Vitamin D Supplementation in Old Age Prevents Sarcopenia

National Institute of Health Research First Identifies Mechanism of Vitamin D in Preventing Sarcopenia

A study has found that supplementing an adequate amount of vitamin D in old age can effectively prevent muscle loss similarly to exercising.

Schematic diagram of the mechanism for preventing sarcopenia through vitamin D intake. Provided by the National Institute of Health.

On the 19th, the research team from the Endocrinology and Kidney Disease Research Division at the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency's National Institute of Health announced that they confirmed the effect of improving sarcopenia by maintaining the blood vitamin D levels of the elderly at an appropriate level.

Sarcopenia is a condition characterized by an abnormal decrease in muscle mass, strength, and function with aging, causing disabilities and leading to age-related diseases such as diabetes and metabolic disorders, threatening a healthy elderly life. Especially, since older adults have difficulty maintaining metabolic homeostasis due to decreased homeostasis with aging and are more vulnerable to chronic diseases, it is essential to prevent sarcopenia in advance. The World Health Organization (WHO) classified sarcopenia as a disease in 2016 and assigned a disease code, and South Korea officially classified it as a disease in 2021, but there is still no direct treatment available.

The research team first focused on the fact that exercise induces the secretion of myokines, muscle hormones, from muscles, which regulate muscle function. Myokines refer to hormones produced in muscles and secreted into the bloodstream, affecting not only muscle function improvement but also metabolic regulation and inflammation reduction in the brain, liver, fat, and other organs.

When the research team administered vitamin D (20,000 IU/kg) for four months to aged mice aged 3 and 18 months, the control group of aged mice showed significantly low blood vitamin D levels and sarcopenia, whereas the aged mice continuously supplemented with vitamin D maintained normal muscle mass and strength.

The research team confirmed that the amounts of apelin and its receptor, among myokines, rapidly decrease with age. Apelin is a peptide composed of 77 amino acids that binds to the G-protein-coupled receptor APJ, enhancing muscle function and muscle regeneration. Furthermore, supplementation with vitamin D (20,000 IU/kg) increased the blood concentration of apelin and the expression of its receptor, improving muscle function, and revealed that muscle function improved to a level similar to that achieved by exercise.

Notably, this study is significant in that it is the first to reveal that vitamin D directly regulates the expression of the muscle hormone apelin and its receptor, influencing the prevention and improvement of muscle loss, thereby elucidating the previously little-known mechanism of vitamin D’s preventive effect on sarcopenia.

Park Hyun-young, director of the National Institute of Health, stated, "This is a meaningful study that directly revealed the prevention of sarcopenia and its mechanism through vitamin D intake in the elderly, similar to the effects of exercise," adding, "It is expected that sufficient vitamin D intake can improve healthy lifespan by preventing the occurrence of sarcopenia."

The results of this study were also published online in the international medical science journal 'Life Sciences.'

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