The Relationship Between Vitamin D and Calcium: What You Need to Know

  • By Performance Lab
  • 8 minute read
The Relationship Between Vitamin D and Calcium: What You Need to Know

Most people know that calcium is essential for bone health. You were told to drink your milk as a child because milk builds strong bones.

And while milk is one source of calcium, it’s not the only one. Be it kale, broccoli, squash, edamame, or cold-water fatty fish, we all need to ensure we’re getting enough calcium for bone health.

But there’s one thing most people don’t know about calcium: it has a partner in crime.

Calcium can only reach its full bone-building potential if you’re consuming enough vitamin D. Yep - you read that right. Calcium needs vitamin D to elicit its action. So, even if you’re loading up on calcium-rich foods, if you’re not getting enough vitamin D, it could be going to waste

If this is news to you, you’re in the right place! We’re digging into the details of calcium and vitamin D and why you need to consume enough of both for the bone-building benefits.

The Basics Of Calcium

We all know calcium as a bone-building mineral. It’s important from birth to death to support healthy, strong bones throughout the lifespan.

And while calcium may only account for less than 2% of total body weight, its big function in mineralized tissues - which accounts for a whopping 99% of human body weight - makes up for its lack of physical presence.

Most of the calcium in the body is stored in bones, where calcium plays an essential structural role as a component of hydroxyapatite - a critical element required for bone regeneration 1, 2.

Although calcium is needed for all ages, requirements vary throughout the lifespan because of physiological changes that can increase or decrease requirements.

For example, post-menopausal women have higher calcium needs due to declining estrogen levels, which can increase susceptibility to osteoporosis and fractures if calcium requirements aren’t met.

On top of bone health, the calcium found in the blood, extracellular fluids, muscles, and other tissues is required for proper 1:

  • Muscle contraction
  • Vascular contraction and vasodilation
  • Nerve transmission
  • Glandular secretions

But as we mentioned, most people aren’t aware that for calcium to do its job, it requires an adequate supply of two other nutrients: magnesium and vitamin D.

Simply put, you can eat all the kale, broccoli, milk, and cheese you want, but if your vitamin D and magnesium levels aren’t up to snuff, it won’t matter.

Benefits Of Calcium

1. Bone health

It’s a no-brainer that calcium is needed for bone health. When new bone tissue is formed, a collagen framework is laid down and filled with tiny calcium crystals in all the nooks and crannies.

Bones serve as the primary reservoir for calcium and function to maintain serum calcium levels; blood calcium levels are held within a very narrow range and are controlled by three calciotropic hormones, vitamin D3, parathyroid hormone (PTH), and calcitonin 1.

When serum calcium levels drop, these hormones work together to act on the bone to release stored calcium, reduce renal calcium excretion, and increase calcium absorption in the intestine.

As a result, serum calcium levels are maintained - but the bone calcium reservoir decreases. Simply put, adequate calcium intake through diet or supplementation prevents bone reserves from being tapped into.

2. Nervous system function

Calcium is a serious multi-tasker in the brain and serves several functions - stimulates nerve impulses, triggers neurotransmitter releases, memory formation, metabolism, and more. But in the nervous system, calcium plays an essential role in neurotransmitter release.

Before neurotransmitters can be released into the synaptic cleft—the space between the ends of two connecting neurons—calcium channels must open to release them 3. If calcium levels aren’t sufficient to support this action, neurotransmitter release is inhibited, and neuronal activity is impaired.

3. Muscle contraction

If you’ve learned anything about muscle contraction, you’ve probably heard about the role of calcium. It’s required by the two proteins that allow regulating muscle contraction and relaxation—troponin and tropomyosin.

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Regardless of the muscle, proper contraction depends on an increase in cytosolic calcium concentration 4. If calcium levels aren’t sufficient, it can lead to a condition called “neuromuscular irritability,” whereby muscles and nerves involuntarily twitch or spasm.

The Details On Vitamin D

As mentioned before, vitamin D forms a duo with magnesium to support calcium absorption and function—but that’s not all it does. Vitamin D is possibly one of the most essential nutrients in the body that plays critical roles in various physiological functions.

While your initial impression may be that vitamin D is a vitamin, given the name and all, it’s actually a fat-soluble prohormone with endocrine and autocrine functions 5.

The endocrine actions largely involve regulating calcium absorption, which we’ll discuss below, while the autocrine actions facilitate gene expression.

Although its classic actions are in immune function and calcium absorption, vitamin D receptors are present on nearly all body cells, meaning its actions span far beyond just those.

Through its role in regulating gene transcription, it’s estimated that vitamin D, directly or indirectly, controls anywhere from 200 to 2,00 genes 6.

In general, vitamin D is involved in:

  • Immune function
  • Mood
  • Inflammation
  • Weight management
  • Heart health
  • Growth and development
  • Calcium absorption
  • GI function
  • Cardiovascular health
  • Cell cycle regulation
  • Insulin production

And because vitamin D can cross the blood-brain barrier, it also elicits powerful influences on the brain, but the exact role isn’t clear.

However, low vitamin D has been linked to impairments in several executive functions, including impaired processing speed, mental shifting, and information updating 7. But the most profound effects of vitamin D deficiency are on bone health - we’ll talk about why this is below.

Benefits Of Vitamin D

  1. May reduce the risk of chronic disease: Because of its ability to regulate hundreds of genes, vitamin D plays a significant role in supporting the optimal function of nearly every system in the body. Studies show that adequate vitamin D intake may fight diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS), heart disease, autoimmune diseases, and even the cold and flu 8-10.
  2. Regulates mood: Seasonal affective disorder is typically associated with low levels of vitamin D, which suggest that vitamin D plays a vital role in regulating mood. Although there’s limited research on other mood disorders, studies support vitamin D’s role in reducing depression 11. Research also finds that vitamin D supplementation can reduce negative moods 12.
  3. Enhances immunity: Of the nutrient for immune function, vitamin D usually ranks near the top. It’s involved in modulating both the adaptive and innate immune responses 13. Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to an increased risk of autoimmune conditions and increased susceptibility to infection. Interestingly, because various immune cells also express the vitamin D receptor, they can synthesize the active vitamin D metabolite.
  4. Reduce the risk of diabetes: Although it’s a much lesser-known function, vitamin D plays a vital role in insulin and glucose regulation. It’s been suggested to increase insulin sensitivity, enhance beta cell function, and reduce inflammation, significantly reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes 14.

On top of these benefits, vitamin D has also shown positive benefits for:

  • Cognitive health
  • Cancer treatment
  • Autoimmunity
  • Weight loss
  • Cardiovascular health

Is There A Link Between Calcium And Vitamin D?

Of all the functions, the best-known roles of calcium and vitamin D are in bone health - but what’s their connection?

If you’re looking for the ultimate insurance against bone degeneration and osteoporosis, you’ll need to build the highest bone density you can by your 30s to minimize bone loss afterward. And apart from daily exercise and resistance training, calcium and vitamin D are your next best bet.

Calcium is a staple for bone integrity and strength, but it has a trusty assistant: vitamin D. For your body to efficiently absorb calcium, your vitamin D levels must be up to snuff. Calcium builds and maintains bone tissue, while vitamin D increases calcium absorption.

Let’s break that down.

We talked about calcium’s effect on bone tissue earlier, but concerning vitamin D, the active form plays an essential role in regulating calcium and phosphorus homeostasis. Although the exact mechanism behind how it does so is complex, here’s the basic premise:

Your body maintains serum calcium levels within a very narrow range. For it to do so, multiple tissues - the intestine, kidney, bone, and parathyroid gland - coordinate to mobilize calcium from bone tissue, enhance absorption, and increase serum levels.

The production of vitamin D, 1,25 dihydroxyvitamin D (1,25(OH)2 D) is regulated by dietary calcium intake and various physiologic states (growth, menopause, aging, etc.) 15.

When calcium requirements increase and dietary intake doesn’t meet demand, calciotropic hormones, vitamin D3, parathyroid hormone (PTH), and calcitonin work together to release calcium from stores and increase levels.

All of these hormones play different roles, but the primary function of 1,25(OH)2 D is to increase intestinal calcium absorption, so sufficient amounts of calcium are available for bone mineralization.

Without proper vitamin D levels, calcium cannot be absorbed from the gut, and bone mineralization is impaired, thus weakening bone tissue and increasing the risk of osteoporosis and bone fractures.

Here’s a pretty mind-blowing statistic to show just how important vitamin D is: insufficient vitamin D levels lead to 15% less dietary calcium absorption and a whopping 60% less phosphorus 16.

However, increasing your vitamin D intake to achieve optimal levels can increase calcium and phosphorus absorption by up to 40% and 80%, respectively.

An effective way of looking at the importance of calcium and vitamin D for bone health is using the brick-and-mortar analogy: “the antiresorptive medication serves as the ‘bricks,’ while adequate calcium and vitamin D serve as the ‘mortar.’ Without both ‘brick’ and ‘mortar,’ the structure (healthy bone) could not be achieved” 17.

Final Thoughts

The relationship between calcium and vitamin D is complex, but if you’re looking to protect yourself against the risk of osteoporosis, increasing your intake of both is essential.

But while diet is a significant contributor to intake, supplementation can be an easy way to ensure you’re meeting your needs - especially with something like Performance Lab NutriGenesis Multi.

 

It supplies 100% RDI of 17+ essential vitamins and minerals in their most bioavailable form for optimal performance across all body systems. Upping your intake of calcium and vitamin D-rich foods is a great start, but filling in the nutritional gaps with Multi will take you to home plate.

References

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  2. Kattimani VS, Kondaka S, Lingamaneni KP. Hydroxyapatite–-Past, present, and future in bone regeneration. Bone tissue regen insights. 2016; 7: BTRI-S36138.
  3. Südhof TC. Calcium control of neurotransmitter release. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol. 2012;4(1):a011353.
  4. Kuo IY, Ehrlich BE. Signaling in muscle contraction. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol. 2015;7(2):a006023.
  5. Heaney RP. Vitamin D in health and disease. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. 2008;3(5):1535-1541.
  6. Hossein-nezhad A, Holick MF. Vitamin D for health: a global perspective. Mayo Clin Proc. 2013;88(7):720-755.
  7. Sultan S, Taimuri U, Basnan SA, et al. Low Vitamin D and Its Association with Cognitive Impairment and Dementia. J Aging Res. 2020;2020:6097820.
  8. Sintzel MB, Rametta M, Reder AT. Vitamin D and Multiple Sclerosis: A Comprehensive Review. Neurol Ther. 2018;7(1):59-85.
  9. Saponaro F, Marcocci C, Zucchi R. Vitamin D status and cardiovascular outcome. J Endocrinol Invest. 2019;42(11):1285-1290.
  10. Martens PJ, Gysemans C, Verstuyf A, Mathieu AC. Vitamin D’s Effect on Immune Function.  2020;12(5):1248.
  11. Penckofer S, Kouba J, Byrn M, Estwing Ferrans C. Vitamin D and depression: where is all the sunshine?. Issues Ment Health Nurs. 2010;31(6):385-393.
  12. Cheng YC, Huang YC, Huang WL. The effect of vitamin D supplement on negative emotions: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Depress Anxiety. 2020;37(6):549-564.
  13. Aranow C. Vitamin D and the immune system. J Investig Med. 2011;59(6):881-886.
  14. Mitri J, Pittas AG. Vitamin D and diabetes. Endocrinol Metab Clin North Am. 2014;43(1):205-232.
  15. Fleet JC. The role of vitamin D in the endocrinology controlling calcium homeostasis. Mol Cell Endocrinol. 2017;453:36-45.
  16. Nair R, Maseeh A. Vitamin D: The “sunshine” vitamin. J Pharmacol Pharmacother. 2012;3(2):118-126.
  17. Sunyecz JA. The use of calcium and vitamin D in the management of osteoporosis.Ther Clin Risk Manag. 2008;4(4):827-836.

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