Vitamin D Deficiency May Impair Muscle Function

AHA Publisher — Mon, 19 Apr 2021 07:00:35 +0000

Society for Endocrinology via EurekAlert – Vitamin D deficiency may impair muscle function due to a reduction in energy production in the muscles, according to a mouse study published in the Journal of Endocrinology. Vitamin D deficient mice were found to have impaired muscle mitochondrial function, which may have implications for muscle function, performance and recovery. This may suggest that preventing vitamin D deficiency in older adults could help maintain better muscle strength and function and reduce age related muscle deterioration, but further studies are needed to confirm this. Vitamin D is a hormone well known to be important for maintaining bone health and preventing rickets and osteoporosis. In recent years, vitamin D deficiency has been reported to be as prevalent as 40% in European populations and linked to increased risk for several conditions, including COVID-19, cancer and diabetes. Although these studies report association rather than causation, the benefits of vitamin D supplementation are now a major subject of health debate. Multiple studies have also linked low vitamin D levels to poor muscle strength, particularly in older people. Skeletal muscle enables us to move voluntarily and perform everyday activities. It is essential that they have enough energy to power these movements. Specialized organs in cells, called mitochondria, convert nutrients into energy to meet this demand. Previous studies indicate that impaired muscle strength in people with vitamin D deficiency may be linked to impaired muscle mitochondrial function. Determining the role of vitamin D in muscle performance of older people is also difficult, as they may suffer from a number of pre-existing health conditions that can also affect their vitamin D status. Therefore, previous studies have been unable to determine how vitamin D may directly affect muscle performance. Dr Andrew Philp and his team at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Australia, and collaborating universities, used a mouse model to determine the effects of diet-induced vitamin D deficiency on skeletal muscle mitochondrial function in young, male mice. Mice were either fed a diet with normal quantities of vitamin D, or with no vitamin D to induce deficiency, for a period of 3 months. A typical vitamin D level for humans is 40-50 nmol.L-1, and acute vitamin D deficiency is diagnosed when levels drop below 12 nmol.L-1. On average, the mice in this study had vitamin D levels of 30 nmol.L1, with diet-induced vitamin D deficiency leading to levels of just 3 nmol.L-1. Although this level was more extreme than typically observed in people, it is still within the clinically recognized range. Tissue and blood samples were collected monthly to quantify vitamin D and calcium concentrations and to assess markers of muscle mitochondrial function and number. After 3 months of diet-induced vitamin D deficiency skeletal muscle mitochondrial function was found to be impaired by up to 37%. This was not due to a reduced number of mitochondria or a reduction in muscle mass. “Our results show there is a clear link between vitamin D deficiency and oxidative capacity in skeletal muscle. They suggest that vitamin D deficiency decreases mitochondrial function, as opposed to reducing the number of mitochondria in skeletal muscle.” Dr Philp comments. “We are particularly interested to examine whether this reduction in mitochondrial function may be a cause of age-related loss in skeletal muscle mass and function.” These findings suggest that vitamin D deficiency may impair mitochondrial function and reduce the amount of energy produced in the muscles, which may lead to poor muscle function. Therefore, preventing vitamin D deficiency in older people may help maintain muscle performance and reduce the risk of muscle related diseases, such as sarcopenia. However, further studies that investigate the direct effect of vitamin D deficiency on muscle function and strength are necessary to confirm this. Whilst this study indicates that vitamin D deficiency can alter mitochondrial function in skeletal muscle, Dr Philp and his team were unable to determine precisely how this process occurred. Therefore, their future work aims to establish how vitamin D deficiency alters mitochondrial control and function in skeletal muscle. To read the original article click here.

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2400 Units of Vitamin D a Day for Fibromyalgia

AHA Publisher — Thu, 05 Nov 2020 08:00:38 +0000

Michael Greger M.D. FACLM via Nutrition Facts – Fibromyalgia, one of the most common joint and muscle diseases, afflicting millions of Americans, is characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain, often accompanied by other symptoms, such as fatigue. The medical profession used to think it was all in people’s heads, “but today there is irrefutable evidence” that it is indeed a disorder of the body and not just the mind. Back in 2003, an influential paper was published out of the Mayo Clinic in which a shocking 93 percent of fibromyalgia-type patients were found to be vitamin D deficient, so the researchers concluded that all such patients are at high risk of severe vitamin D deficiency. Wait a second, said the skeptics. There was no control group, and where’s the Mayo Clinic located? Minnesota. Maybe 90 percent of everyone in Minnesota is deficient in vitamin D. When controlled studies were done, some did indeed find that those suffering from these kinds of pain syndromes were significantly more likely to be D deficient, but other studies did not find this. Even if all the studies did have the same findings, though, that doesn’t mean that low vitamin D levels cause fibromyalgia. Maybe chronic, widespread pain disorders like fibromyalgia cause low vitamin D. After all, it’s the sunshine vitamin, and perhaps fibromyalgia patients aren’t running around outside as much as healthy controls. To know if vitamin D is contributing to the disease, you have to put it to the test. Various studies found that the majority of those with pain syndromes and low D levels appeared to benefit from vitamin D supplementation, and clinical improvement was evident in up to 90 percent of patients. But these studies weren’t controlled either. Maybe the subjects would have gotten better on their own without the supplements, or maybe it was the placebo effect. There are many examples in the medical literature of treatments that looked great in uncontrolled trials, like hyperbaric oxygen therapy for multiple sclerosis, but when put to the test in randomized controlled trials, they failed miserably. And, that’s what seemed to happen in the first randomized controlled trial of vitamin D for a fibromyalgia-type syndrome in 2008. As you can see at 2:55 in my video The Best Supplement for Fibromyalgia, researchers saw no significant difference in pain scores, though the study only lasted three months, and, in that time, the treatment was only able to get the vitamin D blood levels up to about 30. Unfortunately, no controlled study had ever been done pushing levels any higher, until 2014. As you can see at 3:23 in my video, fibromyalgia patients were given up to 2400 units of vitamin D a day for 20 weeks and their D levels rose up to about 50. Then, once they stopped the vitamin D, their levels came back down to match the placebo. That was reflected in their pain scores: a significant drop in pain severity while they were on the D and then back to baseline when they came off of it. The researchers concluded “that this economical [in fact, over-the-counter] therapy with a low side effect profile may well be considered in patients with FMS [fibromyalgia syndrome].” To read the original article click here. For more articles from Dr. Greger click here.

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Vitamin D Deficiency May Impair Muscle Function

2400 Units of Vitamin D a Day for Fibromyalgia