Magnesium and Vitamin D: Benefits, Dosage, and Why to Consider Taking Both

There’s been a lot of buzz on social media about taking magnesium and vitamin D supplements together for anxiety. Since magnesium helps your body process vitamin D, taking both supplements together can help enhance each other’s benefits.

Magnesium and vitamin D are both essential to keeping your body healthy. Both vitamin D and magnesium support physical and mental health, keeping your bones strong, and even fighting symptoms of anxiety and depression.

This article will touch on how to use magnesium and vitamin D for anxiety, neurological health, bone health, and more.

Benefits of Magnesium

Magnesium is a mineral and an electrolyte that your body uses for chemical reactions. The benefits of magnesium are widespread, and include helping your nerves communicate, keeping muscles healthy, and controlling blood glucose.

Supplementing with magnesium can be helpful for a variety of health conditions, including:

• Anxiety
• Asthma
• Cardiac arrhythmia (an irregular heartbeat)
• Constipation
• Headaches
• Insomnia
• Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
• Preeclampsia
• Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)
• Restless legs syndrome (RLS)

Benefits of Vitamin D

Vitamin D helps support your immune system, build healthy bones, and keep your neurons functioning well, which can help with mood. In addition, getting enough vitamin D can help prevent serious diseases, including diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure and autoimmune disease.

How Magnesium and Vitamin D Work Together

Magnesium plays an important role in liver and kidney function, and it's essential for the absorption of vitamin D. The enzymes that are responsible for metabolizing vitamin D all seem to require magnesium. If your magnesium level is too low, your body cannot activate or process vitamin D. 

A deficiency in either nutrient is associated with anxiety and symptoms of depression. While taking these supplements together might maximize their benefits, you should consult your healthcare provider about what dosages are right for you.

Dosage

One viral TikTok video called for taking 500 milligrams (mg) of magnesium and 125 micrograms (mcg) of vitamin D. The dosage recommended in the video is higher than the recognized safe limits and could cause other health problems.

Magnesium Dosage 

According to federal data, no one should take more than 350 mg of magnesium supplements each day. Doing so can cause diarrhea and cramping. Taking very high doses—more than 5,000 mg—can cause kidney failure and even death.

Unfortunately, there’s little data on what dose of magnesium might be helpful for anxiety. In fact, the research around magnesium supplementation and anxiety is poor overall.

Vitamin D Dosage

The upper limit for vitamin D intake from all sources (food and supplements) is 100 mcg per day for anyone ages 9 or older. If you take too much vitamin D, you can experience nausea, vomiting, confusion and kidney stones. Very high levels can cause kidney failure, irregular heartbeats and death.

Magnesium Deficiency

Magnesium deficiency occurs when you don’t have enough of the mineral in your body. It’s rare in otherwise healthy people, but older adults and people with these health conditions are at a higher risk of developing magnesium deficiency:

• Gastrointestinal (GI) disease
• Diabetes
• Alcohol use disorder

The symptoms of magnesium deficiency include:

• Loss of appetite
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Fatigue
• Weakness

As your levels of magnesium continue to drop, you’ll experience more serious symptoms including:

• Numbness
• Tingling
• Muscle contractions and cramps
• Seizures
• Personality changes
• Abnormal heart rhythms
• Coronary spasms

Vitamin D Deficiency

Vitamin D deficiency can cause weak bones and other symptoms. About 1 in 4 Americans don’t get enough vitamin D. The people most at risk for vitamin D deficiency include:

• Older adults
• Breastfed infants
• People who don’t get outside much
• People with darker skin
• People who have trouble absorbing fat, including those with gastrointestinal diseases
• People with obesity, or those who have had gastric bypass surgery

Most people who have vitamin d deficiency don’t have symptoms. However, with severe deficiency you may notice symptoms including:

• Bone pain
• Bone fractures
• Depression
• Frequent falls
• Trouble walking

Risks to Be Aware Of

Taking supplements can impact your overall health and interact with other medications that you’re on. Magnesium can interact with:

• Bisphosphonates, used to treat osteoporosis
• Antibiotics
• Diuretics  
• Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs)

Vitamin D can interact with:

• Weight loss drugs
• Statins
• Diuretics
• Steroids

If you’re on any of these medications and are considering starting or changing your supplement routine, talk with your healthcare provider or pharmacist. 

Summary

Many people have found success taking magnesium and vitamin D for anxiety. Both vitamin D and magnesium can support mental health and physical health, but research on these nutrients and their effect on anxiety when taken together is limited. Science shows that having enough magnesium is helpful for processing vitamin D, but taking either of these supplements at high doses can cause problems, particularly if you’re on other medications or have underlying health concerns.

If you’re interested in trying magnesium and vitamin D supplements, speak with your healthcare provider first.