I would bet that there are a lot of you out there listening right now who take a daily vitamin D supplement. And you would be right to do so, because most people who live in New England are unable to get enough vitamin D from sun exposure or foods.
But a review published in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association states that just taking a pill isn’t that simple. They discuss how the mineral magnesium is needed for vitamin D to work properly. The problem is that it’s estimated about 50% of the population doesn’t have adequate magnesium intake, so that can mean that for about 50% of people taking a vitamin D supplement, it remains inactive.
They say that people with optimum magnesium levels actually require less vitamin D. Both are important in preventing cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and many other things.
Now unlike vitamin D, magnesium is actually quite abundant in foods. So why are so many people deficient? Well the problem is that magnesium tends to be found in unprocessed foods, in things like whole grains, nuts, seeds, beans, broccoli and brown rice. Things that a lot of Americans don’t eat too often, and for some people never.
So I would recommend everyone to step up consumption of these foods, and if you really can’t, take a multivitamin that provides 100% of daily magnesium needs.
This is Joan Trimble wishing you wellness.