Vitamin D lowers CVD risk, improves exercise performance

Daily vitamin D3 supplementation in healthy adults improves blood pressure and arterial elasticity while also improving exercise performance compared with placebo, according to recent study findings presented at the Society for Endocrinology Annual Conference.

“Our pilot study of 13 individuals showed that high doses of daily vitamin D intake markedly improved exercise performance demonstrated by a reduction in the rise of blood pressure and a reported reduced fatigue following aerobic exercise (cycling),” Raquel Revuelta Iniesta, BSc, a lecturer innutrition in the department of health science at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, Scotland, told Endocrine Today. “However, these are preliminary results and further larger studies should be performed to confirm these findings.”

Raquel Revuelta Iniesta

Revuelta, Nimrah Munir, also of Queen Margaret University, and colleagues conducted a randomized, placebo-controlled, parallel study of healthy adults; eight were assigned 2,000 IU daily vitamin D3; five were assigned placebo. Researchers measured body composition, BP and arterial elasticity at baseline, days 7 and 14; two 24-hour urine samples were collected to measure free cortisol and cortisone levels. To measure exercise performance, participants cycled for 20 minutes using a bike ergometer; researchers measured BP and arterial elasticity before and after exercise sessions, distance cycled and Borg rating of perceived exertion (RPE).

After 2 weeks of therapy, the vitamin D group significantly reduced systolic and diastolic BP (114.65 mm Hg to 105.41 mm Hg; 78.58 mm Hg to 66.25 mm Hg, respectively), whereas arterial elasticity was only slightly reduced (P = .085).Urinary free cortisol levels fell from 162.59 nmol/day to 96.4 nmol/day in the vitamin D group; the cortisol/cortisone ratio fell from 2.22 to 1.04 (P = .017).

Vitamin D also affected exercise performance, with the intervention group improving its distance cycled in 20 minutes from 4.98 km to 6.51 km while showing a lower rate of exertion (5.13 to 4.25 RPE). No significant effects on exercise performance or CV risk factors were observed in the placebo group, according to researchers.

“The blood pressure lowering effects of vitamin D reported in this study in normotensive individuals may also reduce risk of cardiovascular events in later life,” Iniesta said. “However, larger studies are now needed over a longer period of time to confirm these findings.” – by Regina Schaffer

Reference:

Munir N, et al. Abstract #0077. Presented at: Society for Endocrinology Annual Conference; Nov. 2-4, 2015; Edinburgh, Scotland.

Disclosure: Munir and Iniesta report no relevant financial disclosures.