Conditioning Research

An interesting review on the impact of Vitamin D supplementation on muscle strength, gait and balance in older adults Effect of vitamin D supplementation on muscle strength, gait and balance in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Supplemental vitamin D with daily doses of 800 to 1,000 IU consistently demonstrated beneficial effects on strength and balance. An effect on gait was not demonstrated, although further evaluation is recommended. So one to give the old people....

Midday sun is good for you, say health groups Englishmen – and other Britons – were urged today to go out in the midday sun to ensure adequate levels of vitamin D. It is pretty unusual and a change from the conventional wisdom to be told to get out into the midday sun, but that is what the Guardian is recommending. I liked this bit: "We have to put over the message that sunshine is enjoyable. Some of the messages have been a bit too negative. "UK summer sunshine by and large is not desperately strong. It's important not to translate the Australian sun avoidant messages straight to the UK. "At the moment the suggestion is that exposing the face, arms and legs to the sun for 10 to 15 minutes three times a week is going to do no harm. "This is probably best done in the middle of the day rather than at either end of the day. Sun before 10 and after four probably doesn't stimulate much vitamin D synthesis."

I saw this interesting review of research into Vitamin D:   Vitamin D in health and disease: Current perspectives  The whole thing is there as a pdf .   Here is part of the conclusion Although recommendations of daily vitamin D intake have been provided, higher levels are required in order to have real preventive or treatment effect as numerous studies have proved. UVB radiation plays an alternative ways in improving vitamin D content other than oral supplementation. Its advantage is that it will not cause vitamin D intoxication since excessive vitamin D will be broken down by UVB. However, a number of factors of the UVB such as wavelength, duration of exposure are needed to be carefully controlled so as to avoid erythema. Despite the close link of vitamin D with human health, vitamin D inadequacy is not widely recognized as a problem by physicians and patients. Greater awareness of this problem is required among researchers, clinician, and patients of the h...

Another fantastic video from Methuselah

The benefits of Vitamin D keep coming: High levels of vitamin D in older people can reduce heart disease and diabetes Dr Franco said: "We found that high levels of vitamin D among middle age and elderly populations are associated with a substantial decrease in cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. "Targeting vitamin D deficiency in adult populations could potentially slow the current epidemics of cardiometabolic disorders."

Given recent debates about Vitamin D, paleo and milk etc I thought this essay was interesting. Did Lactose Tolerance Trigger the Indo-European Expansion? Some extracts: Agriculture allowed those who practiced it to greatly expand their numbers, but it is distinctly possible that the nutritional quality of the food of early farmers was initially worse than that which had traditionally been available to hunter-gatherers. Consequently, the health of each individual was not necessarily better in the Neolithic period than it had been in the Paleolithic era. The bodies of those who practiced agriculture had to adapt to a new diet consisting of foods that had either not been eaten before or had previously been of only minor importance. According to The 10,000 Year Explosion, “For example, we see changes in genes affecting transport of vitamins into cells. Similarly, vitamin D shortages in the new diet may have driven the evolution of light skin in Europe and northern Asia. Vitamin D is produc...

I must be going supplement daft. First Creatine and now this. (for full discolosure I also take fish oil) There has been so much coverage in the blogs about the benefits of Vitamin D3 that I bought some today. Some interesting D3 links: Vitamin D and Obesity I believe that micronutrient deficiency also plays a role. Inadequate vitamin and mineral status can contribute to inflammation and weight gain. Obese people typically show deficiencies in several vitamins and minerals. The problem is that we don't know whether the deficiencies caused the obesity or vice versa. Refined carbohydrates and refined oils are the worst offenders because they're almost completely devoid of micronutrients. Vitamin D in particular plays an important role in immune responses (including inflammation), and also appears to influence body fat mass. Vitamin D status is associated with body fat and insulin sensitivity in humans (14, 15, 16). More convincingly, genetic differences in the vitamin D recepto...

There has been a lot of chat recently about vitamin D, not least from Stephan . Here is a study that says that sufficient vitamin D is needed for peak athletic performance . Time for sunshine and fish oil

I posted something about vitamin D a few days ago. Dr Briffa has more: More research links vitamin D with protection from cardiovascular disease Vitamin D deficiency was associated with a 20 per cent increased risk of cardiovascular disease after accounting for so-called confounding factors (such as age, sex, physical activity, body mass index, smoking status and presence of high blood pressure and/or diabetes). The authors of the study conclude that “These results indicate a strong and independent relationship of 25(OH)D deficiency with prevalent CVD in a large sample representative of the US adult population.” This study adds further to the body of evidence which links vitamin D with protection from cardiovascular disease. And it further reminds me of the need to ensure good levels of this nutrient in the body throughout the year. Winter time for many of us can spell danger here, because of reduced sunlight exposure of our skin.

Some of the blogs I read have been paying a great deal of attention recently to Vitamin D. ( UPDATE e.g. Matt here ) Stephan had a great post - Vitamin D: It's Not Just Another Vitamin If I described a substance with the following properties, what would you guess it was? -It's synthesized by the body from cholesterol -It crosses cell membranes freely -It has its own nuclear receptor -It causes broad changes in gene transcription -It acts in nearly every tissue -It's essential for health There's no way for you to know, because those statements all apply to activated vitamin D, estrogen, testosterone and a number of other hormones. Vitamin D, as opposed to all other vitamins, is a steroid hormone precursor (technically it's a secosteroid but it's close enough for our purposes). The main difference between vitamin D and other steroid hormones is that it requires a photon of UVB light for its synthesis in the skin. If it didn't require UVB, it would be calle...