Is Vitamin D the New Steroid? - AI Podcast

Dr. Joseph Mercola - Take Control of Your Health

Briana Mercola

Health & Fitness, Health, Alternative Health

4.6 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 26 April 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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Vitamin D influences key hormones like leptin, an energy balancer, and myostatin, which limits muscle growth. It plays a direct role in how your body manages energy, builds muscle and regulates fat storage through various metabolic pathways
A study published as a preprint on Research Square found that high-dose vitamin D increases muscle strength, reduces myostatin, shifts calories toward muscle development and enhances metabolic rate
Vitamin D mimics anabolic steroids by suppressing myostatin to optimize muscle growth, redirecting energy from fat storage to muscle tissue and boosting metabolic rate
Optimal vitamin D levels for health and disease prevention range from 60 to 80 ng/mL (150 to 200 nmol/L). Test twice a year and adjust your supplemental dose based on your results
Natural sunlight is the ideal vitamin D source, as it provides benefits beyond vitamin D production. However, make sure to reduce your consumption of vegetable oil before sun exposure

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Dr. Mercola's Cellular Wisdom. Stay informed with quick, easy-to-listen
0:06.1	summaries of our latest articles, perfect for when you're on the go. No reading required.
0:10.8	Subscribe for free at Mercola.com for the latest health insights.
0:15.2	Hello and welcome to Dr. Mercola's cellular wisdom. I'm Ethan Foster, here to discuss a fascinating topic about
0:22.5	how vitamin D might mimic some of the effects of anabolic steroids. Joining me is my co-host
0:29.3	Elara Sky. Today we're going to explore how vitamin D interacts with hormones like leptin and
0:35.1	myostatin and why this matters for muscle growth and fat metabolism.
0:39.8	Ilar, let's begin by looking at why vitamin D is more than just a nutrient for bone health.
0:45.6	Thanks, Ethan. Vitamin D does much more than maintain strong bones. It regulates energy in ways that can
0:51.9	influence fat storage, muscle mass, and overall metabolic
0:55.7	health. Recent research suggests that vitamin D can shift the body's energy balance away from
1:01.0	fat storage and toward supporting muscle growth. This involves key hormones, leptin, which helps
1:07.7	regulate hunger and fat storage, and myostatin, which restricts muscle growth.
1:12.6	Right. That shift in energy balance isn't just about how much we eat or exercise.
1:17.6	The body decides whether to store calories in fat cells or redirect them to muscle tissues based on a complex hormonal network.
1:25.6	Vitamin D appears to play a direct role in managing
1:29.2	these pathways. In fact, we're now seeing how it might mirror the effects of anabolic steroids,
1:35.1	but without the health risks typically linked to steroid use. Can you talk more about that comparison?
1:40.9	Absolutely. Anabolic steroids work by suppressing myostatin, raising metabolic rate,
1:46.7	boosting protein synthesis, and diverting calories toward muscle rather than fat. They're known to produce
1:52.4	quick muscle gains, but they're also linked to harmful side effects, such as hormonal imbalances,
1:58.6	liver damage, and increased risk of heart disease. What makes
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