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Magnesium

Claims, Benefits: Lowers risk of heart disease and stroke, helps prevent or treat diabetes, and strengthen bones.

Make sure you get enough of this important mineral from food. Many older people don’t get enough of it. To get extra magnesium, take a basic multivitamin/mineral pill.

Nuts about Magnesium

Magnesium has received far less attention than superstar nutrients such as calcium or vitamin C. But recent research has uncovered new aspects of its crucial roles in health. This has led many people to make claims about the health benefits of magnesium—from food or supplements. There certainly are many good reasons to eat magnesium-rich foods.

Magnesium does hundreds of important jobs in the body—involving energy production, the functioning of the heart, nerves, and muscles, bone health, and the clotting of blood.

For your heart

Adequate magnesium levels may keep the heart healthy in a variety of ways. The mineral is important for the activity of the heart muscle and the nerves that initiate the heartbeat. It may help prevent arrhythmias, as well as keep blood vessels healthy and prevent spasms of coronary arteries that cause angina. And it helps regulate blood pressure.

A magnesium deficiency can thus lead to cardiovascular abnormalities that increase the risk of heart attack and stroke. Some studies have found that people with several types of heart problems or heart disease benefit from increased magnesium intake (in some studies the magnesium comes from food, in others from supplements or injections). However, other studies have found that supplemental magnesium doesn’t help people with heart disease live longer.

Many population studies have found that people with a diet rich in magnesium have a lower risk of heart disease and stroke. In addition, people who live in areas with hard water, which is high in magnesium, have a lower death rate from coronary artery disease. Magnesium-rich foods (see below) are a big part of the government-endorsed anti-hypertension diet known as DASH (see Wellness Letter, May 1999). But none of this proves that magnesium is the hero. Foods rich in magnesium are also rich in other protective nutrients (such as potassium) and fiber, so it is difficult to separate out the effect of this single mineral. And studies using magnesium supplements to lower blood pressure have had mixed results.

To prevent diabetes?

Magnesium is known to be essential in the body’s use of insulin and the burning of carbohydrates. Several important studies have found that getting insufficient amounts of magnesium increases the risk of both types of diabetes as well as insulin resistance (which often leads to diabetes). The mineral may improve insulin sensitivity. In fact, some researchers believe that the potential link between hypertension and diabetes may be a magnesium deficiency. But more research is needed into magnesium’s practical effects on the prevention and treatment of diabetes.

Strong bones

Working closely with calcium and vitamin D, magnesium helps form and maintain bones and teeth. By helping to keep bones strong, an adequate magnesium intake may help prevent osteoporosis. Thus, studies have found women with this bone-thinning disease tend to have low magnesium levels, and that people with high magnesium intakes have greater bone density. For this reason, many dietary supplements marketed for bone health contain magnesium along with calcium and vitamin D.

What to do

Few Americans are truly deficient in magnesium, but many consume less than the recommended levels (310 to 420 milligrams a day). The elderly, in particular, may have low magnesium levels, because they tend to consume less of it and because, with age, the body absorbs and retains less of it. People taking medications, such as diuretics or some antibiotics, as well as heavy drinkers, are also at risk for magnesium deficiency.

Eat foods rich in magnesium—whole grains, nuts, beans, seeds, fish, avocados, and leafy green vegetables; they’re some of the most nutritious foods around. An ounce of sunflower seeds contains 100 milligrams; almonds, 85; cashews, 75; wheat germ, 70; brazil nuts, 65; dark chocolate, 35. A half cup of cooked spinach, Swiss chard, or cooked beans contains 60 to 80 milligrams. Three ounces of many kinds of fish has 50 to 90 milligrams. About 80% of the magnesium in grains is in the bran and germ, which are removed in the milling of flour and rice, so refined grain products (such as white bread and white rice) are poor sources. If your drinking water is hard, you’ll get a fair amount of magnesium from it.

There’s no need to take individual magnesium supplements. If you have heart or kidney disease, don’t take pills without talking to your doctor. Excessive magnesium can cause diarrhea, nausea, cramps, muscle weakness, and heart abnormalities. For older people, or anyone not eating a balanced diet, a basic multivitamin/mineral is a good way to get supplemental magnesium.

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