You’ve heard that calcium is a must for building up bone strength, but did you know that calcium doesn’t work as well without an adequate dose of vitamin D? Many people swallow down calcium pills without this knowledge and those nutrients may not be properly absorbing into your body. For this reason, many calcium supplements now come fortified with vitamin D for better absorption.

With proper absorption, calcium aids with bone health, blood vessel contraction and expansion, muscle contraction, heartbeat regulation, hormone secretion, blood clotting and conducting nerve impulses. In fact, since many of these functions are more vital than bone strength, your body will actually leech calcium right out of your bones if it doesn’t have enough to provide for the rest of these tasks.

It’s pretty clear that it’s important to get the most of your calcium intake, which is why you should ensure that you get enough vitamin D as well. The most common way to get vitamin D is simply by walking out into the sun, which causes your skin to produce the nutrient. Just 10 to 15 minutes of sun exposure (without sunscreen) can produce a whole day’s worth of vitamin D. However, it may require more time in the sun if you have darker skin, if you’re older or if you live in a climate that isn’t very sunny.

So if you need a little extra vitamin D that you may not be able to get from the sun, you can find it naturally in foods like salmon, mackerel, tuna, sardines and milk. And since milk is a well-known source of calcium, you’re getting two great nutrients with each gulp. Or, of course, you can also take a high quality supplement that gives you a healthy dose of both calcium and vitamin D.

How do you get your daily nutrients?

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