Kimia Moiniafshari
Islamic Azad University, Iran
Title: The effect of vitamin D and Omega-3 fatty acids supplementation on athlete's metabolism
Biography
Biography: Kimia Moiniafshari
Abstract
Vitamin D deficiency is common among athletes depending on their skin color and indoor exercise time. Vitamin D is a vital component in biological reactions in human. Scientific articles have shown that vitamin D supplementation has positive effects on athletes’ performance. Besides that, omega-3 fatty acids (FA) play supportive role on athlete's cardio-vascular system. The purpose of this review article was to evaluate the effect of vitamin D and omega-3 FA supplementation on muscles, aerobic capacity, exercise performance and cardio-vascular system in athletes. Among the total 40 articles including entrance criteria, 19 articles including 13 original and 6 review articles were analyzed. Vitamin D plays important roles in synthesis of proteins, hormones, gene expression regulation and muscular performance. Vitamin D deficiency increases the risk of fractures, inflammation, infection and prolonged recovery time. Furthermore, vitamin D increases calcium availability and improves cross bridge cycle and muscular contractions. Decreased level of vitamin D lower than 30 nmol/lit leads to reduced exercise power and increases the risk of infections, Omega-3 FAs improves cardio-vascular function via nitric oxide production and also leads to less total oxygen consumption, lower heart rate and muscular oxygen requirement. Researchers have suggested that omega-3 Fas supplementation increases the level of ecosapanthanoic acid (EPA) in erythrocytes and decreases the peroxidative erythrocyte's protein destruction which results in oxidative balance. Vitamin D and omega-3 Fas supplementation have beneficial effects on athletes’ performance and doses higher than physiological daily intake may be needed according to increased requirement and deficiency prevalence in athletes