VITAMIN DE MAGNESIUM: what is its role?
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Among micronutrients we mainly recognize two groups: vitamins and mineral salts.
Mineral salts are inorganic substances, they do not provide calories but, like vitamins, they perform very important functions for our organism, as they participate in vital and metabolic processes, muscle contractility and the functionality of the nervous system.
Among the minerals, Magnesium (Mg) represents an essential mineral for our organism, it intervenes in many physiological processes such as blood coagulation, lipid, carbohydrate and protein metabolism, promotes the maintenance of a balanced blood pH, regulates the rhythm cardiac, has a vasodilatory action and is essential in bone mineralization processes and for energy production.
The average Mg requirement estimated by LARN for the Italian population is 170mg per day for adults, an intake that can almost always be satisfied thanks to the presence of this mineral in very many foods. For example, we find it in large quantities in legumes, dried nuts and whole grains; all foods that we choose to include in our IoBoscoVivo products so as to combine them with the supply of vitamin D that mainly characterizes them, as for example in our Shiitake mushroom flavorings or in the line of Shiitake mushroom cream soup.
However, in recent years the diet of the population of the most developed countries is increasingly shifting towards the consumption of foods rich in sugars and fats and with high energy density to the detriment of foods with more balanced nutritional values and above all rich in essential nutrients for the human organism. This, however, is leading to an increasingly frequent onset of nutritional deficiencies including Mg, as researchers from the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee reported to us in 2015 in reference to the US population.
But how do vitamin D and Magnesium interact?
Magnesium homeostasis is maintained by fine interactions between the intestine, bones and kidneys and constitutes an essential element for the synthesis and activation of vitamin D which, in turn, can increase intestinal absorption of Mg thus creating a continuous cycle for the maintenance of its homeostasis. In practice, magnesium optimizes the state of vitamin D, increasing it in people with insufficient levels and lowering it in people who instead have high levels: that is, magnesium would have a regulating effect on the levels of the vitamin and, in turn, the latter can regulate the levels of Mg as well as other minerals such as calcium and phosphorus.
What emerges from more and more studies is that magnesium is fundamental for the metabolism of vitamin D as it not only influences its activation and use by the organism but is also necessary for the activity of all the enzymes that metabolize it. the vitamin acting as a cofactor in the reactions that occur both in the liver and the kidneys.
Deficiency of one or both of these nutrients can be associated with various disorders, such as skeletal deformations, cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome. It is therefore of fundamental importance to ensure that the recommended amount of magnesium is taken in order to obtain the full benefits of vitamin D.
Finally, therefore, a better understanding of how the supplementation of this mineral can reduce the complications linked to a low vitamin D situation would help and improve patient care.
Bibliography:
- Dai, Q., Zhu, X. et al. Magnesium status and supplementation influence vitamin D status and metabolism: results from a randomized trial, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Volume 108, Issue 6, December 2018, Pages 1249–1258, Available at https://doi.org/10.1093/ ajcn/nqy274
- Uwitonze AM, Razzaque MS. Role of Magnesium in Vitamin D Activation and Function. J Am Osteopath Assoc 2018;118(3):181–189. Available at https://doi.org/10.7556/jaoa.2018.037
- McGuire, S., Scientific Report of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. Washington, DC: US Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services, 2015, Advances in Nutrition, Volume 7, Issue 1, January 2016, Pages 202–204, https://doi.org/10.3945/an.115.011684