Getting enough Vitamin D may improve your odds of surviving certain cancers, according to a study out of the Mayo Clinic and the University of Iowa. Researchers measured blood levels of Vitamin D among 374 patients newly diagnosed with a type of cancer called diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.
They found half of those patients were deficient in Vitamin D, and the deficient patients were twice as likely to die from the disease.
"These are some of the strongest findings yet between Vitamin D and cancer outcome," said the study's lead investigator, Mayo endocrinologist Matthew Drake. The findings were presented last weekend at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology in New Orleans.
If you don’t take Vitamin D pills, just get out in the sun more. Vitamin D can be manufactured in the skin when it's exposed to sunlight. So move to Florida or Arizona!

Sounds promising however I have also read a few studies proving Vitamins (D included) do absolutely nothing for the bodies immune functions. They may help with some things, but because vitamins are not active cells, they can't do much.

Your best bet....stay healthy, active, and eat normal foods. Cancers weren't near as prominent when all this manufactured and petrified....err, preserved crap wasn't around killing us.

There is actually some interesting research on Vitamin D and muscle function although most articles are not in regards to healthy people in great shape.. But i did come across an arcticle that peaked my interest lately on Vitamin D and Free testosterone, this study suggests that vitamin d may lower SHBG.. Sorry if this has already been posted I'm a newb to the forums .


Vitamin D May Be Your Best Muscle-Building Bet
Many matters surrounding the quest for lean mass gain or body fat loss can be quite difficult to understand. Does nutrient timing really matter? How much does the thermic effect of food actually influence weight loss?
Is the Glycemic Index (GI) completely irrelevant? These questions and many others plague the athletic endeavors of even the most intelligent, well-informed members of the fitness community. Thankfully, though, not everything is as complicated as those matters. One established fact is that testosterone is definitely a good thing when looking to increase muscle size and strength. The tricky part, though, is how to maximize one's levels of testosterone in a safe and legal manner.

And while there are many expensive products on the market that claim to boost testosterone, recent research has uncovered a powerful new supplement that is both inexpensive and effective. If that were not enough, the supplement is safe as well. The most surprising part - it may already be in your cabinet. So what is this mysterious supplement? Vitamin D.

Sound too good to be true? It's not. New research from the journal Clinical Endocrinology found that, in their sample of nearly 2300 men, there was a significant positive correlation between Vitamin D levels and testosterone levels. But it wasn't just that these men had more testosterone in their bodies - the group that had the highest levels of Vitamin D had more free, or biologically active, testosterone. This means the hormone could be used by the body for muscle building.

In addition, higher levels of Vitamin D prompted lower concentrations of sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG). This is important because SHBG binds to testosterone and makes it biologically inactive - in other words, not useful for mass gain (1).
While this study, and the realization that Vitamin D directly influenced testosterone, is new, the connection has been demonstrated in prior research. While the scientists did not necessarily understand the causation,
a 1938 study found that athletic performance was enhanced with UV exposure. In fact, the rate of progression the UV-exposed group was 7.4 percent, compared to the 1.7 percent progression of the control group (2). This is because Vitamin D, also known as the "sunshine vitamin," is present in sunlight and ultra-violet rays.

However, most people, especially in the northwest, do not get enough Vitamin D due to low levels of sunlight. Because of this, strong supplementation of Vitamin D would be needed to reap the testosterone-boosting rewards. Thankfully, Vitamin D supplements are inexpensive and readily available.

1. Wehr, E., et al. Association of vitamin D status with serum androgen levels in men. Clinical Endocrinology, December 2009; DOI: 10.1111

2. Cannell, J. J., et. al., Athletic Performance and Vitamin D. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 2009; 41(5):1102-1110