Magnesium makes you magnificent

Magnesium is a cofactor in over 300 enzymatic reactions in the body. It is needed for many functions including temperature regulation, nerve signaling, heart function, muscular contractions, detoxification, and improving insulin sensitivity just to name a few. Deficiency of this mineral can lead to symptoms of insomnia, weakness, cramping in muscles, kidney stones, osteoporosis, irritability, sugar cravings, and high blood pressure. Virtually every system of the body somehow and some way rely on magnesium. Check out for more info

I found these two quotes from an article to be quite intriguing, but have to be careful with this as I will discuss in a moment. I appreciate where they are coming from but like in training, diet, and even life, there is almost NEVER a one stop shop. If there was, everyone would do the same thing, eat the same thing, live the same life and would get the same results. We know that is not true.

“Additionally, after decades of rising dietary calcium intake not balanced with rising dietary magnesium intake, and a population wherein a majority of US adults are not getting their daily magnesium requirement, dietary calcium-to-magnesium ratios are on the rise, and studies are showing that calcium supplements not balanced with magnesium increase the risk of heart disease,” says Rosanoff. (1)

Carolyn Dean, MD, ND, and Medical Advisory Board member of the nonprofit Nutritional Magnesium Association (www.nutritionalmagnesium.org), adds, “That cholesterol is not the cause must be obvious, since heart disease is still the number one killer in America in spite of over two decades of statin use. The fact that low levels of magnesium are associated with all the risk factors and symptoms of heart disease; hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, heart arrhythmia, angina and heart attack, can no longer be ignored. The evidence is much too compelling.”

Food limiting diets, one-sided supplementation, infections, metabolic distress, drug use, legal and / or illegal, renal, intestinal,and hormonal factors all have an impact on someone’s calcium and magnesium ratio and mineral status,so there cannot be a fixed mineral ratio that is best for everyone, since there are just too many variables. This goes for any mineral ratio for that fact.

Magnesium barely qualifies as a major mineral. There is only about 1.5 ounces of magnesium in the body of a 200 pound man. Over half the body’s magnesium is in the bones, and the other half is in the muscles and soft tissues. Less than 1% of magnesium is in the extracellular fluid (outside the cell). Here is the problem when trying to get an accurate measure on this mineral. It is homeostatically controlled in the serum and measuring it provides many false positives. By the time the serum levels are low, a person would become very deficient as the body would rob magnesium from bone & muscle. The systems of the body (musculoskeletal, nervous, digestive, renal) will be compromised thus functioning at a subpar level.

Like most blood work, it is good to look but feel that it also has some holes in it. Observing blood labs have value, but I equate it to looking at a still frame of a motion picture. People that have not fasted, have metabolic issues, had an intense workout, didn’t sleep well, or has work / school stress will affect these values.

Some symptoms of Magnesium deficiency are;

high blood pressure

anxiety

constipation

depression

fatigue

pain in the forms of migraines, chronic back pain,

severe muscle cramping,

tendonitis

Well heck, who doesn’t fit into one or more of these categories? With todays busy lifestyle, stresses at every turn, below average eating habits, and even deficiencies of magnesium in the soil in which our food is grown has lended its hand to magnesium deficiency. I’m not saying you are deficient, but the World Health Organization has placed magnesium depletion on its list of concerns, stating that over two thirds of American adults are deficient.

HOW DO WE GET MAGNESIUM?
The RDA for Magnesium amounts you need are about 310 to 400 mg / day for women and men respectively. Magnesium is found in many foods including various nuts & seeds including cashews (75 mg / oz), legumes, whole grains, dark green vegetables, seafood like halibut (90mg / 3 oz) and in some areas even in the tap water.

In a perfect world, we could accommodate our magnesium needs through a balanced diet. Who in their right mind eats a balanced diet anymore!? Agriculture trends and the fertilizers they use in todays farming methods strip vital nutrients and minerals such as magnesium from the soil in which our produce is grown. (2)

A study published in the Advances of Therapy found the need for supplementation as improvement in nutritional behavior could not replenish already exhausted nutrient reservoirs. This suggests that our food sources are too weak to replenish vitamins, minerals, and trace elements without the help of supplementation. (3)

So even eating a well balanced diet, you could still have a deficiency in magnesium. We have discussed previously that serum levels are very minute and that a majority of the magnesium in intracellular meaning that by the time someone has blood work that shows them to be deficient, the body has already leached from inside cells to steal the magnesium for homeostasis. Magnesium supplementation is a great way to keep those levels up and to maintain intra / extracellular ratios. When looking for a good quality magnesium supplement, go for one that is in a chelated form. In this form, it is bound by an amino acid and in the gut, its recognized as an amino acid therefore it is more easily absorbed.

When taking a magnesium supplement, do not take with soda. Sodas have phosphoric acid and this will bind to magnesium forming an insoluble complex. Cows milk also has a high level of phosphorous which leaches magnesium from the body. Excessive alcohol inflames the intestines and hinders absorption of magnesium. You can’t run away from aging, which is another factor that influences absorption. The last one I’ll talk about is stress. This affects every system of the body and in small doses, is actually beneficial to the body. We stress our body when we go to the gym and being able to recover after is when we see those stresses and where gains occur. Chronic stress turns the body more acidic which leads to an overproduction of cortisol. Your body must know sacrifice the magnesium and other alkalizing minerals in the body to help balance the pH.

To sum it up, magnesium, even it is small total amounts in the body, is vital in a ton of reactions throughout the body from muscle contraction, virtually every metabolic process, temperature regulation, nerve signaling, and heart function to just name a few. Your body strives for a homeostasis with magnesium and will leach it form muscles and bones if needed. Todays diet and and hectic lifestyle tend to have most people with suboptimal levels of this mineral. A healthy lifestyle and good diet can help, but most active people need to compliment a good diet with magnesium to optimize their levels. When picking out a supplement, make sure it’s in the chelated form for increased absorption.

The best forms of magnesium to look for on the label are ones that have been chelated. Look on the nutritional informational label and search for supplements that contain;
Magnesium taurate
Magnesium citrate
Magnesium malate
Magnesium chloride
Magnesium glycinate
Magnesium carbonate

These have great absorbing properties and have little or no side effects when taking.

Forms to be wary of due to poor and / or no absorption include;
Magnesium sulfate
Magnesium glutamate
Magnesium aspartate
Magnesium oxide

REFERENCES
1:  Rosanoff, A., C. Weaver, et al. 2012. “Suboptimal Magnesium        Status in the United States: Are the Health Consequences Underestimated?” Nutrition Reviews 70(3): 153–64.
2:  Davis, D., Epp, M., et al. Changes in USDA Food Composition Data for 43 Garden Crops, 1950 to 1999. Journal of the American College of Nutrition. 2004;23(6):669-682.
3:  Wienecke, E. & Gruenwald, Nutritional supplementation: Is it necessary for everybody? Advances in Therapy (2007) 24: 1126.