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    The Role of Vitamin D in Athletic Performance

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    Leighton Smith
    1) Recent studies have shown that 56% of 2,313 athletes studied were vitamin D insufficient, with levels below 32 ng/ml. 2) Studies have found that 4000-5000 IU/day of vitamin D3 can increase VO2 max and decrease muscle inflammation and power loss compared to placebo. Higher doses of 5000-10,000 IU/day may be needed to maximize performance. 3) Vitamin K is likely important for athletic performance as well, as it acts as a co-factor for vitamin D, but more research is needed on vitamin K's specific role. The author recommends athlete's aim for natural vitamin D levels of 46 ng/ml.

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    The Role of Vitamin D in Athletic Performance

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    Leighton Smith
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    1) Recent studies have shown that 56% of 2,313 athletes studied were vitamin D insufficient, with levels below 32 ng/ml. 2) Studies have found that 4000-5000 IU/day of vitamin D3 can increase VO2 max and decrease muscle inflammation and power loss compared to placebo. Higher doses of 5000-10,000 IU/day may be needed to maximize performance. 3) Vitamin K is likely important for athletic performance as well, as it acts as a co-factor for vitamin D, but more research is needed on vitamin K's specific role. The author recommends athlete's aim for natural vitamin D levels of 46 ng/ml.

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    The role of vitamin D in athletic performance

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    1) Recent studies have shown that 56% of 2,313 athletes studied were vitamin D insufficient, with levels below 32 ng/ml. 2) Studies have found that 4000-5000 IU/day of vitamin D3 can increase VO2 max and decrease muscle inflammation and power loss compared to placebo. Higher doses of 5000-10,000 IU/day may be needed to maximize performance. 3) Vitamin K is likely important for athletic performance as well, as it acts as a co-factor for vitamin D, but more research is needed on vitamin K's specific role. The author recommends athlete's aim for natural vitamin D levels of 46 ng/ml.

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    100 views3 pages

    The Role of Vitamin D in Athletic Performance

    Uploaded by

    Leighton Smith
    1) Recent studies have shown that 56% of 2,313 athletes studied were vitamin D insufficient, with levels below 32 ng/ml. 2) Studies have found that 4000-5000 IU/day of vitamin D3 can increase VO2 max and decrease muscle inflammation and power loss compared to placebo. Higher doses of 5000-10,000 IU/day may be needed to maximize performance. 3) Vitamin K is likely important for athletic performance as well, as it acts as a co-factor for vitamin D, but more research is needed on vitamin K's specific role. The author recommends athlete's aim for natural vitamin D levels of 46 ng/ml.

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    The role of vitamin D in athletic performance

    Posted on September 4, 2015 by John Cannell, MD

    Until recently, the relationship between vitamin D and athletic performance received minimal
    attention. My colleagues and I began to evaluate this relationship in 2009, when we wrote the
    first paper about vitamin D and athletes in 50 years.

    Cannell JJ, Hollis BW, Sorenson MB, Taft TN, Anderson JJ. Athletic performance and
    vitamin D. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2009 May;41(5):1102-10. doi:
    10.1249/MSS.0b013e3181930c2b. Review.

    In 2010, I wrote a book on the subject. For some reason, if you search for the book on Amazon,
    some of the resellers on Amazon are asking $1,700.00 for a single copy. Does anyone know how
    that ruse works? I believe you can still purchase the book on the publisher’s website for $15.95:

    Athlete’s Edge, faster, quicker, stronger with vitamin D.

    Since our 2009 paper alerting team physicians and athletic trainers to the importance of vitamin
    D in athletic performance, there have been 24 studies examining the prevalence of vitamin D
    insufficiency [25(OH)D < 32 ng/ml] in athletes. It turns out that 56% of the 2,313 athletes studied
    were vitamin D insufficient.

    Farrokhyar F, Tabasinejad R, Dao D, Peterson D, Ayeni OR, Hadioonzadeh R, Bhandari M.


    Prevalence of vitamin D inadequacy in athletes: a systematic-review and meta-analysis. Sports
    Med. 2015 Mar;45(3):365-78. doi: 10.1007/s40279-014-0267-6. Review.

    Now a Canadian group has reviewed selected papers on the recent evidence that supports
    vitamin D has an effect on athletic performance.

    Dahlquist DT, Dieter BP, Koehle MS. Plausible ergogenic effects of vitamin D on athletic
    performance and recovery. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2015 Aug 19;12:33. doi: 10.1186/s12970-015-
    0093-8. eCollection 2015. Review.

    They reviewed five areas in some depth.

    1) Oxygen consumption

    Cross-sectional studies on oxygen consumption are mixed. However,  Jastrzebski et al


    performed a single-blinded trial of supplementation with 6000 IU/day of vitamin D3 versus a
    placebo during an 8-week training cycle in 14 elite lightweight rowers with sufficient 25(OH)D
    concentrations (>30 ng/mL).
    The research team wanted to determine the effects of vitamin D supplementation on VO2 max.
    VO2 max is a measurement used to determine the maximum amount of oxygen an athlete can
    utilize. They demonstrated a significant increase in VO2 max of 12.1 % and 10.3 % in the vitamin
    D group and placebo group, respectively.

    2) Muscle inflammation

    In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, Barker et al. reported that 4000 IU/day
    for 35 days attenuated the inflammatory biomarkers alanine (ALT) and aspartate (AST)
    immediately following 10 sets of 10 repetitions of peak isometric force eccentric-concentric
    jumps. Furthermore, although peak power output decreased throughout the sets and repetitions
    in both of the groups, the supplementation group only decreased by 6%, while the placebo
    group’s power decreased by a significant 32%. This significant discrepancy persisted at 48
    hours.

    3) Force and Power production

    Cross-sectional studies of force and power are certainly mixed. Close et al. conducted an 8 week
    randomized controlled trial in 30 athletes using 5000 IU/day of vitamin D or a placebo; the
    vitamin D group had a significant increase in 10-m sprint times (P = 0.008) and vertical jump (P =
    0.008) when compared to the placebo group. When Close et al. attempted a RCT using weekly
    doses of vitamin D, they found no effect on performance, showing – perhaps – vitamin D must be
    given daily.

    4) Testosterone production

    Testosterone is known to affect athletic performance; that’s why it’s banned. Pilz et al. conducted
    a 12-month, double-blind, randomized control trial in 54 non-diabetic obese males and
    demonstrated that the group receiving 3300 IU/day of vitamin D had a significant 30% increase in
    circulating total testosterone (P=0.001), bioactive testosterone (P=0.001) and free testosterone
    levels (P=0.001).

    5) Vitamin K

    For the first time, the authors raised the question, “is vitamin K important for athletic
    performance?” To the best of my knowledge, no studies exist on the subject.

    The authors concluded:

    “Based on the research presented on recovery, force and power production, 4000-5000 IU/day of
    vitamin D3 in conjunction with a mixture of 50 mcg/day to 1000 mcg/day of vitamin K1 and K2
    seems to be a safe dose and has the potential to aid athletic performance.”
    They continued,

    “Lastly, no study in the athletic population has increased serum 25(OH)D levels past 40 ng/ml
    (100 nmol/L), (the optimal range for skeletal muscle function) using doses of 1000 to 5000
    IU/day. Thus, future studies should test the physiological effects of higher dosages (5000 IU to
    10,000 IU/day or more) of vitamin D3 in combination with varying dosages of vitamin K1 and
    vitamin K2 in the athletic population to determine optimal dosages needed to maximize
    performance.”

    I advise team physicians and athletic trainers to make sure their athletes have, at least, “natural”
    blood levels of vitamin D. Free-living hunter-gatherers in modern day equatorial Tanzania have
    mean levels of 46 ng/ml. Nature may know what it is doing.

    As far as vitamin K is concerned, we agree that it is a “co-factor” of vitamin D. That’s why I


    advised Bio Tech to put vitamin K in the only vitamin D formula the Vitamin D Council
    endorses,D3Plus, which, by the way, contains 800 mcg of vitamin K as well as the co-factors,
    magnesium, zinc and boron.

    Ref: https://www.vitamindcouncil.org/blog/does-vitamin-d-improve-physical-performance-in-
    athletes-09-2015/

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