Research
Micronutrients & recovery
Vitamin D supplementation in vitamin D-deficient athletes improves muscle strength, power, and recovery, and reduces injury rates.
If you are an athlete, get your Vitamin D levels tested, especially if you train indoors or live in northern latitudes. If you are deficient, supplementation has been shown to improve muscle strength and reduce injuries. Do not assume you have enough just because you are healthy.
ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
In relation to VITD supplementation in athletes with deficiency, several studies have shown that this increases muscle strength. Higher serum levels of vitamin D are associated with reduced injury rates and better sports performance.
Why this rating
The paper is a review citing multiple studies, but notes conflicting results and lack of precise thresholds for athletes.
Source
Role of Vitamin D in Athletes and Their Performance: Current Concepts and New Trends
Mirian de la Puente Yagüe et al. · Nutrients · 2020
DOI 10.3390/nu12020579
narrative_reviewCited 167×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent in athletes across various sports and ethnicities, often leading to musculoskeletal issues like stress fractures and muscle weakness.Good
- Vitamin D plays a critical role in skeletal muscle function through genomic and non-genomic pathways, influencing muscle fiber type, protein synthesis, and contraction force.Moderate
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