Handgrip strength dropped by 20 percent in the last generation (perhaps due to lower vitamin D)

Raising the American Weakling

• Longish interesting article in which vitamin D is not mentioned once

• They speculate that the 20% decrease in a generation was due to less exercise.

• However, they mentioned handgrip testing of infants less than 1 month old in 1892

  • Most newborns were able to hang from a horizontal pole for more than 10 seconds
  • It seems unlikely that newborns can hang that long now, more than 120 years later

• Grip strength was not only “inversely associated with all-cause mortality ”—every 5 kilogram (kg) decrement in grip strength was associated with a 17 percent risk increase — but as the team, led by McMaster University professor of medicine Darryl Leong, noted: “ Grip strength was a stronger predictor of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality than systolic blood pressure .”

• Another article Millennials May Be Losing Their Grip NPR June 2016

  • “In 1985, men ages 20-24 had an average right-handed grip of 121 pounds and left-handed grip of 105 pounds. Today, men that age had grips of only 101 and 99 pounds, the study found.
  • Summary: In a generation - handgrip strength 121 lbs ==> 101 lbs

  VitaminDWiki speculates that the reduced strength is in part due to decreased Vitamin D in a generation

  20% increase in muscle strength found with vitamin D supplementation

  See VitaminDWiki:

• Osteoporosis and low grip strength both associated with low vitamin D – Feb 2018

• Poor handgrip strength in 5-year-old girls 3X more likely if low vitamin D – May 2018

• Weaker hand grip if poor Vitamin D Receptor (15 percent) – Nov 2016

• Muscle strength of senior women increased 25 percent with vitamin D, decreased 6 percent with placebo – Oct 2016

• Muscle increased 17 percent in vitamin D insufficient elderly getting 4,000 IU for 4 months – RCT Oct 2013

• Kids less fit than their parent were (perhaps low vitamin D) – Nov 2013

• Vitamin D supplementation improves muscle strength in healthy adults – meta-analysis of 6 RCT Aug 2014

• Vitamin D supplementation help muscles of seniors who are vitamin D deficient – meta-analysis July 2014

• Slow walking speed of youths 14 times more likely if low vitamin D - Dec 2016

• Frailty 9X more likely if low vitamin D – Nov 2015

  See also web

• Vitamin D status is associated with grip strength in centenarians 2014, PDF is behind $42 paywall

• Vitamin D status predicts hand-grip strength in young adult women living in Auckland, New Zealand

  • 2012, full free PDF can be requested
• Long-term adherence and effects on grip strength and upper leg performance of prescribed supplemental vitamin D in pregnant and recently pregnant women of Somali and Swedish birth with 25-hydroxyvitamin D deficiency: a before-and-after treatment study Nov 2016
  • Just 1600 IU vitamin D + Calcium was 16X more likely to increase grip strength in 10 months
  • The women paid for the Vitamin D and Calcium