Higher vitamin D levels are associated with greater cardiorespiratory fitness, according to a study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.

“Our study shows that higher levels of vitamin D are associated with better exercise capacity,” Amr Marawan, MD, assistant professor of internal medicine at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, said in a press release. “The relationship between higher vitamin D levels and better exercise capacity holds in men and women, across the young and middle age groups, across ethnicities, regardless of body mass index or smoking status, and whether or not participants have hypertension or diabetes.”