Vitamin D and PERFORMANCE

[Biciclista]

so we've all read about the fact that without vitamin D we don't absorb calcium like we should; but how about low serum Vit D levels = losing muscle mass,
not performing as well, not having as good a sense of balance? how about it might protect you from the flu?

http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/2007-mar.shtml

"So the level of vitamin D (50 ng/mL) associated with peak athletic performance is the very same level that recent studies show also helps to prevent cancer, diabetes, hypertension, influenza, multiple sclerosis, major depression, cognitive decline, etc. But who cares about all that disease stuff old people get! We're talking about important stuff here: speed, balance, reaction time, muscle mass and strength, squats, reps. As for my young basketball player, guess who's now taking 5,000 IU vitamin D a day? That's right! And his 25-hydroxyvitamin D level is now 54 ng/mL. Has this improved his game? Well...he said to me he feels his timing is better, can jump a little higher, run faster and...oh yeah! and that the ball feels "sweeter"—whatever that means."

[SadieKate]

Thanks for posting this. I saw it yesterday and thought about the fact that I'd just posted last week about my several year history of testing low for D.

And, yes, I fought the psychological war and bought supplements. And, no, h3ll hath not frozen over. :p

I will be expecting to leap tall buildings soon . . . .

[ny biker]

Their sponsors are all companies that sell supplements...makes me sceptical.

http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/sponsors.shtml

[Zen]

I will be expecting to leap tall buildings soon . . . .

I was counting on my P. F. Flyers (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sqqn54uQn0) for that.

[Biciclista]

Their sponsors sell supplements but the research done all over the world is
there for you to read. for free.

[OakLeaf]

I prefer getting my vitamin D the old-fashioned way. Just like food, we don't know that vitamin D is the only reason that sunlight is beneficial. (In fact, we know that it isn't - melatonin is another hormone that's strongly influenced by sunlight.) Never mind that vitamin D is a hormone, and I'm very dubious of ingesting artificial hormones.

I admit I'm lucky in that department, but it CAN be done in most latitudes in the winter, as long as you have a lunch break that allows you to go outside.

You Norwegian gals, have at the cod liver oil. :p

[Biciclista]

yeah, we need something like cod liver oil here. The indians ate salmon and lots of other oily fishes. I'm sure their bones were great.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

So isn't cod liver oil a 'supplement' too? Is the vitamin D in it a hormone?

I can't envision slurping down fish livers like raw oysters...though I'm sure some indigenous peoples might do just that.

[Biciclista]

i'll keep taking my vit d3 pills. I really really tried the cod liver oil. it's all my mother's fault for not giving it to me when i was a little kid.
(I'd be used to it by now)

[OakLeaf]

So isn't cod liver oil a 'supplement' too? Is the vitamin D in it a hormone?


Well sure, and I only suggested that it might be useful for people who live in those latitudes where the sun only rises for 3-4 hours a day, or less, in the wintertime, at an angle where very little UV gets through. And people who have some type of absorption disorder, also.

Relying on supplements for anything is like saying "you don't need carbs from food, just eat plenty of refined sugar." Sure there are times in some people's lives when they need IV glucose, but it's not your first line of nutrition.

I'm the first to admit that I take a pretty high dose of a calcium/magnesium supplement whenever the weather's warm. I love greens, but there's a limit to how much I can eat, and I think a lot of US soils are deficient in those nutrients as well, particularly magnesium. (Time to put some more greensand on my garden I think. :p)

[SadieKate]

I prefer getting my vitamin D the old-fashioned way. And sometimes you need both. I get lots and lots of sun. Have my whole life. And my skin shows it.

[Biciclista]

yes, that's one of the points of the article; even a lot of people who spend most of their life on the beach, etc, are not getting enough Vit D. so they are suggesting getting your levels checked.

[Dianyla]

I think there's really something to this. A few days ago I saw this same topic of vitamin D and athletic performance mentioned in the NY Times (http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/phys-ed-can-vitamin-d-improve-your-athletic-performance/?hp). It's been on my mind all week because it seems to explain something I've observed about myself recently.

This past summer, I've felt a distinct increase in my cardiovascular performance and found that I'm responding a lot better to strenuous exercise. I've especially noticed a difference hiking at high altitude. I was trying to figure out why this might be. I have lost some excess body fat this year, but I've been thinner before and it honestly didn't make that much difference in the past. I'm still struggling with the constant borderline low iron, so that hasn't changed. I'm still living a fairly sedentary life in between going out and doing weekend-warrior epic feats. This past February my doc tested my vitamin D and I was quite deficient, even though I'd been taking cod liver oil for several months. I've been taking 6,000 IU daily since then, and I really think this is why I've been performing so much better.

I had already been taking cod liver oil for the essential fatty acid benefits. Nowadays you can get cod liver oil that's been molecularly distilled. This removes the fishy flavor and also ensures that you're not getting a side helping of mercury and PCBs with your vitamins. Look for Carlson's or Nordic Naturals brands, you can find them at Whole Paycheck, etc. Cheap cod liver oil is fishy, high quality purified cod liver oil is not. You can even get strawberry/peach/lemon flavors. I mainly take this for the EFAs, since there's only something like 500-1000 IU of vitamin D per dose. After being diagnosed as deficient, I added Carlson's D Drops to my daily supplement routine. It's the animal form of D which is best absorbed, and it's easy to take as each drop contains 2,000 IU and it's basically flavorless.

And I can actually envision eating fish livers, as well as the livers of all kinds of animals. Native peoples have always eaten the whole animal. This trend of cherry-picking just the prime muscle meat cuts from an animal and not eating the rest of it is a very modern practice. Besides, ankimo is so tasty!