Many vitamins and minerals interact to promote health, including vitamin D and calcium. If vitamin D is low, calcium will not be elevated. The amount of vitamin D you have influences your body's absorption of calcium. Therefore, if your levels of calcium are high, your levels of vitamin D may be high as well, and if vitamin D levels are low, calcium may also be low.
Calcium and Vitamin D
Vitamin D produces the hormone calcitriol. Calcitriol is also the active form of vitamin D inside your body. Calcitriol influences the absorption of dietary calcium inside the small intestine. Without an efficient amount of calcitriol, the body does not absorb calcium. In addition, vitamin D influences the movement of calcium from absorptive cells of the small intestine and into the bloodstream. The relationship between vitamin D and calcium is interconnected, and the two remain directly related to one another.
Complications of Low Vitamin D and Calcium
Low vitamin D and low calcium can cause many health problems. Vitamin D and calcium are both essential for healthy bones. A deficiency of both of these nutrients can lead to rickets in children or osteomalacia or osteoporosis in adults. Rickets means bones do not mineralize and become soft, leading to the improper growth and formation of the skeletal system. Osteomalacia is also a condition of weak bones, with symptoms including bone and muscular pain. Osteoporosis is the progressive decline of porosity within bone that can lead to a structurally weak bone, causing an increased risk of fracture. Low calcium levels may also lead to complications for the heart and nervous system that if left untreated can be permanently damaging or fatal.
High Calcium
According to Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D., of MayoClinic.com, high vitamin D usually manifests itself through symptoms of high calcium. These include fatigue, nausea, moodiness, constipation, heart problems and kidney stones. Hypercalcemia, an excess of calcium in the body, can be detrimental if not treated. High calcium interferes with the heart's ability to contract normally, which can lead to sudden death.
Recommendations and Sources
According to the National Institutes of Health, adults need to take in 1,000 mg of calcium per day until the age of 50. After 50, adult women should increase their intake to 1,200 mg per day. Adult men can continue obtaining 1,000 mg per day. For vitamin D, adults up until the age of 71 need to take in 600 IU per day. After age 70, needs increase to 800 IU per day. Sources of calcium include dairy foods such as yogurt, cheese and milk; leafy green vegetables; and soy. You can obtain vitamin D through absorbing sunlight rays and by eating eggs, beef liver and fortified calcium products.
References
- NIH Osteoporosis and Related Bone Diseases National Resource Center: Calcium and Vitamin D: Important at Every Age
- Colorado State University; Vitamin D; R. Bowen
- Office of Dietary Supplements: Dietary Supplements Fact Sheet: Vitamin D
- National Osteoporosis Foundation: What Is Osteoporosis?
- Cleveland Clinic; Hypocalcemia; Mario Skugor, M.D.
- MayoClinic.com; Vitamin D Toxicity: What if You Get Too Much?; Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D.; December 2010
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