You're most likely aware of the importance of vitamins and minerals, but did you know that they need each other to work properly? Just like a car, your body needs all components so that it moves.

Your body and its metabolism are the same way when it comes to vitamins and minerals. Certain minerals are required for specific vitamins and vice versa to increase absorption, bioavailability, and use.

This article will be breaking down the importance of vitamin and mineral relationships and how you can use this to improve your health twofold. 

Vitamin D is one of the most essential nutrients for the human body. Referred to as a hormone in some cases, it regulates the function of over 200 genes and is crucial for growth as well as development. However, over a billion people worldwide are deficient in this vitamin. 

You need cofactors for many of your vitamins and minerals. Vitamin D isn’t exempt from this and needs help being activated in the body via magnesium. Magnesium is a powerful mineral that influences multiple processes in the human body. One of them happens to be the regulation of vitamin D. When a magnesium deficiency is present, it can shut down vitamin D synthesis and activation. The mineral is typically found in many different plants like spinach and some grains; however, soil depletion leads to a lack of this mineral in foods. This deficiency is more prevalent in women than men, and it was shown in a study that 10 out of 11 women who were suspected as healthy were deficient in magnesium. As if that isn’t bad enough, up to 84% of postmenopausal women are also deficient in magnesium. This deficiency alone can cause enough trouble, but with no magnesium, there's a lack of vitamin D. A legitimate domino effect ensues all from one deficiency. 

Now, let’s discuss the role vitamin D has in calcium intake. Calcium is another mineral that’s crucial for strong bones and many other processes in the body. This mineral can't be as effective if it doesn't have the necessary cofactors. Of those cofactors, one of the most important is vitamin D! When many people are experiencing trouble due to a calcium deficiency, it's often due to a deficiency in vitamin D first! Interestingly enough, this can also be tied back to a magnesium deficiency as well! Regardless, some of these issues may include brittle bones or even osteoporosis and can typically be traced back to lower levels of vitamin D and sometimes even magnesium.

To avoid a vitamin D deficiency, you would think eating vitamin D-rich foods would help. However, the fact of the matter is that billions of people don’t get near what they need from food alone. The modern diet lacks magnesium, even in the foods that should contain it; this leads to lower vitamin D absorption. 

So, your next bet is to look into supplementation. While vitamin D supplements are great again, sourcing and quality are paramount. If it's a synthetic vitamin D supplement, it won’t contain the naturally occurring magnesium that is often in real foods that provide vitamin D. Therefore, you won’t even be able to activate any of it.  

Your body will also synthesize vitamin D from sunlight and UV rays; however, regardless of the region, billions of people still don’t get enough vitamin D. 

Deficiencies in any of the nutrients expressed above can cause several issues such as:

• Osteoporosis 
• Depression 
• Rickets 
• Cardiovascular disease 
• Autoimmune disease
• IBS
• Obesity 
• Muscle cramps 
• Fatigue 

With supplements, you need something that takes the relationship of vitamins and minerals into account so that you get exactly what your body needs. This is where a whole food supplement comes into play. The closer it is to the real thing, the better the outcome. The reason being is that most foods contain all of the needed components for proper absorption or activation of their vitamins and minerals. When you go the synthetic route, none of those beneficial components are present, thus increasing the chance for a deficiency. 

Optivida is an excellent source for whole food supplements, and you can see this with our vitamin D supplement. We know what it takes for proper vitamin D activation, so we utilize real food. Our vitamin D is made with organic white button mushrooms! These mushrooms naturally contain calcium, magnesium, and vitamin D, which allows for maximum absorption and activation. In addition, we’ve added a boost of magnesium to ensure full uptake! This isn't a supplement full of fluff; it is potent and effective.

Your supplements need to contain complementary ingredients to work properly. Vitamins and minerals have a supportive relationship and work best when combined. This is how nature intended it, and you can see this in whole foods. Synthetic or isolated nutrients don't work and can often be a wasted effort. Get the real deal and use food-based, properly paired supplements for the best results.