One key nutrient that often gets overlooked is Vitamin D. Vitamin D promotes calcium absorption and a deficiency can result in lower bone mineral density and an increased risk of bone loss or fracture. Vitamin D has even been linked to increased VO2Max, reduced
One key nutrient that often gets overlooked is Vitamin D. Vitamin D promotes calcium absorption and a deficiency can result in lower bone mineral density and an increased risk of bone loss or fracture. Vitamin D has even been linked to increased VO2Max, reduced inflammation (which means faster recovery) and improved immunity. Surprisingly, Vitamin D deficiency has become a worldwide epidemic but many go undiagnosed.
For runners, especially women, Vitamin D is especially important to preventing stress fractures. Many may remember when US marathon great Deena Kastor fractured her foot about 5K into the 2008 Olympic Marathon in Beijing. The cause? A Vitamin D deficiency. Recently, several of our runners have mentioned that their doctors discovered a Vitamin D deficiency after they experienced stress fractures or just general lack of normal energy.
So how do you make sure you are getting enough Vitamin D? Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for children and adults ages 1-70 is 600 IU. Exposure to the sun stimulates the body to produce Vitamin D, but using sunscreen and even aging can hinder the body's ability to absorb the sun and produce the nutrient. Vitamin D is not found widely in foods, with the exception of fortified grains and fatty fish like salmon, tuna and fish oils:
|Food||IUs per serving*||Percent DV**|
|Cod liver oil, 1 tablespoon||1,360||340|
|Swordfish, cooked, 3 ounces||566||142|
|Salmon (sockeye), cooked, 3 ounces||447||112|
|Tuna fish, canned in water, drained, 3 ounces||154||39|
|Ora