Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. Patients complaining of fatigue were given 20,000 IU vitamin D every other day. A 18% benefit was found in two measures of muscle recovery.
The ability of our bodies to make energy and allow us to do everyday tasks from playing sports to reading to sleeping relies on the proper function of a cellular component called the mitochondrion. It allows us to get energy from either oxygen or sugar through the use of many enzymes (1). However, when the mitochondrion is not working correctly, problems can result that include fatigue and problems with muscle function that can lead to muscle cell death (2).
Now a new study (3) suggests that having sufficient vitamin D in the blood may help maintain proper muscle cell health. In the study, 12 patients with an average age of 34 and complaining of severe fatigue and with vitamin D blood levels below 15 nanomoles/Liter were given 20,000 International Units of vitamin D every other day for 10-12 weeks.
In addition to measuring blood levels for vitamin D, patients also underwent a non-invasive test called Phosphorus-31 magnetic resonance spectroscopy before and after the study. This test looked at the ability of the mitochondria to recover from exercise, which consisted doing a one-legged calf raise at 35% of maximal weight (determined before the study began) for 3 minutes. The researchers then measured the recovery of the patients by measuring how long it took for levels of two energy components (phosphocreatine and ADP) to recover to full levels.
The patients were instructed not to change their diet, exercise, or medication regimen and were compared to 15 control patients with no complaints of fatigue and an average vitamin D blood level of 44 nmol/L.
Before the study began, the 12 patients had an average vitamin D level of 8.83 nmol/L. By the end of the study, their vitamin D levels had increased to an average of 113.8 nmol/L (p < 0.001). The researchers observed a significant benefit of vitamin D supplementation in decreasing the time for phosphocreatine and ADP levels to return to normal. Specifically, there was a 19% faster recovery time for phosphocreatine levels (34.4 to 27.84 seconds, p < 0.001) and an 18.3% faster recovery time for ADP levels, though these results were not as statistically significant (26.84 to 21.93 seconds, p < 0.03).
Surprisingly, for all the positive results seen with vitamin D supplementation on blood chemistry in muscle, the researchers did not have the patients subjectively report fatigue levels with vitamin D supplementation or placebo after the exercises. This would have provided much stronger evidence to recommend vitamin D supplementation to help fight fatigue.
The researchers admit it is still unclear exactly how vitamin D elicits these beneficial effects on the mitochondrion, but point to vitamin D’s effect on improving calcium uptake by the mitochondrion that may improve its’ function (4). They went on to conclude, “To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study in humans to demonstrate an improvement in parameters of mitochondrial function as vitamin D-deficient individuals became vitamin D replete.”
Source: Sinha, Akash, et al. “Improving the vitamin D status of vitamin D deficient adults is associated with improved mitochondrial oxidative function in skeletal muscle.” The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 98.3 (2013): E509-E513.
© 2013 by The Endocrine Society
Posted April 9, 2013.
Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Hauppauge, NY. You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at PitchingDoc@msn.com or visiting his web site at www.PitchingDoc.com
References:
- “The Mitochondrion” posted on the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) section of the National Institutes of Health website
- Kuhl CK, Layer G, Traber F, Zierz S, Block W, Reiser M. Mitochondrial encephalomyopathy: correlation of P-31 exercise MR spectroscopy with clinical findings. Radiology. 1994;192(1):223–230
- Sinha A. Improving the Vitamin D Status of Vitamin D Deficient Adults Is Associated with Improved Mitochondrial Oxidative Function in Skeletal Muscle . J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2013 Mar;98(3):E509-13. doi: 10.1210/jc.2012-3592. Epub 2013 Feb 7.
- Abs R, Mattsson AF, Bengtsson BA, et al. Isolated growth hormone (GH) deficiency in adult patients: baseline clinical characteristics and responses toGHreplacement in comparison with hypopituitary patients: a sub-analysis of the KIMS database. Growth Horm IGF Res. 2005;15:349–359.
