Relationships between Vitamin D and Selected Cytokines and Hemogram Parameters in Professional Football Players—Pilot Study

Anna Książek, Aleksandra Zagrodna, Anna Bohdanowicz-Pawlak, Felicja Lwow and Małgorzata Słowińska-Lisowska
Additional contact information
Anna Książek: Department of the Biological and Medical Basis of Sport, University School of Physical Education in Wrocław, Al. Paderewskiego 35, 51-617 Wrocław, Poland
Aleksandra Zagrodna: Department of the Biological and Medical Basis of Sport, University School of Physical Education in Wrocław, Al. Paderewskiego 35, 51-617 Wrocław, Poland
Anna Bohdanowicz-Pawlak: Department of Endocrinology, Diabetology and Isotope Therapy, Wrocław Medical University, ul. Pasteur 4, 50-367 Wrocław, Poland
Felicja Lwow: Faculty of Physiotherapy, University School of Physical Education in Wrocław, Al. Paderewskiego 35, 51-617 Wrocław, Poland
Małgorzata Słowińska-Lisowska: Department of the Biological and Medical Basis of Sport, University School of Physical Education in Wrocław, Al. Paderewskiego 35, 51-617 Wrocław, Poland

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 13, 1-10

Abstract: Vitamin D affects both innate and adaptive immunity. Most of the effects of vitamin D on innate immunity are anti-inflammatory. In monocytes/macrophages, vitamin D suppresses the production of the inflammatory cytokines TNF-alpha, IL-1beta, IL-6, and IL-8. Therefore, the aim of our study was to investigate the relationship between 25(OH)D concentration and selected cytokines—IL-6, TNF-?, and IL-1?, which are hemogram parameters for professional football players. We enrolled 41 Polish premier league soccer players. The mean age, career duration, and VO 2max were, respectively: 22.7 ± 5.3 years, 14.7 ± 4.5 years, and 55.8 ± 4.0 mL/kg/min. Serum levels of 25(OH)D were measured by electrochemiluminescence (ECLIA) using the Elecsys system (Roche, Switzerland). Serum levels of IL-6, IL-1?, and TNF-? were measured by ELISA (R&D Systems, Minneapolis). Blood count with smear was measured on a Sysmex XT-4000i analyzer (Sysmex Corporation, Japan). Our study showed decreased serum 25(OH)D levels in 78% of the professional players. We found a significant negative correlation between 25(OH)D levels and TNF-? and LYMPH (%). The results also demonstrated a statistically significant positive correlation between vitamin D levels and NEUTH (%), NEUTH (tys/µL), and EOS (tys/µL). Based on the results of our study, we concluded that football players from Poland are not protected against vitamin D insufficiency in winter months. Moreover, vitamin D deficiency may be associated with an increased pro-inflammatory risk in well-trained athletes.

Keywords: 25(OH)D; pro-inflammatory cytokines; athletes; competitive period (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/13/7124/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/13/7124/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:13:p:7124-:d:587879

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().