Vitamin D is crucial for the functioning of various systems in your body, such as heart health and immune response. It is also necessary for maintaining proper blood calcium balance. Without vitamin D, calcium is not properly utilized by your body. The mineral magnesium is involved in the vitamin D process, as well. However, the interaction between vitamin D and magnesium is somewhat different than its relationship with calcium.
Vitamin D Levels
The sun's ultraviolet rays on your skin begin a complex process that turns vitamin D into its active form called 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, or D-3. The recommended dietary allowance, RDA, for vitamin D is 600 IU per day for adults. A 2005 "Journal of Nutrition" article asserts this amount may be too low, as a 15-minute exposure to the sun during the summer can produce as much as 20,000 IU of D-3. The study suggests 1,280 IU of vitamin D-3 may even be too low.
Vitamin D and Calcium
To maintain optimal levels of calcium in your blood, vitamin D is necessary. Calcium is a mineral needed for strong bones, teeth and the growth of cartilage that cushions your joints. If you are deficient in vitamin D, calcium leaches from the bones into the blood, causing poor bone density. This may lead to rickets, or softening of the bones; osteoporosis; osteomalacia, or bone pain; and muscle pain and weakness.
Vitamin D and Magnesium
Over 300 metabolic reactions depend on the mineral magnesium, according to the Linus Pauling Institute. Some of these include the production of energy, functions in the structure of bones and cell membranes and the transportation of potassium and calcium across cell membranes. Magnesium is also required as a cofactor in vitamin D utilization. Increased vitamin D levels may indicate a magnesium deficiency. Vitamin D may also play a small role in the intestinal absorption of magnesium.
Magnesium and Calcium Interactions
A definite interactive component exists between increased vitamin D and magnesium deficiency, and vitamin D deficiency and calcium deficiency. There also appears to be a link between a magnesium deficiency and calcium deficiency. Although rare, low levels of serum magnesium causes decreased calcium, or hypocalcemia, which leads to decreased potassium levels, sodium retention, gastrointestinal problems, tetany and muscle spasms. A link to vitamin D in this case is not yet established.
References
- Linus Pauling Institute: Vitamin D
- "Journal of Nutrition"; Circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels indicative of vitamin D sufficiency: implications for establishing a new effective dietary intake recommendation for vitamin D"; B.W. Hollis; February 2005
- Linus Pauling Institute: Calcium
- The National Academies Press: Dietary Reference Intakes for Calcium, Phosphorus, Magnesium, Vitamin D, and Fluoride (1997): Magnesium
- Linus Pauling Institute: Magnesium
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