Vitamin D3 is actually a hormone – one that regulates three percent of our genes. Among those genes are a few that are responsible for the production of testosterone in the Leydig cells. So vitamin D3 is an important vitamin, certainly once you realise that an overwhelming majority of the western population has too little vitamin D3 in their blood.
This is because our food contains too little vitamin D3, so we have to rely mainly on the vitamin D3 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 D3.
So does that mean that most men in the West therefore make too little testosterone?
This is the question that the Austrians set out to answer. So they examined the blood of 2300 men whose average age was just over sixty. Only eleven percent of them had sufficient vitamin D3 in their blood. And indeed: the more vitamin D the men had in their blood, the higher their testosterone levels and their concentration of free testosterone [FAI].
Now, the concentration of vitamin D3 in the blood fluctuates with the seasons. The vitamin D3 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.
So if men make sure they have enough vitamin D3 in their blood, they’ll also make more testosterone. Vitamin D supplements are what come to mind: pretty strong supplements.
But although most multivitamin tablets contain vitamin D3, 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 D3 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 D3 level in the blood is too small to boost your testosterone level. You need to think of heavier vitamin D3 doses, between 1000 and 5000 units per pill.
Fifty years ago German sports scientists discovered that power athletes made better progression in the season when they had high vitamin D3 levels in their blood. Maybe the Austrians have now discovered why.
http://www.ergo-log.com/
Course of vitamin D3 reduces body fat
http://www.ergo-log.com/course-of-vitam ... y-fat.html
Extra vitamin D3: more muscle, less fat
http://www.ergo-log.com/vitamindmusclefat.html
Vitamin D3 is only anti-estrogenic where it’s needed
It just keeps on coming – positive news from scientists about vitamin D. According to an animal and cell study that endocrinologists at Stanford University published in Endocrinology, the active form of vitamin D – calcitriol [structural formula shown below] – is an anti-oestrogen. The study is interesting for bodybuilders too, as the anti-estrogenic effect of vitamin D is expressed mostly in the fat tissue. What’s more, vitamin D enhances the effect of anti-oestrogens like arimidex, letrozole and exemestane.
http://www.ergo-log.com/vitamindantioestrogen.html
Vitamin D deficiency linked to depression
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-5 ... depression
