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A Tale of Two Nutrients
A number of vitamins and minerals play important roles in your body. But the ones
we focus on tend to change with the seasons. Consider vitamin D and magnesium.
Although both are crucial for health and performance, you’ve probably heard a lot
more about the former than the latter in recent years (Erem, Atfi, and Razzaque 2019).
It’s not as if vitamin D went out and hired a better PR agency. Research over the
past 10 years shows how importance it is for a wide range of immune, health, and
performance benefits. We now know there are genuine consequences to your health
and performance if you’re deficient. Low levels can increase your risk of cancer and
type 2 diabetes, among many other problems (Holcik et al. 2011). Here’s how it all
breaks down:
Deficiency: <20 ng/mL
Insufficiency: <25 ng/mL
• Sufficient: >30 ng/mL
Recent estimates suggest a billion people have vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency
(Holick 2017). That’s about 13 percent of the global population at the time. If
your blood test indicates a level of vitamin D below 30 ng/mL, you should probably
consider taking a supplement (Rondanelli et al. 2020). Or you could spend more
time in the sun, if that’s an option. Sunlight is a cheaper and more efficient way to
get more vitamin D in your system (Nair and Maseeh 2012).
Magnesium gets much less attention in the media than vitamin D, but it deserves
at least as much. It’s involved in hundreds of metabolic processes and plays essential
roles in cell proliferation, growth, and survival. Magnesium deficiency can cause
chronic inflammation, fatigue, muscle weakness, and even heart failure (de Baaij,
Hoenderop, and Bindels 2015; DiNicolantonio, O’Keefe, and Wilson 2018). It can
worsen insulin resistance, which makes it nearly impossible to lose fat, and can
contribute to depression (Kostov 2019; Serefko et al. 2013). And if trying to wrap
your mind around all this gives you a migraine, you should know that, too, might be
caused by low magnesium (Volpe 2013).
Fifty years ago, most people got sufficient magnesium from the foods they ate.
But depleted soil means your food has less magnesium, and much of that is stripped
by food processing (Rosanoff, Weaver, and Rude 2012; Worthington 2001). Current
estimates suggest about 60 percent of adults don’t consume the recommended
320 to 420 milligrams a day of magnesium, and 45 percent are deficient (Workinger,
Doyle, and Bortz 2018).
Unlike vitamin D levels, which can be measured with a simple blood test during
your annual checkup, it’s hard to determine your magnesium level if your doctor
suspects you’re deficient. It typically requires a blood test combined with a 24-hour
urine sample (Workinger, Doyle, and Bortz 2018). To avoid that possibility, you can
get your daily magnesium from leafy greens, pumpkin seeds, and avocados. Dark
chocolate with at least 88 percent cocoa can be another good source, although you
have to watch out for added sugar (Garcia et al. 2018).
Finally, vitamin D and magnesium affect each other. Trying to overcome a vitamin
D deficiency by taking high doses of supplements, such as 20,000 IUs or more
in one day, can lead to a magnesium deficiency and possibly toxicity (Reddy and
Edwards 2019). Consult with your physician to make sure you don’t create more
problems than you fix.