For athletes aiming for their best, think of your body like a winning team. Your bones provide the support, and your heart is the powerhouse for enduring strength. To perform at your peak, you need both in top shape. Let’s talk about two important vitamins, K2 and D3, and how they play roles in supporting your healthy heart and making sports even more awesome. Join us on this journey into health and sports, discovering how these simple vitamins can support your athletic excellence!
Vitamin K2: Strengthening Bones and Boosting Cardiovascular Health
Healthy bones and a strong heart form the foundation for athletes, providing support for rigorous training. Vitamin K2, a potent form of vitamin K, collaborates with Vitamin D to deposit calcium into the bones, ensuring their strength (1). It doesn’t stop there—Vitamin K2 also contributes to cardiovascular health by aiding in blood vessel function (2). Moreover, this powerful nutrient plays a vital role in the production of ATP (3,4), the molecule on which your heart and muscles rely for optimal performance. So, what does this mean for athletes?
- Vitamin K2, supporting both bone strength and cardiovascular well-being, positions it as a crucial ally for athletes. This dual function forms the scientific foundation that underscores the intricate interplay between bone health and athletic prowess.
- In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, researchers delved into the impact of Vitamin K2 supplementation on cardiovascular function in athletes. The results were compelling, revealing a remarkable 12% improvement in maximal cardiac output after eight weeks of supplementation, with 320μg for the first 4 weeks and 160μg for the subsequent 4 weeks (5).
Vitamin D3: A Sunshine Vitamin for a Healthy Heart
Vitamin D3, often called the sunshine vitamin, is renowned for its role in bone health and immune system support (6). However, its significance isn’t confined to these domains; it extends to cardiovascular health as well (7). Moreover, Vitamin D3 exhibits anti-inflammatory properties that contribute to a healthy inflammatory response (7).
Athletes can harness the benefits of Vitamin D3 to fortify their cardiovascular system and optimize overall performance (8).
Positive Implications for Sports Performance
Ensuring the right balance of vitamin K2 and D3 can significantly enhance sports performance, impacting various facets crucial for athletes:
- Muscle Function: Vitamin D3 plays a pivotal role in supporting muscle function, which is crucial for sports performance. By contributing to muscle mass and strength, Vitamin D supports the recovery of muscles from the stress of intense exercise (8).
- Bone Health: Both vitamins K2 and D3 are vital for bone health (9), and strong bones and increased bone mineral density are essential for athletes and maintain performance (10, 11).
- Immune Function: Vitamin K2 and D together play a role in modulating inflammation (9) and Vitamin D contributes to the normal function of the immune system (12).
Balchem’s K2VITAL™: The Perfect Pair
It’s not just our partners we like to keep close. K2VITAL® and vitamin D work in harmony to keep our body’s calcium in balance (9). Combined in one formulation, they make what we like to call the perfect pair. The two vitamins working together support everyone’s bone, heart, and immune health.
When it comes to providing athletes with the best possible benefits for their bones, heart, and body, Balchem’s K2VITAL™ stands out. K2VITAL™ directs its attention towards the fortification of skeletal integrity*. Acting as a supporter of bone health, Vitamin D and Vitamin K2 function together to regulate calcium metabolism from absorption to placement of the mineral in the bone (9). Beyond its role in bone health, K2VITAL’s influence extends to cardiovascular health (13), encapsulating its broader impact on overall physiological harmony.
Balchems K2VITAL™, with its typical isomeric purity of 99.7% all-trans MK-7, is like Vitamin K2 found in nature and has optimal bioavailability and full bioactivity.
The production is based on a pioneering one-of-a-kind, patented process, providing superior quality, unprecedented purity, and stability – for a multitude of on-trend formulations. Give your athletes the best possible benefits for their bones, heart, and body!
