A new study found that physical activity is associated with higher vitamin D levels. Surprisingly, there was no significant association between outdoor physical activity and vitamin D levels.
Both physical activity and low vitamin D levels have been shown to be associated with adverse health outcomes, such as mortality, cancer, and cardiovascular disease, vitamindcouncil.org reported.
A few studies have reported that physical activity predicts vitamin D status, specifically showing a relationship between vitamin D levels and outdoor physical activity. This is to be expected because as we spend more time outside, we allow our bodies the opportunity to produce vitamin D.
In the recent study, researchers collected data from 6,370 adults.
After comparing vitamin D levels and physical activity, researchers found that those who were insufficiently active were 1.32 times more likely to be vitamin D deficient than those who were sufficiently active.
Additionally, they found that associations weren’t stronger for self-reported outdoor activities compared to indoor activities.
“An important determinant of the associations between physical activity and circulating vitamin D concentration is sun exposure during outdoor physical activity…However, the fact that in the present study the associations were not stronger for self-reported outdoor compared with indoor physical activity indicates that other effects independent of sun exposure may play a role,” researchers concluded.
