Get Your Vitamins and Minerals Magnesium

By Marie Steinmetz, MD, DABFM

Steinmetz Integrative & Functional Medicine Center

More Complementary & Integrative Healthcare Articles

Get Your Vitamins and Minerals Magnesium

The new year is a great time to look at vitamins and minerals essential for good health. This month we are going to start with magnesium – why we need it and where we get it.

Why Is Magnesium Important?

Magnesium is the fourth most abundant mineral in the body. It is essential for energy production, normal nerve and muscle function, strong bones, a healthy immune system and a regular heart rhythm. Magnesium helps regulate blood sugar levels, promotes normal blood pressure, and is known to be involved in protein synthesis.

Data from the 19992000 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey suggest that substantial numbers of adults in the United States fail to get recommended amounts of magnesium in their diets. Deficiency is especially common in women, African Americans and the elderly. In the hospital, low magnesium occurs in 12 percent of patients and that number increases to as high as 60 to 65 percent in the intensive care unit.

What Foods Have Magnesium?

Magnesium is well absorbed from food but you need to have adequate vitamin D for absorption. Foods high in fiber are generally high in magnesium. Some examples are the following; legumes (peas and beans), whole grains, vegetables (especially broccoli, squash and green leafy vegetables) seeds and nuts (especially almonds). Refined white flours have had the magnesium processed out of them.

Signs Of Deficiency

Often a patient will have some constellation of symptoms that tell me there is a good chance they have magnesium deficiency. These could include constipation, muscle pain, asthma, palpitations (extra heart beats), sleep disorders including restless legs, hypertension or headaches.

Measuring Magnesium

Since, only 1percent of magnesium is found in blood (the rest is in bone and other tissues), blood levels do not tell us much about our magnesium status. Blood tests are only low in severe deficiency. In the outpatient setting, we often will supplement with magnesium gradually increasing till having loose stools. Some people will measure red cell magnesium or cellular magnesium in a swab from the mouth.

Magnesium and Medication

Many drugs can decrease your magnesium; some of the most common are Beta-2 agonists (often used for asthma albuterol, Serevent), digoxin (for heart failure), and some diuretics (used for high blood pressure). In 2011, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a safety warning that patients on PPI's (medication for stomach acid) may have low magnesium.

Uses In Illness

There is evidence that magnesium can be used for nerve pain associated with cancer treatment, chronic fatigue syndrome, cluster and migraine headaches, angina, fibromyalgia, osteoporosis, premenstrual syndrome and angina.

The take home message for this month is magnesium deficiency is common and more so on certain medications and high-risk groups (women, African Americans, elderly and hospitalized patients). It can be prevented by eating whole foods, including whole unprocessed grains, fruits, vegetables, and nuts and seeds. So start the new year right being mindful of what you eat and prevent magnesium deficiency.