Vitamin D plays an important role in the regulation of calcium and phosphorus absorption by an organism. It also helps keep the brain and immune system working.
In a study from the Federal University of São Carlos and elsewhere, scientists found that vitamin D supplementation reduces the risk of dynapenia in older people by 78%.
Dynapenia is an age-associated loss of muscle strength. It can be partially explained by muscle atrophy and is a major risk factor for physical incapacity later in life.
People with dynapenia are more likely to fall, need to go to the hospital, be prematurely institutionalized, and die.
In the study, the team analyzed data for 3,205 people aged 50 without the disease. Grip strength (considered a good proxy for overall muscle strength) was 26 kg or more for men and 16 kg or more for women.
The team found that people with vitamin D deficiency, defined as less than 30 nanomoles per liter in the blood, had a 70% higher risk of developing dynapenia by the end of the four-year study period than those with normal levels of vitamin D, defined as more than 50 nmol/L.
The study shows that vitamin D deficiency heightens the risk of muscle weakness by 70%.
When people with osteoporosis and those taking vitamin D were excluded from the analysis, the team found that the risk of developing muscle weakness by the end of the four-year period was 78% higher for people with vitamin D deficiency at the start of the study than for subjects with normal vitamin D levels and 77% higher for those with vitamin D insufficiency.
The results proved that the risk of muscle weakness is heightened by both vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency.
Another conclusion to be derived from the results of the study is that it’s important to take vitamin D if you have a deficiency or insufficiency.
If you care about nutrition, please read studies about how Mediterranean diet could protect your brain health, and the best time to take vitamins to prevent heart disease.
For more information about nutrition, please see recent studies that olive oil may help you live longer, and vitamin D could help lower the risk of autoimmune diseases.
The study was conducted by Tiago da Silva Alexandre et al and published in Calcified Tissue International.
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