Monday, February 1st, 2010
By Heather Morgan
Most of you fit-o-holics are up on vitamin D and have even jumped on the bandwagon. If nothing else, you’re aware of the bone-building bennies. But it turns out the level of service provided to us by vitamin D is manifold. And we’re still just at the tip of the iceberg in our knowledge of it! So let’s take a look and see what it can do for your performance now and long into future.
According to Robert Heany, MD, about 99% of what we know about vitamin D has been revealed in the century we are in now. Some of that is because we can more easily measure it, which I’ll get to at the end. One thing we do know is that vitamin D is, in fact, not just a “vitamin”, per se. Vitamins are nutrients that must be brought into the body via the ingestion of food. It is common knowledge, however, that vitamin D can also be synthesized by the body when it is exposed to adequate sunlight with the proper amount of stimulating UV rays, in particular UVB. But really, vitamin D is defined as a “pluripotent pleiotropic secosteroid hormone”. (Thanks for clearing that up, right?) Translation: It’s a prehormone that is able to have many effects on various cell types and body systems. When produced in your skin or ingested, precholesterol (present in your tissues) is turned into cholecalciferol (aka. vitamin D), which is metabolized into [25(OH)D] (remember that for later) which is more like a hormone in structure, and then metabolized in your organs into a potent hormone [1,25(OH)2D]. It is also now known that vitamin D affects around 2000 genes (perspective: that’s about 10% of ‘em, which in the bio-geek world is huge) when previously it was only considered to affect the kidneys and blood phosphate and calcium levels. In other words, vitamin D—misnamed or not—is an over-achiever. An over-achiever that it is woefully under-present in most of us.
It is estimated that 80-90% of Americans are deficient in vitamin D. How was this arrived at, you ask? By examining dietary and environmental links to chronic diseases. Specifically, the higher incidence of cancers in those at living at higher latitudes and with lower sun exposure. “Current research has implicated vitamin D deficiency as a major factor in the pathology of at least 17 varieties of cancer as well as heart disease, stroke, hypertension, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, depression, chronic pain, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, muscle wasting, birth defects, periodontal disease, and more.” (Vitamin D Council)
While I’ll be getting to how vitamin D can put the mojo into your workouts, I think we can all agree that nothing throws a monkey wrench into a training schedule like one of those chronic illnesses just listed. The links between vitamin D and these problems are so strong, and the research is so copious now, that many experts, such as John Cannell, MD and others, aren’t just suggesting but screaming from the mountain tops that bazillions of dollars can be saved in chronic disease treatment alone by bringing peoples’ vitamin D levels up to snuff. Cannell, a researcher and vitamin D expert, even put this in the final slide of his renowned presentation on Vitamin D: “We don’t truly know the burden of chronic disease. And we won’t, until everyone has enough vitamin D”. Makes you think.
It’s no shocker that we don’t get enough of the stuff. We work in buildings with artificial (non-UV) light with windows that block UVB rays, we slather ourselves with full spectrum sunscreens and blocks, and we hide from the sun like it’s it the creature in a horror movie and we’re the screaming chick just two more strides from twisting her ankle. But I’m going to save most sun-related stuff for another post because it’s just that kind of topic, so you can get all up in my grill about it then. Rather, I’ll use it as a segue into athletic performance and vitamin D findings. So {segue!} it might interest you to know that Eastern European athletes used UV light as part of their training regimen. German literature documents this and that country’s athletes were certainly known for being dominant in world sports. (And I’m talking about the ones who passed the drug tests). Also, in one study, some Russian sprinters were treated with UV light, another group was not. Then both groups underwent identical training programs for the 100-meter dash. The control group improved their sprint times by 1.7 percent while the radiated ones lowered their times by 7.4 percent.
In a review of historical and current literature, it was concluded that “…[P]hysical and athletic performance is seasonal; it peaks when 25-hydroxy-vitamin D [25(OH)D] levels peak, declines as they decline, and reaches its nadir when 25(OH)D levels are at their lowest. Vitamin D also increases the size and number of Type II (fast twitch) muscle fibers.” And, in another article about vitamin D and athletic performance, its importance in the normal growth and development of muscle fibers and proper immune system functioning was highlighted. So, even if it isn’t cancer sidelining you (and I sincerely hope it never ever is), a bad case of the flu can be enough to keep you out of the game for a while. Harking back to vitamin D’s bone-building role, stress fractures are markedly reduced in those athletes with good vitamin D levels as well. Finally, I’d like to mention that several studies have “…also shown that, among athletes who train outside year-round, maximal oxygen intake tends to be highest in late summer…The athletes, in other words, are fittest in August, when ultraviolet radiation from the sun is near its zenith.” They go on to reveal that these athletes then experience sharp drops—as early as a month later—in maximal oxygen intake even when their training intensity remains the same. If you can get past the sun part for now, and realize they are looking at it from the athletes’ vitamin D production capability, you get the idea: low D = lowered performance.
So what’s an athlete to do in the middle of -8 degree Fahrenheit weather, knowing her summer vitamin-D stores are dwindling, and with no Spring in sight? You got it. Supplementation! If you’re thinking about banging down untold quantities of dairy, head over to last week’s “Truth or Dairy?” post, then come back (grabbing a big spinach salad on the way). And most fortified foods aren’t cutting it—the amount in it is often lower than what it contains, and even more often it’s not well absorbed. Plus, we’re whole food gals! “Fortified” food almost always means “processed” food. No thanks. Your first step is to get your vitamin D levels tested. Specifically you want to get your (remember from paragraph 2?) [25(OH)D] levels tested. Often your doc (for a lot of us this means our GYN) will add this to a blood draw. You can also order a test online if necessary at www.zrtlab.com. This is an imperative first step before supplementing with vitamin D so that you know: a) if you have an insufficiency or deficiency to begin with; b) how severe it is if the answer to “a” is yes; c) how much to supplement with; d) whether or not your supplementation is adequate with subsequent testing. Even if you are absolutely sure you need more vitamin D, your supplementation will be safer and much more meaningful overall if you do this. This is why I won’t continue with current research and opinions about dosage recommendations. For that you’ll need to wait for your results and for an upcoming Model Per4mance MP3 series, part of which will address that topic. {plug plug}
References:
Athletic performance and vitamin D. Cannell JJ, Hollis BW, Sorenson MB, Taft TN, Anderson JJ. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 209 May;41(5):1102-10.
Phys Ed: Can Vitamin D Improve Your Athletic Performance? Reynolds, Gretchen. New York Times Well Blog, Sept 23, 2009. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/phys-ed-can-vitamin-d-improve-your-athletic-performance/
Take Control of Your Health by Joseph Mercola, MD
Dark Deception by Joseph Mercola, MD
Thursday, January 28th, 2010
Did you ever read something that made your blood boil? I mean made you so mad that you started talking *to* the publication you were reading?
“That’s nonsense!”
“How do these clowns get away with printing garbage like this?”
“Nice conclusion, buddy, too bad it lacked facts.”
What’s wrong with me, for Heaven’s sake? When did I become this fanatic about nutrition and training? Well since you asked, I’d say about 12 years ago. Regardless, nothing gets me more heated than the topic I am going to cover today: supplementation.
If you asked me 5 years ago how I felt about supplementation I would have most likely told you that ‘Americans have the most expensive urine than any other country.’ I would have gone on and on about how we do not need to supplement with vitamins and minerals if we just ate a balanced, nutritious diet. I might have even told you the top ten foods you can put in your diet to hit every nutrient need that your body has. I would run circles around you with stats and facts, pros and cons, websites, books, resources of all kinds and just plain exhausted you to the point of your surrender. Now, I just stand in line at my local Vitamin Shoppe with my frequent customer point’s card enjoying my savings. Boy has times changed.
So why the change of heart?
Top 3 Reasons to Add Supplements to Your Diet
1. Top Soil Erosion
Sometimes I wish I didn’t read as much as I do. I am at an astronomical rate at this point in my career. I am banging through about 3 books/week right now with no end in sight. For educational purposes this is fabulous. Who wouldn’t want to read that much? For sanity purposes this is insane. I am surprised I eat food any more with all that I know. If you want to sleep at night, avoid books like Skinny Bitch, Omnivores Dilemma, Eating Animals, Food Inc. and etc. Lock yourself in your room, hide under your bed and pray that no one hands you the crib notes either. This type of reading material makes Paranormal Activity look like a good skit for Nickelodeon. I personally am going to try and get therapy as soon as my new insurance kicks in. But while I’m waiting for it to kick in, let’s talk about something that occasionally is brought up but some do-gooder reporter but then promptly ignored by the loving-to-be-ignorant mainstream media: top soil erosion.
Yes, eat your fruits and vegetables to maintain a healthy diet. Add lots of color to your plate so you may eat a wide variety of vitamins and minerals. But what happens when the soil you’re growing your veggies in has less minerals than a Snicker’s bar? Now what?
Top soil is being stripped of its nutrients 10 times faster than it can regenerate. The earth is currently losing top soil at a rate of 1%/year. Farmers are being forced to toggle between fields at a much faster rate than say 10 years ago when they could let a field “rest” between plantings. We are growing dead food and it scares the hair off of my head. You can eat all the vegetables and fruit that you can fit on one plate and ‘look’ as if you are getting a good amount of vitamins, but if what you are eating is already devoid of any nutritional value then it doesn’t much matter now does it?
2. Can Only Eat But So Much
You are most likely not a full time athlete. Very few people have the luxury of being able to make a living off of the sport that they love. So normally they must work a 40 to 50 hour work week, come home and take care of their family obligations and somewhere in there get their training in. Not everyone is making 8 hours of sleep per day, environmental toxins and everyday stress is causing free radical damage and your food is already failing you before you start. There is no way you could physically eat all of the food that you need to eat to get in all of the vitamins and minerals you need to be effective in your week. It’s not going to happen unless you take up eating as your new sport.
3. You’re picky
Admit it. You are a picky eater. You seek help with your diet all the time as if it is the structure of your diet that is the problem. It isn’t the structure. It’s you. You “don’t like”, you “won’t eat”, you “don’t have enough time to cook”. Most foods that you avoid you can make up for in other foods without having to supplement (if #1 didn’t exist) but you cannot make up for Omega 3’s if you do not eat fish or flax. Are you a fish eater? Do you like flax oil? If you do not like either, you are missing out on the best nutrient for your body. Fat’s where it’s at and you need to hop on it asap. You need a serving of good fat every day *on top of* your capsule supplementation. One does not replace the other.
As I am reading the article about general nutrition that I was screaming at, the author finishes by saying that you do not need to supplement your diet with anything, that mother nature got it right and if you just… Best line of the article and it bears repeating, “if you just…” We do not “just”. I wish we did, but we don’t. And since we do not, learn how to add supplements to your diet responsibly. Do not just take anything that the latest advertisement totes as fabulous for face value. Stick to the basics. A good multivitamin along with a few other key suppies will do the trick for you.
I also detect from the article that he may also be referring to meal replacement shakes and bars. Now this I agree with completely. Whenever you have the chance, focus on getting real food into your body and do not rely on powders and bars to be your meals. Supplementation in this article refers to vitamins and minerals only, not MRP’s, pp’s, bars, ergogenic aids and etc. I want to make sure you do not misread what I am saying.
At this point I am sure you want to know what vitamins we do recommend and how do you know you are getting enough. Well, we have a free report coming your way based on the most important supplements you need to be taking right now, daily. If you are currently signed up on the blog, it is coming to you via email. If you are not, it will be part of the bonus for signing up. As a subscriber you will receive the download before it becomes available to the public so keep your eyes peeled for that. This means that I am not going to mention here what they are because I detail them fully in the report and I want you to be able to check it out in its entirety.
Instead, work on adding as much C.O.L.O.R. to your diet as you can. As of this moment, that is the best thing that you can do to bolster the nutrient value of your current diet. If this is not an easy task for you, we have a menu planning product coming your way that takes all of the thought out of your week of planning and just gives you a full week of balanced, nutritious eats at your fingertips. It does not get any easier than that. Woop woop!
