Overview Sports and vitamin D

Athletes are helped by vitamin D by:

1. Faster reaction time

2. Far fewer colds/flus during the winter

3. Less sore/tired after a workout

4. Fewer micro-cracks and broken bones

5. Bones which do break heal much more quickly

6. Increased VO2 and exercise endurance Feb 2011

7. Indoor athletes especially need vitamin D

8. Professional indoor athletes are starting to take vitamin D and/or use UV beds

9. Olympic athletes have used UV/vitamin D since the 1930's

10. The biggest gain from the use of vitamin D is by those who exercise less than 2 hours per day.

11. Reduced muscle fatigue with 10,000 IU vitamin D daily

12. Muscle strength improved when vitamin D added: 3 Meta-analysis

13. Reduced Concussions

    • See also: Sports and Vitamin D category items

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Should an athlete supplement with Vitamin D - 2018

Vitamin D and the Athlete: Current Perspectives and NewChallenges

📄 Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki

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High Intensity Athletes - Professional and Olympic

• Sprint internal training improves cognition March 2023, ~!hs~ Jan 2022

• Olympic Athletes and vitamin D - clippings 2009-10

  • UV used by Olympic athletes since the 1930's, High UV in Mexico Olympics broke many records

• Professional sports team takes 5000 IU vitamin D and wins championship Hockey

• 5000 IU vitamin D helped UK professional athletes in the winter – Oct 2012

• 5000 IU daily was just enough vitamin D for Irish athletes in the winter – March 2013

• More muscle injuries in NFL players who where low on vitamin D – July 2011

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Stress fracture/broken bones with Vitamin D

• Overview: Bone fractures and vitamin D - focus on the elderly, but has lots of links

• Many abstracts on fewer stress and bone fractures with vitamin D

• Vitamin D reduces stress fractures – review Oct 2010

• Shin splints decrease with vitamin D

• Half as many fractures for girls with high vitamin D intake – March 2012

  • Vitamin D supplementation: 540 IU, 825 IU, 1100 IU, 1400 IU, 1900 IU
  • Those getting 1900 IU had half the fractures of those getting 540 IU

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Indoor vs outdoor sports and vitamin D

• Virtually all basketball players and dancers had less than 30 ng - Sept 2010 file

• Another outdoor sport produces more bone than indoor sport – vitamin D Sept 2010 Badmitton vs Hockey

• Ballet Dancers with low D had 50 percent more injuries – pilot study Sept 2011 male

• Ballet dancers in the winter had more injuries and only 15 ng of vitamin D – Feb 2013 female

• Dark skinned NCAA basketball players were 15X more likely to have low vitamin D – Feb 2014

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6+ VitaminDWiki pages with CONCUSSION in title

This list is automatically updated

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Other Sports and VitaminDWiki

• All items in the Sports and D category items

• Athletes (national-level) with less than 10 ng of vitamin D had smaller hearts – Jan 2014

• Sports benefits from up to 50 ng of Vitamin – meta-analysis - Nov 2012

• Muscle improved by increasing vitamin D if previously less than 24 ng – June 2013

• Muscles and Vitamin D - many studies

• Vitamin D provides faster recovery after muscle overuse – April 2013

• Collegiate Swimmers getting 4000 IU of vitamin D had fewer injuries – March 2013

• Some athletes would benefit from more vitamin D – May 2013

• Sport performance not improved after 5710 IU of vitamin D daily for 12 weeks – Feb 2012

• Type 2 muscles, not all muscles, get benefit from Vitamin D - Dec 2012

• Female Athlete health problems may be due to lack of vitamin D – July 2012

• More than 40 ng/ml vitamin D for Athletes – July 2010 nice tables

• Athletes need 50 ng/ml of Vitamin D – Cannell and Hollis – 2009

• Vitamin D bed used 4 minutes daily by dark skin members of UK sports team – Jan 2011

• Vitamin D and Athletic Performance - Dec 2011.pdf 6 page file + references

• Athletes and vitamin D and UV - perhaps more than 2000 IU July 2010

  • Good review - authors are very cautious about recommending more than the current upper Limit

• Muscle strength in youth increased with 8700 IU vitamin D daily avg and 1 g Calcium – April 2010

• Effect of vitamin D on muscle strength - meta-analysis 2010 pdf

• Vitamin D increased both Vo2 and hours of exercise – Feb 2011

• 8500 IU average daily helped sports performance – Oct 2010

• None of the female soccer players got the minimum vitamin D – Dec 2011

• Top UK soccer coach installed vitamin D booths in his club – Dec 2012

• Vitamin D and Athletic Performance - Dec 2011.pdf 6 page file + references

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See also VitaminDWiki

• Vitamin D from low-cost UVB lamps

• Is 50 ng of vitamin D too high, just right, or not enough

• Proof that Vitamin D Works

• Low Cost vitamin D - including liquid and bulk

• No – 10 minutes per day of sun-UVB is NOT enough

• Low cost cofactors for vitamin D

• How you might double your response to vitamin D

• Overview Magnesium and vitamin D

• Overview: Omega-3 many benefits include helping vitamin D

• Overview Vitamin K and Vitamin D

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See also Web

• Muscle Regeneration and Function in Sports: A Focus on Vitamin D Sept 2021 FREE PDF

• The Benefits of Vitamin D Supplementation for Athletes: Better Performance and Reduced Risk of COVID-19 - Dec 2020 FREE PDF

• Vitamin D and Sports Performance - March 2020 FREEPDF

• Prevalence and Treatment of Vitamin D Deficiency in Young Male Russian Soccer Players in Winter - Oct 2019 FREE PDF 5.000 IU for 2 months 2X higher Vitamin D levels

• Vitamin D and sports: overhyping a strong case May 2009 brief review of Journal articles

• Vitamin D and Athletic Performance: Fact or Fad? March 2010

• The Role of Vitamin D in Injury Resistance Among Athletes

• US News Running related injuries up 34% from 1994 to 2004 in US age 5-18 sprains and falls

  • CLICK HERE for peer-reviewed paper

  • (Suspected cause: lower levels of vitamin D decreases muscle coordination)

• Vitamin d and athletic performance: the potential role of muscle Dec 2011 full text on-line

• Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D in early autumn to ensure vitamin D sufficiency in mid-winter in professional football players Feb 2012

  • Goal of getting to a level of 50 ng vitamin D was not met

• Vitamin D and Athletic Performance: The Potential Role of Muscle Dec 2011 full text on-line

• 55% of Irish athletes were low on vitamin D lots of indoor sports

• Vitamin D Concentrations and Physical Performance in Competitive Adolescent Swimmers. Aug 2013

  • No difference in swimmer performance - appears that all had <40 ng of vitamin D

• 50,000 IU vitamin D once a month got UK Pentathlon group thru the winter British Medical Journal Oct 2013

• Raising vitamin D levels of New Zealand Rugby players - RCT March 2014

  • 50,000 IU every 2 weeks raised vitamin D levels from 32 ng to 45 ng, but did not change mood scale
• Vitamin D, the Sun and sporting success - Sir Alex Ferguson's view Dr. Grimes blog post Sept 2013
  • Notes that Ethiopia, with many sports stars has a very high altitude ( 4,200 - 9,800 feet) = lots of UV and thus vitamin D

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Wikipedia item mentions how the study of UV on sports resulted in creating Tanning Parlors

While studying the beneficial effects of ultraviolet light on athletes , German scientist Friedrich Wolff noticed an interesting side effect - tanned skin.

Realizing the appeal of a beautiful tan, Wolff founded the indoor tanning industry .

His research led to development of indoor tanning equipment and lamp technology.

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Happened to notice many professional black athletes had shaven heads or very short hair

Most likely that they have short hair due to being easier to move around quickly on the basketball court

However, if that were the only reason, the white players would also have very short hair, and they do not seem to.

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Tendonitis and vitamin D on the web

• TeondonitisExpert clips

  • The research overwhelmingly shows that Vitamin D deficiency is the cause of an incredible amount of pain, disease, and physical dysfunction that we just consider to be normal these days.

  • One of the many possible symptoms of Vit D deficiency is random pain in the body. This can look exactly like Tendonitis...unless you know what you're looking for.

• MedHelp

  • Within the first 2 weeks the pain and tendonitis was gone from my shoulders

Book on Sports and Vitamin D Aug 2011

Athlete's Edge: Faster, Quicker, Stronger With Vitamin D by John Cannell, $23 including US shipping

• Review at VitaminDWiki excellent on Athletics, covers vitamin D concerns well.

Review of book by Bill Sardi

One of the referenced publications by the author Athletic performance and vitamin D May 2009

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Increasing vitamin D decreases stress fractures Glossmann 2011

2X less likely to have stress fracture if have 38 nanograms of vitamin D

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Increasing vitamin D helps those who are not fit Glossmann 2011

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Associations with the category: Seniors 39, Intervention 20, Bone - Health 17, Omega-3 17, Meta-analysis 12, Women 8, Cognitive 7, Skin - Dark 7, Youth 7, Obesity 7 etc (Nov 2023)

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Short url for this page: http://is.gd/sportsd