Vitamin D needs magnesium to work in the most effective way, studies find

Research has shown that vitamin D deficiencies play a major role in the development of many diseases, including breast, prostate and colon cancer, as well as diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, osteoporosis, psoriasis and mental illness.

While many people are beginning to recognise the health benefits that vitamin D has to offer in the prevention of disease, they may not be getting the full benefits from vitamin D without also supplementing their diets with magnesium.

Carolyn Dean, magnesium expert and Medical Advisory Board member of the Nutritional Magnesium Association, says magnesium is a vital nutrient because it converts vitamin D into its active form.

'The effectiveness and benefits of vitamin D are greatly undermined in the absence of adequate levels of magnesium in the body. Magnesium acts with and is essential to the activity of vitamin D, and yet most Americans do not get their recommended daily allowance (RDA) of this important mineral,' she says.

Absorption and metabolism of a particular nutrient will be affected, to a greater or lesser degree, by the other nutrients available to the body and this is also true of vitamin D.

The effectiveness and benefits of vitamin D are greatly undermined in the absence of adequate levels of magnesium in the body

According to the Vitamin D Council, to receive the most health benefit from increased levels of vitamin D, the proper co-factors must be present in the body. Vitamin D has many co-factors, but magnesium, vitamin K, vitamin A, zinc and boron are the most important.

Several studies published in the journal Magnesium Research have highlighted the importance of magnesium for vitamin D metabolism. They have found that it influences the body's utilisation of vitamin D by activating cellular enzyme activity and all the enzymes that metabolise vitamin D require magnesium.

Magnesium also has a possible role in vitamin D's effect on the immune system.

Another study published in the European Journal of Pediatrics showed that low magnesium can alter, by way of decreasing, production of vitamin D's active form.

Several studies related to bone health published in the Journal of Physiological Biochemistry and in the Clinical Nutrition journal point out that magnesium is also necessary for vitamin D's beneficial actions on bone.

Dean notes that vitamin D inhibits calcium deposition in arteries, and magnesium converts vitamin D into its active form so that it can prevent calcium build up into cholesterol plaque in arteries.

'The combination of magnesium and vitamin D helps prevent clogged arteries by drawing calcium out of the blood and soft tissues back into the bones where it is needed to build healthy bone structure and prevent osteoporosis, some forms of arthritis and kidney stones,' she says.

Dean has written a 32-page guide to the benefits of magnesium, along with magnesium deficiency symptoms, which is available as a free download here.