Muscle strength can be improved by increasing levels of active vitamin D , according to research, which was based on data from previous studies in which inactive vitamin D was found to be associated with a deficiency in muscle mass. and that has evaluated the impact of said micronutrient on various muscle functions, and what are the optimal levels necessary to maintain healthy muscles .
116 healthy people, aged between 20 and 74, participated in the study, and one of the researchers, Dr. Zaki Hassan Smith, from the University of Birmingham (United Kingdom), explained that they developed a new technique for evaluating multiple form of vitamin D, together with the analysis of the physical characteristics of the volunteers, such as body composition – body fat and lean body mass (an average obtained by subtracting the weight of body fat from the total body weight) – as well as muscle function and volume.
Study results suggest there is a link between vitamin D and body composition
The authors of the work, whose results have been published in Plos One , observed that women with an adequate body composition and less body fat were less likely to have high levels of inactive vitamin D, a concept associated with a deficiency of said vitamin, which which suggests that there is a link between vitamin D and body composition .
It was also found that people whose levels of lean mass and muscle mass were higher had higher levels of active vitamin D in their blood. In the opinion of Dr. Hassan Smith, lean mass is the key to high levels of active vitamin D, so it is important to find out how to supplement the intake of vitamin D in order to increase muscle strength.
One of the relevant data in the study is that this association was not observed among men, so it is still pending to verify whether it could be due to biological differences.
