm (wfs)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emjCz...eature=channel (wfs)

[Garrett Smith]

New study:
Vitamin D status and muscle function in post-menarchal adolescent girls.

CONTEXT: There has been a resurgence of vitamin D deficiency among infants, toddlers, and adolescents in the United Kingdom. Myopathy is an important clinical symptom of vitamin D deficiency, yet it has not been widely studied. OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to investigate the relationship of baseline serum 25 hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentration and PTH with muscle power and force. DESIGN: This was a cross-sectional study. SETTING: The study was community based in a secondary school. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 99 post-menarchal 12- to 14-yr-old females was included in the study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Jumping mechanography to measure muscle power, velocity, jump height, and Esslinger Fitness Index from a two-legged counter movement jump and force from multiple one-legged hops was performed. Body height, weight, and serum concentrations of 25(OH)D, PTH, and calcium were measured. RESULTS: Median serum 25(OH)D concentration was 21.3 nmol/liter (range 2.5-88.5) and PTH 3.7 pmol/liter (range 0.47-26.2). After correction for weight using a quadratic function, there was a positive relationship between 25(OH)D and jump velocity (P = 0.002), jump height (P = 0.005), power (P = 0.003), Esslinger Fitness Index (P = 0.003), and force (P = 0.05). There was a negative effect of PTH upon jump velocity (P = 0.04). CONCLUSION: From these data we conclude that vitamin D was significantly associated with muscle power and force in adolescent girls.

Girls with better vitamin D levels jump higher...how about that?

[Blair Lowe]

Chocolate covered vitamin D capsules. Here you go girls!

[Gittit Shwartz]

As far as that study goes... Girls who are naturally more athletic tend to spend more time outdoors in the sun so who can really single out causation?

[Garrett Smith]

Gittit,
One could put it in context and correlate it with all the other studies that the Vitamin D Council accumulated on studies that showed improved performance with better levels of Vitamin D.

Girls who spend more time outside also are likely less depressed, which could be because they are getting more Vitamin D and they are also more active.

It does all fit together, hard to split apart, but muscles may simply function better with better levels of Vitamin D...

[Neill Smith]

I just had blood work come back showing vitamin D deficiency. Does anybody have opinions about what kind of supplement to take? Is an over-the-counter D from the local pharmacy fine?

Thanks in advance.

[Duke McCall]

There are two types of over-the-counter vitamin D. The one you want is vitamin D-3. (Sometimes "D-3" is not on the lable, and I cannot remember the scientific name, but if you google "D-3" you will find it). Other folks may have a view on brand, I do not.

[Ari Kestler]

Trader Joes has a Vitamin D supplement, $5 for 180 drops, each drop is 1g.

[Aaron Gainer]

Use Carlsons Cod Liver Oil if you want the benefits of vitamin d and fish oil in one easy supplement. I take two tsps which nets me 800IU of vitamin d3, and about 2gs of fish oil a day!!!