Vitamin D Increases Athletic Performance
Athletes work hard to maintain peak physical performance in their chosen sports, yet sometimes they find that stamina wanes unexpectantly. And probably the last place examined for this source of frustration is vitamin D deficiency, which is why I was exited to find the online paper “Peak Athletic Performance and Vitamin D,” by Dr. John Cannell, of the Vitamin D Council website. It provides a great explanation as to why this startling phenomenon may happen.
Dr. Cannell’s investigation began when several patients asked him why they felt better, faster and stronger after receiving the right amount of vitamin D. After some study, he located convincing evidence from five independent bodies of research (largely from German and Russian medical texts) before concluding that maintaining the right amount of vitamin D does indeed improve athletic performance.
He states the Germans and Russians won many Olympic medals in the 1960s and 1970s, and they were convinced vitamin D was their natural wonderdrug. A 1938 study shows that 100-meter dash times were improved from 13.63 to 12.62 seconds, using vitamin D-producing ultraviolet lamps. Further, a 1945 study illuminates the fact that UV radiation for up to 2 minutes, three times a week, improved cardiovascular fitness scores by 19% compared to 2% of students who did nothing.
The pitifully low 200 IU per day the U.S. government recommends for 20‑year‑olds is to prevent bone disease, not to treat low vitamin D levels, says Dr. Cannell. In an obviously common sense comparison, he states it is preposterous for a one year old 25‑pound child to have the same 2,000 IU/day Upper Limit dose as a 30‑year old, 300 pound adult.
How does it work?
The report explains that the active form of vitamin D is a steroid (or secosteroid) in the same way that testosterone is a steroid, and a hormone in the same way as growth hormone is a hormone. Further, “steroid hormones are substances made from cholesterol that circulate in the body and work at distant sites by setting in motion genetic protein transcription. That is, both vitamin D and testosterone set in motion your genome, the stuff of life. While testosterone is a sex steroid hormone, vitamin D is a pleomorphic steroid hormone.”
Cannell reasons that steroids can improve athletic performance, but are dangerous to our health, while Vitamin D being safe, could be the next all natural performance enhancing drug. A bold statement indeed, but one which he says is backed by medical literature, which indicates that the right amount of vitamin D will make you faster, stronger, improve your balance, timing, and so on. But he cautions that improvement is also predicated on athletic ability, training, dedication and how deficient in Vitamin D the athlete was. If not deficient, there may not be any improvement, but most people are said to have sub-optimal levels of vitamin D.
So can we expect a surge of studies into this exiting new revelation? Cannell says it’s not likely since conventional medicine isn’t much interested in something so simple and natural. He figures drug companies won’t climb on board because they can’t sell it, doctors can’t prescribe it and federal agencies can’t regulate it. Heavy sigh.
A word of caution from the Vitamin D expert himself: “Studies suggest that taking too much vitamin D (more than 5,000 IU/day) may actually worsen athletic performance. Take enough to keep your 25‑hydroxyvitamin D levels around 50 ng/mL, year‑round.”
He recommends augmenting Vitamin D in the body by getting regular sun exposure in the summer, and using a sunbed (about once a week) in the winter. I’d like to add that Cod Liver oil is also a potent source of Vitamin D when the sun goes into hibernation.
Read the original transcript at
This is very hot info. I think I’ll share it on Digg.
Dan
April 15, 2009 at 3:47 pm