Magnesium is required by the trillions of cells in your body to carry out hundreds of different processes every day.
June 14, 2020
10 Reasons Why You Need Magnesium
Magnesium is involved with the stress modulation, hormone production and regulation, food metabolism, muscle relaxation, bone health and sleep regulation. You can see why magnesium is a vital nutrient for our health and wellbeing!
It is important you are getting enough magnesium to ensure your body can perform these functions.
My top 10 reasons you may need a little more of this miracle mineral, magnesium.
1. You are not getting enough Magnesium
Signs of magnesium deficiency include loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and weakness. As magnesium deficiency worsens, numbness, tingling, muscle contractions and cramps, seizures, personality changes, abnormal heart rhythms, and coronary spasms can occur [1,2].
Severe magnesium deficiency can result in low serum calcium or potassium levels, respectively because mineral homeostasis is disrupted.
It is estimated that up to 80% of Australians and New Zealanders are deficient in magnesium.
The Recommended dietary intakes (RDIs) for magnesium range from 310 mg/day (females) to 420 mg/day (males), [3] which can easily be obtained from consuming roughly one cup of cooked green vegetables, a handful of nuts, and a raw cacao smoothie.
This sounds doable right? Unfortunately, this is not what everyone is eating, people are eating too much refined and processed foods making their diet deficient magnesium. The RDIs do not take into consideration when your body has an increased demand or is actively deficient in magnesium, meaning you may need more than the RDI to meet your needs.
2: Our Soils are Depleted in Key Minerals
Even if you are eating a diet predominant in wholefoods, modern agricultural practices have unfortunately depleted the soil from many key minerals including magnesium, [4] again making it harder to meet your RDI for magnesium.
You are loosing too much Magnesium
3: Reduced absorption from drinking coffee
The tannins in coffee can decrease our absorption of magnesium. It also has a diuretic effect which means that it increase the loss of water and minerals such as magnesium via our urine.
4: Reduced absorption from drinking tea
Tea also contains tannins which reduce the absorption of magnesium
5: Increased excretion due to alcohol.
Alcohol has a diuretic effect, like coffee and results in increased loss of water and minerals such as magnesium in your urine.
6: Your Medicine is depleting you of magnesium
Certain medicines (including as antibiotics, diuretics, acid lowering medicines and steroids) can cause moderate to severe depletion in magnesium [5]
7: Exercise is depleting you of magnesium
Exercise can cause moderate to severe magnesium depletion through urinary excretion and sweat [6]
8: Stress is causing you to be depleted in magnesium
Firstly, having a low level of magnesium is associated with the onset of stressful conditions.[7] Also, the activation of the stress response then actually increases the use and elimination of magnesium from the body [8]
Resulting in a vicious cycle: low magnesium causes increased stress, which leads to an increase in the use and excretion of magnesium, leading to lower magnesium levels.
The good news is that you can use magnesium therapeutically as both a preventative and treatment of stress.
Boost your magnesium levels
If you’re now thinking it’s time to increase your magnesium intake, a supplement can be a great way to top up your diet, support an increase in demand or address a deficiency.
To make choosing a magnesium supplement available easier, focus on the two points below so you can make the right decision:
Dose:
When choosing supplement labels, look for how much elemental or equivalent magnesium it contains – 300 mg per dose is an ideal amount.
Talk to one of our pharmacists if interpreting supplement labels for further explanation and clarification of the right dose for you.
Form:
Not all forms of magnesium are the identicial, with different types leading to different levels of absorption and ability to tolerate.
For example, salt forms of magnesium such as magnesium oxide and magnesium citrate can draw water into the bowel and cause diarrhoea, and are often suboptimal for replenishing magnesium levels.
An alternately form, amino acid chelate forms, such as magnesium bisglycinate, provide optimal absorption [9] and lower side effects when compared to other forms of magnesium available.
In the instance of magnesium bisglycinate, these superior outcomes are due to magnesium’s chemical bond to the amino acid glycine.
Glycine:
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allows the magnesium to be absorbed via efficient protein channels in the intestine (instead of competitive mineral channels),
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protects magnesium from binding to things like tannins (ensuring absorption again), and
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stops drawing water into the bowel (preventing diarrhoea).
There may be many reasons why you may not be getting enough or may be in need of more magnesium, chat to one of our pharmacists today via the messenger app.
Refences:
1. Institute of Medicine (IOM). Food and Nutrition Board.Dietary Reference Intakes: Calcium, Phosphorus, Magnesium, Vitamin D and Fluoride. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1997.
2. Rude RK. Magnesium. In: Coates PM, Betz JM, Blackman MR, Cragg GM, Levine M, Moss J, White JD, eds. Encyclopedia of Dietary Supplements. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Informa Healthcare; 2010:527-37.
3. National Health and Medical Research Council. Nutrient Reference Values for Australia and New Zealand [Internet]. 2014
4. Guo, W, Nazim, H, Liang, Z, Yang, D. Magnesium deficiency in plants: An urgent problem. The Crop Journal [Internet]. 2016 Apr 4(2): 83-91.DOI: 10.1016/j.cj.2015.11.003
5. Therapeutic Research Center. Magnesium Professional Monograph [database on the Internet]. 2019 [updated 2019 Jan 29; cited 2019 Feb 11]. Available from:https://naturalmedicines.therapeuticresearch.com/databases/food,-herbs-supplements/professional.aspx?productid=998#nutrientDepletion. Subscription required to view.
6. Nielsen, F, Lukaski, H. Update on the relationship between magnesium and exercise. Magnesium Research. 2006. [cited 2019 Feb 11]. 19(3): 180-9. DOI:10.1684/mrh.2006.0060
7. Cuciureanu, M, Vink, R. Magnesium and stress. Magnesium in the Central Nervous System [Internet]. Adelaide: University of Adelaide Press. 2011 [cited 2019 Feb 11]. 251-261. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29920004
8. Cuciureanu, M, Vink, R. Magnesium and stress. Magnesium in the Central Nervous System [Internet]. Adelaide: University of Adelaide Press. 2011 [cited 2019 Feb 11]. 251-261. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29920004
9. Hartle JW, Morgan S, Poulsen T. Development of a model for in-vitro comparative absorption of magnesium from five magnesium sources commonly used as dietary supplements. FASEB Journal. 2016 Apr[cited 2019 Feb 11]. 128(6). DOI: 10.1096/fasebj.30.1_supplement.128.6