Magnesium and vitamin D are natural partners that help perform essential body functions, so it’s important to know how to supplement them together. From reducing tiredness and fatigue to supporting your immune system, they work in tandem with one another to help you feel at your best.
Read on the learn more about the effects of taking vitamin D and magnesium together, including the benefits and how to spot symptoms of deficiency. We’ll help you understand which types of supplements are most effective together with our guide.
In this guide:
Taking vitamin D and magnesium together
Magnesium plays a key role in determining how much vitamin D our bodies can make. It’s suggested that people whose magnesium intake is high are less likely to have a vitamin D deficiency than people whose magnesium levels are low.
It’s also claimed that taking magnesium supplements can help increase vitamin D levels in people who are deficient, while also balancing out levels for people whose intake may be high. Too much vitamin D can increase calcium levels, which can lead to certain health complications.
Do you need magnesium to absorb vitamin D?
Like any vitamin or mineral, vitamin D can’t work without first being converted into a form your body can absorb. This is known as its bioavailability—and vitamin D’s bioavailability depends on magnesium.
Enzymes in the liver and kidneys help to enable vitamin D metabolism by converting it into its active form, calcitriol. But this can’t happen without enough magnesium to draw upon.
Without magnesium, vitamin D remains unconverted. This can actually increase your calcium levels rather than regulate them as they should. Exceeding your recommended dietary allowance of calcium can stimulate your hormones into drawing the mineral out of your bones—where it’s needed—and depositing it in soft tissues such as arteries.
Can I take magnesium with other minerals and vitamins?
Yes. All vitamins and minerals work in combination, relying on each other to be fully effective.
Taking magnesium supplements can help your body to absorb and use different types of minerals such as calcium, phosphorus and potassium, as well as vitamins like vitamin D.
If you take vitamin D supplements, they won’t fulfil their role to strengthen your bones effectively unless the concentrations of boron, magnesium and zinc, and vitamin K and A, are at the correct levels.
Shop our magnesium supplements
Health benefits of magnesium and vitamin D
Why magnesium is good for your body
Magnesium is one of several essential minerals your body needs to stay healthy and function as it should.
Magnesium benefits you in a whole variety of ways, by:
- relieving muscle tension and muscle spasms
- reducing tiredness and fatigue
- enabling you to wind down before bed, improving the quality of your sleep
- helping muscle tissue to recover after exercise and sports
- making you more flexible
- repairing and replenishing skin, leaving it supple and giving it a natural glow—which is why it’s included in many skin supplements
Magnesium can also help to improve your joint health by increasing the density of your bones and making them stronger. Not only that, but it contributes to your metabolism, the functioning of your nervous system and your body's synthesis of proteins.
If you have a magnesium deficiency (when your body’s magnesium levels are too low), this might cause symptoms such as:
- poor sleep
- fatigue
- heart palpitations
Why vitamin D is good for your body
Vitamin D has a number of important benefits—such as:
- improving your body's calcium absorption (your calcium levels can influence how you absorb magnesium)
- vitamin D supports your immune system to function properly, protecting you from illnesses such as the common cold
- blood pressure regulation
- aiding the growth and development of bones and teeth
- helping to keep muscles healthy
Vitamin D is important during breastfeeding as it can help to provide your little one with enough nutrients to support healthy growth and development. Mother and child supplements and breastfeeding supplements can help support your baby's vitamin D intake.
Vitamin D is also often referred to as the “sunshine vitamin” as your body produces it naturally when directly exposed to sunlight. Your vitamin D levels depend on the foods you eat and any supplements you take.
Your magnesium and vitamin D intake
If your daily diet is varied and balanced—made up of magnesium-rich foods such as spinach, nuts, beans and wholegrains—it’s likely you’re getting most of the magnesium you need.
However, food sources don’t always provide the full daily recommended amount, so you might need to support your dietary magnesium intake with supplements too.
With vitamin D, it’s different. You’ll get much of your vitamin D from direct exposure to sunlight, which isn’t really a concern during the spring and summer months. In autumn and winter, however, it’s difficult to get enough of the vitamin through sun exposure, so taking supplements is crucial.
You can also get vitamin D from your diet from foods such as:
- oily fish (e.g. fresh tuna and mackerel)
- egg yolk
- milk
- fortified foods (e.g. margarines and breakfast cereals)
However, this dietary allowance alone isn't enough to keep your intake at healthy levels.
How much magnesium should you take? Should you take it every day?
Adults (aged 19–64) should take no more than 300 mg (men) or 270 mg (women) of magnesium per day. The advised doses of magnesium for children are much lower and depend on age.
However, these guidelines only apply to oral supplements such as tablets and capsules. There’s no limit for transdermal magnesium supplements (those you apply directly to your skin).
BetterYou magnesium supplements are made with Zechstein magnesium—the purest form of magnesium—for optimal absorption.
Meanwhile, our collection of magnesium oil, bath flakes, and lotions can help you boost your levels with magnesium chloride.
Learn more about the benefits of transdermal magnesium
How much vitamin D should you take?
Public Health England recommends that adults take at least a 10 microgram (mcg) vitamin D dosage each day, particularly during autumn and winter. Children under the age of five should take the same amount all year round.
Babies under one year old should have a daily baby supplement of 8.5–10 mcg. This is unless they're consuming more than 500 ml of infant formula each day, as it will already be fortified with vitamin D.
Supplements should be administered soon after birth, as there isn’t enough natural vitamin D in a normal diet. Typically, babies don’t get enough sun exposure to produce the vitamin naturally.
Getting sufficient vitamin D is really important, as babies can develop problems with their bones and muscles.
The Department of Health highlights certain “at-risk groups” and recommends that they take a vitamin D supplement all year round. These groups include:
- women who are pregnant or breastfeeding
- elderly people (aged 65 years and over)
- people who have little or no exposure to the sun
- people who have darker skin
What causes vitamin D deficiency?
As we get 80%–90% of our vitamin D from sunlight, anyone who spends little time outdoors is at risk of becoming deficient.
And when we do venture out into sunny weather, many of us use SPF (sun protection factor) creams and cosmetics to protect our skin. However, the ingredients in these products block the UV rays that our skin needs to be able to produce vitamin D.
Around 1 billion people across the world—including around 10 million people in the UK—are said to be deficient in vitamin D.
What are the symptoms of vitamin D deficiency?
If you’re not getting enough vitamin D, this might lead to:
- aching and/or weakened bones
- weak muscles
- low mood
- an increased vulnerability to coughs and colds
- gut problems
For many people, the signs of low vitamin D are fairly subtle and won’t cause any serious risk to your health. However, it is possible for a vitamin D deficiency to bring about more harmful complications if left untreated.
There are simple blood tests you can do at home to check whether your vitamin D levels are low. These give you an accurate reading of the amount of vitamin D in your blood. You then send off the tester and receive the findings back via email.
What type of vitamin D is best?
There are two main types of vitamin D: vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) and vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol). The human body can absorb and process both forms. However, as vitamin D3 occurs naturally in response to sunlight, it’s generally considered the preferred form of supplementation.
Vitamin D3 supplements are typically made using lanolin, a type of wax extracted from sheep’s wool. At BetterYou, we use a 100% plant-origin source of D3 in our Vegan Health Oral Spray and D1000 Vegan Vitamin D Oral Spray.
Which vitamin D supplements are best: tablets, capsules or sprays?
Tablets, capsules and oral sprays have all been proven to be effective methods of raising nutrient levels. So, the best type of supplement for you often comes down to personal preference.
While lots of people take vitamin D tablets or capsules, at BetterYou we’ve pioneered a method of vitamin D supplementation in the form of oral sprays.
Our oral sprays have the advantage of delivering vitamin D directly into the mouth, where the soft tissues and rich vein systems can absorb it, rather than relying on the digestive system.
Watch our video on how vitamin oral sprays work.
A Better Way to a BetterYou
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