Definition: "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance "
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01.02.2010 |
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High vitamin D level = high testosterone level
Vitamin D
This is because our food contains too little vitamin D, so we have to rely mainly on the vitamin D that our body makes. When exposed to sunlight our skin cells convert cholesterol into vitamin D. But we get too little sunlight and are therefore unable to make enough vitamin D.
So does that mean that most men in the West therefore make too little testosterone?
Study
Now, the concentration of vitamin D in the blood fluctuates with the seasons. The vitamin D concentration is highest after the summer. And this is when the concentration of testosterone in men is highest, according to some studies. [Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2006 Aug;31(7):895-9.] The Austrians were able to confirm this relationship. The testosterone level and vitamin D level rise and fall in synch in the human body.
Supplementation?
But although most multivitamin tablets contain vitamin D, most people who take these kind of supplements only have a slightly higher vitamin D level compared to people who do not take multivitamins. The Austrians also noticed this in their study. "Seventy-eight patients (2.4 per cent) reported taking vitamin supplements on a regular basis, which usually contained vitamin D3. Because 25(OH)D levels were only slightly higher in users of vitamin D preparations (mean 22.1 microg/l) compared with the remaining cohort (mean 17.2 microg/l), we decided to include these patients in the present analyses."
If you look at the table above, you'll see that the effect of multivitamins on the vitamin D level in the blood is too small to boost your testosterone level. You need to think of heavier vitamin D doses, more than 1000 units per pill.
Fifty years ago German sports scientists discovered that power athletes made better progression in the season when they had high vitamin D levels in their blood. Maybe the Austrians have now discovered why.
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