When embarking on a fitness journey, the training and nutrition plan is at the forefront of the goal almost every time.
While training and nutrition is key to achieving any fitness goal, many of us disregard the health aspect. Keeping our health in check should be a priority throughout life in general, but particularly through a period of changing your diet and lifestyle.
Beginning any training program and making dietary changes puts a certain degree of stress (the good kind, when in check!) on our mind and body.
Dietary restriction, increased physical activity, implementing new habits into your daily routine—these are all key building blocks for any body-related goal, but they definitely become an additional stressor on our body, which can compromise our immune system.
Focusing on health and immunity, in addition to the above factors, would make achieving these goals more enjoyable, sustainable, and efficient.
How many times has illness set you back a week or two from training? This also has a knock-on effect on your nutrition too, right?
When an individual is putting their body through a period of intense training and restriction, it results in them being at more risk of becoming ill, which is precisely why there are additional nutrient requirements for them. For example, a slightly higher need for vitamin D!
Vitamin D is a key player in immune system function, even more so for those who regularly exercise. It also plays a bigger role in men’s health than you may think.
This article discusses the importance of vitamin D for immunity, for men’s health, and how much vitamin D you should take for optimal immune function!
What is Vitamin D?
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that plays a big role in immune cell function, which helps protect our body from illness and disease. You may be familiar with two common kinds of vitamin D:
- Vitamin D3 (calcitriol)
- Vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol)
You may find that D3 is the most popular type of vitamin D found in supplements. While there are some foods that contain vitamin D in small amounts, the majority of our vitamin D is produced through our skin as a response to sunlight exposure.
This is why vitamin D is referred to as the “sunshine vitamin”. Once sunrays hit our skin, a chemical reaction occurs which produces vitamin D. So, I guess you could say vitamin D is a different kind of vitamin to many others, which we simply get from food!
This would also explain why vitamin D deficiency is so common. Due to the nutrient lacking in food sources, if we limit our sun exposure, we also limit our vitamin D intake.
This can become particularly problematic over winter months, which is often why we are recommended to take vitamin D through months of limited sun exposure.
Some food sources of vitamin D include:
- Oily fish
- Liver
- Eggs
- Cheese
- Mushrooms
- Fortified foods, such as cereals and orange juice
Though, the most reliable source of vitamin D year-round would be a supplement!
The Role of Vitamin D
Vitamin D plays a vital role in many functions in the body, including immune function. Our immune system is our body’s first line of defence against an infection or disease, so it is of utmost importance to ensure vitamin D levels are adequate enough to keep this system running smoothly.
Vitamin D also plays a crucial role in the proper functioning of t cells, b cells, and dendritic cells, which are all key to immune function and protecting our body from illness and disease.
Vitamin D also helps calcium absorb properly in the body, which is a nutrient vital for healthy bones and teeth.
What about the role of vitamin D in men’s health and fitness?
Surprisingly, vitamin D doesn’t just play a role in immune system function. There have also been reports of vitamin D affecting muscle strength, endurance, and athletic performance.
In addition to this, vitamin D supplementation is also thought to increase testosterone levels in men with low or insufficient levels.
What this suggests is that vitamin D wouldn’t just keep you healthy and functioning optimally, but it may also improve your exercise performance through increasing testosterone levels and playing a role in muscle function.
Vitamin D Deficiency
Vitamin D deficiency is common when an individual lacks exposure to sunlight and has an inadequate dietary intake of vitamin D. Some of the common symptoms of deficiency include:
- Muscle weakness
- Bone pain
- Tiredness and fatigue
- Muscle aches and cramps
- Regularly suffering with illness
It’s important to take a supplement if you think you may be falling short of vitamin D, though always consult your doctor if you are concerned or want to check your levels.
Vitamin D for Men’s Immunity: How Much?
The minimum recommended dose for vitamin D for adults over the age of 18 is 10mcg (micrograms) per day. The upper recommended limit is 100mcg. These recommended intakes would cover all immunity bases.
If you are regularly training, these recommended intakes become increasingly important for you to follow as you are typically putting your body under additional stress, which can lead to a weakened immune system.
It’s also key for men who are seeking a consistent, healthy testosterone levels to support their overall health and training performance.
Vitamin D: The Best Supplement for Men
While you can find vitamin D in many supplement forms, such as tablets and oral sprays, it can be good to take it alongside other nutrients to enhance bioavailability.
For example, magnesium helps to convert vitamin D into its active form in the body, so taking these nutrients together may also provide a more effective result.
For men specifically, Testo Lab Pro is the ultimate supplement for supporting healthy testosterone levels and training performance, which includes:
- 50mcg (2000IU) Vitamin D3
- Magnesium
- Boron
- Zinc
- Vitamin K
- Ashwagandha
- Mucuna Pruriens
- D-aspartic acid
- Luteolin
All of these nutrients and herbs work together to restore missing vitamins and minerals required for testosterone and raise it via multiple pathways.
Testo Lab Pro amplifies this testosterone boost, which then drives exercise and muscle growth, supporting male virility and overall men’s health.
So, not only will Testo Lab Pro provide you with the nutrients for optimal immune system function, keeping you healthy and in-check throughout any intense training program, but it also supports testosterone levels so you can really unlock your muscle growth and fitness potential!
Final Take Home
Vitamin D is one of the most important nutrients for immune system function. It also plays a role in muscle function, athletic performance, and keeping testosterone levels healthy.
Vitamin D is recommended in maximum doses of 100 mcg, which is adequate enough to support immunity and men’s health.
The best vitamin D supplement a man could consider would be Testo Lab Pro, which includes other nutrients to boost vitamin D bioavailability, and herbs which also contribute to boosting testosterone and enhancing men’s health and athletic performance!
