The Magnesium Lottery

Magnesium deficiency is common and deadly. Diuretics, heart conditions, exercise, and the ECA stack influence magnesium status.

Contents

Page 1
A bunch of scary studies.
Page 2
Big brother to the rescue (sort of).
Dieters, athletes, and ECA.
Page 3
Diuretics and magnesium.
Page 4
The turf war.
Page 5
Safety & bioavailability.

Safety & Bioavailability

Although the focus of this post has been on magnesium, I want to take a moment to discuss potassium. I often read posts on the newsgroups from people who are worried about getting too much potassium -- probably because the FDA restricts the amount of potassium in supplements. The fact of the matter is that most people do not get enough potassium -- in fact, one study showed that "A 10-mmol increase in daily potassium intake (approximately one serving of fresh fruit or vegetables) was associated with a 40 percent reduction in risk [of stroke]" (23). Lets put this in perspective: one medium sized banana contains 451 mg of potassium, yet the FDA limits potassium supplements to 99 mg. How many strokes could be prevented if multivitamins contained 500 mg of potassium?

Interestingly, anyone can go to a grocery store and buy salt substitutes and "low salt" foods that can easily add several GRAMS of potassium to ones daily intake. People who take certain medications, or have kidney problems or other conditions, should not use these products without consulting their doctors. However, for most people, this is a good way to consume adequate potassium.

Serum magnesium balance is controlled by urinary magnesium excretion. In the case of deficiency, the body tries to retain magnesium; if you consume too much magnesium, the excess is excreted in the urine. If your kidneys are functioning properly, there is little danger in any rational supplementation program. Personally, I think the research strongly suggests that supplements should contain approximately a 1:1 ratio (equal amounts) of calcium and magnesium, instead of the common 2:1 ratio. A reasonable dose for most people is 500-1,000 mg of magnesium a day. People with heart conditions or hypertension (who are working with a doctor) might take up to 2,000 mg a day.

Written
Aug 2000
Last Update
Aug 2000

Most multivitamins contain magnesium oxide, which is not well absorbed. The supplement manufacturers use magnesium oxide because they can list big numbers (see the green box) without telling people to take a lot of pills.

People want big numbers and very few pills to take. Well . . . they get it, but they aren't told that they will absorb VERY little of the elemental magnesium in magnesium oxide. If you really want to improve your magnesium status, you need a form of magnesium that is highly bioavailable (e.g., aspartate, malate, citrate) For example, magnesium oxide is only one-tenth as bioavailable as magnesium aspartate (9-BK).

Magnesium oxide contains 60.3 % elemental magnesium. Thus, if a supplement maker puts 500 mg of magnesium oxide in a product, the labels will read:

Magnesium . . . 301 mg (from magnesium oxide).

Magnesium citrate contains 16.2% elemental magnesium. Thus, if a supplement maker puts 500 mg of magnesium citrate in a product, the labels will read:

Magnesium . . . 81 mg (from magnesium citrate).

Many people think that a good diet and one multivitamin pill a day is all they need. However, when you look at what is actually assimilated, you can see that it is not even possible to fit sufficient magnesium in a single pill. That should tell you something about the quality of most multivitamins. However, we cannot lay all the blame on the supplement companies: how many people would buy a multivitamin that said "take ten capsules with each meal" on the label?

Unfortunately, no matter how good ones diet is, optimum nutrition involves taking a LOT of pills. There's just no way around it. Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw were candid about this reality:

"Get your vitamins and minerals from a bottle, rather than relying on diet. It is difficult to get large amounts of vitamins in even the best of unsupplemented diets. For example, you are unlikely to be getting as much as 25 I.U. of vitamin E from your diet, even if you are devoted to unprocessed whole-grain foods" (34-BK).

It is comforting to think that mother nature wants to provide us with everything we need to live long and healthy lives. However, a huge amount of scientific evidence documents the fact that optimum disease prevention requires MANY TIMES the level of nutrients found in food -- even if it were grown under ideal conditions. The Darwinian view is probably closer to reality: we are designed to reproduce and die. Modern man lives longer because of improved sanitation and medicine, but our health gives out because the nutrient content of food is not designed for much more than the fulfillment of our purpose -- to reproduce and die. Personally, I have other plans. Taking a lot of pills costs money, but it's cheaper than a heart attack or a stroke. Taking a lot of pills is a hassle, but it's one hell of a lot safer than playing the magnesium lottery.

References

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