Vitamin D3 has recently become an indispensable supplement. From the world of scientific research there are newer reports of its pro-health properties. It is loud about how it affects the body’s immunity or skeleton health. However, not much is said about how it affects the formation of sports results, and vitamin D3 has a bit to offer here.
Supplementation is a contentious issue for some people. Some of ideological reasons refuse to supplement anything, according to the principle that only nutritious elements for the body should be supplied exclusively from food. However, here the studies quite clearly determine that it is statistically difficult to maintain the proper concentration of D3 relying solely on food and what the UVB offers us in the context of increasing the concentration of the endogenous form of the discussed vitamin. And as I show below, it would be a pity to miss the potential of progress in sports results due to the insufficient concentration of a single vitamin – vitamin D3.
VITAMIN D3 AND HEART AND BREATHABILITY
Study was conducted on a group of 1995 people aged 20-49. Respiratory fitness VO2max in these people was verified by a fitness test. VO2max is a parameter that means maximum oxygen uptake and is a factor determining the athlete’s performance.
The results of the experiment indicate that each jump by 10 nanomolar per liter of vitamin D3 in the form of a metabolite 25-(OH)-D3 (this metabolite can be defined as a vitamin supply D3 in the body) improved the VO2max limit in a statistically significant way.
To be more reliable, the highest and lowest values were excluded. Gender, race, body mass index, blood pressure, diabetes, cigarette smoking, C-reactive protein level (marker of inflammation), hemoglobin level and renal filtration rate were taken into account.
Another experience on athletes, this time on footballers, also showed that vitamin D3, when supplemented, contributes to the improvement of the VO2max parameter. Here the group taking the actual vitamin D3 improved its results by 20% compared to the initial measurements. The placebo group by 13% (it is confirmed how a placebo affects motivation in sport!).
The researchers concluded from this study that athletes should take 4,000 to 5,000 IU daily, especially in winter, when the level of D3 synthesised by our organism is lower.
EFFECT OF SUPPLEMENTATION ON HEALTHY PEOPLE
However, if you still think that your sport development could not be improved, then you may be interested in the results of another study.
In this case, the researchers investigated the effect of a fairly symbolic supplementation with vitamin D3, equivalent to 2000 IU (this is really not much considering the physical load of the body), but to fully healthy people.
The participants participating in the experiment were divided into two groups – placebo , and those that actually received the 2000 IU D3. Participants were subject to fitness tests and blood samples were taken from them for analytical purposes.
The result of the 14-day supplementation was that they could overcome a greater distance in the fitness test by feeling less tired than the placebo group.
The diagnosis showed that people taking vitamin D3 had lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure – both during activity, and resting – which clearly affects the more efficient transport of blood to the cells (and this is the oxygen that is necessary for muscle work).
Most likely, vitamin D3 was active against the development of hypertension by inhibiting the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, and this relationship was noted already in 1986 6. This system is an important regulator of blood pressure, where renin affects the properties of angiotensin, which in turn, after binding with its receptor, it affects blood pressure.
SUMMARY
As you can see from the above examples, supplementation with vitamin D3, even in a small dose, affects the improvement of sports results.
Therefore, the additional supply of D3 will affect not only the sports results, but also the development of the figure and its composition.