Nutritional supplementation to enhance the efficacy of exercise training in older adults: what is the evidence from the latest randomized controlled trials?
Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2021 Sep 29. doi: 10.1097/MCO.0000000000000792
Lex B Verdijk 1
As with many health problems, Vitamin D does help
But, must take enough vitamin D for long enough to make a difference
Examples of vitamin D dose+time combinations that can help:
50,000 IU weekly for 2 months
4,000 IU daily or 50,000 IU every two weeks for 4 months
1,000 IU daily for a year
Senior sports in VitaminDwiki
- More muscle strength 80 years after being born in warm season (no surprise) – Nov 2022
- Resistance training can be aided by Vitamin D, 50,000 IU monthly is not often enough – RCT Dec 2021
- Exercise training by seniors may benefit from as little as 800 IU of vitamin D – Sept 2021
- Low muscle strength predicts low vitamin D level in elderly – March 2021
- Omega-3 improves elderly muscles – 2 meta-analyses
- Adding just a little vitamin D does not help (muscle mass in this case) – meta-analysis Jan 2021
- Sarcopenia (muscle loss) is 1.6X more likely if poor Vitamin D receptor – July 2020
- Less muscle loss associated with eating more fish (Omega-3, Vitamin D, Magnesium, etc) – Jan 2020
- My balance significantly improved at age 73 (perhaps Vitamin D, B12, or Omega-3) – Jan 2020
- Reduced muscle function in mice lacking Vitamin D Receptors in muscles – June 2019
- Muscles of senior women not helped by just vitamin D (also need exercise) – Aug 2019
- Muscle loss (sarcopenia) may be both prevented and treated by Omega-3 – Feb 2019
- Exercise plus vitamin D increases elderly muscles (Nordic walking in this case) – RCT Sept 2018
- Dietary Protein, Muscle and Physical Function in the Very Old – July 2018
- Postmenopausal women need Vitamin D, protein and exercise to prevent loss of muscle and bone – Aug 2018
- Sarcopenia reduction: Protein, Leucine, Omega-3, Vitamin D, and exercise - hypothesis Aug 2018
- Disability was 1.9 X more likely if weak muscles and low vitamin D two years before – Aug 2018
- Muscle problems are both treated and avoided by Vitamin D – April 2018
- Sarcopenia does not officially exist in Australia, but 1 in 3 of their seniors have it - July 2018
- Nordic Walking and 4,000 IU of vitamin D lowered cholesterol, fat, weight, and lipids (senior women) – RCT Feb 2018
- Overweight senior women with low vitamin D were 12X more likely to be weak – Feb 2018
- Seniors gained 0.3 kg of muscle in 6 weeks with 800 IU and Leucine protein – Aug 2017
- Resistance exercise combined with Vitamin D is great for seniors – meta-analysis July 2017
- Fast twitch muscles increased by Vitamin D in athletes and seniors (reduce falling) – Oct 2016
- Sarcopenia: Nutrition and physical activity – systematic review – Jan 2017
- More fast twitch muscles (IIA) are associated with higher levels of Vitamin D – Feb 2017
- Muscle strength of senior women increased 25 percent with vitamin D, decreased 6 percent with placebo – Oct 2016
- Senior muscles increased somewhat with Omega-3 – RCT July 2015
- Improved muscle function in postmenopausal women with just 1,000 IU of vitamin D daily – RCT May 2015
- Vitamin D supplementation help muscles of seniors who are vitamin D deficient – meta-analysis July 2014
- Elderly lower limb muscle strength improved with Vitamin D supplementation - Meta-analysis Oct 2013
- Low Vitamin D breaks down muscle by interferring with protein - Editorial Nov 2013
- Physical performance of seniors increases with vitamin D up to 30 ng – Jan 2013
- Activity and being outdoors helps seniors – GPS and Vitamin D Dec 2012
- Type 2 muscles, not all muscles, get benefit from Vitamin D - Dec 2012
- Sarcopenia (muscle loss) fought by Vitamin D, exercise and protein - many studies
- Senior women more physically able if vitamin D higher than 30 ng – Sept 2011
- Seniors with more than 20 ng of vitamin D were 14 percent stronger – May 2011
- Vitamin D2 intervention increased elderly muscle strength – Nov 2010
- Vitamin D improves muscle strength if deficient – meta-analysis - Oct 2010
Purpose of review: This review summarizes recent studies that assessed whether nutritional supplementation enhances the efficacy of exercise training in older adults, focusing on the benefits for physical/functional performance of protein, vitamin D, or multi-ingredient supplementation.
Recent findings: Studies applying long-term exercise training strongly support the benefits of different exercise regimens for muscle strength and function but most studies do not provide direct evidence for protein, vitamin D, or multi-ingredient supplementation to further augment such improvements in older adults. Several methodological limitations are addressed that likely limited the reliability to convincingly establish or refute any additive effects of supplementation. Only when specifically tailored to the population under study, ensuring proper intensity, duration, and adherence to exercise, and aiming for a daily intake of ∼1.5 g protein per kg body mass, and ∼800 IU of vitamin D supplementation, there appears to be some potential to augment the efficacy of long-term exercise training in older adults, with potentially greater benefits in compromised older subpopulations.
Summary: There is some support for the efficacy of nutritional supplementation to further augment the beneficial effects of prolonged exercise training in older adults but any intervention needs tailoring of both the exercise and the nutritional intervention towards the intended (sub)population.