Taking plant-based vitamin D2 supplements actually decreased vitamin D3 levels and led to increased muscle damage from weight lifting in a recent study.

“When the sun hits our skin, it turns into vitamin D3. The body is used to that,” study director Dr. David Nieman said in a press release. “High vitamin D2 levels are not a normal experience for the human body. Taking high doses of vitamin D2 caused something to happen at the muscle level that isn’t in the best interest of the athletes. Now we need others to test this and see if they come up with the same results.”

Researchers from Appalachian State University observed significantly more exercise-induced muscle damage in NASCAR pit crew athletes taking vitamin D2 supplements derived from Portobello mushroom powder. This finding was a surprise, as the researchers had hypothesized that supplementation would benefit athletes by reducing inflammation and improving muscle recovery. Vitamin D3 has previously been shown to improve muscle function.

“Just about everyone has lower vitamin D levels in the winter,” Nieman said. “We know that when you restore vitamin D levels in older people it improves their muscle function. What hasn’t been documented is if the same holds true for younger adults. We were interested in seeing if increasing vitamin D in the pit crew athletes who train heavily in the off season would improve their muscle and immune function. While vitamin D2 levels in the blood increased, we found that levels of the valuable D3 decreased. And to our surprise, those taking vitamin D2 didn’t have just a little more muscle damage, they had a lot more damage.”

Click here to read the press release from Appalachian State.

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