Amazing Health Benefits of Magnesium - Food and Health

Health Benefits of Magnesium

The health benefits of magnesium a little bit of background about magnesium is that it's an abundant and essential mineral presence in every cell of our body it has many important functions including helping heart muscles skeletal muscle and kidney function it is found in bones and teeth it is a key component of many enzymes including protein synthesis muscle and nerve function blood glucose and blood pressure regulation it also helps regulate production of cellular energy known as ATP as well as DNA and RNA synthesis and finally helps regulate other minerals including calcium copper and zinc potassium and vitamin D it has several known health benefits and uses IV or intravenous magnesium is used to treat asthma exacerbations although oral magnesium is not known to help treat or prevent them or control symptoms however in individuals with low magnesium supplementation with oral magnesium was found to help reduce the risk of developing an asthma exacerbation low magnesium levels are associated with low serotonin and antidepressant medications have been shown to improve magnesium levels one small study suggested a magnesium may be an effective treatment for depression when compared to their class of antidepressants called tricyclic antidepressants more research is needed to better evaluate the efficacy of this medication compared to other more commonly used antidepressants folks with diabetes are often found to have low magnesium clinical studies have suggested that folks with diabetes who supplementing easia may have better blood sugar control and insulin sensitivity folks who do not have diabetes may also reduce the risk by supplementing magnesium magnesium when combined without in malic acid or calcium it may improve pain and tenderness and individuals with fibromyalgia this was shown when supplemented daily over the course of several months and of course.

More studies are needed to get a more definitive answer and according to one study supplementation magnesium may help prevent temporary or permanent hearing loss associated with noise exposure magnesium is known to be very important to heart health it's one of the lab tests we check when patients come to the emergency department various cities looking at different aspects of our health have found that magnesium supplementation may be helpful it may lower your risk of coronary heart disease sudden cardiac death and improve symptoms of congestive heart failure sometimes magnesium is given through the IV for a rare unusual type of heart arrhythmia called torsades de pointes of these that suggests magnesium sublimation can actually increase your risk of heart disease after a heart attack so you are strongly encouraged to talk to your primary care doctor or your cardiologist about supplementation a large study of 8500 women supplementing magnesium found that it may mildly lower blood pressure other studies have found similar results while other studies have found no differences so really we need to get more research to get a definitive answer here some studies have suggested that magnesium supplementation may help prevent migraines or shorten the duration of migraines people who get them tend to have lower levels of magnesium than those without migraine headaches as an aside I do find that magnesium supplementation can help acute migraines in the emergency department and we often use it as part of a migraine cocktail low magnesium levels are associated with increased risk of osteoporosis it is unknown whether supplementation definitively helps prevent

The development of the disease preeclampsia is a condition during pregnancy associate with high blood pressure and several other symptoms which can progress to seizures the treatment of this condition is high-dose magnesium supplementation may help prevent preeclampsia but you should certainly talk to your OBGYN if you have any concerns a small study found that magnesium supplementation improved sleep disturbances and insomnia associated with restless leg syndrome some preliminary studies have suggested that magnesium supplementation may lower the risk of developing colorectal tumors this is early data and more research is needed as a cancer prevention strategy and finally low magnesium levels are associated with metabolic syndrome which includes several related metabolic disorders including high cholesterol high blood pressure insulin resistance or pre-diabetes and obesity you may have low magnesium but a true magnesium deficiency is very rare in Western society common causes of low magnesium include gastrointestinal disorders where you may not absorb it well and kidney disorders where you don't regulate metabolism and you may be more likely to hear doubt certain drugs such as diuretics can also increase excretion signs and symptoms of low magnesium include loss of appetite nausea vomiting fatigue and weakness magnesium toxicity is rare but possible with excessive magnesium supplementation or severe illness symptoms include low blood pressure nausea vomiting facial flushing urinary retention alias depression and lethargy generally the best dietary source includes soy based products legumes whole grains green leafy vegetables and various nuts the top 10 sources include with the number of milligrams and percent of daily value in the parentheses almonds spinach cashews peanuts cereal soy milk black beans edamame peanut butter and bread it is not recommended that you supplement without first talking to your physician below is the official recommended daily allowance based on various ages however the recommended allowance is roughly four hundred to four hundred twenty milligrams per day in men and 310 to 320 milligrams per day and women and this all vary slightly depending on age gender and pregnancy status in summary we can make a few definitive statements magnesium is an essential mineral that plays a role and virtually every cellular function it has clear associations with diabetes high blood pressure heart disease and migraines it may also help with depression restless leg syndrome noise related hearing loss fibromyalgia osteoporosis and colorectal cancer deficiency and toxicity are exceedingly rare the best dietary sources are legumes nuts leafy greens and whole grains and the recommended daily allowance is roughly 300 milligrams per day in women and 400 milligrams per day in men...