Can You Take Vitamin B12 and Magnesium Together?
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Medically reviewed by Suzanne Fisher, RD
Vitamin B12 and magnesium are two nutrients vital to your health. Vitamin B12 , or cobalamin, is a vitamin with many important roles, including producing healthy red blood cells and promoting brain health. Magnesium is a multifunctional mineral important for your nervous system, bones, and blood pressure.
Some people get enough vitamin B12 and magnesium through their diet, but deficiencies are relatively common. In these cases, it may make sense to take a supplement for both so that you can manage your levels.
Most people can safely take vitamin B12 and magnesium together. The supplements don’t appear to negatively impact each other. And while they also don't appear to directly work together, they may both positively impact some of the same systems of the body, including the heart and brain.
Here's everything you need to know before you take vitamin B12 and magnesium together.
Benefits of Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12, one member of the larger group of B vitamins, is involved in synthesizing DNA and various proteins. It also plays an important role in the nervous system, which includes your brain, spinal cord, and nerves. For example, vitamin B12 is needed to form the protective barrier around nerves.
Vitamin B12 is also key for helping your body synthesize healthy red blood cells, which transport oxygen around the body. The vitamin is also involved in the process of extracting energy from food.
Maintaining appropriate levels can avoid vitamin B12 deficiency which, when severe, can cause problems with the nervous system that lead to symptoms like decreased touch sensation, tingling of your feet (peripheral neuropathy), problems with balance, cognitive impairment, or psychosis. While uncommon, severe deficiency also causes symptoms related to anemia (not having enough healthy red blood cells), like fatigue.
Researchers have also studied the connection between low vitamin B12 levels and risks of conditions like osteoporosis, heart attack, stroke, and cancer. More research would be needed to say for certain whether these relationships exist and whether maintaining appropriate levels of vitamin B12 would avoid these heightened health risks.
Benefits of Magnesium
Magnesium is involved in hundreds of chemical reactions in your body, and the mineral is critical for DNA and protein synthesis. Magnesium is also important for nerve and muscle signaling, including in your heart.
Getting enough magnesium can prevent a magnesium deficiency. When severe, a magnesium deficiency may lead to problems like depression, fatigue, and muscle weakness. If very severe, the deficiency can lead to seizures or potentially life-threatening abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmia).
The role of magnesium in various health conditions isn’t as clear as it is for other minerals. For example, studies have been inconclusive about whether magnesium might help reduce blood pressure in people who have high blood pressure (hypertension). And while magnesium deficiency is common among people with diabetes, it’s unclear whether magnesium supplementation might reduce blood glucose.
Scientists are also exploring whether magnesium can benefit conditions like osteoporosis, insomnia, migraine, asthma, and epilepsy, but so far the results are inconclusive.
Benefits of Taking Vitamin B12 and Magnesium Together
Vitamin B12 and magnesium are both critical, and it’s important to get enough of both from your diet. If that isn’t possible, a healthcare provider may recommend you take supplements of both vitamin B12 and magnesium to increase or maintain your levels and prevent any deficiencies.
In general, people who are deficient in one vitamin or mineral may be more likely to be deficient in others. For example, older adults may be at greater risk of both deficiencies. People with certain medical conditions, like small intestine issues that make proper absorption of vitamins and minerals difficult, may also have an increased risk of nutritional deficiencies.
There hasn't been research on the effects of the specific combination of supplements. However, based on the fact that the nutrients can impact the same systems, taking the two supplements together may have a greater impact than taking one alone if you are low in both.
For example, taking vitamin B12 and magnesium together might decrease fatigue more than taking either alone. Getting enough vitamin B12 and magnesium might have positive effects on your heart and cardiovascular system. Getting enough of both is also important for optimum functioning of your brain and nervous system.
How To Take a Combination of Vitamin B12 and Magnesium
Typically, both vitamin B12 and magnesium are taken as pills. Other options, like powders and liquids, are available. If prescribed for a diagnosed B12 deficiency, your healthcare provider might recommend a series of vitamin B12 injections.
Magnesium is available in different forms, including magnesium citrate, magnesium oxide, and magnesium chloride. Vitamin B12 is also sold in different forms with “cobalamin” as part of the name, such as the case with cyanocobalamin.
You can take vitamin B12 and magnesium together or at different times of day. You may want to take magnesium after a meal to reduce the risk of stomach upset.
If you want to take the two nutrients in one product, that is possible. However, know that supplement combination products often include other vitamins in the B group—like B6 and folate—because of the way these different B vitamins affect each other. Magnesium and B12 are also often both included as part of multivitamins, though typically at fairly low doses.
How quickly you see results can depend on how low your levels were. For instance, if you take B12 for a severe deficiency, you should notice improvements in symptoms fairly quickly. However, some kinds of neurological damage from a severe deficiency might not be fully reversible.
Related: Which Type of Magnesium Is Best?
Dosage
The dosage of vitamin B12 and magnesium supplements you take may depend on your age, any medical conditions you have, and what your current levels are. Blood tests can pick up severe deficiencies of B12 and magnesium, but they tests aren’t as good at detecting milder deficiencies.
The dosage might also depend on how much of each nutrient you take in through your diet.
Including food sources and any supplements, an adequate intake of vitamin B12 is considered 2.4 micrograms (mcg) a day for people 14 years or older. During pregnancy, the adequate intake is a bit higher—2.6 mcg.
If you look at the amounts included in supplements, you’ll notice much higher doses, possibly ranging from 500-3,000 mcg. You'll want to talk with a healthcare provider about what dosage you should take and for how long.
For magnesium, the recommended dietary allowance is 400 milligrams (mg) for men aged 19-30 and 310 mg for women in the same age group. For people 31 or older, the recommended daily amount of magnesium is 420 mg for men and 320 mg for women. Many over-the-counter supplements include about 250-300 mg of magnesium.
Is It Safe To Take Vitamin B12 and Magnesium Together?
For most people, it’s safe to take both vitamin B12 and magnesium. However, especially for magnesium, you need to be thoughtful about dosage. People with certain medical conditions, such as severe kidney disease or Addison’s disease, might even need to avoid magnesium supplements.
Potential Drug Interactions
As far as is known, vitamin B12 and magnesium don’t directly interact with each other. Taking one doesn’t affect the amount or efficacy of the other.
Vitamin B12 supplements don't have any known interactions with drugs. However, medications and supplements may interact with vitamin B12 you get through your diet. Certain medications, such as the diabetes drug metformin (Glumetza), can make it harder for you to absorb vitamin B12 from the food you eat. Certain supplements, can interact with dietary vitamin B12 too. This includes vitamin C, which can destroy dietary B12.
Magnesium can interact with drugs or supplements. In some cases, magnesium can make the drug less effective or increase the risk of side effects. In other cases, taking a certain drug may make it harder for your body to absorb magnesium.
Some important drug interactions for magnesium include the following:
Antacids containing magnesium, like Maalox
Certain antibiotics, like Sumycin (tetracycline chloride), Garamycin (gentamicin), or Cipro (ciprofloxacin)
Drugs for osteoporosis, such as bisphosphonates like Fosamax (alendronate)
Some drugs for high blood pressure, such as calcium channel blockers like Norvasc (amlodipine)
Lithium, for bipolar disorder
High doses of vitamin D or calcium
You still may be able to take these drugs or supplements, but you may want to discuss potential interactions with your healthcare provider.
What To Look For
Because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration doesn't regulate over-the-counter supplements the same way as drugs, it can be a little harder to know you are getting a high-quality product.
Ideally, check that the product you are using has some sort of third-party verification. You might notice labels from the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) or the United States Pharmacopeia (USP).
Your healthcare provider or pharmacist may also have products or brands they recommend.
Can You Have Too Much Vitamin B12 or Magnesium?
The scientific consensus is that it’s likely not possible to overdose on vitamin B12. It’s safe, and if you have extra vitamin B12, your body can remove it through your urine.
It is possible to have too much magnesium. Taking too much magnesium can cause serious symptoms of magnesium toxicity, especially in extremely high doses (more than 5,000 mg a day). Magnesium toxicity might cause muscle weakness, difficulty breathing, low blood pressure, vomiting, or even a problem with the heart’s electrical rhythm.
If you are opting to take a magnesium supplement, check the dosage. Government sources recommend taking no more than 350 mg per day in supplements, though your intake including foods might be a bit higher. People with certain medical conditions, like kidney disease, should also be more cautious.
Side Effects of Taking a Combination of Vitamin B12 and Magnesium
Scientists haven’t studied whether taking vitamin B12 and magnesium together might lead to additional side effects.
Many people don’t notice any side effects from taking vitamin B12. However, you might be more likely to have side effects if you take a large dose for an extended period. At least one report noted potential side effects like insomnia, headache, and a feeling of racing heartbeat (heart palpitations) at high doses.
At high doses, magnesium can cause toxicity. However, even at more reasonable doses, magnesium can cause symptoms like diarrhea, nausea, and upset stomach.
A Quick Review
Vitamin B12 and magnesium are both essential for many processes in the body. When someone doesn't get enough of both through their diet, a healthcare provider may recommend taking a supplement for each.
It is likely safe to take vitamin B12 and magnesium together. There doesn't seem to be any interaction between the two. By taking supplements for both and restoring your levels of the nutrients, you might have benefits in the function of your heart and brain, as well as in level of fatigue.
While most people can take the two supplements together, you should still check with a healthcare provider about dosage and any interaction either supplement might have with medications or other supplements you may be taking.
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