Can You Take Magnesium and Phosphorus Together?
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Medically reviewed by Suzanne Fisher, RD
Magnesium and phosphorus are essential minerals crucial for energy production and bone health. While they're both naturally present in various foods, supplementation may be necessary due to factors like dietary habits, health conditions, and medication usage. It's generally safe to take magnesium and phosphorus together, though taking them at separate times may optimize absorption.
Here's everything you need to know about taking magnesium and phosphorus supplements.
Benefits of Magnesium
Magnesium is crucial for over 300 bodily reactions, including blood sugar control and nerve function. The mineral is found in foods like animal products, legumes, and leafy greens.
Nearly half of Americans lack adequate dietary magnesium intake. Additionally, some medical conditions or medications can decrease magnesium absorption, putting certain groups of people at risk for magnesium deficiency.
If your magnesium levels are low, your healthcare provider might suggest taking a magnesium supplement. Magnesium supplements may offer the following benefits:
Lowers blood pressure: Magnesium supplementation may help lower blood pressure, which is beneficial for people with high blood pressure (hypertension).
Improves blood sugar: Magnesium supplementation can help improve blood sugar and insulin sensitivity in people with diabetes.
Supports bone health: Magnesium supplementation may increase bone mineral density and lower fracture risk.
Improves mental health: Magnesium supplementation can reduce mild-to-moderate depression and anxiety.
Relieves constipation: Magnesium supplementation can have a laxative effect by retaining water in the intestines, making stool softer, bulkier, and easier to pass.
Improves sleep: Magnesium supplementation may improve sleep quality, including helping you sleep longer during the night and avoid falling asleep during the day.
Related: How Does Magnesium Help Reduce Anxiety?
Benefits of Phosphorus
Phosphorus is involved in bone and tooth health, energy metabolism, and DNA formation. The mineral is found in many foods such as meats, fish, dairy, and grains.
Most Americans consume more phosphorus than recommended. Phosphorus deficiency is rare and usually caused by a medical condition rather than low dietary intake. Groups at risk for inadequate phosphorus status include those with malnutrition or genetic disorders of phosphorus metabolism.
Phosphorus combines with other minerals in the diet and body, creating phosphate salts. Phosphorus in supplements is usually in the form of phosphate salts. These phosphorus supplements may have the following benefits:
Manages levels of phosphate in the blood: Sodium or potassium phosphate can prevent or treat low phosphate levels in the blood (hypophosphatemia).
Relieves constipation: Sodium phosphate is an ingredient in some over-the-counter products used for constipation.
Relieves indigestion: Aluminum phosphate and calcium phosphate are ingredients in some over-the-counter antacids.
Manages levels of calcium in the blood: Phosphate salts without calcium may treat high levels of calcium in the blood (hypercalcemia).
Prevents kidney stones: Potassium phosphate may help prevent calcium kidney stones from forming in people with high urine levels of calcium.
Is There a Benefit To Taking Magnesium and Phosphorus Together?
It's unknown whether taking both magnesium and phosphorus has any benefit on top of any benefit either supplement can provide on its own.
Both nutrients serve multiple functions in the body, and it's essential to maintain the appropriate levels of magnesium and phosphorus for overall health. So if you have low levels of both minerals, the benefit to taking both supplements would be an increase in your levels.
But if you have to take both supplements, you shouldn't take them together. Taking magnesium and phosphorus at the same time can hinder the body's absorption of both minerals, so there is actually a benefit to taking them separately.
How To Take a Combination of Magnesium and Phosphorus
To avoid any interference between magnesium and phosphorus supplements, it's best to take them at least two hours apart.
Magnesium and phosphorus supplements are both available as oral supplements in various forms including pills, powders, and liquids. There are also different types of preparations for them, such as magnesium oxide, magnesium citrate, sodium phosphate, and aluminum phosphate. Your healthcare provider can help you decide which form and preparation is best for you.
Related: Which Type of Magnesium Is Best?
Dosage
The dosage instructions for magnesium and phosphorus supplements vary based on the specific type of supplement. Your dosage may depend on how low in each mineral you are. Factors such as medical condition, age, sex, and pregnancy status can also influence how much of each you should take.
The amount of each mineral you are currently taking in may also impact dosage. The recommended dietary allowances (RDAs) for nutrients, including magnesium and phosphorus, are typically the total intake from all sources—food, supplements, and medications. The RDA is the level of intake most people need to meet their nutrient requirements.
The RDA of magnesium for adults ranges from 310-420 milligrams (mg), depending on age, sex, pregnancy, and lactation status. The RDA of phosphorus for all adults is 700 mg.
You and your healthcare provider can discuss what supplement dosages are right for your needs.
Is It Safe To Take Magnesium and Phosphorus Together?
Taking magnesium and phosphorus together is safe. However, it's recommended to take them separately with a gap of at least two hours. If taken together, they tend to bind, which can reduce the body's ability to absorb both nutrients.
While it's OK to add magnesium and phosphorus supplements to your regimen if that's the recommendation from your healthcare provider, it's important to consider the safety of each supplement you take.
For example, while phosphorus supplements are generally safe when used for a short period, regular long-term use can cause an imbalance of phosphate and other chemicals in the body. Long-term use should be monitored by a healthcare provider to avoid serious side effects.
Potential Drug Interactions
Consult your healthcare provider before adding new supplements, especially if taking medications, as interactions may occur.
Medications that can potentially interact with magnesium include:
Bisphosphonates: Bisphosphonates prevent the loss of bone density. Magnesium supplements can decrease the absorption of oral bisphosphonates such as alendronate (sold under brand names like Binosto and Fosamax).
Antibiotics: Magnesium supplements can interact with certain antibiotics such as tetracyclines and quinolone antibiotics. The supplement and medication should not be taken at the same time.
Diuretics: Diuretics, or water pills, are medications that help your body get rid of excess fluid. Certain diuretics, particularly potassium-sparing ones like Midamor (amiloride) and Aldactone (spironolactone)—reduce how much magnesium is excreted through urine. This can cause an increase in magnesium levels which, when combined with magnesium supplements, can result in excessive magnesium levels.
Medications that can potentially interact with phosphate include:
Erdafitinib (Balversa): Taking phosphate salts along with this cancer medication should be avoided as it can cause high phosphate levels and serious side effects.
Bisphosphonates: Phosphate salts and bisphosphonates can both lower calcium levels in the body.
Calcium: Phosphate can bind with calcium, hindering one another's absorption. Phosphate should be taken two hours before or after taking calcium.
Iron: Phosphate and iron can also bind to each other, making so that each is not as well absorbed. They should be taken two hours apart to avoid the effect.
What To Look For
When shopping for magnesium and phosphorus supplements, it's essential to prioritize quality and safety. Look for supplements that say they have been third-party tested.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not monitor supplements in the same way they do medications; some supplement manufacturers opt to have their products independently tested to ensure their products are safe. The third-party testing looks for purity and potency. Stamps from third-party organizations like USP or NSF may be on the packaging and can help you identify which products have gone through the testing.
You can also consider the form of the supplement that would be easiest for you to take and look for that form. For instance, if it's easier for you to take liquid than a capsule, you can look for supplements in liquid form.
Can You Have Too Much Magnesium or Phosphorus?
High magnesium and phosphorus intake from food is generally not a health concern for most people. However, consuming excessive amounts of these nutrients through supplements is not advisable.
The maximum amount of daily magnesium supplementation considered safe for adults is 350 mg. For phosphorus, the maximum daily safe intake for most adults is 3,000-4,000 mg, sourced from both food and supplements.
Taking too much of either supplement could pose health risks.
High magnesium doses often result in gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhea and nausea. Very large doses of magnesium supplementation (over 5,000 mg daily) are associated with magnesium toxicity. Toxicity symptoms can include nausea, vomiting, and lethargy before progressing to difficulty breathing and cardiac arrest.
Excessive phosphorus intake—such as consuming two 6,600-mg doses of sodium phosphate in one day—can lead to high phosphorus in the blood, a condition known as hyperphosphatemia. Hyperphosphatemia mainly causes hormonal changes that affect calcium metabolism and lead to calcium buildup. The calcium buildup can make the tissue harden, a process known as tissue calcification. Tissue calcification can affect the kidneys in particular.
Side Effects of Taking a Combination of Magnesium and Phosphorus
Magnesium and phosphorus supplementation can lead to a variety of symptoms.
Common side effects of magnesium supplementation include flushing of the skin, low blood pressure (hypotension), diarrhea, flatulence (gas), nausea, and vomiting. Phosphorus supplements can also cause gastrointestinal symptoms as well as headaches.
Since both magnesium and phosphorus can cause stomach upset, taking them together may increase the side effect.
A Quick Review
Magnesium and phosphorus are minerals essential for various bodily functions, and it's important to maintain proper levels of both nutrients. If your levels are insufficient, your healthcare provider may recommend supplementation. While it is safe to take both magnesium and phosphorus, you should probably not take them together. Taking the supplements at different times in the day can help you maximize their absorption. Your healthcare provider can offer personalized guidance, including what dosage of each to take and how to avoid any side effects.
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