Magnesium Deficiency Reduces Effectiveness of Vitamin D in
the Prevention of Disease, According to Magnesium Expert Dr.
Carolyn Dean, MD, ND

ORANGE, Calif., June 15, 2011 — Magnesium deficiency is an
important factor in the results obtained from vitamin D.
According to Dr. Carolyn Dean, MD, ND, magnesium expert and
Medical Director of the nonprofit Nutritional Magnesium
Association (http://www.nutritionalmagnesium.org), the
effectiveness and benefits of vitamin D are greatly
undermined in the absence of adequate levels of magnesium in
the body. Magnesium acts with and is essential to the
activity of vitamin D, and yet most Americans do not get
their recommended daily allowance (RDA) of this important
mineral.

Extensive research has shown that vitamin D deficiencies
play a major role in the development of dozens of diseases,
including a variety of cancers, such as breast cancer
(http://nutritionalmagnesium.org/news-press/cancer.html),
prostate cancer and colon cancer, as well as diabetes, heart
disease, arthritis, osteoporosis, psoriasis and mental
illness.

“While many people are beginning to realize the amazing
health benefits that vitamin D has to offer in the
prevention of disease, they may not be getting the full
benefits from vitamin D without also supplementing their
diets with magnesium, which is a vital nutrient that works
synergistically with vitamin D,” says Dr. Dean.

“Adequate levels of magnesium in the body are essential for
the absorption and metabolism not only of vitamin D but of
calcium as well,” Dean states. “Magnesium converts vitamin D
into its active form so that it can help calcium absorption.

“Magnesium stimulates a particular hormone, calcitonin,
which helps to preserve bone structure and draws calcium out
of the blood and soft tissues back into the bones,
preventing osteoporosis, some forms of arthritis and kidney
stones.”

Dr. John Cannell, Executive Director of the nonprofit
Vitamin D Council, concurs with Dr. Dean’s findings,
recognizing the importance of magnesium
(http://nutritionalmagnesium.org/video-audio/magnesium-overview/91-calcium-magnesium-balance-video-/290-a-look-inside-the-cell-by-andrea-rosanoff.html)
as a nutrient that is required for proper vitamin D
metabolism, while additionally citing several studies that
illustrate this point.

The journal Magnesium Research published a number of studies
with the following findings:

— Magnesium is essential for the metabolism of vitamin D.
— Magnesium influences the body’s utilization of vitamin D
by activating cellular enzyme activity.
— Enzymes are protein molecules that stimulate every
chemical reaction in the body. All the enzymes that
metabolize vitamin D require magnesium.
— Magnesium has a possible role in vitamin D’s effect on
the immune system.

Another study published in the European Journal of
Pediatrics states: “Low magnesium has been shown to alter,
by way of decreasing, production of vitamin D’s active form
…”

Several studies related to bone health published in the
Journal of Physiological Biochemistry and in the Clinical
Nutrition journal point out that magnesium is also necessary
for vitamin D’s beneficial actions on bone.

Since pathologists first began examining the heart, they
realized that a connection existed between deposits of
calcium
(http://nutritionalmagnesium.org/video-audio/magnesium-overview/91-calcium-magnesium-balance-video-/290-a-look-inside-the-cell-by-andrea-rosanoff.html)
and heart disease. Vitamin D inhibits calcium deposition in
arteries, and magnesium converts vitamin D into its active
form so that it can prevent calcium buildup in cholesterol
plaque in arteries. The combination of magnesium and vitamin
D helps prevent clogged arteries by drawing calcium out of
the blood and soft tissues back into the bones where it is
needed to build healthy bone structure.

Dr. Dean concludes, “The many studies pointing to the
importance of these two nutrients to both the prevention of
heart disease and osteoporosis, and the fact that magnesium
can be found to increase the effectiveness of vitamin D,
make finding out about how magnesium can improve the general
health and well-being of anyone a vital imperative that
shouldn’t be ignored.”

A 32-page guide to the benefits of magnesium, along with
magnesium deficiency symptoms, written by Dr. Dean, is
available as a free download at
http://www.nutritionalmagnesium.org.

For media inquiries, please contact Boris Levitsky at (714)
605-1100.

About the Nutritional Magnesium Association

The nonprofit Nutritional Magnesium Association (NMA) is a
trusted authority on the subject of magnesium deficiency and
the benefits of nutritional magnesium for a variety of
health issues. Radio, TV, magazines and professional
journals interview its members regularly – including ABC,
NBC and CBS. The mission of the Nutritional Magnesium
Association is to disseminate timely and useful information
on the subject of nutritional magnesium so as to improve the
lives of all people affected by the widespread magnesium
deficiency in our diets and the related health issues
associated with this deficiency.

For more information, go to
http://www.nutritionalmagnesium.org.

Contact:

Boris Levitsky
(714) 605-1100
info@nutritionalmagnesium.org