Magnesium Articles

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This page contains medical journal articles and/or doctors' commentaries on the role of mineral deficiencies and other factors in illness, and the value of minerals, vitamins, and a proper diet for healthy living.

Magnesium Articles...

Magnesium May Prevent Sudden-Death Heart Attacks
(NOTE: Dr. Shealy emphasizes this in his book – "HOLY WATER, Sacred Oils) Magnesium is not limited to treating heart disease after a heart attack. A shortage of dietary magnesium has been repeatedly shown to be associated with an increased risk of sudden-death heart attack. Unequivocally, a shortage of magnesium from the American diet, in particular the absence or shortage of magnesium in drinking water, is directly related to sudden-death heart attack. [Epidemiology 10: 31-36, 1999; Heart 82: 455-60, 1999; American Journal Epidemiology 143: 456-62, 1996] Out of 750,000 heart attacks in the USA annually, an estimated 340,000 deaths occur within one hour of a heart attack. [Journal Nutrition Health Aging 5: 173-78, 2001]

One study showed the relative risk of sudden-death heart attack is more than 1.5 times higher among adults who consume on average 105 milligrams of magnesium a day compared to adults who consume 233 milligrams a day. [Magnesium Trace Element Research 9: 143-51, 1990]

Recently researchers reported on the effects of slowly withdrawing magnesium from the diet of postmenopausal women. Women began to exhibit abnormal heart rhythms as circulating magnesium levels declined. [American JournalClinical Nutrition 75: 550-54, 2002]

Of the minerals removed during water softening, magnesium is the only mineral found to be deficient in the heart muscle of sudden-death heart attack victims. [Science 208: 198-200, 1980] In an animal experiment, no rodents experienced a sudden-death heart attack when magnesium levels were adequate, whereas 4 of 11 rodents with low magnesium levels experienced a sudden lethal heart muscle spasm. [Journal American Collage Cardiology 27: 1771-76, 1996]

For comparison, there are about 50,000 tobacco-related deaths per year in the USA and consequently massive smoking-cessation efforts are undertaken. There are more than 200,000 to 300,000 avoidable sudden-death heart attacks that could be prevented by the provision of an inexpensive mineral, yet public health authorities do nothing to stop the problem. This amounts to over 500 needless deaths per day in the USA.

The current approach to cardiovascular disease is to reduce circulating cholesterol levels which has been shown to reduce the incidence of heart attacks but has not reduced mortality rates. Sudden fatal heart failure may be related to magnesium deficiency rather than high cholesterol levels. [Medical Hypotheses 43: 187-92, 1994]

Widespread Dietary Deficiency
A 1994 Gallup poll found that 72 percent of Americans don't consume sufficient amounts of magnesium. The widespread consumption of processed foods has led to a progressive decline in dietary magnesium. While nuts and green leafy vegetables are good sources of magnesium, the shortage of magnesium in the American diet, about 200-300 milligrams per day, is not likely to be made up through foods alone. [Magnesium Trace Elements 10: 162-28, 1997] :

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

Supplementation Advised
Only universal magnesium supplementation is likely to make up for such a widespread mineral deficiency. Foods cannot easily be fortified with magnesium because it is a bulky mineral that would alter the consistency and taste of flour and foods. Magnesium cannot be added to tap water because it would erode piping. Either magnesium pills or magnesium added to bottled water would make up for this mineral deficiency. Currently, only 5 major brands of bottled water provide a desirable measure of more than 75 milligrams of magnesium per liter and only one brand has a ratio of magnesium that exceeds that of calcium. Blood tests for magnesium are notoriously inaccurate. Only 1 percent of the total body magnesium pool exists outside of living cells. So blood serum levels are notoriously inaccurate. [Clin Chem Lab Med 37: 1011-33, 1999] Only reblood cell magnesium levels accurately determine the risk for pre-eclampsia and/or magnesium deficiency, but this test is not commonly performed in laboratories. [American Journal Hypertension 13: 765-69, 2000]

A bias against the use of intravenous magnesium sulfate by modern medicine has taken a terrible toll on humankind. Magnesium sulfate, also known as Epsom salt, is not absorbed orally and attracts water in the colon and would thus act as a laxative. So Epsom salts are not recommended orally. Magnesium pills are recommended (200-400 milligrams per day). Magnesium has been called the "The Forgotten Mineral" and the "5-Cent Miracle Tablet" by medical researchers. Numerous researchers have reported that the provision 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. [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] That's a lot of health benefits for a nickel. Sufficient provision of magnesium in the American population would likely reduce health care costs by billions of dollars.

MAGNESIUM: Miracle in Minutes

DID YOU KNOW?
Very few people are aware of the enormous role magnesium plays in our bodies. After oxygen, water, and basic food, magnesium may be the most important element needed by our bodies. So vitally important, yet hardly known. Magnesium is by far the most important mineral in the body, activating over 300 different biochemical reactions in your body all necessary for your body to function properly. Magnesium is more important than calcium, potassium or sodium and regulates all three of them. When we get too low on oxygen, water or food, the consequences are serious. Yet, we often don't realize the consequences of magnesium deficiency.

The improper use of magnesium among health professionals and the population in general, is deeply responsible for many of the failures encountered daily in treating chronic health conditions nationwide.

What are the symptoms of a magnesium deficiency? Millions suffer dailyfrom:
Insomnia
Sleep-disorders
Fatigue
Body-tension
Headaches
Heart-disorders
Low energy
High Blood Pressure
PMS
Muscle tension
Backaches
Constipation
Kidney stones
Osteoporosis
Accelerated aging
Depression
Irregular-heartbeat
Anxiety
Muscle cramps
Spasms
Irritability
and the list goes on....

90-95% of the population is deficient, including many of those who already supplement it. Why? Due to the misleading information presented in common magnesium texts. As a result, magnesium remains largely misunderstood, largely misused and the problem goes on undetected.

CALCIUM WARNING
The use of magnesium today is often incorrect, resulting in frequent failure to improve common conditions and complaints. One reason is this: Calcium needs magnesium in order to assimilate into the body. However, when too much calcium is consumed, it will pull magnesium out of the body parts in order to assimilate. This creates a magnesium deficiency and the person will get worse and feel accordingly.

"Contrary to common belief, magnesium deficiency is very common even amongst those who supplement it regularly"

Excess calcium (in the wrong form/size for proper assimilation) in the body results in calcium deposits on joints (often called arthritis). All of these have been known to disappear after taking extra magnesium especially the drink form.

BECOME AN EXPERT
After reading this data you will become your own expert on how to handle a magnesium deficiency, which strikes most of our unknowing population. This data is vital for everybody to know. It has changed the lives of many. It may change your own as well.

The fact remains that many of us suffer for months and years from chronic conditions, which no one seems to detect the source of (not even the so-called experts). With all the myriad of solutions we have sought, only a lucky handful amongst us realize that the true source of these conditions lies with a mineral deficiency. Many of these conditions listed before are caused primarily by magnesium deficiency. This information may bring new hope to those who have already grown hopeless about improving their condition.

To understand the importance of magnesium let's consider this: Magnesium is the most important mineral in the body, activating over 300 different processes in your body; Among these functions are digestion, energy production, muscle function, bone formation, creation of new cells, activation of B vitamins, relaxation of muscles, the functioning of your heart, kidneys, adrenals, brain, as well as the nervous system.

When a Heart Beats Irregularly
By William Collinge

Question:
I have a heart arrhythmia and don't want to take drugs or get a pacemaker. Are there any good alternatives?

Answer:
March 27, 2000 (Mill Valley, Calif.) -- A proper diet and stress reduction may help. But whether you can get by without medication or a pacemaker will largely depend on the severity of your condition. Don't take any chances. Arrhythmias (also known as an irregular heartbeat or heart palpitations) can threaten your life. So talk to your doctor before you change anything about your treatment.

That said, you might want to consider checking your magnesium level. (You can have this done at most medical clinics with a routine blood test.) Your heart needs magnesium and potassium to maintain the electrical impulses controlling its rhythm. Researchers suspect that magnesium shortage in the heart causes a shortage of potassium, leading in turn to the potential for an arrhythmia.

The promise of magnesium as a treatment for some arrhythmias was demonstrated in a small study reported in the June 15, 1994 issue of the American Journal of Cardiology. Researchers treated eighteen patients who suffered from a type of arrhythmia, new-onset atrial fibrillation, in which the heart's beating becomes rapid and uncontrolled.

These patients all received the common anti-arrhythmia drug digoxin intravenously. In addition, one group were given 10 grams of a magnesium sulfate solution intravenously, and the rest received an intravenous dextrose solution as a placebo.

After 24 hours, although their heart rhythms were still abnormal, the magnesium patients averaged a rate of 80 beats per minute, a more normal speed than the 105 beats per minute experienced by the placebo group. The magnesium group suffered no significant side effects.

While this research is preliminary, it can't hurt to be sure you're getting the right amount of magnesium. Be advised that supplements of this mineral will help only if you aren't already getting enough. Too much magnesium could actually make your arrhythmia worse, so work with your doctor to make sure you're getting the right amount.

William Collinge, MPH, PhD, is a teacher, researcher, and author in the field of integrative health.

For more information from WebMD:
SHN Chat Room Transcript: Arrhythmia
2000 Healtheon/WebMD. All rights reserved.

Sweet Tooth
Health Sciences Institute e-Alert
November 3, 2003

Dear Reader,
Want to suppress your cravings for sweets? According to Western Research Laboratories, magnesium can help you do just that. In fact, one theory has it that women often crave chocolate and other sweets during menstruation because their magnesium levels are significantly lowered.

But reducing your desire for sweets is apparently just one of the ways that magnesium can help address type 2 diabetes.

In the e-Alert "It's Elemental" (10/21/03), I told you how a good intake of magnesium is essential to heart health. While researching information for that e-Alert I came across a study that's not exactly recent (in fact it's four years old), but still offers an important conclusion that anyone who has type 2 diabetes or a pre-diabetic condition needs to know about.

Intake & absorption

A team led by researchers from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHU) designed a study to further explore previous findings that low serum magnesium levels are associated with a risk of type 2 diabetes.

As reported in the archives of Internal Medicine, researchers assessed six years of data on more than 12,000 subjects who participated in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study. Serum magnesium levels were recorded from blood tests, and at the outset none of the subjects had type 2 diabetes.

The ratio of white subjects to black subjects was about 3:1. Over six years, 8 percent of the white subjects and 14 percent of the black subjects developed diabetes. Among black participants, there was no significant association between low magnesium levels and diabetes risk. But among the white subjects there was a clear association. In fact, white subjects with the highest levels of magnesium had half the risk of type 2 diabetes compared to those with the lowest magnesium levels.

Although the discrepancy between whites and blacks was unexpected, researchers speculated that magnesium's protective mechanism was "overwhelmed" by the higher rates of type 2 diabetes among black subjects (a well-known phenomenon in the medical community). Blacks are also known to have more complications associated with diabetes than whites.

The JHU team also examined dietary information that showed no significant correlation between low dietary intake of magnesium and diabetes risk. And while that might seem at first like a paradox, remember that body stores of magnesium can be depleted in a number of ways. As I mentioned in last week's e-Alert, a high intake of starches, alcohol, diuretics and some prescription drugs (such as antibiotics) can increase urinary excretion of magnesium. And in addition to menstruation (as I mentioned above), stress can also contribute to magnesium depletion.

So while the foods you eat may be magnesium-rich, these depleting factors can easily starve your body of this essential mineral.

Benefits abound

So to quickly recap magnesium's potential benefits, both large and small:

* Helps prevent type 2 diabetes
* Helps prevent coronary heart disease
* Promotes bone flexibility
* Reduces the cravings for sweets that can contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes

And in the September e-Alert Dr. Spreen said that he also
uses calcium and magnesium to treat muscle cramps and bruxism (gnashing of teeth at night during sleep).

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MAGNESIUM ARTICLES