FOOD SOURCES OF MAGNESIUM
In milligrams per 100 grams
Kelp 760
Pecan 142
Beets 25
Wheat bran 490
Walnut 131
Broccoli 24
Wheat germ 336
Rye 115
Cauliflower 24
Almonds 270
Tofu curdled by Mg nigiri 111
Carrot 23
Cashews 267
Coconut meat, dried 90
Celery 22
Blackstrap molasses 258
Collard greens 57
Beef 21
Nutritional yeast 231
Shrimp 51
Asparagus 20
Buckwheat 229
Corn, sweet 48
Chicken 19
Brazil nuts 225
Avocado 45
Green pepper 18
Dulse 220
Cheddar cheese 45
Winter squash 17
Filberts 184
Parsley 41
Cantaloupe 16
Peanuts 175
Prunes 40
Eggplant 16
Millet 162
Sunflower seeds 38
Tomato 14
Wheat whole grain 160
Sweet potato 31
Milk 13
In milligrams per 100 grams
Kelp 760
Pecan 142
Beets 25
Wheat bran 490
Walnut 131
Broccoli 24
Wheat germ 336
Rye 115
Cauliflower 24
Almonds 270
Tofu curdled by Mg nigiri 111
Carrot 23
Cashews 267
Coconut meat, dried 90
Celery 22
Blackstrap molasses 258
Collard greens 57
Beef 21
Nutritional yeast 231
Shrimp 51
Asparagus 20
Buckwheat 229
Corn, sweet 48
Chicken 19
Brazil nuts 225
Avocado 45
Green pepper 18
Dulse 220
Cheddar cheese 45
Winter squash 17
Filberts 184
Parsley 41
Cantaloupe 16
Peanuts 175
Prunes 40
Eggplant 16
Millet 162
Sunflower seeds 38
Tomato 14
Wheat whole grain 160
Sweet potato 31
Milk 13
Magnesium-which form is best?
Magnesium is important in more than 300 chemical reactions that keep the body working properly. You can get magnesium from your diet, but sometime supplementation is needed if magnesium levels are too low. Commonly, dietary intake of magnesium is low, particularly among women.
A Small List of Things Treated with Magnesium:
1. Constipation
2. High blood pressure
3. High levels of “bad” cholesterol
4. Chronic fatigue syndrome
5. Muscle cramps
6. Migraine headaches
7. PMS- Pre-Menstrual Syndrome
8. Asthma/Hay Fever
9. Preventing hearing loss
10. Multiple Sclerosis
11. Depression
12. Diabetes
13. Immune disorders
There are many different forms of Magnesium:
1. Magnesium Amino Acid Chelate-lactate, arginate, aspartate,etc.
2. Magnesium Oxide
3. Magnesium Citrate
4. Magnesium Orotate
5. Magnesium Chloride
6. Magnesium Lactate
7. Magnesium Sulfate
8. Magnesium Carbonate
9. Magnesium Bicarbonate
10. Magnesium Glycinate, Malate & Taurates
11. Magnesium L Threonate
12. Magnesium Hydroxide
13. Magnesium Phosphate
There are more, but here is a good list to start.
Which form is best?
All forms have their purpose. Each is good for treating different things. So you have to ask yourself, “What am I using it for?” Do I need it to help me with a bodily function or am I just low in Magnesium?
Magnesium Citrate helps induce a bowel movement and is also highly bioavailable (easily absorbed), so if you suffer from constipation or your levels are low in the body, this is a good choice.
Magnesium Lactate is commonly used to treat digestive disorders, but if you have kidney issues or kidney disease, this is not the form you should take.
Magnesium Sulfate is also known as Epsom Salt and is great for relieving muscle cramps. I highly recommend Epsom Salt baths to my patients suffering from muscle spasms.
Magnesium L Threonate has been shown to improve brain function and memory in rats.
Magnesium Hydroxide is widely used for the treatment of peptic ulcers and gastric hyperacidity.
Classic “Clinical” Symptoms of Magnesium Deficiency
As you can see, it’s not so cut and dry. It’s good to know all your options. And it’s good to know that different forms are good for different ailments. This is article is only a short list, so to find out more information, please contact Dr. Lisa Gold, DN. (773) 443-3132.
Magnesium is important in more than 300 chemical reactions that keep the body working properly. You can get magnesium from your diet, but sometime supplementation is needed if magnesium levels are too low. Commonly, dietary intake of magnesium is low, particularly among women.
A Small List of Things Treated with Magnesium:
1. Constipation
2. High blood pressure
3. High levels of “bad” cholesterol
4. Chronic fatigue syndrome
5. Muscle cramps
6. Migraine headaches
7. PMS- Pre-Menstrual Syndrome
8. Asthma/Hay Fever
9. Preventing hearing loss
10. Multiple Sclerosis
11. Depression
12. Diabetes
13. Immune disorders
There are many different forms of Magnesium:
1. Magnesium Amino Acid Chelate-lactate, arginate, aspartate,etc.
2. Magnesium Oxide
3. Magnesium Citrate
4. Magnesium Orotate
5. Magnesium Chloride
6. Magnesium Lactate
7. Magnesium Sulfate
8. Magnesium Carbonate
9. Magnesium Bicarbonate
10. Magnesium Glycinate, Malate & Taurates
11. Magnesium L Threonate
12. Magnesium Hydroxide
13. Magnesium Phosphate
There are more, but here is a good list to start.
Which form is best?
All forms have their purpose. Each is good for treating different things. So you have to ask yourself, “What am I using it for?” Do I need it to help me with a bodily function or am I just low in Magnesium?
Magnesium Citrate helps induce a bowel movement and is also highly bioavailable (easily absorbed), so if you suffer from constipation or your levels are low in the body, this is a good choice.
Magnesium Lactate is commonly used to treat digestive disorders, but if you have kidney issues or kidney disease, this is not the form you should take.
Magnesium Sulfate is also known as Epsom Salt and is great for relieving muscle cramps. I highly recommend Epsom Salt baths to my patients suffering from muscle spasms.
Magnesium L Threonate has been shown to improve brain function and memory in rats.
Magnesium Hydroxide is widely used for the treatment of peptic ulcers and gastric hyperacidity.
Classic “Clinical” Symptoms of Magnesium Deficiency
- Tics,
- muscle spasms,
- cramps,
- seizures,
- anxiety, and
- irregular heart rhythms.
As you can see, it’s not so cut and dry. It’s good to know all your options. And it’s good to know that different forms are good for different ailments. This is article is only a short list, so to find out more information, please contact Dr. Lisa Gold, DN. (773) 443-3132.
Dr. Mark Sircus, Ac., OMD, DM (P)
Director International Medical Veritas Association
Doctor of Oriental and Pastoral Medicine
http://drsircus.com/medicine/magnesium/
Director International Medical Veritas Association
Doctor of Oriental and Pastoral Medicine
http://drsircus.com/medicine/magnesium/
Transdermal Magnesium Therapy is the first and only book that focuses on one of the most important, exciting, and natural ways of magnesium replenishment; i.e., as absorbed through the skin.
Extensive research has shown that this vital macronutrient enters the body through the skin, beneficial physiological processes occur, such as a natural increase in DHEA production, that happen no other way.
Mark Sircus provides a critical overview of magnesium's grossly overlooked place in the nutrition matrix, as well as a comprehensive look at other available forms and intake protocols.
Extensive research has shown that this vital macronutrient enters the body through the skin, beneficial physiological processes occur, such as a natural increase in DHEA production, that happen no other way.
Mark Sircus provides a critical overview of magnesium's grossly overlooked place in the nutrition matrix, as well as a comprehensive look at other available forms and intake protocols.
Magnesium
Magnesium is an essential mineral used for hundreds of biochemical reactions, making it crucial for health. Massive magnesium deficiencies in the general population have led to a tidal wave of sudden coronary deaths, diabetes, strokes and cancer. Even a mild deficiency of magnesium can cause increased sensitivity to noise, nervousness, irritability, mental depression, confusion, twitching, trembling, apprehension, and insomnia.
The modern diet, with an overabundance of refined grains, processed foods and sugars, contains very little magnesium. Even the magnesium inside whole grains and fresh vegetables has been declining steadily in recent years because of depletion of minerals in our soils, making magnesium supplementation necessary for most people. Dr. Sircus recommends the use of transdermal magnesium chloride as the most effective way to improve your magnesium levels quickly.
Magnesium is an essential mineral used for hundreds of biochemical reactions, making it crucial for health. Massive magnesium deficiencies in the general population have led to a tidal wave of sudden coronary deaths, diabetes, strokes and cancer. Even a mild deficiency of magnesium can cause increased sensitivity to noise, nervousness, irritability, mental depression, confusion, twitching, trembling, apprehension, and insomnia.
The modern diet, with an overabundance of refined grains, processed foods and sugars, contains very little magnesium. Even the magnesium inside whole grains and fresh vegetables has been declining steadily in recent years because of depletion of minerals in our soils, making magnesium supplementation necessary for most people. Dr. Sircus recommends the use of transdermal magnesium chloride as the most effective way to improve your magnesium levels quickly.
Take Magnesium to Escape Cancer
by Dr Sircus
Magnesium, Medicine
Below is a report from Dr. Robert H. Craig from circa 1930 entitled The Value of Magnesium Chloride as an Aid in the Treatment of Cancer. It confirms everything I have ever written about magnesium and cancer and sustains my continued insistence that it remain the number one medicinal in every cancer protocol. When combined with selenium (just 200 mcg a day reduces one’s chance of dying from cancer), sodium and potassium bicarbonate, iodine and cannabinoid medicine we see the nuclear core of the Natural Allopathic way of treating cancer.
Dr. Craig wrote:
A PATIENT, male, aged 43, consulted me, complaining of a husky voice of eight months’ duration. His family history was most unfavorable; his mother, two maternal uncles and an aunt had died of cancer.
Examination of his larynx revealed a warty growth on the anterior third of the right vocal cord, the edges of which were indurated, and there was a small growth on the left vocal cord. The Wassermann test was negative; no evidence of tuberculosis.
Two denuded pieces of cartilage were removed from the larynx, and three large foul-smelling sloughs were removed from the subglottic space with forceps and suction. In order to gain free access to the upper part of the trachea, the cricoid cartilage was incised with the radon knife and this space carefully fulgurated. A deep ulcerated area on the right side of the larynx was fulgurated. The larynx and trachea were then packed with iodoform gauze saturated with tannic and gallic acid and treated as an open wound. A feeding tube was passed through the nose into the esophagus to a depth of ten inches.
There was some improvement in his general condition following the operation, which was attributed to the removal of the septic foci, but in spite of daily dressings and meticulous care, the laryngeal picture remained about stationary. The patient’s condition was grave and the prognosis gloomy.
As a last resort I decided to administer magnesium chloride subcutaneously and to use it combined with pepsin as a spray for the pharynx, with pepsin and glycerine as a dressing in the laryngeal cavity. After the first injection the patient stated that his teeth felt “as if they were steel”.
Daily examination of the larynx through the laryngeal mirror showed a gradual disappearance of the edema of the epiglottis and larynx. The infiltration began to subside after the tenth treatment. After two weeks of the treatment the skin looked white and almost chalky, and the patient no longer appeared septic. The mucous membrane of the pharynx was whitish, and that of the epiglottis and larynx was white and glistening, suggestive of the deposition of the magnesium salt in the tissues.
The tracheotomy wound, which had been moth-eaten and succulent in appearance was now firm and healthy-looking; the granulations in the laryngeal opening were white, healthy and glistening. The odor and cough had almost disappeared. The improvement was pronounced, and, in order if possible to speed it up, I prescribed magnesium chloride by mouth.
The pathologist reported the necrotic tissue removed from larynx as containing carcinoma cells.
Fifteen days after the treatment was begun the feeding tube was removed and deglutition gradually returned to normal. One month later the edema had disappeared from the epiglottis and the ulceration of the mucous membrane of the larynx had disappeared.
When the tracheotomy tube was removed, the patient could whisper; abduction and adduction were slowly returning. One month and two days from the time the treatment was first started, the patient left the hospital. At the time of writing, two months later, he has gained over fifteen pounds, his appetite is excellent, and the tracheotomy opening healthy, but the larynx is almost immobile.
I attribute this fixation partly to the fact that during the time I was absent on my vacation he was not encouraged, nor did he attempt to use his voice. I hope to overcome this by ionization and suitable dilatation. He comes to my office thrice weekly, driving his own car, and is well enough to supervise his business for a part of the day.
The importance of the bio-chemical approach to the study of cancer has been fully stressed by Prof. Pierre Delbet, Superintendent of the Cancer Institute, Paris. The Stockholm Weekly JournZ, in June 1931, published a most enlightening article by him, the title of which was “Take magnesium and escape cancer”.
Here he advocated as a prophylactic measure the administration of magnesium to all persons in and past middle life. By his experimental work he showed that soil, water and foodstuffs deficient in magnesium salts predisposed to cancer. In order to check up his gross findings he inoculated a series of rabbits with cancer virus. Fifty percent of these he treated with magnesium chloride, all of which recovered, while the majority of the untreated rabbits died.
Apart from Delbet’s findings there are many fundamental biological reasons why magnesium chloride should have been chosen. According to the latest views, magnesium exhibits its maximum valence in combination with chlorine. Magnesium chloride is the ideal oxidizing and reducing agent in the tissues. This combination has apparently been selected by nature to stimulate to the maximum inter and intracellular change. The great versatility of this combination to reduce and oxidize brings about a complete ionization, and therefore a normal functioning of the cells.
by Dr Sircus
Magnesium, Medicine
Below is a report from Dr. Robert H. Craig from circa 1930 entitled The Value of Magnesium Chloride as an Aid in the Treatment of Cancer. It confirms everything I have ever written about magnesium and cancer and sustains my continued insistence that it remain the number one medicinal in every cancer protocol. When combined with selenium (just 200 mcg a day reduces one’s chance of dying from cancer), sodium and potassium bicarbonate, iodine and cannabinoid medicine we see the nuclear core of the Natural Allopathic way of treating cancer.
Dr. Craig wrote:
A PATIENT, male, aged 43, consulted me, complaining of a husky voice of eight months’ duration. His family history was most unfavorable; his mother, two maternal uncles and an aunt had died of cancer.
Examination of his larynx revealed a warty growth on the anterior third of the right vocal cord, the edges of which were indurated, and there was a small growth on the left vocal cord. The Wassermann test was negative; no evidence of tuberculosis.
Two denuded pieces of cartilage were removed from the larynx, and three large foul-smelling sloughs were removed from the subglottic space with forceps and suction. In order to gain free access to the upper part of the trachea, the cricoid cartilage was incised with the radon knife and this space carefully fulgurated. A deep ulcerated area on the right side of the larynx was fulgurated. The larynx and trachea were then packed with iodoform gauze saturated with tannic and gallic acid and treated as an open wound. A feeding tube was passed through the nose into the esophagus to a depth of ten inches.
There was some improvement in his general condition following the operation, which was attributed to the removal of the septic foci, but in spite of daily dressings and meticulous care, the laryngeal picture remained about stationary. The patient’s condition was grave and the prognosis gloomy.
As a last resort I decided to administer magnesium chloride subcutaneously and to use it combined with pepsin as a spray for the pharynx, with pepsin and glycerine as a dressing in the laryngeal cavity. After the first injection the patient stated that his teeth felt “as if they were steel”.
Daily examination of the larynx through the laryngeal mirror showed a gradual disappearance of the edema of the epiglottis and larynx. The infiltration began to subside after the tenth treatment. After two weeks of the treatment the skin looked white and almost chalky, and the patient no longer appeared septic. The mucous membrane of the pharynx was whitish, and that of the epiglottis and larynx was white and glistening, suggestive of the deposition of the magnesium salt in the tissues.
The tracheotomy wound, which had been moth-eaten and succulent in appearance was now firm and healthy-looking; the granulations in the laryngeal opening were white, healthy and glistening. The odor and cough had almost disappeared. The improvement was pronounced, and, in order if possible to speed it up, I prescribed magnesium chloride by mouth.
The pathologist reported the necrotic tissue removed from larynx as containing carcinoma cells.
Fifteen days after the treatment was begun the feeding tube was removed and deglutition gradually returned to normal. One month later the edema had disappeared from the epiglottis and the ulceration of the mucous membrane of the larynx had disappeared.
When the tracheotomy tube was removed, the patient could whisper; abduction and adduction were slowly returning. One month and two days from the time the treatment was first started, the patient left the hospital. At the time of writing, two months later, he has gained over fifteen pounds, his appetite is excellent, and the tracheotomy opening healthy, but the larynx is almost immobile.
I attribute this fixation partly to the fact that during the time I was absent on my vacation he was not encouraged, nor did he attempt to use his voice. I hope to overcome this by ionization and suitable dilatation. He comes to my office thrice weekly, driving his own car, and is well enough to supervise his business for a part of the day.
The importance of the bio-chemical approach to the study of cancer has been fully stressed by Prof. Pierre Delbet, Superintendent of the Cancer Institute, Paris. The Stockholm Weekly JournZ, in June 1931, published a most enlightening article by him, the title of which was “Take magnesium and escape cancer”.
Here he advocated as a prophylactic measure the administration of magnesium to all persons in and past middle life. By his experimental work he showed that soil, water and foodstuffs deficient in magnesium salts predisposed to cancer. In order to check up his gross findings he inoculated a series of rabbits with cancer virus. Fifty percent of these he treated with magnesium chloride, all of which recovered, while the majority of the untreated rabbits died.
Apart from Delbet’s findings there are many fundamental biological reasons why magnesium chloride should have been chosen. According to the latest views, magnesium exhibits its maximum valence in combination with chlorine. Magnesium chloride is the ideal oxidizing and reducing agent in the tissues. This combination has apparently been selected by nature to stimulate to the maximum inter and intracellular change. The great versatility of this combination to reduce and oxidize brings about a complete ionization, and therefore a normal functioning of the cells.
Magnesium Deficiency Symptoms and Diagnosis
by Dr Sircus
Magnesium, Medicine
Magnesium Thirst Magnesium Hunger / We thirst for magnesium rich water.
by Dr Sircus
Magnesium, Medicine
Magnesium Thirst Magnesium Hunger / We thirst for magnesium rich water.
Magnesium deficiency is often misdiagnosed because it does not show up in blood tests – only 1% of the body’s magnesium is stored in the blood.
Most doctors and laboratories don’t even include magnesium status in routine blood tests. Thus, most doctors don’t know when their patients are deficient in magnesium, even though studies show that the majority of Americans are deficient in magnesium. Consider Dr. Norman Shealy’s statements, “Every known illness is associated with a magnesium deficiency” and that, “magnesium is the most critical mineral required for electrical stability of every cell in the body.
A magnesium deficiency may be responsible for more diseases than any other nutrient.” The truth he states exposes a gapping hole in modern medicine that explains a good deal about iatrogenic death and disease. Because magnesium deficiency is largely overlooked, millions of Americans suffer needlessly or are having their symptoms treated with expensive drugs when they could be cured with magnesium supplementation.
One has to recognize the signs of magnesium thirst or hunger on their own since allopathic medicine is lost in this regard. It is really something much more subtle then hunger or thirst but it is comparable. In a world though where doctors and patients alike do not even pay attention to thirst and important issues of hydration it is not hopeful that we will find many recognizing and paying attention to magnesium thirst and hunger which is a dramatic way of expressing the concept of magnesium deficiency.
Few people are aware of the enormous role magnesium plays in our bodies. Magnesium is by far the most important mineral in the body, After oxygen, water, and basic food, magnesium may be the most important element needed by our bodies, vitally important yet hardly known. It is more important than calcium, potassium or sodium and regulates all three of them. Millions suffer daily from magnesium deficiency not even knowing it.
In fact there happens to be a relationship between what we perceive as thirst and deficiencies in electrolytes. I remember a person asking, “Why am I dehydrated and thirsty when I drink so much water?” Thirst can mean not only lack of water but it can also mean that one is not getting enough nutrients and electrolytes. Magnesium, Potassium, Bicarbonate, Chloride and Sodium are some principle examples and that is one of the reasons magnesium chloride is so useful.
Magnesium Torment (Deficiency)
You know all those years when doctors used to tell their patients its all in your heads were years the medical profession was showing its ignorance. It is a torment to be magnesium deficient on one level or another. Even if it’s for the enthusiastic sport person whose athletic performance is down magnesium deficiency will disturb sleep and background stress levels and a host of other things that reflect on the quality of life. Doctors have not been using the appropriate test for magnesium – their serum blood tests just distort their perceptions. Magnesium has been off their radar screens through the decades that magnesium deficiencies have snowballed.
Symptoms of Magnesium DeficiencyThe first symptoms of deficiency can be subtle – as most magnesium is stored in the tissues, leg cramps, foot pain, or muscle ‘twitches’ can be the first sign. Other early signs of deficiency include loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and weakness. As magnesium deficiency worsens, numbness, tingling, seizures, personality changes, abnormal heart rhythms, and coronary spasms can occur.
A full outline of magnesium deficiency was beautifully presented in a recent article by Dr. Sidney Baker. “Magnesium deficiency can affect virtually every organ system of the body. With regard to skeletal muscle, one may experience twitches, cramps, muscle tension, muscle soreness, including back aches, neck pain, tension headaches and jaw joint (or TMJ) dysfunction. Also, one may experience chest tightness or a peculiar sensation that he can’t take a deep breath. Sometimes a person may sigh a lot.”
“Symptoms involving impaired contraction of smooth muscles include constipation; urinary spasms; menstrual cramps; difficulty swallowing or a lump in the throat-especially provoked by eating sugar; photophobia, especially difficulty adjusting to oncoming bright headlights in the absence of eye disease; and loud noise sensitivity from stapedius muscle tension in the ear.”
“Other symptoms and signs of magnesium deficiency and discuss laboratory testing for this common condition. Continuing with the symptoms of magnesium deficiency, the central nervous system is markedly affected. Symptoms include insomnia, anxiety, hyperactivity and restlessness with constant movement, panic attacks, agoraphobia, and premenstrual irritability. Magnesium deficiency symptoms involving the peripheral nervous system include numbness, tingling, and other abnormal sensations, such as zips, zaps and vibratory sensations.”
“Symptoms or signs of the cardiovascular system include palpitations, heart arrhythmias, and angina due to spasms of the coronary arteries, high blood pressure and mitral valve prolapse. Be aware that not all of the symptoms need to be present to presume magnesium deficiency; but, many of them often occur together. For example, people with mitral valve prolapse frequently have palpitations, anxiety, panic attacks and premenstrual symptoms. People with magnesium deficiency often seem to be “uptight.” Other general symptoms include a salt craving, both carbohydrate craving and carbohydrate intolerance, especially of chocolate, and breast tenderness.”
Magnesium is needed by every cell in the body including those of the brain and is one of the most important minerals when considering supplementation because of its vital role in hundreds of enzyme systems and functions related to reactions in cell metabolism, as well as being essential for the synthesis of proteins, for the utilization of fats and carbohydrates. Magnesium is needed not only for the production of specific detoxification enzymes but is also important for energy production related to cell detoxification. A magnesium deficiency can affect virtually every system of the body.
Like water we need magnesium everyday. There is an
eternal need for magnesium as well as water and when
magnesium is present in water life and health are enhanced.
One of the principle reason doctors write millions of prescriptions for tranquilizers each year is the nervousness, irritability, and jitters largely brought on by inadequate diets lacking magnesium.Persons only slightly deficient in magnesium become irritable, highly-strung, and sensitive to noise, hyper-excitable, apprehensive and belligerent. If the deficiency is more severe or prolonged, they may develop twitching, tremors, irregular pulse, insomnia, muscle weakness, jerkiness and leg and foot cramps.
If magnesium is severely deficient, the brain is particularly affected. Clouded thinking, confusion, disorientation, marked depression and even the terrifying hallucinations of delirium tremens are largely brought on by a lack of this nutrient and remedied when magnesium is given. Because large amounts of calcium are lost in the urine when magnesium is undersupplied, the lack of this nutrient indirectly becomes responsible for much rampant tooth decay, poor bone development, osteoporosis and slow healing of broken bones and fractures. With vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), magnesium helps to reduce and dissolve calcium phosphate kidney stones.
Magnesium deficiency may be a common factor associated with insulin resistance. Symptoms of MS that are also symptoms of magnesium deficiency include muscle spasms, weakness, twitching, muscle atrophy, an inability to control the bladder, nystagmus (rapid eye movements), hearing loss, and osteoporosis. People with MS have higher rates of epilepsy than controls. Epilepsy has also been linked to magnesium deficiencies.[1]
Another good list of early warning symptoms is:
Suggestive early warning signs of magnesium insufficiency:
Physical and mental fatigue
Persistent under-eye twitch
Tension in the upper back, shoulders and neck
Headaches
Pre-menstrual fluid retention and/or breast tenderness
Possible manifestations of magnesium deficiency include:
Low energy
Fatigue
Weakness
Confusion
Nervousness
Anxiousness
Irritability
Seizures (and tantrums)
Poor digestion
PMS and hormonal imbalances
Inability to sleep
Muscle tension, spasm and cramps
Calcification of organs
Weakening of the bones
Abnormal heart rhythm
Severe magnesium deficiency can result in low levels of calcium in the blood (hypocalcemia). Magnesium deficiency is also associated with low levels of potassium in the blood (hypokalemia). Magnesium levels drop at night, leading to poor REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep cycles and unrefreshed sleep. Headaches, blurred vision, mouth ulcers, fatigue and anxiety are also early signs of depletion.
We hear all the time about how heart disease is the number one health crisis in the country, about how high blood pressure is the “silent killer”, and about how ever increasing numbers of our citizens are having their lives and the lives of their families destroyed by diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, and a host of other chronic diseases
Signs of severe magnesium deficiency include:
Extreme thirst
Extreme hunger
Frequent urination
Sores or bruises that heal slowly
Dry, itchy skin
Unexplained weight loss
Blurry vision that changes from day to day
Unusual tiredness or drowsiness
Tingling or numbness in the hands or feet
Frequent or recurring skin, gum, bladder or vaginal yeast infections
But wait a minute, aren’t those the same symptoms for diabetes? Many people have diabetes for about 5 years before they show strong symptoms. By that time, some people already have eye, kidney, gum or nerve damage caused by the deteriorating condition of their cells due to insulin resistance and magnesium deficiency. Dump some mercury and arsenic on the mixture of etiologies and pronto we have the disease condition we call diabetes.
Magnesium deficiency is synonymous with diabetes
and is at the root of many if not all cardiovascular problems.
Magnesium deficiency is synonymous with diabetes and is at the root of many if not all cardiovascular problems.
Magnesium deficiency is a predictor of diabetes and heart disease both; diabetics both need more magnesium and lose more magnesium than most people. In two new studies, in both men and women, those who consumed the most magnesium in their diet were least likely to develop type 2 diabetes, according to a report in the January 2006 issue of the journal Diabetes Care. Until now, very few large studies have directly examined the long-term effects of dietary magnesium on diabetes. Dr. Simin Liu of the Harvard Medical School and School of Public Health in Boston says, “Our studies provided some direct evidence that greater intake of dietary magnesium may have a long-term protective effect on lowering risk,” said Liu, who was involved in both studies.
The thirst of diabetes is part of the body’s response to excessive urination. The excessive urination is the body’s attempt to get rid of the extra glucose in the blood. This excessive urination causes the increased thirst. But we have to look at what is causing this level of disharmony. We have to probe deeper into layers of cause. The body needs to dump glucose because of increasing insulin resistance and that resistance is being fueled directly by magnesium deficiency, which makes toxic insults more damaging to the tissues at the same time.
When diabetics get too high blood sugars, the body creates “ketones” as a by-product of breaking down fats. These ketones cause blood acidity which causes “acidosis” of the blood, leading to Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA), This is a very dangerous condition that can lead to coma and death. It is also called “diabetic acidosis”, “ketosis”, “ketoacidosis” or “diabetic coma”. DKA is a common way for new Type 1 diabetics to be diagnosed. If they fail to seek medical advice on symptoms like urination, which is driving thirst they can die of DKA.
Oral magnesium supplements reduce erythrocyte[2] dehydration.[3] In general optimal balances of electrolytes are necessary to maintain the best possible hydration. Diabetic thirst is initiated specifically by magnesium deficiency with relative calcium excess in the cells. Even water, our most basic nutrient starts having a hard time getting into the cells with more going out through the kidneys.
Autism and Magnesium Deficiency
When dealing with autism spectrum and other neurological disorders in children it is important to know the signs of low magnesium: restless, can’t keep still, body rocking, grinding teeth, hiccups, noise sensitive, poor attention span, poor concentration, irritable, aggressive, ready to explode, easily stressed. When it comes to children today we need to assume a large magnesium deficiency for several reasons.
1) The foods they are eating are stripped of magnesium because foods in general, as we shall see below are declining in mineral content in an alarming way. 2) The foods many children eat are highly processed junk foods that do not provide real nutrition to the body. 3) Because most children on the spectrum are not absorbing the minerals they need even when present in the gut.
Magnesium absorption is dependent on intestinal health, which is compromised totally in leaky gut syndromes and other intestinal problems that the majority of autism syndrome disorders. 4) Because the oral supplements doctors rely on are not easily absorbed, because they are not in the right form and because magnesium in general is not administered easily orally.
Modern medicine is supposed to help people not hurt them but with their almost total ignorance of magnesium doctors end up hurting more than they help for many of the medical interventions drive down magnesium levels when they should be driving them up. Many if not most pharmaceutical drugs drive magnesium levels into very dangerous zones and surgery done without increasing magnesium levels is much more dangerous then surgery done with.
The foundation of medical arrogance is actually medical ignorance and the only reason ignorance and arrogance rule the playing field of medicine is a greed lust for power and money. Human nature seems to be at its worst in modern medicine when it should be at its best. It is sad that people have to suffer needlessly and extraordinarily tragic that allopathic medicine has turned its back on the Hippocratic Oath and all that it means.
[1] http://www.nhfw.info/magnesium.html
[2] Red blood cells are also known as RBCs, red blood corpuscles (an archaic term), haematids or erythrocytes (from Greek erythros for “red” and kytos for “hollow”, with cyte translated as “cell” in modern usage). The capitalized term Red Blood Cells is the proper name in the US for erythrocytes in storage solution used in transfusion medicine.
[3] J. Clin. Invest. 100(7): 1847-1852 (1997). doi:10.1172/JCI119713. The American Society for Clinical Investigation
Most doctors and laboratories don’t even include magnesium status in routine blood tests. Thus, most doctors don’t know when their patients are deficient in magnesium, even though studies show that the majority of Americans are deficient in magnesium. Consider Dr. Norman Shealy’s statements, “Every known illness is associated with a magnesium deficiency” and that, “magnesium is the most critical mineral required for electrical stability of every cell in the body.
A magnesium deficiency may be responsible for more diseases than any other nutrient.” The truth he states exposes a gapping hole in modern medicine that explains a good deal about iatrogenic death and disease. Because magnesium deficiency is largely overlooked, millions of Americans suffer needlessly or are having their symptoms treated with expensive drugs when they could be cured with magnesium supplementation.
One has to recognize the signs of magnesium thirst or hunger on their own since allopathic medicine is lost in this regard. It is really something much more subtle then hunger or thirst but it is comparable. In a world though where doctors and patients alike do not even pay attention to thirst and important issues of hydration it is not hopeful that we will find many recognizing and paying attention to magnesium thirst and hunger which is a dramatic way of expressing the concept of magnesium deficiency.
Few people are aware of the enormous role magnesium plays in our bodies. Magnesium is by far the most important mineral in the body, After oxygen, water, and basic food, magnesium may be the most important element needed by our bodies, vitally important yet hardly known. It is more important than calcium, potassium or sodium and regulates all three of them. Millions suffer daily from magnesium deficiency not even knowing it.
In fact there happens to be a relationship between what we perceive as thirst and deficiencies in electrolytes. I remember a person asking, “Why am I dehydrated and thirsty when I drink so much water?” Thirst can mean not only lack of water but it can also mean that one is not getting enough nutrients and electrolytes. Magnesium, Potassium, Bicarbonate, Chloride and Sodium are some principle examples and that is one of the reasons magnesium chloride is so useful.
Magnesium Torment (Deficiency)
You know all those years when doctors used to tell their patients its all in your heads were years the medical profession was showing its ignorance. It is a torment to be magnesium deficient on one level or another. Even if it’s for the enthusiastic sport person whose athletic performance is down magnesium deficiency will disturb sleep and background stress levels and a host of other things that reflect on the quality of life. Doctors have not been using the appropriate test for magnesium – their serum blood tests just distort their perceptions. Magnesium has been off their radar screens through the decades that magnesium deficiencies have snowballed.
Symptoms of Magnesium DeficiencyThe first symptoms of deficiency can be subtle – as most magnesium is stored in the tissues, leg cramps, foot pain, or muscle ‘twitches’ can be the first sign. Other early signs of deficiency include loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and weakness. As magnesium deficiency worsens, numbness, tingling, seizures, personality changes, abnormal heart rhythms, and coronary spasms can occur.
A full outline of magnesium deficiency was beautifully presented in a recent article by Dr. Sidney Baker. “Magnesium deficiency can affect virtually every organ system of the body. With regard to skeletal muscle, one may experience twitches, cramps, muscle tension, muscle soreness, including back aches, neck pain, tension headaches and jaw joint (or TMJ) dysfunction. Also, one may experience chest tightness or a peculiar sensation that he can’t take a deep breath. Sometimes a person may sigh a lot.”
“Symptoms involving impaired contraction of smooth muscles include constipation; urinary spasms; menstrual cramps; difficulty swallowing or a lump in the throat-especially provoked by eating sugar; photophobia, especially difficulty adjusting to oncoming bright headlights in the absence of eye disease; and loud noise sensitivity from stapedius muscle tension in the ear.”
“Other symptoms and signs of magnesium deficiency and discuss laboratory testing for this common condition. Continuing with the symptoms of magnesium deficiency, the central nervous system is markedly affected. Symptoms include insomnia, anxiety, hyperactivity and restlessness with constant movement, panic attacks, agoraphobia, and premenstrual irritability. Magnesium deficiency symptoms involving the peripheral nervous system include numbness, tingling, and other abnormal sensations, such as zips, zaps and vibratory sensations.”
“Symptoms or signs of the cardiovascular system include palpitations, heart arrhythmias, and angina due to spasms of the coronary arteries, high blood pressure and mitral valve prolapse. Be aware that not all of the symptoms need to be present to presume magnesium deficiency; but, many of them often occur together. For example, people with mitral valve prolapse frequently have palpitations, anxiety, panic attacks and premenstrual symptoms. People with magnesium deficiency often seem to be “uptight.” Other general symptoms include a salt craving, both carbohydrate craving and carbohydrate intolerance, especially of chocolate, and breast tenderness.”
Magnesium is needed by every cell in the body including those of the brain and is one of the most important minerals when considering supplementation because of its vital role in hundreds of enzyme systems and functions related to reactions in cell metabolism, as well as being essential for the synthesis of proteins, for the utilization of fats and carbohydrates. Magnesium is needed not only for the production of specific detoxification enzymes but is also important for energy production related to cell detoxification. A magnesium deficiency can affect virtually every system of the body.
Like water we need magnesium everyday. There is an
eternal need for magnesium as well as water and when
magnesium is present in water life and health are enhanced.
One of the principle reason doctors write millions of prescriptions for tranquilizers each year is the nervousness, irritability, and jitters largely brought on by inadequate diets lacking magnesium.Persons only slightly deficient in magnesium become irritable, highly-strung, and sensitive to noise, hyper-excitable, apprehensive and belligerent. If the deficiency is more severe or prolonged, they may develop twitching, tremors, irregular pulse, insomnia, muscle weakness, jerkiness and leg and foot cramps.
If magnesium is severely deficient, the brain is particularly affected. Clouded thinking, confusion, disorientation, marked depression and even the terrifying hallucinations of delirium tremens are largely brought on by a lack of this nutrient and remedied when magnesium is given. Because large amounts of calcium are lost in the urine when magnesium is undersupplied, the lack of this nutrient indirectly becomes responsible for much rampant tooth decay, poor bone development, osteoporosis and slow healing of broken bones and fractures. With vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), magnesium helps to reduce and dissolve calcium phosphate kidney stones.
Magnesium deficiency may be a common factor associated with insulin resistance. Symptoms of MS that are also symptoms of magnesium deficiency include muscle spasms, weakness, twitching, muscle atrophy, an inability to control the bladder, nystagmus (rapid eye movements), hearing loss, and osteoporosis. People with MS have higher rates of epilepsy than controls. Epilepsy has also been linked to magnesium deficiencies.[1]
Another good list of early warning symptoms is:
Suggestive early warning signs of magnesium insufficiency:
Physical and mental fatigue
Persistent under-eye twitch
Tension in the upper back, shoulders and neck
Headaches
Pre-menstrual fluid retention and/or breast tenderness
Possible manifestations of magnesium deficiency include:
Low energy
Fatigue
Weakness
Confusion
Nervousness
Anxiousness
Irritability
Seizures (and tantrums)
Poor digestion
PMS and hormonal imbalances
Inability to sleep
Muscle tension, spasm and cramps
Calcification of organs
Weakening of the bones
Abnormal heart rhythm
Severe magnesium deficiency can result in low levels of calcium in the blood (hypocalcemia). Magnesium deficiency is also associated with low levels of potassium in the blood (hypokalemia). Magnesium levels drop at night, leading to poor REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep cycles and unrefreshed sleep. Headaches, blurred vision, mouth ulcers, fatigue and anxiety are also early signs of depletion.
We hear all the time about how heart disease is the number one health crisis in the country, about how high blood pressure is the “silent killer”, and about how ever increasing numbers of our citizens are having their lives and the lives of their families destroyed by diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, and a host of other chronic diseases
Signs of severe magnesium deficiency include:
Extreme thirst
Extreme hunger
Frequent urination
Sores or bruises that heal slowly
Dry, itchy skin
Unexplained weight loss
Blurry vision that changes from day to day
Unusual tiredness or drowsiness
Tingling or numbness in the hands or feet
Frequent or recurring skin, gum, bladder or vaginal yeast infections
But wait a minute, aren’t those the same symptoms for diabetes? Many people have diabetes for about 5 years before they show strong symptoms. By that time, some people already have eye, kidney, gum or nerve damage caused by the deteriorating condition of their cells due to insulin resistance and magnesium deficiency. Dump some mercury and arsenic on the mixture of etiologies and pronto we have the disease condition we call diabetes.
Magnesium deficiency is synonymous with diabetes
and is at the root of many if not all cardiovascular problems.
Magnesium deficiency is synonymous with diabetes and is at the root of many if not all cardiovascular problems.
Magnesium deficiency is a predictor of diabetes and heart disease both; diabetics both need more magnesium and lose more magnesium than most people. In two new studies, in both men and women, those who consumed the most magnesium in their diet were least likely to develop type 2 diabetes, according to a report in the January 2006 issue of the journal Diabetes Care. Until now, very few large studies have directly examined the long-term effects of dietary magnesium on diabetes. Dr. Simin Liu of the Harvard Medical School and School of Public Health in Boston says, “Our studies provided some direct evidence that greater intake of dietary magnesium may have a long-term protective effect on lowering risk,” said Liu, who was involved in both studies.
The thirst of diabetes is part of the body’s response to excessive urination. The excessive urination is the body’s attempt to get rid of the extra glucose in the blood. This excessive urination causes the increased thirst. But we have to look at what is causing this level of disharmony. We have to probe deeper into layers of cause. The body needs to dump glucose because of increasing insulin resistance and that resistance is being fueled directly by magnesium deficiency, which makes toxic insults more damaging to the tissues at the same time.
When diabetics get too high blood sugars, the body creates “ketones” as a by-product of breaking down fats. These ketones cause blood acidity which causes “acidosis” of the blood, leading to Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA), This is a very dangerous condition that can lead to coma and death. It is also called “diabetic acidosis”, “ketosis”, “ketoacidosis” or “diabetic coma”. DKA is a common way for new Type 1 diabetics to be diagnosed. If they fail to seek medical advice on symptoms like urination, which is driving thirst they can die of DKA.
Oral magnesium supplements reduce erythrocyte[2] dehydration.[3] In general optimal balances of electrolytes are necessary to maintain the best possible hydration. Diabetic thirst is initiated specifically by magnesium deficiency with relative calcium excess in the cells. Even water, our most basic nutrient starts having a hard time getting into the cells with more going out through the kidneys.
Autism and Magnesium Deficiency
When dealing with autism spectrum and other neurological disorders in children it is important to know the signs of low magnesium: restless, can’t keep still, body rocking, grinding teeth, hiccups, noise sensitive, poor attention span, poor concentration, irritable, aggressive, ready to explode, easily stressed. When it comes to children today we need to assume a large magnesium deficiency for several reasons.
1) The foods they are eating are stripped of magnesium because foods in general, as we shall see below are declining in mineral content in an alarming way. 2) The foods many children eat are highly processed junk foods that do not provide real nutrition to the body. 3) Because most children on the spectrum are not absorbing the minerals they need even when present in the gut.
Magnesium absorption is dependent on intestinal health, which is compromised totally in leaky gut syndromes and other intestinal problems that the majority of autism syndrome disorders. 4) Because the oral supplements doctors rely on are not easily absorbed, because they are not in the right form and because magnesium in general is not administered easily orally.
Modern medicine is supposed to help people not hurt them but with their almost total ignorance of magnesium doctors end up hurting more than they help for many of the medical interventions drive down magnesium levels when they should be driving them up. Many if not most pharmaceutical drugs drive magnesium levels into very dangerous zones and surgery done without increasing magnesium levels is much more dangerous then surgery done with.
The foundation of medical arrogance is actually medical ignorance and the only reason ignorance and arrogance rule the playing field of medicine is a greed lust for power and money. Human nature seems to be at its worst in modern medicine when it should be at its best. It is sad that people have to suffer needlessly and extraordinarily tragic that allopathic medicine has turned its back on the Hippocratic Oath and all that it means.
[1] http://www.nhfw.info/magnesium.html
[2] Red blood cells are also known as RBCs, red blood corpuscles (an archaic term), haematids or erythrocytes (from Greek erythros for “red” and kytos for “hollow”, with cyte translated as “cell” in modern usage). The capitalized term Red Blood Cells is the proper name in the US for erythrocytes in storage solution used in transfusion medicine.
[3] J. Clin. Invest. 100(7): 1847-1852 (1997). doi:10.1172/JCI119713. The American Society for Clinical Investigation
5 Warning Signs of Magnesium Deficiency
Magnesium Deficiency, Signs of Magnesium Deficiency
Many Americans do not understand the importance of magnesium in the same way they understand calcium or iron, for instance. Nonetheless, adequate magnesium levels are crucial for brain, cardiac and muscle function and it is needed, along with silica and Vitamins D and K to promote bone health. Magnesium deficiency is more common than many people suspect, and below are 5 warning signs that could indicate a deficiency in this important mineral.
1. Ringing in the Ears or Hearing Loss
Tinnitus, or a constant, high-pitched ringing in the ears is common symtom of magnesium deficiency, as is hearing loss. There are have been a number of studies done on the relationship between ear health and sufficient magnesium levels. In one Chinese study, it was found that magnesium in sufficient quantities will prevent the formation of the free radicals that can lead to hearing loss. In a study at the Mayo Clinic, it was found that treating patients who had experienced hearing loss with magnesium supplementation often helped restore that loss within three months.
2. Muscle Cramps or Tremors
Magnesium is crucial to optimim muscle function. Without it, the body would be in a state of convulsion, because it is this mineral that allows the muscles to relax. That is why, for instance, a magnesium oxide drip is used to ease women in labor and why magnesium is found in so many sleep-inducing supplements. A lack of sufficient magnesium, therefore, can lead to facial tics, muscle cramping and twitching or cramping of the feet while trying to sleep.
3. Depression
The link between low magnesium levels and depression was understood over a century ago, when doctors would use it to treat this mental health disorder. Modern science has backed this up, with a study at a psychiatric hospital in Croatia finding that many attempted suicide patients had severely low levels of this important mineral. One advantage of magnesium over traditional antidepressants is the lack of side effects sometimes associated with these medications.
4. Abnormal Heart Function
As previously discussed, low magnesium levels can have an effect on muscles throughout the body and this includes the heart muscles. Insufficient magnesium can induce a condition known as a cardiac arrhythmia, in which the heart fails to beat regularly and this, in turn, can cause a greater risk for complications like heart attacks and strokes. That is why, for instance, doctors at the Henry Low Heart Center in Connecticut treat their arrhythmia patients with a medication which contains magnesium.
5. Kidney Stones
Many people believe that kidney stones are caused by an excess of calcium, but in fact it is a lack of magnesium that is the culprit. Magnesium prevents the formation of these stones by inhibiting the binding of calcium with oxalate, the two compounds which make up these stones. Kidney stones can be excruciatingly painful, so it is good to know that something as simple as magnesium supplementation can prevent them!
If experiecing any of these symptoms, consulting with a healthcare practitioner is a good idea. It is also wise to follow a diet which includes foods like okra, sunflower or pumpkin seeds, almonds, soy or black beans, cashews and spinach as these are all natural magnesium sources.
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Magnesium Deficiency, Signs of Magnesium Deficiency
Many Americans do not understand the importance of magnesium in the same way they understand calcium or iron, for instance. Nonetheless, adequate magnesium levels are crucial for brain, cardiac and muscle function and it is needed, along with silica and Vitamins D and K to promote bone health. Magnesium deficiency is more common than many people suspect, and below are 5 warning signs that could indicate a deficiency in this important mineral.
1. Ringing in the Ears or Hearing Loss
Tinnitus, or a constant, high-pitched ringing in the ears is common symtom of magnesium deficiency, as is hearing loss. There are have been a number of studies done on the relationship between ear health and sufficient magnesium levels. In one Chinese study, it was found that magnesium in sufficient quantities will prevent the formation of the free radicals that can lead to hearing loss. In a study at the Mayo Clinic, it was found that treating patients who had experienced hearing loss with magnesium supplementation often helped restore that loss within three months.
2. Muscle Cramps or Tremors
Magnesium is crucial to optimim muscle function. Without it, the body would be in a state of convulsion, because it is this mineral that allows the muscles to relax. That is why, for instance, a magnesium oxide drip is used to ease women in labor and why magnesium is found in so many sleep-inducing supplements. A lack of sufficient magnesium, therefore, can lead to facial tics, muscle cramping and twitching or cramping of the feet while trying to sleep.
3. Depression
The link between low magnesium levels and depression was understood over a century ago, when doctors would use it to treat this mental health disorder. Modern science has backed this up, with a study at a psychiatric hospital in Croatia finding that many attempted suicide patients had severely low levels of this important mineral. One advantage of magnesium over traditional antidepressants is the lack of side effects sometimes associated with these medications.
4. Abnormal Heart Function
As previously discussed, low magnesium levels can have an effect on muscles throughout the body and this includes the heart muscles. Insufficient magnesium can induce a condition known as a cardiac arrhythmia, in which the heart fails to beat regularly and this, in turn, can cause a greater risk for complications like heart attacks and strokes. That is why, for instance, doctors at the Henry Low Heart Center in Connecticut treat their arrhythmia patients with a medication which contains magnesium.
5. Kidney Stones
Many people believe that kidney stones are caused by an excess of calcium, but in fact it is a lack of magnesium that is the culprit. Magnesium prevents the formation of these stones by inhibiting the binding of calcium with oxalate, the two compounds which make up these stones. Kidney stones can be excruciatingly painful, so it is good to know that something as simple as magnesium supplementation can prevent them!
If experiecing any of these symptoms, consulting with a healthcare practitioner is a good idea. It is also wise to follow a diet which includes foods like okra, sunflower or pumpkin seeds, almonds, soy or black beans, cashews and spinach as these are all natural magnesium sources.
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The Neglected Mineral We Cannot Live Without
Magnesium is an alkaline earth metal, the eighth most abundant mineral found in the earth’s crust. Because of its ready solubility in water, magnesium is the third most abundant mineral in sea water, after sodium and chloride. In the human body, magnesium is the eleventh most plentiful element by mass—measuring about two ounces. Most magnesium contained in the body is found in the skeleton and teeth—at least 60 to 65 percent of the total. Nearly the entire remaining amount resides in muscle tissues and cells, while only one percent is contained in our blood.
The importance of magnesium ions for all life itself, as well as for overall vibrant health, is hard to overstate. Magnesium is required to give the “spark of life” to metabolic functions involving the creation of energy and its transport (ATP, the body’s fundamental energy currency), and the creation of proteins—the nucleic acid chemistry of life—RNA and DNA, in all known living organisms. In plants, a magnesium ion is found at the center of every chlorophyll molecule, vital for the creation of energy from sunlight. Magnesium is an essential element for both animals and plants, involved in literally hundreds of enzymatic reactions affecting virtually all aspects of life.
Every single cell in the human body demands adequate magnesium to function, or it will perish. Strong bones and teeth, balanced hormones, a healthy nervous and cardiovascular system, well-functioning detoxification pathways and much more depend upon cellular magnesium sufficiency. Soft tissue containing the highest concentrations of magnesium in the body include the brain and the heart—two organs that produce a large amount of electrical activity, and which can be especially vulnerable to magnesium insufficiency.
Magnesium works in concert with calcium to regulate electrical impulses in the cell—magnesium concentration inside healthy cells is ten thousand times greater than calcium, and there are crucial reasons for this safeguard. Cellular calcium channels allow that mineral to enter the cell only as long as needed to conduct an impulse; it is ushered out immediately by magnesium once its task is fulfilled.
This vigilance is necessary to prevent calcium accumulation in the cell, which could cause dangerous hyper-excitability, calcification, cell dysfunction and even cell death. When excess calcium enters the cells because of insufficient magnesium, muscle contraction is sustained for too long, and we suffer, for example, twitches and tics in mild cases. When magnesium deficiency becomes chronic, we suffer the symptoms of heart disease such as angina pectoris, hypertension and arrhythmia, or the spasms and contractions characteristic of asthma, migraine headache or painful menstrual cramping.
Magnesium operates as a natural calcium channel blocker and is responsible for relaxation—counter to calcium’s contraction. Thus magnesium is pivotally important to the healthy functioning of our parasympathetic nervous system. It may be hard to believe, but our bodies were actually designed to operate for the most part in a calm, relaxed parasympathetic state, rather than in the heart-pounding, stress- and adrenaline-driven mode of sympathetic nervous system dominance that is nearly constant for many of us today, and which uses up great quantities of magnesium.
Magnesium is so important to so many vital body functions, and its deficiency is integrally involved in so many diseases, that more than one researcher has dubbed magnesium a miracle in its ability to resolve or improve numerous disorders. The current list of disorders with direct and confirmed relationships to chronic and acute magnesium deficiency is long, and includes many diseases whose conventional medical treatment does not commonly address magnesium insufficiency (see below). Ongoing research promises to uncover further associations between magnesium deficiency and other illnesses.
MAGNESIUM DEFICIENCY IS ENDEMIC
Unfortunately, it is difficult to reliably supply our bodies with sufficient magnesium, even from a good, balanced whole foods diet. First of all, modern agricultural methods favor the universal use of NPK fertilizers (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium). Both potassium and phosphorus are antagonists of magnesium in the soil, and on calcareous soils create a relative magnesium deficiency (the magnesium present is bound and therefore unavailable to the crop). On sandy or loamy soils that are slightly acid, an actual magnesium deficiency often exists, as the magnesium leaches from the soil and is also unavailable to the crop.
This leaching also occurs in response to acid rain. Magnesium, in fact, is one of the most depleted minerals in farm soils. To add insult to injury, new plant hybrids are continually introduced that have been bred to survive on these mineral-depleted soils. Of course, when mineral-depleted crops are eaten by animals or by us, they will sooner or later cause disease. Even though organically raised crops should be a better bet nutritionally, this isn’t always the case, and it pays in terms of your health to learn how your farmer replenishes the minerals on his fields.
“Do you know that most of us today are suffering from certain dangerous diet deficiencies which cannot be remedied until depleted soils from which our food comes are brought back into proper mineral balance? The alarming fact is that foods (fruits, vegetables, grains) now being raised on millions of acres of land that no longer contain enough of certain minerals are starving us—no matter how much of them we eat. The truth is that our foods vary enormously in value, and some of them aren’t worth eating as food.” These words of warning are from the 74th Congress, 2nd session, Senate document number 264, of 1936. It is truly sobering to learn that the decline in soil mineral balance was a topic of serious national concern more than seventy years ago, and the deficit has been affecting us—while steadily getting worse— since our grandparents’ generation.
Magnesium and other nutrients are diminished or lost in produce after harvest, through handling, refrigeration, transport and storage, even if all these steps were done “properly.” Buying produce and then storing it for days in your own refrigerator continues the nutrient loss, whether the produce is from the supermarket or your local farmers’ market.
Food processing causes enormous loss of magnesium in foods that are commonly fairly good sources of it, such as leafy greens, nuts, seeds and whole grains. Most of the magnesium in grain— found in the bran and germ—is lost in milling whole grains for white flour, which is used nearly exclusively for hundreds of devitalized processed food items. When nuts and seeds are roasted or their oils extracted, magnesium is lost. Cooking greens causes whatever magnesium they might contain to leach into the cooking water. Foods tend to lose less calcium than magnesium through these processes, adding to a troublesome dietary calcium overload that we will discuss shortly.
Fluoride in drinking water binds with magnesium, creating a nearly insoluble mineral compound that ends up deposited in the bones, where its brittleness increases the risk of fractures. Water, in fact, could be an excellent source of magnesium—if it comes from deep wells that have magnesium at their source, or from mineral-rich glacial runoff. Urban sources of drinking water are usually from surface water, such as rivers and streams, which are low in magnesium. Even many bottled mineral waters are quite low in magnesium, or have a very high concentration of calcium, or both.
A diet of processed, synthetic foods, high sugar content, alcohol and soda drinks all “waste” magnesium, as a lot of it is required for the metabolism and detoxification of these largely fake foods. According to Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, the body requires at least twenty-eight molecules of magnesium to metabolize a single molecule of glucose. Phosphates in carbonated drinks and processed meats (so-called “luncheon meats” and hot dogs) bind with magnesium to create the insoluble magnesium phosphate, which is unusable by the body.
Tannins, oxalates, and phytic acid all bind with magnesium, making it unavailable to the body unless extra care is taken to neutralize some of these compounds during food preparation. It is interesting to note that foods commonly containing magnesium (provided they were grown in mineral-rich soil) also contain lots of these anti-nutrients, such as spinach (oxalates) and whole grains (phytates).
Many commonly prescribed pharmaceutical drugs cause the body to lose magnesium via the urine, such as diuretics for hypertension; birth control pills; insulin; digitalis; tetracycline and some other antibiotics; and corticosteroids and bronchodilators for asthma. With the loss of magnesium, all of the symptoms being “treated” by these drugs over time inevitably become worse.
Magnesium absorption is impeded with the use of supplemental iron. If you take calcium supplements, your need for magnesium increases, and in fact calcium will not be properly absorbed or metabolized if adequate magnesium is missing, and will mostly end up dangerously deposited in soft tissues. Magnesium is responsible for converting vitamin D to the active form that allows calcium to be absorbed, and also regulates calcium’s transport to hard tissues where it belongs. Lactose is another inhibitor of magnesium absorption (and milk is not a good source of the mineral to begin with), along with excess potassium, phosphorus and sodium.
Mental and physical stress, with its related continuous flow of adrenaline, uses up magnesium rapidly, as adrenaline affects heart rate, blood pressure, vascular constriction and muscle contraction— actions that all demand steady supplies of magnesium for smooth function. The nervous system depends upon sufficient magnesium for its calming effects, including restful sleep. Hibernating animals, by the way, maintain very high levels of magnesium. Magnesium deficiency will accelerate a vicious cycle and amplify the effects of chronic stress, leading to more anxiety, irritability, fatigue and insomnia—many of the symptoms of adrenal exhaustion—as well as to hypertension and heart pains—symptoms of heart disease.
Depression is related to stress and magnesium deficiency as well. Serotonin, the “feel good” hormone, requires magnesium in its delicate balance of release and reception by cells in the brain. Only when adequate levels are present can we enjoy mental and emotional equilibrium.
For reasons not fully understood, the body does not retain magnesium very well; certainly not as well as it holds onto calcium or iron, for example. Heavy sweating from endurance sports such as marathon running or strenuous exercise workouts can dangerously deplete magnesium stores and other electrolytes—although calcium is not wasted, by the way— resulting in trembling, faintness and even seizures and death. The drenching sweats that some menopausal women suffer cause magnesium loss as well, and their diminishing magnesium levels worsen their jagged nerves, sleep disturbances, panic attacks, body aches and depression. If these women have been tempted to consume modern soy products in a misguided attempt to moderate their symptoms, they will in fact lose even more magnesium because it will be bound to the abundant phytates in these concoctions.
A healthy gut environment is necessary for proper absorption of magnesium from the diet. Irritable bowel syndrome, leaky gut, candidiasis and other gut disorders can severely limit the amount of magnesium that the body will be able to absorb. Older adults often experience decreased stomach hydrochloric acid production, which can impair mineral absorption in general. And with so many treating their “heartburn” with antacids, a healthy digestive environment is hard to maintain.
CALCIUM AND MAGNESIUM PARTNERSHIP
Both calcium and magnesium are necessary for the healthy body—in proper balance to one another, as well as to other necessary minerals. Considered biochemical antagonists, one cannot act without eliciting the opposite reaction of the other. Yet calcium and magnesium must both be present in balanced amounts for either one to function normally in the body. Some researchers suggest that the healthy ratio of calcium to magnesium in the diet should be 2:1. Others consider 1:1 to reflect ratios that we evolved with based on our diet prior to the advent of agriculture. In modern industrialized countries the ratio from diet is from 5:1 to as much as 15:1. The imbalance of these two very important minerals produces many dire consequences in the body that are often overlooked by medical practitioners when treating the disease states they cause.
Aside from the intricate electrical dance that calcium and magnesium perform together, magnesium is necessary to keep calcium in solution in the body, preventing its inappropriate deposition in soft tissues. As long as we have sufficient hydrochloric acid in our stomachs we can dissolve calcium from the foods we eat. After calcium leaves the acidic environment of the stomach and enters the alkaline milieu of the small intestine however, it is magnesium that is necessary to keep calcium soluble. Without sufficient magnesium, a whole host of physiological aberrations can occur with serious health consequences.
As Dr. Carolyn Dean, author of The Magnesium Miracle, explains, “In the large intestine it [precipitated calcium] interferes with peristalsis, which results in constipation. When calcium precipitates out in the kidneys and combines with phosphorus or oxalic acid, kidney stones are formed. Calcium can deposit in the lining of the bladder and prevent it from fully relaxing, and therefore from filling completely with urine. This leads to frequent urination problems, especially in older people. Calcium can precipitate out of the blood and deposit in the lining of the arteries, causing hardening (arteriosclerosis). . . It can coat and stiffen. . . plaque in the arteries. . . [and] can cause blood pressure to rise as well as increase the risk of heart attack and stroke. Calcium can even deposit in the brain. Many researchers are investigating it as a possible cause of dementia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Calcium can deposit in the lining of the bronchial tubes and cause asthma symptoms. Calcium in extracellular fluid. . . can decrease the permeability of cell membranes. This makes it increasingly difficult for glucose (a large molecule) to pass through the cell membrane to be converted to ATP in the cells’ mitochondria. High glucose levels created by excess calcium may be misdiagnosed as diabetes.”
MAGNESIUM IS A POTENT DETOXIFIER
Magnesium is utilized by the body for all sorts of detoxification pathways and is necessary for the neutralization of toxins, overly acidic conditions that arise in the body, and for protection from heavy metals. It plays a vital role in protecting us from the onslaught of man-made chemicals all around us. Glutathione, an antioxidant normally produced by the body and a detoxifier of mercury, lead and arsenic among others, requires magnesium for its synthesis. According to Mark Sircus, in Transdermal Magnesium Therapy, a deficiency of magnesium increases free radical generation in the body and “causes glutathione loss, which is not affordable because glutathione helps to defend the body against damage from cigarette smoking, exposure to radiation, cancer chemotherapy, and toxins such as alcohol and just about everything else.”
When our bodies are replete with magnesium (and in balance with the other essential minerals) we are protected from heavy metal deposition and the development of associated neurological diseases. As Dr. Carolyn Dean explains, “Research indicates that ample magnesium will protect brain cells from the damaging effects of aluminum, beryllium, cadmium, lead, mercury and nickel. We also know that low levels of brain magnesium contribute to the deposition of heavy metals in the brain that heralds Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. It appears that the metals compete with magnesium for entry into the brain cells. If magnesium is low, metals gain access much more readily.
“There is also competition in the small intestine for absorption of minerals. If there is enough magnesium, aluminum won’t be absorbed.”
MAGNESIUM DEFICIENCY IN TOOTH DECAY AND OSTEOPOROSIS
Ask anyone—your neighbor or even your dentist or doctor—what bones and teeth require to be strong and healthy, and you will undoubtedly hear the response, “Plenty of calcium.” Bones and teeth certainly do require calcium—as well as phosphorus and magnesium, but without adequate amounts of the latter, calcium will not be deposited in these hard tissues, and the structures will not be sound. “When you load up your system with excess calcium,” writes William Quesnell, in Minerals: the Essential Link to Health, “you shut down magnesium’s ability to activate thyrocalcitonin, a hormone that under normal circumstances would send calcium to your bones.” Instead of providing benefits to the body, the displaced calcium actually becomes toxic, causing trouble in soft tissues of the kinds we’ve already discussed.
Numerous studies, in fact, have established the fact that it is dietary magnesium, not calcium, (and certainly not fluoride) that creates glassy hard tooth enamel that resists decay, and strong and resilient bones. Regardless of the amount of calcium you consume, your teeth can only form hard enamel if magnesium is available in sufficient quantities.
According to J. I. Rodale, in Magnesium: the Nutrient that Could Change Your Life, “For years it was believed that high intakes of calcium and phosphorus inhibited decay by strengthening the enamel. Recent evidence, however, indicates that an increase in these two elements is useless unless we increase our magnesium intake at the same time. It has even been observed that dental structures beneath the surface can dissolve when additional amounts of calcium and phosphorus diffuse through the enamel at different rates. Thus milk, poor in magnesium, but high in the other two elements, not only interferes with magnesium metabolism, but also antagonizes the mineral responsible for decay prevention.”
To revisit Deaf Smith County, Texas, and the justly famous residents whose teeth refused to succumb to decay, Rodale quotes the observations of Dr. Lewis Barnett, presented in a paper before the Texas Medical Association in Dallas, 1952. Dr. Barnett, an orthopedic surgeon, remarked on the low incidence of tooth decay and rapid healing of broken bones among these residents, and offered this explanation:
“[The local] water and foods have a very high magnesium and iodine content and recently we have proven that all of the trace minerals known to be essential are present in the water and foods grown in that area.” Further, Dr. Barnett had found that the magnesium bone content of the average Deaf Smith County resident was up to five times higher than that of a resident of Dallas, while the concentrations of calcium and phosphorus were about the same in both groups. His observations led him to state that “[o]ne of the most important aspects of the disease osteoporosis has been almost totally overlooked. That aspect is the role played by magnesium.”
Rodale emphasizes the fact that Dr. Barnett gave much of the credit for these health benefits to the high magnesium content of the local water, and noted many signs of superior bone development among people in the area: “Dr. Barnett makes mention of the fact that people in older years frequently have fracture of the cervical neck of the femur and these are very difficult to heal in many localities. However, he noted that this fracture rarely occurs in Deaf Smith County, whereas it was common in Dallas County, Texas, where he also practiced. When a fracture did occur in Deaf Smith, healing was easy and rapid even in people eighty to one hundred years old. In contrast, fractures in Dallas were common and very difficult to heal, if not impossible.”
Over fifty years ago Dr. Barnett tested the magnesium levels of five thousand people and found sixty percent of them to be deficient. How much more of the population is deficient today, when all of the negative conditions contributing to that deficiency have been certainly amplified?
FOOD SOURCES OF MAGNESIUM
As we’ve mentioned, if farm soils are well-mineralized, leafy green vegetables, seeds, tree nuts and whole grains are fairly good sources of magnesium. Certain wild-crafted forage foods really stand out, however, such as nettles (860 mg per 100 grams) and chickweed (529 mg per 100 grams), and add many tonic and nutritive benefits to both human and livestock diets largely due to their high mineral content. Kelp, ancient denizen of the sea, contains spectacular levels, as do most sea vegetables. Remember that they are continually bathed in a solution whose third most abundant mineral is magnesium. And authentic, unrefined sea salt is a very good source of magnesium, along with trace minerals. Utilizing bone broths on a daily basis will provide another excellent source of minerals, including magnesium, in a highly assimilable form.
STRATEGIES FOR MAGNESIUM SUPPLEMENTATION
Even with ideal digestive conditions, only a percentage of magnesium in foods will be absorbed—less when amounts in the body are adequate and more if there is a deficiency. This is also true of magnesium supplements, and there are many of them on the market to confuse you. For the average person, magnesium supplementation is safe to experiment with on your own, especially if you know you have symptoms that could be related to magnesium deficiency or are under extra stress, and so on. Excess magnesium is excreted in urine and the stool, and the most common response to too much magnesium is loose stools. Those with renal insufficiency or kidney disease, extremely slow heart rate, or bowel obstruction should avoid magnesium therapy.
General dosage recommendations range from about 3 to 10 milligrams per pound of body weight, depending upon physical condition, requirements for growth (as in children), and degree of symptoms.
Oral magnesium supplements are available in organic salt chelates, such as magnesium citrate and magnesium malate. These are fairly well absorbed, especially in powder forms to which you add water and can tailor your dosage. It is important to divide your dosage during the day so that you do not load your body with too much magnesium in any single dose. Carolyn Dean recommends taking your first dose early in the morning and another in the late afternoon—these correspond to times when magnesium levels are low in the body. Is it just a coincidence that these times of low magnesium and low energy also correspond to the cultural rituals of morning coffee and afternoon tea?
Loose stools indicate you are not absorbing the magnesium, but that it is acting as a laxative. When the magnesium travels through the intestines in less than twelve hours, it is merely excreted rather than absorbed. If you find you cannot overcome the laxative effect by varying your dosages, you may want to try an oral supplement that is chelated to an amino acid, such as magnesium taurate and magnesium glycinate, which some consider to be better absorbed than the salt forms and less likely to cause loose stools.
For those who need a little help with digestion, such as young children, older adults, and anyone with reduced stomach acid or bowel dysbiosis, consider homeopathic magnesium, also referred to as tissue salts or cell salts. Magnesia phosphorica 6X is the appropriate dosage, and it works to usher magnesium into the cells where it belongs. It is also indicated as a remedy for muscle spasms and cramps of many varieties. Mag phos can help reduce and eliminate loose stools while you are supplementing with oral magnesium, giving you a positive sign that your body is indeed taking the magnesium into the cells.
Yet another option for oral magnesium supplementation is ionic magnesium in liquid form, such as that offered by Trace Minerals Research. This is a sodium-reduced concentration of sea water from the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Only about a teaspoon is needed to deliver about 400 milligrams of magnesium (along with seventy-two other trace minerals), which should be taken in divided amounts during the day. I recommend adding this to soups (made with bone-broth bases of course) as the strong mineral taste is hard to take straight. You can also add this to spring and other drinking water to up the magnesium content and use it in cooking. By “micro-dosing” your food and water in this fashion you greatly reduce any laxative effects a large dose of magnesium might elicit.
Another potential way to get more magnesium into your system is via the pleasant method of soaking in a bath of magnesium sulfate, otherwise known as Epsom salts. Commonly used to ease muscle aches and pains, magnesium sulfate also importantly helps with detoxification when sulfur is needed by the body for this purpose. When used intravenously, magnesium sulfate can save lives in such crises as acute asthma attack, onset of myocardial infarction, and eclampsia in pregnancy.
A couple of cups of Epsom salts added to a hot bath will induce sweating and detoxification; after the water cools a bit, the body will then absorb the magnesium sulfate. According to Mark Sircus in Transdermal Magnesium Therapy, the effects from a bath of Epsom salts, although pleasant, are brief as magnesium sulfate is difficult to assimilate and is rapidly lost in the urine. Magnesium chloride, which can also be used in baths, is more easily assimilated and metabolized, and so less is needed for absorption.
Finally, magnesium may be applied topically in a form commonly called magnesium “oil.” This is actually not an oil at all, but a supersaturated concentration of magnesium chloride and water. It does feel oily and slippery when applied to the skin, but it absorbs quickly, leaving a slightly tacky, “sea salt” residue that can be washed off. There are many advantages to transdermal magnesium therapy, since the gastrointestinal tract is avoided altogether and there is no laxative effect. Next to intravenous magnesium administration, transdermal therapy provides a greater amount of magnesium to be absorbed than even the best tolerated oral supplements, and can restore intracellular concentrations in a matter of weeks rather than the months required for oral supplementation.
MISSING LINK?
It is likely safe to say that most people would benefit from an increased supply of magnesium in their diets, especially in these times of so many dietary, environmental, and social stressors. Of course no single nutrient stands alone in relation to the body, and the first priority is to eat a varied diet of whole plant and animal foods from the best sources near you. Adding extra magnesium, however, might be the missing nutritional link to help us guard against heart disease, stroke, depression, osteoporosis and many other disorders. In the prevention and alleviation of these diseases, magnesium can be truly miraculous.
SIDEBARS
THE MANY EFFECTS OF MAGNESIUM DEFICIENCY
• ADD/ADHD
• Alzheimer’s
• Angina pectoris
• Anxiety disorders
• Arrhythmia
• Arthritis—rheumatoid and osteoarthritis
• Asthma
• Autism
• Auto-immune disorders
• Cerebral palsy in children of Mg deficient mothers
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
• Congestive Heart Failure • Constipation
• Crooked teeth/narrow jaw in children from Mg deficient mothers
• Dental caries
• Depression
• Diabetes, types I and II
• Eating disorders—bulimia and anorexia
• Fibromyalgia
• Gut disorders including peptic ulcer, Crohn’s disease, colitis
• Heart disease
• Hypertension
• Hypoglycemia
• Insomnia
• Kidney stones
• Lou Gehrig’s disease
• Migraines
• Mitral valve prolapse
• Multiple sclerosis
• Muscle cramping, weakness, fatigue
• Myopia—in children from Mg deficient mothers
• Obesity—especially associated with high carbohydrate diet
• Osteoporosis
• Parkinson’s disease
• PMS—including menstrual pain and irregularities
• PPH (Primary pulmonary hypertension)
• Reynaud’s syndrome
• SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome)
• Stroke
• Syndrome X
• Thyroid disorders
Source: Primal Body—Primal Mind, by Nora Gedgaudas.
FOOD SOURCES OF MAGNESIUM
In milligrams per 100 grams
Kelp 760
Pecan 142
Beets 25
Wheat bran 490
Walnut 131
Broccoli 24
Wheat germ 336
Rye 115
Cauliflower 24
Almonds 270
Tofu curdled by Mg nigiri 111
Carrot 23
Cashews 267
Coconut meat, dried 90
Celery 22
Blackstrap molasses 258
Collard greens 57
Beef 21
Nutritional yeast 231
Shrimp 51
Asparagus 20
Buckwheat 229
Corn, sweet 48
Chicken 19
Brazil nuts 225
Avocado 45
Green pepper 18
Dulse 220
Cheddar cheese 45
Winter squash 17
Filberts 184
Parsley 41
Cantaloupe 16
Peanuts 175
Prunes 40
Eggplant 16
Millet 162
Sunflower seeds 38
Tomato 14
Wheat whole grain 160
Sweet potato 31
Milk 13
MAGNESIUM SUPPLEMENTATION CAN BE TRICKY
Even when it seems obvious that magnesium supplementation is called for to alleviate typical deficiency symptoms such as anxiety or heart palpitations, finding the best means to raise intracellular levels can be difficult. Most often, oral supplements will cause laxative effects at levels too low to restore magnesium supplies to the cells, where it is needed. Marina, whose husband Alex was recovering from heart surgery, had to be persistent. “I noticed in the hospital that he was given intravenous magnesium during intensive care, but the doctors never mentioned it later on, when Alex was overcome with panic attacks, bouts of low energy, hypertension and arrhythmia. We were offered drugs for all of these conditions, but we both wanted to avoid the medications if at all possible, although we couldn’t at first. A couple of alternative doctors had mentioned magnesium along with other supplements that could help, but with no particular emphasis on the magnesium, so it was by trial and error that we discovered just how effective the magnesium could be. But first we had to find the best way for Alex to take it.
“Capsules of magnesium citrate and magnesium taurate both caused diarrhea at only a quarter of the recommended dose. I learned that chronic magnesium deficiency can unfortunately leave you with a much reduced capacity for intestinal absorption, and it was likely that Alex had been deficient for a long time. This was hard for me to accept at first, since he had been eating a superb diet for many years—full of mineral-rich bone broths, soups with seaweeds and nettles, and no sugar or caffeine. But his history included decades of intense stress and obvious signs of adrenal exhaustion.
“I next tried liquid ionic magnesium, which included trace minerals as found in the Great Salt Lake in Utah. I felt that magnesium in isolation might not be the best way to try to absorb it. Starting with just a few drops in his soup, Alex was able to take more magnesium over time in this fashion, although we still had to be very careful not to exceed a certain amount or the diarrhea would return. Nevertheless, we were starting to see positive results. First came better sleep. Alex had been waking every ninety minutes during the night—he’d get up to pee, come back to bed and struggle to fall asleep only to wake again in ninety minutes to repeat the process.
He was certain his prostate was failing, but after about a month with the ionic magnesium, he was able to sleep uninterrupted for three-, then four-, then six-hour spans. We realized his prostate was fine, but his traumatized adrenals had been regularly firing an adrenaline rush to jolt him awake. When they began to be pacified his sleep finally became restful; he now usually only wakes once during the night and can easily return to sleep. And, dare I say, he sleeps better these days than he has for years. Also, with a good night’s sleep his daytime energy level is much improved.
“Alex still had bouts of arrhythmia which had been very frightening at times, and although his hypertension was improving with energy work and flower essences, we knew there was a nutritional component that needed to be addressed. A friend happened to suggest using homeopathic magnesium to help with absorption—she herself was starting to use magnesium supplements and was also experiencing the common problem of loose stools when this solution dawned on her. The concept was brilliant—we needed a way to gently get the cells to accept the magnesium, and so we began using the tissue salts Magnesia phosphorica in the 6X potency. After the very first dose Alex had improvement with his stool and was able to keep up the same dosage of the ionic magnesium. It was as though a key had opened a lock, and the magnesium was now entering the cells where it could do its good.
“One day Alex casually mentioned that he hadn’t had a single moment of arrhythmia in a week. This was stunning news, since he had had at least slight arrhythmia daily for months. Everyone told us this was extremely common after heart surgery and we thought we’d have to accept this fact. Encouraged by his progress, I next purchased some magnesium ‘oil’ in order to have yet another means to deliver the magnesium without involving the intestinal tract at all.
“Our current protocol includes a once-daily use of the magnesium oil. I add ionic magnesium drops to our drinking and cooking water, as well as to every pot of soup, pan of sautéed vegetables, tray of stuffed peppers. I call this ‘microdosing’ and it is in addition to using sea vegetables and plenty of bone broths. Along with the Magnesia phosphorica, Alex takes the tissue salt Kali phosphorica (potassium phosphate) which is indicated for all conditions of nervous debility; the two together make a very good heart tonic. At bedtime, Alex has a single dose of magnesium citrate with a food complex vitamin C powder.
This is a relaxing evening ritual and now causes no intestinal upset.
“The only medication Alex still takes is a beta-blocker for hypertension—a small dose that we hope to be able to quit soon. If you supplement with magnesium and have hypertension you will need to pay close attention to your blood pressure. You will have to reduce your medication accordingly or your blood pressure could get too low too fast! You must do this slowly, though, to give the vascular tissue time to recondition itself and regain elasticity—as it will.
“Finally, Alex himself wanted me to add that the magnesium therapy allowed him to shift the intensity of his focus from his physical condition to his spiritual life, and sparked new creativity. He has begun to write and will be publishing the first in a series of his memoirs early next year. Truly, who would have thought so much healing could be initiated by finally replenishing this neglected mineral?”
REFERENCES
The Magnesium Miracle, by Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D., Ballantine Books, 2007.
Transdermal Magnesium Therapy, by Mark Sircus, Ac., O.M.D., Phaelos Books, 2007.
Magnesium Therapy, by Patricia Ann Braun, M.D. http:// pbraunmd.org/magnesium.htm.
Magnesium: The Nutrient that Could Change Your Life, by J.I. Rodale http://www.mgwater.com/rod06.shtml.
Leaky gut and magnesium deficiency: http://magnesiumforlife.com/medical-application/magnesium-and-autism/.
The dangers of magnesium deficiency in endurance athletes: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FDL/is_4_14/ai_n24940334/.
Primal Body-Primal Mind, by Nora Gedgaudas, Primal Body-Primal Mind Publishing, 2009.
Healing Wise: Wise Woman Herbal, by Susun S. Weed, Ash Tree Publishing, 1989.
Put Your Heart in Your Mouth, by Dr. Natasha Campbell- McBride, Medinform, 2007.
This article appeared in Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts, the quarterly magazine of the Weston A. Price Foundation, Fall 2010.
Magnesium is an alkaline earth metal, the eighth most abundant mineral found in the earth’s crust. Because of its ready solubility in water, magnesium is the third most abundant mineral in sea water, after sodium and chloride. In the human body, magnesium is the eleventh most plentiful element by mass—measuring about two ounces. Most magnesium contained in the body is found in the skeleton and teeth—at least 60 to 65 percent of the total. Nearly the entire remaining amount resides in muscle tissues and cells, while only one percent is contained in our blood.
The importance of magnesium ions for all life itself, as well as for overall vibrant health, is hard to overstate. Magnesium is required to give the “spark of life” to metabolic functions involving the creation of energy and its transport (ATP, the body’s fundamental energy currency), and the creation of proteins—the nucleic acid chemistry of life—RNA and DNA, in all known living organisms. In plants, a magnesium ion is found at the center of every chlorophyll molecule, vital for the creation of energy from sunlight. Magnesium is an essential element for both animals and plants, involved in literally hundreds of enzymatic reactions affecting virtually all aspects of life.
Every single cell in the human body demands adequate magnesium to function, or it will perish. Strong bones and teeth, balanced hormones, a healthy nervous and cardiovascular system, well-functioning detoxification pathways and much more depend upon cellular magnesium sufficiency. Soft tissue containing the highest concentrations of magnesium in the body include the brain and the heart—two organs that produce a large amount of electrical activity, and which can be especially vulnerable to magnesium insufficiency.
Magnesium works in concert with calcium to regulate electrical impulses in the cell—magnesium concentration inside healthy cells is ten thousand times greater than calcium, and there are crucial reasons for this safeguard. Cellular calcium channels allow that mineral to enter the cell only as long as needed to conduct an impulse; it is ushered out immediately by magnesium once its task is fulfilled.
This vigilance is necessary to prevent calcium accumulation in the cell, which could cause dangerous hyper-excitability, calcification, cell dysfunction and even cell death. When excess calcium enters the cells because of insufficient magnesium, muscle contraction is sustained for too long, and we suffer, for example, twitches and tics in mild cases. When magnesium deficiency becomes chronic, we suffer the symptoms of heart disease such as angina pectoris, hypertension and arrhythmia, or the spasms and contractions characteristic of asthma, migraine headache or painful menstrual cramping.
Magnesium operates as a natural calcium channel blocker and is responsible for relaxation—counter to calcium’s contraction. Thus magnesium is pivotally important to the healthy functioning of our parasympathetic nervous system. It may be hard to believe, but our bodies were actually designed to operate for the most part in a calm, relaxed parasympathetic state, rather than in the heart-pounding, stress- and adrenaline-driven mode of sympathetic nervous system dominance that is nearly constant for many of us today, and which uses up great quantities of magnesium.
Magnesium is so important to so many vital body functions, and its deficiency is integrally involved in so many diseases, that more than one researcher has dubbed magnesium a miracle in its ability to resolve or improve numerous disorders. The current list of disorders with direct and confirmed relationships to chronic and acute magnesium deficiency is long, and includes many diseases whose conventional medical treatment does not commonly address magnesium insufficiency (see below). Ongoing research promises to uncover further associations between magnesium deficiency and other illnesses.
MAGNESIUM DEFICIENCY IS ENDEMIC
Unfortunately, it is difficult to reliably supply our bodies with sufficient magnesium, even from a good, balanced whole foods diet. First of all, modern agricultural methods favor the universal use of NPK fertilizers (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium). Both potassium and phosphorus are antagonists of magnesium in the soil, and on calcareous soils create a relative magnesium deficiency (the magnesium present is bound and therefore unavailable to the crop). On sandy or loamy soils that are slightly acid, an actual magnesium deficiency often exists, as the magnesium leaches from the soil and is also unavailable to the crop.
This leaching also occurs in response to acid rain. Magnesium, in fact, is one of the most depleted minerals in farm soils. To add insult to injury, new plant hybrids are continually introduced that have been bred to survive on these mineral-depleted soils. Of course, when mineral-depleted crops are eaten by animals or by us, they will sooner or later cause disease. Even though organically raised crops should be a better bet nutritionally, this isn’t always the case, and it pays in terms of your health to learn how your farmer replenishes the minerals on his fields.
“Do you know that most of us today are suffering from certain dangerous diet deficiencies which cannot be remedied until depleted soils from which our food comes are brought back into proper mineral balance? The alarming fact is that foods (fruits, vegetables, grains) now being raised on millions of acres of land that no longer contain enough of certain minerals are starving us—no matter how much of them we eat. The truth is that our foods vary enormously in value, and some of them aren’t worth eating as food.” These words of warning are from the 74th Congress, 2nd session, Senate document number 264, of 1936. It is truly sobering to learn that the decline in soil mineral balance was a topic of serious national concern more than seventy years ago, and the deficit has been affecting us—while steadily getting worse— since our grandparents’ generation.
Magnesium and other nutrients are diminished or lost in produce after harvest, through handling, refrigeration, transport and storage, even if all these steps were done “properly.” Buying produce and then storing it for days in your own refrigerator continues the nutrient loss, whether the produce is from the supermarket or your local farmers’ market.
Food processing causes enormous loss of magnesium in foods that are commonly fairly good sources of it, such as leafy greens, nuts, seeds and whole grains. Most of the magnesium in grain— found in the bran and germ—is lost in milling whole grains for white flour, which is used nearly exclusively for hundreds of devitalized processed food items. When nuts and seeds are roasted or their oils extracted, magnesium is lost. Cooking greens causes whatever magnesium they might contain to leach into the cooking water. Foods tend to lose less calcium than magnesium through these processes, adding to a troublesome dietary calcium overload that we will discuss shortly.
Fluoride in drinking water binds with magnesium, creating a nearly insoluble mineral compound that ends up deposited in the bones, where its brittleness increases the risk of fractures. Water, in fact, could be an excellent source of magnesium—if it comes from deep wells that have magnesium at their source, or from mineral-rich glacial runoff. Urban sources of drinking water are usually from surface water, such as rivers and streams, which are low in magnesium. Even many bottled mineral waters are quite low in magnesium, or have a very high concentration of calcium, or both.
A diet of processed, synthetic foods, high sugar content, alcohol and soda drinks all “waste” magnesium, as a lot of it is required for the metabolism and detoxification of these largely fake foods. According to Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, the body requires at least twenty-eight molecules of magnesium to metabolize a single molecule of glucose. Phosphates in carbonated drinks and processed meats (so-called “luncheon meats” and hot dogs) bind with magnesium to create the insoluble magnesium phosphate, which is unusable by the body.
Tannins, oxalates, and phytic acid all bind with magnesium, making it unavailable to the body unless extra care is taken to neutralize some of these compounds during food preparation. It is interesting to note that foods commonly containing magnesium (provided they were grown in mineral-rich soil) also contain lots of these anti-nutrients, such as spinach (oxalates) and whole grains (phytates).
Many commonly prescribed pharmaceutical drugs cause the body to lose magnesium via the urine, such as diuretics for hypertension; birth control pills; insulin; digitalis; tetracycline and some other antibiotics; and corticosteroids and bronchodilators for asthma. With the loss of magnesium, all of the symptoms being “treated” by these drugs over time inevitably become worse.
Magnesium absorption is impeded with the use of supplemental iron. If you take calcium supplements, your need for magnesium increases, and in fact calcium will not be properly absorbed or metabolized if adequate magnesium is missing, and will mostly end up dangerously deposited in soft tissues. Magnesium is responsible for converting vitamin D to the active form that allows calcium to be absorbed, and also regulates calcium’s transport to hard tissues where it belongs. Lactose is another inhibitor of magnesium absorption (and milk is not a good source of the mineral to begin with), along with excess potassium, phosphorus and sodium.
Mental and physical stress, with its related continuous flow of adrenaline, uses up magnesium rapidly, as adrenaline affects heart rate, blood pressure, vascular constriction and muscle contraction— actions that all demand steady supplies of magnesium for smooth function. The nervous system depends upon sufficient magnesium for its calming effects, including restful sleep. Hibernating animals, by the way, maintain very high levels of magnesium. Magnesium deficiency will accelerate a vicious cycle and amplify the effects of chronic stress, leading to more anxiety, irritability, fatigue and insomnia—many of the symptoms of adrenal exhaustion—as well as to hypertension and heart pains—symptoms of heart disease.
Depression is related to stress and magnesium deficiency as well. Serotonin, the “feel good” hormone, requires magnesium in its delicate balance of release and reception by cells in the brain. Only when adequate levels are present can we enjoy mental and emotional equilibrium.
For reasons not fully understood, the body does not retain magnesium very well; certainly not as well as it holds onto calcium or iron, for example. Heavy sweating from endurance sports such as marathon running or strenuous exercise workouts can dangerously deplete magnesium stores and other electrolytes—although calcium is not wasted, by the way— resulting in trembling, faintness and even seizures and death. The drenching sweats that some menopausal women suffer cause magnesium loss as well, and their diminishing magnesium levels worsen their jagged nerves, sleep disturbances, panic attacks, body aches and depression. If these women have been tempted to consume modern soy products in a misguided attempt to moderate their symptoms, they will in fact lose even more magnesium because it will be bound to the abundant phytates in these concoctions.
A healthy gut environment is necessary for proper absorption of magnesium from the diet. Irritable bowel syndrome, leaky gut, candidiasis and other gut disorders can severely limit the amount of magnesium that the body will be able to absorb. Older adults often experience decreased stomach hydrochloric acid production, which can impair mineral absorption in general. And with so many treating their “heartburn” with antacids, a healthy digestive environment is hard to maintain.
CALCIUM AND MAGNESIUM PARTNERSHIP
Both calcium and magnesium are necessary for the healthy body—in proper balance to one another, as well as to other necessary minerals. Considered biochemical antagonists, one cannot act without eliciting the opposite reaction of the other. Yet calcium and magnesium must both be present in balanced amounts for either one to function normally in the body. Some researchers suggest that the healthy ratio of calcium to magnesium in the diet should be 2:1. Others consider 1:1 to reflect ratios that we evolved with based on our diet prior to the advent of agriculture. In modern industrialized countries the ratio from diet is from 5:1 to as much as 15:1. The imbalance of these two very important minerals produces many dire consequences in the body that are often overlooked by medical practitioners when treating the disease states they cause.
Aside from the intricate electrical dance that calcium and magnesium perform together, magnesium is necessary to keep calcium in solution in the body, preventing its inappropriate deposition in soft tissues. As long as we have sufficient hydrochloric acid in our stomachs we can dissolve calcium from the foods we eat. After calcium leaves the acidic environment of the stomach and enters the alkaline milieu of the small intestine however, it is magnesium that is necessary to keep calcium soluble. Without sufficient magnesium, a whole host of physiological aberrations can occur with serious health consequences.
As Dr. Carolyn Dean, author of The Magnesium Miracle, explains, “In the large intestine it [precipitated calcium] interferes with peristalsis, which results in constipation. When calcium precipitates out in the kidneys and combines with phosphorus or oxalic acid, kidney stones are formed. Calcium can deposit in the lining of the bladder and prevent it from fully relaxing, and therefore from filling completely with urine. This leads to frequent urination problems, especially in older people. Calcium can precipitate out of the blood and deposit in the lining of the arteries, causing hardening (arteriosclerosis). . . It can coat and stiffen. . . plaque in the arteries. . . [and] can cause blood pressure to rise as well as increase the risk of heart attack and stroke. Calcium can even deposit in the brain. Many researchers are investigating it as a possible cause of dementia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Calcium can deposit in the lining of the bronchial tubes and cause asthma symptoms. Calcium in extracellular fluid. . . can decrease the permeability of cell membranes. This makes it increasingly difficult for glucose (a large molecule) to pass through the cell membrane to be converted to ATP in the cells’ mitochondria. High glucose levels created by excess calcium may be misdiagnosed as diabetes.”
MAGNESIUM IS A POTENT DETOXIFIER
Magnesium is utilized by the body for all sorts of detoxification pathways and is necessary for the neutralization of toxins, overly acidic conditions that arise in the body, and for protection from heavy metals. It plays a vital role in protecting us from the onslaught of man-made chemicals all around us. Glutathione, an antioxidant normally produced by the body and a detoxifier of mercury, lead and arsenic among others, requires magnesium for its synthesis. According to Mark Sircus, in Transdermal Magnesium Therapy, a deficiency of magnesium increases free radical generation in the body and “causes glutathione loss, which is not affordable because glutathione helps to defend the body against damage from cigarette smoking, exposure to radiation, cancer chemotherapy, and toxins such as alcohol and just about everything else.”
When our bodies are replete with magnesium (and in balance with the other essential minerals) we are protected from heavy metal deposition and the development of associated neurological diseases. As Dr. Carolyn Dean explains, “Research indicates that ample magnesium will protect brain cells from the damaging effects of aluminum, beryllium, cadmium, lead, mercury and nickel. We also know that low levels of brain magnesium contribute to the deposition of heavy metals in the brain that heralds Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. It appears that the metals compete with magnesium for entry into the brain cells. If magnesium is low, metals gain access much more readily.
“There is also competition in the small intestine for absorption of minerals. If there is enough magnesium, aluminum won’t be absorbed.”
MAGNESIUM DEFICIENCY IN TOOTH DECAY AND OSTEOPOROSIS
Ask anyone—your neighbor or even your dentist or doctor—what bones and teeth require to be strong and healthy, and you will undoubtedly hear the response, “Plenty of calcium.” Bones and teeth certainly do require calcium—as well as phosphorus and magnesium, but without adequate amounts of the latter, calcium will not be deposited in these hard tissues, and the structures will not be sound. “When you load up your system with excess calcium,” writes William Quesnell, in Minerals: the Essential Link to Health, “you shut down magnesium’s ability to activate thyrocalcitonin, a hormone that under normal circumstances would send calcium to your bones.” Instead of providing benefits to the body, the displaced calcium actually becomes toxic, causing trouble in soft tissues of the kinds we’ve already discussed.
Numerous studies, in fact, have established the fact that it is dietary magnesium, not calcium, (and certainly not fluoride) that creates glassy hard tooth enamel that resists decay, and strong and resilient bones. Regardless of the amount of calcium you consume, your teeth can only form hard enamel if magnesium is available in sufficient quantities.
According to J. I. Rodale, in Magnesium: the Nutrient that Could Change Your Life, “For years it was believed that high intakes of calcium and phosphorus inhibited decay by strengthening the enamel. Recent evidence, however, indicates that an increase in these two elements is useless unless we increase our magnesium intake at the same time. It has even been observed that dental structures beneath the surface can dissolve when additional amounts of calcium and phosphorus diffuse through the enamel at different rates. Thus milk, poor in magnesium, but high in the other two elements, not only interferes with magnesium metabolism, but also antagonizes the mineral responsible for decay prevention.”
To revisit Deaf Smith County, Texas, and the justly famous residents whose teeth refused to succumb to decay, Rodale quotes the observations of Dr. Lewis Barnett, presented in a paper before the Texas Medical Association in Dallas, 1952. Dr. Barnett, an orthopedic surgeon, remarked on the low incidence of tooth decay and rapid healing of broken bones among these residents, and offered this explanation:
“[The local] water and foods have a very high magnesium and iodine content and recently we have proven that all of the trace minerals known to be essential are present in the water and foods grown in that area.” Further, Dr. Barnett had found that the magnesium bone content of the average Deaf Smith County resident was up to five times higher than that of a resident of Dallas, while the concentrations of calcium and phosphorus were about the same in both groups. His observations led him to state that “[o]ne of the most important aspects of the disease osteoporosis has been almost totally overlooked. That aspect is the role played by magnesium.”
Rodale emphasizes the fact that Dr. Barnett gave much of the credit for these health benefits to the high magnesium content of the local water, and noted many signs of superior bone development among people in the area: “Dr. Barnett makes mention of the fact that people in older years frequently have fracture of the cervical neck of the femur and these are very difficult to heal in many localities. However, he noted that this fracture rarely occurs in Deaf Smith County, whereas it was common in Dallas County, Texas, where he also practiced. When a fracture did occur in Deaf Smith, healing was easy and rapid even in people eighty to one hundred years old. In contrast, fractures in Dallas were common and very difficult to heal, if not impossible.”
Over fifty years ago Dr. Barnett tested the magnesium levels of five thousand people and found sixty percent of them to be deficient. How much more of the population is deficient today, when all of the negative conditions contributing to that deficiency have been certainly amplified?
FOOD SOURCES OF MAGNESIUM
As we’ve mentioned, if farm soils are well-mineralized, leafy green vegetables, seeds, tree nuts and whole grains are fairly good sources of magnesium. Certain wild-crafted forage foods really stand out, however, such as nettles (860 mg per 100 grams) and chickweed (529 mg per 100 grams), and add many tonic and nutritive benefits to both human and livestock diets largely due to their high mineral content. Kelp, ancient denizen of the sea, contains spectacular levels, as do most sea vegetables. Remember that they are continually bathed in a solution whose third most abundant mineral is magnesium. And authentic, unrefined sea salt is a very good source of magnesium, along with trace minerals. Utilizing bone broths on a daily basis will provide another excellent source of minerals, including magnesium, in a highly assimilable form.
STRATEGIES FOR MAGNESIUM SUPPLEMENTATION
Even with ideal digestive conditions, only a percentage of magnesium in foods will be absorbed—less when amounts in the body are adequate and more if there is a deficiency. This is also true of magnesium supplements, and there are many of them on the market to confuse you. For the average person, magnesium supplementation is safe to experiment with on your own, especially if you know you have symptoms that could be related to magnesium deficiency or are under extra stress, and so on. Excess magnesium is excreted in urine and the stool, and the most common response to too much magnesium is loose stools. Those with renal insufficiency or kidney disease, extremely slow heart rate, or bowel obstruction should avoid magnesium therapy.
General dosage recommendations range from about 3 to 10 milligrams per pound of body weight, depending upon physical condition, requirements for growth (as in children), and degree of symptoms.
Oral magnesium supplements are available in organic salt chelates, such as magnesium citrate and magnesium malate. These are fairly well absorbed, especially in powder forms to which you add water and can tailor your dosage. It is important to divide your dosage during the day so that you do not load your body with too much magnesium in any single dose. Carolyn Dean recommends taking your first dose early in the morning and another in the late afternoon—these correspond to times when magnesium levels are low in the body. Is it just a coincidence that these times of low magnesium and low energy also correspond to the cultural rituals of morning coffee and afternoon tea?
Loose stools indicate you are not absorbing the magnesium, but that it is acting as a laxative. When the magnesium travels through the intestines in less than twelve hours, it is merely excreted rather than absorbed. If you find you cannot overcome the laxative effect by varying your dosages, you may want to try an oral supplement that is chelated to an amino acid, such as magnesium taurate and magnesium glycinate, which some consider to be better absorbed than the salt forms and less likely to cause loose stools.
For those who need a little help with digestion, such as young children, older adults, and anyone with reduced stomach acid or bowel dysbiosis, consider homeopathic magnesium, also referred to as tissue salts or cell salts. Magnesia phosphorica 6X is the appropriate dosage, and it works to usher magnesium into the cells where it belongs. It is also indicated as a remedy for muscle spasms and cramps of many varieties. Mag phos can help reduce and eliminate loose stools while you are supplementing with oral magnesium, giving you a positive sign that your body is indeed taking the magnesium into the cells.
Yet another option for oral magnesium supplementation is ionic magnesium in liquid form, such as that offered by Trace Minerals Research. This is a sodium-reduced concentration of sea water from the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Only about a teaspoon is needed to deliver about 400 milligrams of magnesium (along with seventy-two other trace minerals), which should be taken in divided amounts during the day. I recommend adding this to soups (made with bone-broth bases of course) as the strong mineral taste is hard to take straight. You can also add this to spring and other drinking water to up the magnesium content and use it in cooking. By “micro-dosing” your food and water in this fashion you greatly reduce any laxative effects a large dose of magnesium might elicit.
Another potential way to get more magnesium into your system is via the pleasant method of soaking in a bath of magnesium sulfate, otherwise known as Epsom salts. Commonly used to ease muscle aches and pains, magnesium sulfate also importantly helps with detoxification when sulfur is needed by the body for this purpose. When used intravenously, magnesium sulfate can save lives in such crises as acute asthma attack, onset of myocardial infarction, and eclampsia in pregnancy.
A couple of cups of Epsom salts added to a hot bath will induce sweating and detoxification; after the water cools a bit, the body will then absorb the magnesium sulfate. According to Mark Sircus in Transdermal Magnesium Therapy, the effects from a bath of Epsom salts, although pleasant, are brief as magnesium sulfate is difficult to assimilate and is rapidly lost in the urine. Magnesium chloride, which can also be used in baths, is more easily assimilated and metabolized, and so less is needed for absorption.
Finally, magnesium may be applied topically in a form commonly called magnesium “oil.” This is actually not an oil at all, but a supersaturated concentration of magnesium chloride and water. It does feel oily and slippery when applied to the skin, but it absorbs quickly, leaving a slightly tacky, “sea salt” residue that can be washed off. There are many advantages to transdermal magnesium therapy, since the gastrointestinal tract is avoided altogether and there is no laxative effect. Next to intravenous magnesium administration, transdermal therapy provides a greater amount of magnesium to be absorbed than even the best tolerated oral supplements, and can restore intracellular concentrations in a matter of weeks rather than the months required for oral supplementation.
MISSING LINK?
It is likely safe to say that most people would benefit from an increased supply of magnesium in their diets, especially in these times of so many dietary, environmental, and social stressors. Of course no single nutrient stands alone in relation to the body, and the first priority is to eat a varied diet of whole plant and animal foods from the best sources near you. Adding extra magnesium, however, might be the missing nutritional link to help us guard against heart disease, stroke, depression, osteoporosis and many other disorders. In the prevention and alleviation of these diseases, magnesium can be truly miraculous.
SIDEBARS
THE MANY EFFECTS OF MAGNESIUM DEFICIENCY
• ADD/ADHD
• Alzheimer’s
• Angina pectoris
• Anxiety disorders
• Arrhythmia
• Arthritis—rheumatoid and osteoarthritis
• Asthma
• Autism
• Auto-immune disorders
• Cerebral palsy in children of Mg deficient mothers
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
• Congestive Heart Failure • Constipation
• Crooked teeth/narrow jaw in children from Mg deficient mothers
• Dental caries
• Depression
• Diabetes, types I and II
• Eating disorders—bulimia and anorexia
• Fibromyalgia
• Gut disorders including peptic ulcer, Crohn’s disease, colitis
• Heart disease
• Hypertension
• Hypoglycemia
• Insomnia
• Kidney stones
• Lou Gehrig’s disease
• Migraines
• Mitral valve prolapse
• Multiple sclerosis
• Muscle cramping, weakness, fatigue
• Myopia—in children from Mg deficient mothers
• Obesity—especially associated with high carbohydrate diet
• Osteoporosis
• Parkinson’s disease
• PMS—including menstrual pain and irregularities
• PPH (Primary pulmonary hypertension)
• Reynaud’s syndrome
• SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome)
• Stroke
• Syndrome X
• Thyroid disorders
Source: Primal Body—Primal Mind, by Nora Gedgaudas.
FOOD SOURCES OF MAGNESIUM
In milligrams per 100 grams
Kelp 760
Pecan 142
Beets 25
Wheat bran 490
Walnut 131
Broccoli 24
Wheat germ 336
Rye 115
Cauliflower 24
Almonds 270
Tofu curdled by Mg nigiri 111
Carrot 23
Cashews 267
Coconut meat, dried 90
Celery 22
Blackstrap molasses 258
Collard greens 57
Beef 21
Nutritional yeast 231
Shrimp 51
Asparagus 20
Buckwheat 229
Corn, sweet 48
Chicken 19
Brazil nuts 225
Avocado 45
Green pepper 18
Dulse 220
Cheddar cheese 45
Winter squash 17
Filberts 184
Parsley 41
Cantaloupe 16
Peanuts 175
Prunes 40
Eggplant 16
Millet 162
Sunflower seeds 38
Tomato 14
Wheat whole grain 160
Sweet potato 31
Milk 13
MAGNESIUM SUPPLEMENTATION CAN BE TRICKY
Even when it seems obvious that magnesium supplementation is called for to alleviate typical deficiency symptoms such as anxiety or heart palpitations, finding the best means to raise intracellular levels can be difficult. Most often, oral supplements will cause laxative effects at levels too low to restore magnesium supplies to the cells, where it is needed. Marina, whose husband Alex was recovering from heart surgery, had to be persistent. “I noticed in the hospital that he was given intravenous magnesium during intensive care, but the doctors never mentioned it later on, when Alex was overcome with panic attacks, bouts of low energy, hypertension and arrhythmia. We were offered drugs for all of these conditions, but we both wanted to avoid the medications if at all possible, although we couldn’t at first. A couple of alternative doctors had mentioned magnesium along with other supplements that could help, but with no particular emphasis on the magnesium, so it was by trial and error that we discovered just how effective the magnesium could be. But first we had to find the best way for Alex to take it.
“Capsules of magnesium citrate and magnesium taurate both caused diarrhea at only a quarter of the recommended dose. I learned that chronic magnesium deficiency can unfortunately leave you with a much reduced capacity for intestinal absorption, and it was likely that Alex had been deficient for a long time. This was hard for me to accept at first, since he had been eating a superb diet for many years—full of mineral-rich bone broths, soups with seaweeds and nettles, and no sugar or caffeine. But his history included decades of intense stress and obvious signs of adrenal exhaustion.
“I next tried liquid ionic magnesium, which included trace minerals as found in the Great Salt Lake in Utah. I felt that magnesium in isolation might not be the best way to try to absorb it. Starting with just a few drops in his soup, Alex was able to take more magnesium over time in this fashion, although we still had to be very careful not to exceed a certain amount or the diarrhea would return. Nevertheless, we were starting to see positive results. First came better sleep. Alex had been waking every ninety minutes during the night—he’d get up to pee, come back to bed and struggle to fall asleep only to wake again in ninety minutes to repeat the process.
He was certain his prostate was failing, but after about a month with the ionic magnesium, he was able to sleep uninterrupted for three-, then four-, then six-hour spans. We realized his prostate was fine, but his traumatized adrenals had been regularly firing an adrenaline rush to jolt him awake. When they began to be pacified his sleep finally became restful; he now usually only wakes once during the night and can easily return to sleep. And, dare I say, he sleeps better these days than he has for years. Also, with a good night’s sleep his daytime energy level is much improved.
“Alex still had bouts of arrhythmia which had been very frightening at times, and although his hypertension was improving with energy work and flower essences, we knew there was a nutritional component that needed to be addressed. A friend happened to suggest using homeopathic magnesium to help with absorption—she herself was starting to use magnesium supplements and was also experiencing the common problem of loose stools when this solution dawned on her. The concept was brilliant—we needed a way to gently get the cells to accept the magnesium, and so we began using the tissue salts Magnesia phosphorica in the 6X potency. After the very first dose Alex had improvement with his stool and was able to keep up the same dosage of the ionic magnesium. It was as though a key had opened a lock, and the magnesium was now entering the cells where it could do its good.
“One day Alex casually mentioned that he hadn’t had a single moment of arrhythmia in a week. This was stunning news, since he had had at least slight arrhythmia daily for months. Everyone told us this was extremely common after heart surgery and we thought we’d have to accept this fact. Encouraged by his progress, I next purchased some magnesium ‘oil’ in order to have yet another means to deliver the magnesium without involving the intestinal tract at all.
“Our current protocol includes a once-daily use of the magnesium oil. I add ionic magnesium drops to our drinking and cooking water, as well as to every pot of soup, pan of sautéed vegetables, tray of stuffed peppers. I call this ‘microdosing’ and it is in addition to using sea vegetables and plenty of bone broths. Along with the Magnesia phosphorica, Alex takes the tissue salt Kali phosphorica (potassium phosphate) which is indicated for all conditions of nervous debility; the two together make a very good heart tonic. At bedtime, Alex has a single dose of magnesium citrate with a food complex vitamin C powder.
This is a relaxing evening ritual and now causes no intestinal upset.
“The only medication Alex still takes is a beta-blocker for hypertension—a small dose that we hope to be able to quit soon. If you supplement with magnesium and have hypertension you will need to pay close attention to your blood pressure. You will have to reduce your medication accordingly or your blood pressure could get too low too fast! You must do this slowly, though, to give the vascular tissue time to recondition itself and regain elasticity—as it will.
“Finally, Alex himself wanted me to add that the magnesium therapy allowed him to shift the intensity of his focus from his physical condition to his spiritual life, and sparked new creativity. He has begun to write and will be publishing the first in a series of his memoirs early next year. Truly, who would have thought so much healing could be initiated by finally replenishing this neglected mineral?”
REFERENCES
The Magnesium Miracle, by Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D., Ballantine Books, 2007.
Transdermal Magnesium Therapy, by Mark Sircus, Ac., O.M.D., Phaelos Books, 2007.
Magnesium Therapy, by Patricia Ann Braun, M.D. http:// pbraunmd.org/magnesium.htm.
Magnesium: The Nutrient that Could Change Your Life, by J.I. Rodale http://www.mgwater.com/rod06.shtml.
Leaky gut and magnesium deficiency: http://magnesiumforlife.com/medical-application/magnesium-and-autism/.
The dangers of magnesium deficiency in endurance athletes: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FDL/is_4_14/ai_n24940334/.
Primal Body-Primal Mind, by Nora Gedgaudas, Primal Body-Primal Mind Publishing, 2009.
Healing Wise: Wise Woman Herbal, by Susun S. Weed, Ash Tree Publishing, 1989.
Put Your Heart in Your Mouth, by Dr. Natasha Campbell- McBride, Medinform, 2007.
This article appeared in Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts, the quarterly magazine of the Weston A. Price Foundation, Fall 2010.
Magnesium & Sleep
by Ashley
Magnesium Deficiency, Sleep
Our favorite mineral is a regular wizard when it comes to relaxing the body and helping minimize our response to stressful stimuli. So it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that this wonder nutrient also has a phenomenal impact on sleep function and quality.
When it comes to getting sufficient amounts of undisturbed, quality sleep, we often don’t consider just how crucial this is for overall health and well-being – the focus often being placed instead on diet and exercise. It’s certainly not new or shocking that a lack of sleep can lead to any number of mental health issues and even death, but sleep research over the last decade has been uncovering deeper connections to illness and disease than we’ve suspected in the past… although perhaps we should have. Our brain is yet still quite an enigma in the grand scheme of things, but one thing is for sure, it’s ultimately in the drivers seat of our biological processes. Lack of sleep equates to neglect… neglect of the most important organ in your body.
Can’t Sleep? Call Dr. Magnesium.
One of the many benefits attributed to magnesium use is improved sleep – whether it be simply helping you stay asleep longer, fall asleep faster, or battle reoccurring bouts of insomnia. However we still receive the occasional request for reassurance, “Will using topical magnesium help me sleep?” Not wishing to exaggerate and create unreasonable expectations, I can still say, “Yes, magnesium will help you sleep.” That’s not to say, though, that it will completely ‘heal’ whatever may be the underlying cause of your sleep issues – but its necessity for a good night’s sleep is so critical that it will most definitely provide a degree of assistance.
Many of our customers who originally sought out the magnesium strictly for supplementation purposes, have found themselves on the receiving end of a sudden boost in sleep quality. We know this because of their spontaneous and, might I say, enthusiastic feedback detailing their surprise at this “side benefit.” Anecdotal, yes, but certainly no less applicable or genuine.
So, how exactly does magnesium help?
Although we’ve praised magnesium as an unending well of energy whose “zing” is far longer lasting than a cup of Joe, that same well of energy is responsible for helping the body transition into a restful state. Much like a parent will start preparing their child for bedtime by having a bath followed by slipping them into their pajamas and then reading them a story, magnesium also helps trigger a sequence of events that begin a “wind down” of sorts in preparation for the coming hours of rejuvenating sleep.
As has been mentioned in other articles, magnesium has its hand in virtually every nook and cranny when it comes to your body’s biological functions. In the case of sleep, it’s the primary ingredient in muscle relaxation, has a neuroprotective effect that is absolutely crucial to each and every stage of sleep, assists in slowing metabolic processes and lowering brain temperature as your body attempts to repair daily damage during sleep cycles, and helps regulate key hormones responsible for not only helping you fall asleep, but keeping you asleep.
Needless to say, magnesium has its hands full.
Consequences of Magnesium DeficiencyUnfortunately, since the overwhelming majority of our population is indeed deficient in magnesium, it’s almost easier to explain what happens without magnesium rather than with it. With insufficient amounts of magnesium available to carry out these function, many of these processes become chaotic and fall apart leaving you scratching your head and wondering why you can’t fall asleep, or why you’re waking up repeatedly… or even why you feel like you didn’t sleep at all when you know you’ve been out for a full eight hours.
I’m sure we’ve all had the “why on earth am I so tired” moment. (I know I have)
Studies have shown that without the neuroprotective actions of magnesium, sleep stages lose their harmonic order, becoming erratic and unpredictable in their occurrence. They’re called “stages” for a reason, and any deviation from their position in the sleep cycle can spell disaster. On top of that chaos, when that nerve-calming protection is absent, you instead have neuronal excitability andincreased periods of wakefulness are most commonly the result.
Another unfortunate consequence of a magnesium deficient state is the impaired biosynthesis and regulation of hormones such as melatonin. As melatonin is a fundamental sleep hormone, we don’t need Google Maps to jump from point A to point B to see how this might throw a wrench into any plans of beauty sleep. Needless to say, sufficient levels of magnesium are required to stimulate melatonin synthesis or else your sleep quality plummets. A.k.a: do not pass GO, do not collect $200.
There are, of course, other factors to consider such as aging. As we age, the production of certain hormones like melatonin see a steady decline bringing an additional complication to the mix. However, maintaining satisfactory levels of magnesium has been shown to reduce the severity of this decline, and in some cases help it level out or rise. In post menopausal women, who have a higher incidence of deteriorating sleep quality, research has shown that by supplementing with magnesium not only were many menopausal symptoms reduced or alleviated, but quality of sleep was markedly improved as well.
Indirect Benefits of Magnesium for Sleep
There are numerous health issues that indirectly result in poor sleep that magnesium has been shown to help alleviate. One of such issues, for example, is Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS).
We’ll coast over the details of magnesium’s function in aiding these disorders, since this article is specifically about magnesium as it pertains to sleep. Let’s suffice it to say that on top of RLS, the list of issues is quite lengthy (See: 101 Uses for Magnesium), including sleep apnea, asthma, periodic limb movement during sleep, hot flashes (which, of course, can be listed under the menopause symptoms), leg cramps, migraine, and even digestive issues.
As I intimated earlier, it really depends on what specifically is causing your lack of satisfactory sleep that will determine how significantly magnesium will impact it. However, it is my [educated] belief that since magnesium is a core nutrient… a foundational nutrient… that many of these issues are ultimately caused by a deficiency in the first place. Just look at something like dehydration, which can lead to migraine, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, muscle cramping and even sweating! When your body is deprived of something so very vital (like water), the deficit will literally be felt system-wide.
by Ashley
Magnesium Deficiency, Sleep
Our favorite mineral is a regular wizard when it comes to relaxing the body and helping minimize our response to stressful stimuli. So it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that this wonder nutrient also has a phenomenal impact on sleep function and quality.
When it comes to getting sufficient amounts of undisturbed, quality sleep, we often don’t consider just how crucial this is for overall health and well-being – the focus often being placed instead on diet and exercise. It’s certainly not new or shocking that a lack of sleep can lead to any number of mental health issues and even death, but sleep research over the last decade has been uncovering deeper connections to illness and disease than we’ve suspected in the past… although perhaps we should have. Our brain is yet still quite an enigma in the grand scheme of things, but one thing is for sure, it’s ultimately in the drivers seat of our biological processes. Lack of sleep equates to neglect… neglect of the most important organ in your body.
Can’t Sleep? Call Dr. Magnesium.
One of the many benefits attributed to magnesium use is improved sleep – whether it be simply helping you stay asleep longer, fall asleep faster, or battle reoccurring bouts of insomnia. However we still receive the occasional request for reassurance, “Will using topical magnesium help me sleep?” Not wishing to exaggerate and create unreasonable expectations, I can still say, “Yes, magnesium will help you sleep.” That’s not to say, though, that it will completely ‘heal’ whatever may be the underlying cause of your sleep issues – but its necessity for a good night’s sleep is so critical that it will most definitely provide a degree of assistance.
Many of our customers who originally sought out the magnesium strictly for supplementation purposes, have found themselves on the receiving end of a sudden boost in sleep quality. We know this because of their spontaneous and, might I say, enthusiastic feedback detailing their surprise at this “side benefit.” Anecdotal, yes, but certainly no less applicable or genuine.
So, how exactly does magnesium help?
Although we’ve praised magnesium as an unending well of energy whose “zing” is far longer lasting than a cup of Joe, that same well of energy is responsible for helping the body transition into a restful state. Much like a parent will start preparing their child for bedtime by having a bath followed by slipping them into their pajamas and then reading them a story, magnesium also helps trigger a sequence of events that begin a “wind down” of sorts in preparation for the coming hours of rejuvenating sleep.
As has been mentioned in other articles, magnesium has its hand in virtually every nook and cranny when it comes to your body’s biological functions. In the case of sleep, it’s the primary ingredient in muscle relaxation, has a neuroprotective effect that is absolutely crucial to each and every stage of sleep, assists in slowing metabolic processes and lowering brain temperature as your body attempts to repair daily damage during sleep cycles, and helps regulate key hormones responsible for not only helping you fall asleep, but keeping you asleep.
Needless to say, magnesium has its hands full.
Consequences of Magnesium DeficiencyUnfortunately, since the overwhelming majority of our population is indeed deficient in magnesium, it’s almost easier to explain what happens without magnesium rather than with it. With insufficient amounts of magnesium available to carry out these function, many of these processes become chaotic and fall apart leaving you scratching your head and wondering why you can’t fall asleep, or why you’re waking up repeatedly… or even why you feel like you didn’t sleep at all when you know you’ve been out for a full eight hours.
I’m sure we’ve all had the “why on earth am I so tired” moment. (I know I have)
Studies have shown that without the neuroprotective actions of magnesium, sleep stages lose their harmonic order, becoming erratic and unpredictable in their occurrence. They’re called “stages” for a reason, and any deviation from their position in the sleep cycle can spell disaster. On top of that chaos, when that nerve-calming protection is absent, you instead have neuronal excitability andincreased periods of wakefulness are most commonly the result.
Another unfortunate consequence of a magnesium deficient state is the impaired biosynthesis and regulation of hormones such as melatonin. As melatonin is a fundamental sleep hormone, we don’t need Google Maps to jump from point A to point B to see how this might throw a wrench into any plans of beauty sleep. Needless to say, sufficient levels of magnesium are required to stimulate melatonin synthesis or else your sleep quality plummets. A.k.a: do not pass GO, do not collect $200.
There are, of course, other factors to consider such as aging. As we age, the production of certain hormones like melatonin see a steady decline bringing an additional complication to the mix. However, maintaining satisfactory levels of magnesium has been shown to reduce the severity of this decline, and in some cases help it level out or rise. In post menopausal women, who have a higher incidence of deteriorating sleep quality, research has shown that by supplementing with magnesium not only were many menopausal symptoms reduced or alleviated, but quality of sleep was markedly improved as well.
Indirect Benefits of Magnesium for Sleep
There are numerous health issues that indirectly result in poor sleep that magnesium has been shown to help alleviate. One of such issues, for example, is Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS).
We’ll coast over the details of magnesium’s function in aiding these disorders, since this article is specifically about magnesium as it pertains to sleep. Let’s suffice it to say that on top of RLS, the list of issues is quite lengthy (See: 101 Uses for Magnesium), including sleep apnea, asthma, periodic limb movement during sleep, hot flashes (which, of course, can be listed under the menopause symptoms), leg cramps, migraine, and even digestive issues.
As I intimated earlier, it really depends on what specifically is causing your lack of satisfactory sleep that will determine how significantly magnesium will impact it. However, it is my [educated] belief that since magnesium is a core nutrient… a foundational nutrient… that many of these issues are ultimately caused by a deficiency in the first place. Just look at something like dehydration, which can lead to migraine, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, muscle cramping and even sweating! When your body is deprived of something so very vital (like water), the deficit will literally be felt system-wide.
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What is the Best Form of Magnesium?
http://www.healthambition.com/best-form-of-magnesium/
Magnesium deficiency is widespread and believed to be responsible for many health problems and diseases. Here is why magnesium is so important, ten of the richest food sources and how to choose the best magnesium supplement for improving your health.
Are You Low on Magnesium?
Magnesium is an essential mineral for good health. Like calcium, it is involved in maintaining strong bones but has many other important functions within your body, particularly in relation to your cardiovascular, muscular and nervous systems.
There are over 300 biological processes within the human body that rely on adequate levels of magnesium. Some of these include regulating blood sugar levels for stable energy, improving protein synthesis for healthy muscles, maintaining optimal nerve and brain function, normalizing blood pressure and heartbeat rhythm, sustaining the immune system and many other vital functions.
Unfortunately, despite its importance, magnesium is one of the most common minerals to be depleted in processed supermarket foods. Unless you regularly eat good amounts of certain natural foods, like the high magnesium examples ahead, and/or use an effective supplement, a lack of magnesium can play a part in many health issues
.
According to current government statistics, around half of all people over 2 years old in the USA don’t get enough magnesium in their diet. Some estimates have low level magnesium deficiency as high as three quarters of the American population.
Compounding the problem, many commonly used forms of supplemental magnesium have low absorption rates and often have a laxative effect at high doses.
A new and superior form of magnesium supplement is available and covered ahead, but first let’s look at some magnesium rich foods well worth adding to your diet to prevent deficiency.
10 Foods High in Magnesium
1. Pumpkin SeedsPumpkin seeds are an excellent source of magnesium with just an ounce of the tasty green seeds providing nearly 40% of the recommended daily intake of magnesium.
Raw pumpkin seeds like these US grown ones are much better than the cheap Chinese seeds. They make a tasty snack that is rich in other minerals like manganese and zinc, full of protein to really fill you up and provides many other health benefits.
2. Sunflower SeedsAnother healthy seed that’s very high in magnesium, sunflower seeds are also rich in vitamin E, folate and phytosterols. All of these nutrients make them great for cardiovascular health, though once again they are better eaten raw.
3. Dark Leafy GreensAlso a good source of calcium and antioxidant carotenoids, dark leafy greens like spinach, Swiss chard and kale are all rich in magnesium.
4. Fish Oily fish like mackerel, pollock and tuna contain magnesium and are full of protein and omega-3 fats. It’s worth considering taking chlorella when you eat large fish like these as it can help protect against heavy metals by binding to them in the digestive tract.
5. Beans White beans, French beans, navy beans and kidney beans are all good sources of magnesium, though you may want to soak them overnight before cooking to reduce the starch raffinose that causes excessive gas.
6. Oats Natural rolled oats are relatively high in magnesium and combined with pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds in a homemade muesli would be a good way to get more of the mineral into your diet.
7. Cashew Nuts Creamy cashew nuts make a healthy snack and are high in magnesium, along with copper and zinc for healthy hair.
8. Dark Chocolate A personal favorite, dark chocolate, when at least 70% or above, is a good source of magnesium. The high levels of sugar and additives in regular milk chocolate negates a lot of the benefits so the darker the better if you want your chocolate healthy.
9. Figs Whether fresh or dried, figs are a delicious source of magnesium and a great way to get a lot of beneficial dietary fiber as well.
10. Quinoa Most packaged grain foods like bread can no longer be considered a good source of magnesium as processing removes most of the mineral. A very healthy grain replacement, quinoa is a pseudo-grain that is gluten-free and boasts high magnesium amongst its many nutritional benefits.
Unless you eat these kinds of foods regularly it’s worth considering a good magnesium supplement to deal with the high demands of our modern lifestyle and help replace the magnesium that has been stripped from our food supply. But what is the best form of supplemental magnesium and can some of the inferior kinds cause unwanted side effects?
What is the Best Magnesium Supplement to Take?
Common forms of magnesium supplements that have been used for decades in multivitamins are now being shown to have extremely poor absorption rates.
Magnesium oxide in particular has very low bioavailability, estimated at only around 4%. Additionally, at high doses it can have a strong laxative effect.
Magnesium carbonate is another form that has relatively low bioavailability and again can result in loose stools if taken in excess or if you are sensitive to its effects.
In recent years supplement manufacturers have begun bonding magnesium to other substances like amino acids for improved delivery. These versions of supplemental magnesium like magnesium arginate and aspartate, or magnesium citrate derived from the magnesium salts of citric acid, have lower concentrations of magnesium but much improved absorption rates.
For optimal bioavailability though, the best magnesium supplement to take is a new form called magnesium orotate. Made from the mineral salts of orotic acid, magnesium orotate has been demonstrated to effectively penetrate cell membranes and deliver beneficial magnesium ions at a cellular level.
Orotates are used by the body to create DNA and research shows that magnesium and other minerals like calcium bonded to them are the most readily absorbed in the human body.
This magnesium orotate is formulated based on that research and while more than other forms of magnesium supplements, it is likely to be much better absorbed by your body without the gastrointestinal problems of cheaper forms.
It is best taken with breakfast and again at dinner and with 200 tablets per bottle should last for several months.
Ideally, magnesium should be balanced with a good supply of calcium in your diet so I’d recommend also reading about calcium rich foods and the best form of calcium supplement and considering taking these two vital minerals together.
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What is the Best Form of Magnesium?
http://www.healthambition.com/best-form-of-magnesium/
Magnesium deficiency is widespread and believed to be responsible for many health problems and diseases. Here is why magnesium is so important, ten of the richest food sources and how to choose the best magnesium supplement for improving your health.
Are You Low on Magnesium?
Magnesium is an essential mineral for good health. Like calcium, it is involved in maintaining strong bones but has many other important functions within your body, particularly in relation to your cardiovascular, muscular and nervous systems.
There are over 300 biological processes within the human body that rely on adequate levels of magnesium. Some of these include regulating blood sugar levels for stable energy, improving protein synthesis for healthy muscles, maintaining optimal nerve and brain function, normalizing blood pressure and heartbeat rhythm, sustaining the immune system and many other vital functions.
Unfortunately, despite its importance, magnesium is one of the most common minerals to be depleted in processed supermarket foods. Unless you regularly eat good amounts of certain natural foods, like the high magnesium examples ahead, and/or use an effective supplement, a lack of magnesium can play a part in many health issues
.
According to current government statistics, around half of all people over 2 years old in the USA don’t get enough magnesium in their diet. Some estimates have low level magnesium deficiency as high as three quarters of the American population.
Compounding the problem, many commonly used forms of supplemental magnesium have low absorption rates and often have a laxative effect at high doses.
A new and superior form of magnesium supplement is available and covered ahead, but first let’s look at some magnesium rich foods well worth adding to your diet to prevent deficiency.
10 Foods High in Magnesium
1. Pumpkin SeedsPumpkin seeds are an excellent source of magnesium with just an ounce of the tasty green seeds providing nearly 40% of the recommended daily intake of magnesium.
Raw pumpkin seeds like these US grown ones are much better than the cheap Chinese seeds. They make a tasty snack that is rich in other minerals like manganese and zinc, full of protein to really fill you up and provides many other health benefits.
2. Sunflower SeedsAnother healthy seed that’s very high in magnesium, sunflower seeds are also rich in vitamin E, folate and phytosterols. All of these nutrients make them great for cardiovascular health, though once again they are better eaten raw.
3. Dark Leafy GreensAlso a good source of calcium and antioxidant carotenoids, dark leafy greens like spinach, Swiss chard and kale are all rich in magnesium.
4. Fish Oily fish like mackerel, pollock and tuna contain magnesium and are full of protein and omega-3 fats. It’s worth considering taking chlorella when you eat large fish like these as it can help protect against heavy metals by binding to them in the digestive tract.
5. Beans White beans, French beans, navy beans and kidney beans are all good sources of magnesium, though you may want to soak them overnight before cooking to reduce the starch raffinose that causes excessive gas.
6. Oats Natural rolled oats are relatively high in magnesium and combined with pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds in a homemade muesli would be a good way to get more of the mineral into your diet.
7. Cashew Nuts Creamy cashew nuts make a healthy snack and are high in magnesium, along with copper and zinc for healthy hair.
8. Dark Chocolate A personal favorite, dark chocolate, when at least 70% or above, is a good source of magnesium. The high levels of sugar and additives in regular milk chocolate negates a lot of the benefits so the darker the better if you want your chocolate healthy.
9. Figs Whether fresh or dried, figs are a delicious source of magnesium and a great way to get a lot of beneficial dietary fiber as well.
10. Quinoa Most packaged grain foods like bread can no longer be considered a good source of magnesium as processing removes most of the mineral. A very healthy grain replacement, quinoa is a pseudo-grain that is gluten-free and boasts high magnesium amongst its many nutritional benefits.
Unless you eat these kinds of foods regularly it’s worth considering a good magnesium supplement to deal with the high demands of our modern lifestyle and help replace the magnesium that has been stripped from our food supply. But what is the best form of supplemental magnesium and can some of the inferior kinds cause unwanted side effects?
What is the Best Magnesium Supplement to Take?
Common forms of magnesium supplements that have been used for decades in multivitamins are now being shown to have extremely poor absorption rates.
Magnesium oxide in particular has very low bioavailability, estimated at only around 4%. Additionally, at high doses it can have a strong laxative effect.
Magnesium carbonate is another form that has relatively low bioavailability and again can result in loose stools if taken in excess or if you are sensitive to its effects.
In recent years supplement manufacturers have begun bonding magnesium to other substances like amino acids for improved delivery. These versions of supplemental magnesium like magnesium arginate and aspartate, or magnesium citrate derived from the magnesium salts of citric acid, have lower concentrations of magnesium but much improved absorption rates.
For optimal bioavailability though, the best magnesium supplement to take is a new form called magnesium orotate. Made from the mineral salts of orotic acid, magnesium orotate has been demonstrated to effectively penetrate cell membranes and deliver beneficial magnesium ions at a cellular level.
Orotates are used by the body to create DNA and research shows that magnesium and other minerals like calcium bonded to them are the most readily absorbed in the human body.
This magnesium orotate is formulated based on that research and while more than other forms of magnesium supplements, it is likely to be much better absorbed by your body without the gastrointestinal problems of cheaper forms.
It is best taken with breakfast and again at dinner and with 200 tablets per bottle should last for several months.
Ideally, magnesium should be balanced with a good supply of calcium in your diet so I’d recommend also reading about calcium rich foods and the best form of calcium supplement and considering taking these two vital minerals together.