Magnesium is essential to your health, being involved in some 800 crucial health processes in the body reducing the risk and morbidity of cancer, heart disease and diabetes; while promoting bone health, muscle health, mental health and aging - Research review.
Magnesium is the fourth most abundant element in the human body. It is vital cofactor to over 350 enzymatic reactions (1) and in some 800 crucial health processes in the body. Magnesium is involved in healthy mitochondria, and in the production and function of proteins and DNA and RNA, muscle and cellular health and energy levels. It is involved in bone, brain, liver and heart health and in blood sugar control.
Magnesium appears to slow aging because of its effects on the brain, the heart, mitochondria, cells, muscles and bone. Magnesium deficiency can also result in lowered vitamin D levels in the body (writes Chris Woollams; Oxford University biochemist and a founder of CANCERactive)
Lowered magnesium levels are linked to a higher risk of some cancers and lowered survival in most. Unfortunately, the actions of your oncologist or doctor may well make matters worse.
Magnesium is essential to your health and to life itself.
However, several research studies from the US have shown that 40 to 79 per cent of Americans are deficient in magnesium, depending upon which one you read. The American College of Nutrition believe just over two thirds of adults do not even consume the Recommended Daily Allowance.
The RDA figures from the US NIH are 310-360 mg for women and 410-420 mg for men (2). Studies in the UK show similar shortages and at CANCERactive, we recommend eating a magnesium-rich diet and supplementing in the short term with 350 mg for women and 450 mg for men.
Magnesium Glycinate and Magnesium Threonate are the go to supplements at the moment but there's no real hard evidence that any one magnesium supplement is better than any other. Magnesium glycinate involves glycine and is supposedly more absorbable and bioavailable. Threonate may possibly help more with cognitive function, Parkinson's and brain health.
Always take magnesium supplements with food.
Magnesium Deficiency
Why would people have a deficiency of magnesium?
Poor Diet - People simply do not eat enough of the foods that provide magnesium. The answer is to consume the real Rainbow Diet - nuts and seeds (pumpkin, chIa seeds, almonds, cashews), whole grains (millet, oats, buckwheat, wheat germ and organic whole brown rice), vegetables, especially 'greens', pulses (kidney beans, black beans), fruits (such as avocado, bananas, apricots), salmon, chicken, dark chocolate (2). The central atom in chlorophyll is magnesium, rather as the central atom in haemoglobin is iron. People just do not eat the levels of ’greens’ they ate historically.
Dairy - consuming too much dairy (milk, cheese, butter etc.) lines the gut wall, preventing the absorption of magnesium. Cows’ dairy also floods the blood with calcium which can also reduce plasma magnesium levels.
Soil depletion - A report in February 2004 by David Thomas, a mineralogist and fellow of the Geological Society, using the Government’s own data, showed that between 1940 and 1990, vegetables had lost over half their content of calcium and magnesium, while mineral levels in fruits fared little better. Findings were supported in the British Food Journal by Anne-Marie Mayer, a nutrition researcher at Cornell University. She examined 20 fruits and 20 vegetables and found significant reductions in levels of calcium, magnesium, copper and sodium in vegetables and in magnesium, iron, copper and potassium in fruits. Both researchers link the decline to intensive farming. Both teams suggested that agricultural chemicals and a lack of crop rotation may be depriving plants of minerals.
Refined Foods - 70% of calories consumed by adults in the USA are processed or super-processed foods. Refined foods such as grains have lost 80-90% of their magnesium content.
Alcohol - alcohol (except moderate amounts of red wine) damages the microbiome and leads to poorer absorption of magnesium.
Stress - the same applies to stress and the microbiome and absorption of magnesium.
Poor digestion - gut problems? Sickness and diarrhoea? These will all deplete plasma levels of magnesium.
Drugs - if magnesium is so crucial to your good health and organs such as your liver, why do oncologists and doctors not tell you to supplement when they give you drugs? Chemotherapy is proven to damage levels of magnesium in your body; as are Proton Pump inhibitors (omeprazole and pantoprazole), and antibiotics and anti-virals. The list of magnesium-damaging drugs is extensive and includes some steroids, ant-acids and more (3).
Signs of Magnesium deficiency
Magnesium deficiency is linked to numb or 'tingly' hands and feet (and magnesium supplementation can even reduce the risk of neuropathy from chemotherapy), weakness, fatigue, stiffness and nausea
More severe deficiency is linked to heart disease, strokes, osteopenia, osteoporosis, fatigue and lethargy, digestive problems, poor sugar control and arthritis. And increased cancer risk.
Magnesium and cancer
A 2019 study on breast cancer risk (4) showed that women with lower levels of magnesium had more inflammation, a higher CRP level and a greater risk of breast cancer. In 2012, a research study from Imperial College London reported that increasing magnesium intake by 100 milligrams reduced risk of colorectal cancer by 12 per cent, while another (in the European EPIC study) reported that increasing magnesium intake could reduce pancreatic cancer risk by 21 per cent.
Interestingly, a meta-analysis with lung cancer showed that consuming up to 300 mg a day of magnesium lowered lung cancer risk, but higher levels offered no further benefit (5)
If you have cancer, good magnesium levels are essential.
A 2021 study on low magnesium (Hypomagnesemia) and cancer noted that low magnesium is known to contribute to the morbidity and mortality of patients with cancer (6). Again, this study notes that cancer treatments themselves lower magnesium levels in the body and that 50-60% of cancer patients suffer from hypomagnesemia. Severely low magnesium levels has been linked to inflammation and greater cancer development and metastasis and even genetic instability (7). Magnesium deficiency depends upon the drugs used: It affects 40%–90% of patients on cisplatin; but only 10% of patients treated with carboplatin or oxaliplatin.
Magnesium and the immune system
Magnesium has multiple functions within almost all aspects of the immune system (8). It is essential for optimal immune function and regulating inflammation. There is a direct correlation between magnesium deficiency and increased inflammation in the body. Magnesium is essential for T-cells to function correctly and it would therefore be important to have sufficient magnesium when having PD-1 immunotherapy. Magnesium activates the T-cells. Professor Christoph Hess, from the Department of Biomedicine at the University of Basel and the Department of Medicine at Cambridge University showed that T-cells can eliminate abnormal or infected cells efficiently only in a magnesium-rich environment.
Magnesium, sugar control, insulin resistance and diabetes
A meta-analysis showed that magnesium supplementation significantly reduced fasting plasma glucose levels; when people with higher blood levels compared to those with the lowest magnesium intake, the highest group had a 22% lower risk for type 2 diabetes. The risk was reduced by 6% for every 100 mg daily increment.
Magnesium supplementation was linked to lower plasma glucose levels, lower insulin levels, lower triglyceride levels and lower levels of both systolic and diastolic blood pressure (9). Poor sugar control and triglycerides are linked to a higher risk of cancer and higher metastasis.
Magnesium and bone health
Magnesium is crucial to bone health. According to the American Bone Health (now merged with the US Bone Health and Osteoporosis Foundation), Vitamin D 2500 IUs per day, magnesium 350 mg per day, phosphorus (two helpings of lentils per week) and 1500 mg calcium a day are required for strong bones. (There was no mention of lowered oestrogen being an issue. In fact, bones have 14 times more receptors for progesterone than they have for oestrogen.)
Magnesium deficiency contributes to osteoporosis directly by weakening bone cells and indirectly by impacting on the secretion and the activity of parathyroid hormone, and by causing low grade inflammation. Supplementation with the correct compounds has shown reversal of osteopenia and osteoposis.
Vitamin D synthesis, calcium and magnesium
The human body contains approximately 24 gm of magnesium with roughly 60% in the bones and teeth. The plasma levels are usually low below 1% of total and often around 0.3%. It appears that deficiency can take a while to correct, and blood levels are not an accurate predictor.
Magnesium is a cofactor for vitamin D biosynthesis, transport, and activation. It is essential for the activation of three enzymes which increase active vitamin D production.In vitamin-D resistant Rickett's, magnesium supplementation helped overcome the issues.
It also has a critical relationship with calcium. Too much calcium depresses magnesium levels - in a clinical trial in the Netherlands, calcium supplementation was shown to depress magnesium levels. Thus it could also deoreas vitamin D levels.
However, extremely high magnesium supplementation levels can cause increased calcium excretion.
Dietary phosphorus interacts with all three compounds (10).
Magnesium and the Liver
Low magnesium levels in the plasma and liver tissue can lead to the progression of various liver diseases. Low magnesium can also cause a disruption in mitochondrial function, inflammatory responses, oxidative stress, or metabolic disorders.
Magnesium supplementation can improve liver function in certain liver diseases (11).
Magnesium is crucial to a healthy liver, the largest organ in your body and your organ of detoxification.
Magnesium, your mitochondria, DNA and RNA
A deficiency in magnesium can affect a pump in you cell membrane that pushes potassium into your cells and send sodium out. Potassium is essential for healthy mitochondria and efficient energy production. An inefficient pump can also cause the cell to become more acidic and pull in less oxygen. Deficiencies in magnesium lead to increased oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction and increased cellular aging in human cells.
Magnesium is the second largest cation within our cells. There it has many functions. the most prominent being tat it binds to ATP, and this complex then binds to hundreds of enzymes in even more reactions. Decreases in magnesium levels lowers ATP production and damages cellular functions. Experts believe magnesium is the essential ingredient in healthy mitochondrial function.
Magnesium works in muscles to help them relax (calcium helps them contract).
Magnesium is also important in both DNA polymerases and RNA polymerases. These can be involved in copying and repair. Thus magnesium is essential to both DNA replication and repair, and cellular proliferation. DNA and RNA synthesis both require the presence of magnesium (13).
Magnesium and the Heart
Studies have shown that a higher magnesium intake may reduce the risk of heart disease and high blood pressure. Supplementation with 500mg to 1000 mg reduced blood pressure by 5.6 mm systolic and 2.6 mm diastolic. However different research studies say different things and this is thought to be because magnesium does not act alone. For example, the combination of magnesium and potassium supplementation (they are often found in the same foods) coupled with reduced sodium intake is more effective in reducing BP than single mineral intake and is often as effective as one antihypertensive drug in treating hypertension (14). Furthermore, magnesium supplementation depresses calcium levels naturally, increasing nitric oxide, improving endothelial dysfunction, and inducing direct and indirect vasodilation.
Epidemiological studies, randomized controlled trials and meta-analyses have all indicated inverse associations between Mg intake and cardiovascular diseases. The lower your magnesium levels, the greater the cardiovascular risk (15).
A 1992 study at the Royal Leicester Infirmary showed a 24 per cent higher survival rate in a group of heart attack victims who were given magnesium by injection.
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References
1. Magnesium and Human Health: Perspectives and Research Directions; Abdullah M. Al Alawi et al; Int J Endocrinol. 2018; 2018: 9041694.
2. The National Institutes for Health, magnesium fact sheet for Healthprofessionals.
3. 14 Drugs That Deplete Magnesium by Suzy Cohen; February 3, 2015 | Jigsaw Health
4. Direct and indirect associations between dietary magnesium intake and breast cancer risk; Wu-Qing Huang, et al; Nature, Scientific Reports volume 9, Article number: 5764 (2019)
5. Magnesium intake and lung cancer risk: A systematic review and meta-analysis; Nasim Dana et al; Int J Vitam Nutr Res. 2021 Sep;91(5-6):539-546.
6. Hypomagnesemia in the Cancer Patient; Biruh T. Workeneh et al, Kidney360. 2021 Jan 28; 2(1): 154–166.
7. Cancer-related inflammation, the seventh hallmark of cancer: Links to genetic instability. Colotta F, Allavena P, Sica A, Garlanda C, Mantovani A: Carcinogenesis 30: 1073–1081, 2009. 10.1093/carcin/bgp127
8. A narrative review on the role of magnesium in immune regulation, inflammation, infectious diseases, and cancer; Sumel Ashique et al; J Health Popul Nutr. 2023 Jul 27;42(1):74.
9. Association of magnesium consumption with type 2 diabetes and glucose metabolism: A systematic review and pooled study with trial sequential analysis'; Binghao Zhao et al; Diabetes Metab Res Rev. 2020 Mar;36(3):
10. Essential Nutrient Interactions: Does Low or Suboptimal Magnesium Status Interact with Vitamin D and/or Calcium Status?; Andrea Rosanoff, Qi Dai,and Sue A Shapses; Adv Nutr. 2016 Jan; 7(1): 25–43.
11. Magnesium and liver disease; Meixi Liu, Huayu Yang, and Yilei Mao; Ann Transl Med. 2019 Oct; 7(20): 578.
12. Mineral requirements for mitochondrial function; David W. Killilea, Alison N. Killilea; Free Radical Biology and Medicine, Volume 182. March 2022, Pages 182-191
13. Magnesium: Biochemistry, Nutrition, Detection, and Social Impact of Diseases Linked to Its Deficiency; Diana Fiorentini et al; Nutrients. 2021 Apr; 13(4): 1136.
14. The Role of Magnesium in Hypertension and Cardiovascular Disease; Mark Houston; J Clin Hypertens (Greenwich). 2011 Nov; 13(11): 843–847.
15. Dietary Magnesium and Cardiovascular Disease: A Review with Emphasis in Epidemiological Studies; Nuria Rosique-Esteban, et al; Nutrients. 2018 Feb; 10(2): 168.
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