Vitamin D Promotes Post-Exercise Recovery

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that adults ages 18 to 64 years should do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity throughout the week or do at least 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity throughout the week or an equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity activity. As such, recent research seeks to identify  effective approaches to promote muscle recovery after intensive exercise.  Tyler Barker, from The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital (Utah, USA), and colleagues enrolled 14 recreationally active adults to participate in an experiment in which one leg was used to measure muscle performance while the other acted as control,  and compared to blood levels of vitamin D as well as other blood measurements.  Muscle weakness was observed in then exercise leg (as compared with the control leg) post-exercise, with blood levels of vitamin D inversely predicting muscle weakness both immediately and several days after exercise.  The study authors report that: “we conclude that pre-exercise serum [vitamin D] concentrations could influence the recovery of skeletal muscle strength after an acute bout of intense exercise.”