Extraskeletal Effects of Vitamin D Deficiency

**21**

**Chapter 3**

**Abstract**

**1. Introduction**

Vitamin D and Physical

Performance: What Is the

*Rodrigo Nolasco and Marise Lazaretti-Castro*

physical, including strength muscular, aerobic capacity and balance.

especially vitamin D, has lately been part of this prospect.

specific receptors in several tissues [2].

**Keywords:** vitamin D, athletic performance, lung function, sarcopenia

The increase in human life expectancy during the previous century has raised new health issues, especially the control of aging-related deterioration. Important efforts have been made to gain new insights that may lead to modalities to delay the functional impairment and progression of chronic degenerative diseases, as well as sarcopenia and osteoporosis. Undoubtedly, the physical exercises are directly interrelated with the improvement or even rehabilitation of the physical performance besides increasing the life expectancy [1]. However, the effect of hormonal action,

In this context, vitamin D has attracted considerable interest among health researchers, professional organizations and the lay public in recent times. Although it is called vitamin, conceptually vitamin D is a hormone. This is due to its hormonal nature, such as the ability to be integrally produced by the organism and to have

Vitamin D has emerged for more than 500 million years. Even though its function in plants and invertebrates is unknown, the close association between vitamin D and

Ergogenic Actions of Vitamin D?

Vitamin D produced in the skin by the action of the sun's rays turns into calcitriol, a powerful hormone, recognized as important for health. Although its most known effects are on mineral homeostasis and bone metabolism, its receptors (VDRs) have been identified in almost all tissues, suggesting that it should have other actions. Vitamin D acts directly on the skeletal muscle system maintaining muscle mass, strength levels and speed of muscle contraction. Thereby, allied to that, vitamin D is among the potential factors that are related to maintaining bone, and cannot be dissociated from the prevention of osteoporosis and sarcopenia. However, in the physical performance aspect, there are still uncertainness in the literature about the use of vitamin D as an ergogenic resource aimed at improving the physical performance of amateur and professional athletes. Therefore, due to the biological actions of vitamin D and high prevalence of low levels in sedentary and physically active individuals, this chapter will discuss the facts pointed out in the literature about the action of vitamin D as an ergogenic resource aiming at the preservation or improvement of the
