As we have told you before, there is a stack of research suggesting that sodium intake increases cancer risk, whilst potassium and magnesium intake decreases it.
Now researchers from Imperial College London and Wagenigen University reporting in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, have shown that for every 100 milligrams of increased magnesium intake, colorectal cancer risk declines by 12 per cent.
Although this ’meta-analysis’ did not have a large number of research studies to work from, it was consistent.
Research in 2009 suggested that 40 per cent of Americans were deficient in
magnesium. It is probably equally true for people in the UK. Common sources for magnesium include most fruit and vegetables but particularly pulses, green leafy vegetables and whole grains. Magnesium is know to drive a ’pump’ sitting in cellular membranes that pushes good potassium into cells whilst extracting excesses of sodium.