Research
Micronutrients & recovery
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.
Vitamin D is biologically essential for muscle health, affecting how muscles grow and contract. Maintaining adequate levels helps prevent muscle degeneration and aids recovery.
ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
The data presented above suggest that VITD could improve muscle mass and strength... and could accelerate the recovery of muscles from the stress of intense exercise... Vitamin D also prevents muscle degeneration and reverses myalgia.
Why this rating
Mechanistic evidence is strong, but clinical translation to performance gains is variable.
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 supplementation in vitamin D-deficient athletes improves muscle strength, power, and recovery, and reduces injury rates.Moderate
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