Aging is associated with impairment in skeletal muscle mass and contractile function, predisposing to fat mass gain, insulin resistance and diabetes. The impact of Vitamin D (VitD) supplementation on skeletal muscle mass and function in older adults is still controversial. The aim of this review was to summarize data from randomized clinical trials, animal dietary intervention and cell studies in order to clarify current knowledge on the effects of VitD on skeletal muscle as reported for these three types of experiments. A structured research of the literature in Medline via PubMed was conducted and a total of 43 articles were analysed (cells n = 18, animals n = 13 and humans n = 13). The results as described by these key studies demonstrate, overall, at cell and animal levels, that VitD treatments had positive effects on the development of muscle fibres in cells in culture, skeletal muscle force and hypertrophy. Vitamin D supplementation appears to regulate not only lipid and mitochondrial muscle metabolism but also to have a direct effect on glucose metabolism and insulin driven signalling. However, considering the human perspective, results revealed a predominance of null effects of the vitamin on muscle in the ageing population, but experimental design may have influenced the study outcome in humans. Well-designed long duration double-blinded trials, standardised VitD dosing regimen, larger sample sized studies and standardised measurements may be helpful tools to accurately determine results and compare to those observed in cells and animal dietary intervention models.
Keywords: Vitamin D; aging; calcitriol; muscle cells; skeletal muscle function.