HEALTH NEWS
The body will make vitamin D if bare, sunscreen-free skin is exposed to the sun
RISE and shine C
OLIVER GILLIE REPORTS ON HOW THE ‘SUNSHINE VITAMIN’ IS MAKING TOP ATHLETES MORE COMPETITIVE
an you think of a powerful hormone that boosts athletic performance and is not only perfectly legal but also free if
you train outdoors in a good climate? The word is going round, but still a lot of athletes and sports people do not know the answer. It is vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin, available from health stores – or for free if you can train in a sunny climate exposing a lot of skin to the midday sun. Unfortunately the British Isles are far
north and cloudy, so we don’t get enough sun. Most of us, including many athletes, are short of vitamin D – even in the summer. In 2012 we had an exceptionally bad summer, meaning vitamin D levels among the population are unusually low. Athletes who train inside or use lots of sunscreen are particularly likely to have low blood levels of vitamin D: sunscreen blocks UVB rays from the sun, and it is these that make vitamin D in the skin.
BODY CONTROLS Vitamin D itself is a pre-hormone which is processed in the liver and kidney, and
also in most organs and tissues of the body, into a potent hormone called 1,25 hydroxy vitamin D. Feedback mechanisms that control the processing of vitamin D ensure that the body does not get too much of this active product – but in fact, as noted above, most of us in the UK and other northern countries get too little vitamin D. This is because of our long winters, when the sun is not strong enough to make vitamin in the skin; because our cloudy summer weather blocks out sunshine; and because cancer scares have instilled in us a fear of the sun. Diet is not the answer, because the best balanced diet will not give you more than about 10 per cent of the optimal level of vitamin D.
APPLIANCE OF SCIENCE The East Germans and the Russians have known about the benefi ts of vitamin D for athletes since the 1930s, when knowledge of vitamin D and the benefi ts of sun in producing the vitamin was fi rst discovered by science. Now, very late in the day, athletes in Europe, the US and
other advanced industrial nations are beginning to learn about its benefi ts. Top athletes and football players have started taking vitamin D in the last two or three years, and based on the fi ndings of scientifi c studies (more on that shortly), it’s possible that this will have made an important but unheralded contribution to the UK’s success in the Olympics – more important for the Brits than for other nationalities because of our climate. Critical observations and experiments
by Graham Close and colleagues at the Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences at Liverpool John Moores University in the UK show that vitamin D is important for muscle strength. They tested the vitamin D levels of 61 athletes from the worlds of rugby, soccer and horse racing. All the athletes were in full-time training or competing six days a week. Two-thirds of the athletes had inadequate blood levels of vitamin D in the winter months and only one athlete, a rugby player, had an optimal level. Two soccer players and two fl at jockeys were severely defi cient.
“THE VITAMIN D LEVELS OF 61 ATHLETES FROM THE WORLDS OF RUGBY,
SOCCER AND HORSE RACING WERE TESTED. TWO-THIRDS OF THEM HAD INADEQUATE BLOOD LEVELS OF VITAMIN D IN THE WINTER MONTHS”
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www.surveymonkey.com/s/NQDN2R6 January 2013 © Cybertrek 2013
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