Boost Your Body and Mind with Magnesium

by Tony Isaacs

After oxygen, water, and basic food, magnesium may be the most important element needed by our bodies. It is vital for heart health, bone health, mental function and the overall body - yet 80% or more of us are deficient in this vital mineral.

Magnesium is more important than calcium, potassium or sodium and regulates all three of them. It also activates over 300 different biochemical reactions necessary for the body to function properly. Contrary to popular misconceptions, it is magnesium that is actually most important in building strong bones and preventing bone loss. Recent research has revealed that this lack of magnesium may put your heart and your overall health at significant risk and that magnesium deficiency may be linked to cognitive dysfunction and mental decline.

Called the "The Forgotten Mineral" and the "5-Cent Miracle Tablet" by medical researchers, magnesium is a muscle relaxant and low magnesium intake is associated with muscle spasm, tremors and convulsions. Magnesium protects against heart disease and heart attacks, high blood pressure and stroke, type II diabetes and much, much more.

Numerous researchers have reported that adequate amounts of this mineral in the population at large would greatly diminish the incidence of kidney stones (1 in 11 Americans), calcified mitral heart valve (1 in 12 Americans), premenstrual tension, constipation, miscarriages, stillbirths, strokes, diabetes, thyroid failure, asthma, chronic eyelid twitch (blepharospasm), brittle bones, chronic migraines, muscle spasms and anxiety reactions.

An increasing number of medical scientists also believe that additional magnesium and other minerals missing from today's diet might prevent cognitive disorders such as ADD, ADHD and bipolar and help prevent Alzheimer's and mental decline as we age. That's a lot of health benefits for a nickel. Sufficient magnesium intake by the American population would likely reduce health care costs by billions of dollars.

In addition to the problems listed above, magnesium deficiency has been associated with:

• Insomnia and other sleep-disorders
• Fatigue and low energy
• Body-tension
• Muscle tension, muscle cramps and spasms
• Headaches
• Irregular-heartbeat
• High blood Pressure
• Other heart-disorders
• PMS
• Backaches
• Constipation
• Kidney stones
• Osteoporosis
• Accelerated aging
• Depression
• Anxiety and irritability

Since the turn of last century, our depleted soils, processed foods and fast food diet lifestyles have led to a steady increase in mineral deficiencies. Nowhere is this more true than with magnesium. The U.S. minimum RDA for magnesium is about 320 mg per day for women and more than 400 mg per day for men, while optimum daily amounts are closer to 500 to 700 mg per day - yet studies show that after over a century of steadily decreasing magnesium intake, today over 8 out of 10 people do not take enough daily magnesium for even the minimum daily amounts recommended.

Progressive decline of dietary magnesium consumption since 1900:

Years Studied                      Magnesium intake in mg/day

    1900-08                                             475-500
    1909-13                                             415-435
    1925-29                                             385-398
    1935-39                                             360-375
    1947-49                                             358-370
    1957-59                                             340-360
    1965-76                                             300-340
    1978-85                                             225-318
    1990-2002                                        175-225

(Magnesium Trace Elements 10: 162-28)

Following is a list of some of the most magnesium rich dietary foods, including normal serving sizes and calories:

• Pumpkin and squash seed kernels, roasted - 1 oz contains 151 mg of magnesium and 148 calories
• Brazil nuts - 1 oz contains 107 mg of magnesium and 186 calories
• Bran ready-to-eat cereal (100%), - ~1 oz contains 103 mg of magnesium and 74 calories Halibut, cooked - 3 oz contains 151 mg of magnesium and 148 calories
• Quinoa, dry - 1/4 cup contains 89 mg of magnesium and 159 calories
• Spinach, canned - 1/2 cup contains 81 mg of magnesium and 25 calories
• Almonds - 1 oz contains 78 mg of magnesium and 164 calories
• Spinach, cooked from fresh - 1/2 cup contains 78 mg of magnesium and 20 calories
• Buckwheat flour - 1/4 cup contains 75 mg of magnesium and 101 calories
• Soybeans, mature, cooked - 1/2 cup contains 74 mg of magnesium and 149 calories
• Pine nuts, dried - 1 oz contains 71 mg of magnesium and 191 calories
• Mixed nuts, oil roasted, with peanuts - 1 oz contains 67 mg of magnesium and 175 calories
• White beans, canned - 1/2 cup contains 67 mg of magnesium and 154 calories
• Pollock, walleye, cooked - 3 oz contains 62 mg of magnesium and 96 calories Black beans, cooked - 1/2 cup contains 60 mg of magnesium and 114 calories
• Bulgur, dry - 1/4 cup contains 57 mg of magnesium and 120 calories
• Oat bran, raw - 1/4 cup contains 55 mg of magnesium and 58 calories

Source: http://www.hoptechno.com/bookfoodsourcemg.htm

Note: It is healthier to consume as many of the items on the list as possible in raw form. Soy products are not recommended due to the widespread use of GMO soy and other health concerns related to soy.

The list of dietary magnesium sources shows that it might be possible for a person to obtain optimum, or at least minimum, amounts of magnesium from the diet, doing so on a daily basis would take very careful planning. When processed food is part of the diet, it becomes even more unlikely for the general public to consume enough magnesium through dietary sources alone on a daily basis.

Only supplementation is likely to make up for such a widespread magnesium deficiency for most people. Since the same problems with soil depletion and diet causes deficiencies in many other vital minerals, it would be a good idea to supplement for magnesium and to also supplement with a wide range of other minerals. The very mineral supplements are those derived from whole food and plant sources because they are more readily absorbed than mined rock minerals.

Until recently, it was believed that the best forms of supplemental magnesium were the ones chelated to an amino acid (magnesium glycinate, magnesium taurate) or a krebs cycle intermediate (magnesium malate, magnesium citrate, magnesium fumarate). Now magnesium orotate is considered to be a superior form of oral magnesium and we also have magnesium oil. Magnesium oil contains magnesium chloride and is applied directly to the skin so dosage levels can be brought up safely to high levels without diarrhea and problems with absorption. The only side effect of too much magnesium is loose stool. Reducing the dosage or dividing daily doses into smaller amounts resolves the problem.

Blood tests for magnesium are notoriously inaccurate since only about 1 percent of the total body magnesium pool exists outside of living cells. Thus, blood serum levels are notoriously inaccurate and your doctor can`t easily tell you by a blood test if your magnesium levels are low.

For optimum health, magnesium and calcium intake needs to be at about a 1 to 2 ratio. So, if you supplement with 500 mg of magnesium, you should supplement with 1000 mg of calcium (or less if you get plenty of dietary calcium and little dietary magnesium).

Other sources included:

Jenny Thompson, Health Sciences Institute
http://www.omeonet.info/en/articles/magnesium.htm
Journal of Internal Medicine (Blackwell Publishing)10.1111/j.1365-2796.2007.01840.x
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2002; 75:550-554
The Robert Cathey Research Source by Roger Scott Cathey http://www.navi.net/~rsc/mgcl2_txt.html Updated June 17, 2003
Pediatric Asthma, Allergy Immunology 5: 273-79
Journal Bone Mineral Research 13: 749-58, 1998
Magnesium 5: 1-8, 1986
Medical Hypotheses 43: 187-92, 1994
Clin Chem Lab Med 37: 1011-33, 1999