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I'm a big believer in vitamin D3, so I thought I would add this


 vitamin D deficient subjects.  Both animal and human studies have found that vitamin D directly affects muscle.  That is, vitamin D increases muscle mass. For example, Birge and Haddad found that vitamin D caused new protein synthesis in rat muscle.Birge SJ, Haddad JG. 25-hydroxycholecalciferol stimulation of muscle metabolism. J Clin Invest. 1975 Nov;56(5):1100-7. What about humans?  In 1981, Young performed muscle biopsies on 12 severely vitamin D deficient patients before and after vitamin D treatment.  They found type-II (fast-twitch) muscle fibers were small before treatment and significantly enlarged after treatment.  Sorensen performed muscle biopsies on eleven older patients with osteoporosis before and after treatment with vitamin D.  The percentage and area of fast twitch fibers increased significantly after treatment, despite the lack of any physical training.  Young A, Edwards R, Jones D, Brenton D. Quadriceps muscle strength and fibre size during treatment of osteomalacia.  In: Stokes IAF (ed) Mechanical factors and the skeleton. 1981. pp 137-145. Sorensen OH, Lund B, Saltin B, Lund B, Andersen RB, Hjorth L, Melsen F, Mosekilde L. Myopathy in bone loss of ageing: improvement by treatment with 1 alpha-hydroxycholecalciferol and calcium. Clin Sci (Lond). 1979 Feb;56(2):157-61. Sato reported that two years of treatment with 1,000 IU of vitamin D per day significantly increased muscle strength, doubled the mean diameter, and tripled the percentage of fast-twitch muscle fibers, in the functional limbs of 48 severely vitamin D deficient elderly stroke patients. The placebo control group suffered declines in muscle strength, and in the size and percentage of fast-twitch muscle fibers. Sato Y, Iwamoto J, Kanoko T, Satoh K. Low-Dose Vitamin D Prevents Muscular Atrophy and Reduces Falls and Hip Fractures in Women after Stroke: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Cerebrovasc Dis. 2005 Jul 27;20(3):187-192 [Epub ahead of print] These studies clearly show that vitamin D when administered to vitamin D deficient people stimulates the growth and number of those muscle fibers critical to athletic ability, type-2, or "fast twitch," muscle fibers. 4. Many studies have found direct associations between physical performance and vitamin D levels.  That is, the higher your vitamin D level, the better your athletic performance.


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