by Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D.
Every day I hear another magnesium success story.
Every day I also hear distressing stories about magnesium deficiency.
Every day I hear another magnesium success
story. My editor for the United Kingdom
edition of The Miracle of Magnesium told
me that as soon as she read my manuscript
she gave magnesium to a friend who had
severe muscle cramps. Her friend had been
to several doctors and nobody could diagnosis
her condition or offer her relief.
Magnesium helped her immediately. My
book agent’s brother can’t believe how much
his energy has improved on magnesium and
his wife’s menopausal symptoms are lifting
since she began taking supplements.
Every day I also hear distressing stories
about magnesium deficiency. Just today,
walking along the beach near my home, I
met an 80-year old gentleman who asked
me to sit and talk. Julius said he used to walk
up and down the beach like me but now his
arthritis prevented him from doing so. But
he said he only began having symptoms of
arthritis after taking medication for slightly
elevated cholesterol. Instead of a diet and
magnesium, his doctor immediately put
him on a cholesterol-lowering drug. When
he began developing pain, which was obviously
from the drug, instead of stopping the
drug and giving magnesium to lower cholesterol,
to help detoxify the drug and also to
lessen muscle cramps, his doctor gave him a
strong pain medication. Then his ankles
began to swell and Julius said his doctor
gave him a diuretic!
And so the story goes, one drug causing
symptoms that demand another drug.
That’s what doctors learn about in medical
school: drugs. They don’t learn about diet
and nutrients, so it seems that all they know
how to do is prescribe drugs. Julius said he
was going to tell his doctor to change his cholesterol medication (which, by the way,
in several years had only dropped his cholesterol
of 205 to 185). I told him to go on a
cholesterol-lowering diet and take magnesium.
Even though Julius said he was upset
about having to take the drugs and he
wished he had been given a diet in the first
place, Julius said he would have to ask his
doctor before taking the magnesium. My
heart sank because his doctor probably
didn’t learn about magnesium supplementation
in medical school and would probably
say it was unnecessary.
Doctors know potassium deficiency
is a danger for people
on diuretics but they don’t
acknowledge that magnesium
is also flushed out in equal
measure. Magnesium deficiency goes undiagnosed
and unrecognized because until
recently there was no accurate blood test for
magnesium.* Patients are warned to take
potassium supplements or eat oranges and
bananas but no advice is given about magnesium.
Magnesium is not as readily available
as potassium; it is deficient in the soil
and most fertilizers don’t contain magnesium,
so most foods are lacking. Also
cooking and processing foods depletes magnesium.
It’s found in whole grains, greens,
nuts and seeds but most people don’t eat
much, if any, of those foods.
Yet for some reason doctors think that
we get all our nutrients in our very S.A.D.
Standard American Diet and they don’t recognize
the need for nutrient supplementation.
It all stems back to a medical education
that is funded by drug companies that have
no vested interest in promoting nutrients.
Vitamins and minerals can’t be patented and are relatively inexpensive. My research for
The Miracle of Magnesium reminded me
that all the metabolic processes in the body,
ALL OF THEM, depend on vitamins and
minerals, which act as necessary cofactors.
Magnesium itself is a cofactor and responsible
for the function of 325 enzymes. It is an
absolute requirement for calcium to be
incorporated into bone; it keeps toxic chemicals
out of the brain; dances with calcium
to create nerve impulses and muscle
impulses; keeps muscles relaxed, including
the heart and blood vessels, and triggers
dozens of health conditions if it is deficient.
The Recommended Daily Allowance
(RDA) for magnesium is between 350 and
400 milligrams per day, which is just enough
to ward off outright deficiency. But for
optimal health and for the 22 conditions
that are triggered by magnesium deficiency,
perhaps twice as much magnesium is
needed. One of the highest sources of magnesium
is kelp, but one tsp. only has about
30 milligrams. One tablespoon of almonds
has 33 milligrams. Because we probably
don’t get nearly enough magnesium from
out diet we have to investigate magnesium
supplements.
Rotate the types of magnesium that I
use and carefully read labels. For
example a label may say Magnesium
Oxide or Magnesium Lactate or
Magnesium Glycinate, 500 milligrams,
but when you look at the fine print on the
back of the bottle you will notice the actual
amount of magnesium in Magnesium
Oxide is 300 mg, the actual amount of magnesium
in Magnesium Lactate is 60 mg and
the actual amount of magnesium in
Magnesium Glycinate is 50 mg. Since the body only absorbs about half the magnesium
that makes its way into the intestines, that
means, in order to get 300 mg of magnesium
from Magnesium Oxide you have to take two
500 mg capsules.
Chelated magnesium, bound to organic
amino acids, is said to be better absorbed.
Complementary medicine practitioners
rely on chelated magnesium, such as magnesium
glycinate, to treat serious cases of
magnesium deficiency. The best way to tell
if you are getting too much magnesium is
the “bowel test.” You know when you have
too much magnesium when your stools
become loose. This, in fact, may be a
blessing for people with constipation and
is one of the many ways magnesium deficiency
manifests. The only contraindications
to magnesium are caused in people
with outright kidney failure, bowel
obstruction, Myasthenia gravis, or heart
block. Also, if you have a heart condition,
you may find that taking magnesium can
lessen the need for heart medication and
you should be under doctor’s supervision
to guide this process.
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Magnesium deficiency triggers or
causes the following conditions:
- Anxiety and panic attacks — Magnesium (Mg) normally keeps adrenal stress hormones under control.
- Asthma — Both histamine production and bronchial spasms increase with Mg deficiency.
- Blood clots — Mg has an important role to play in preventing blood clots and keeping the blood thin—much like aspirin but without the side effects.
- Bowel disease — Mg deficiency slows down the bowel, causing constipation, which could lead to toxicity and malabsorption of nutrients, as well as colitis.
- Cystitis — Bladder spasms are worsened by Mg deficiency.
- Depression — Serotonin, which elevates moods, is dependent on Mg. A Mg-deficient brain is also more susceptible to allergens, foreign substances that can cause symptoms similar to mental illness.
- Detoxification — Mg is crucial for the removal of toxic substances and heavy metals such as aluminum and lead.
- Diabetes — Mg enhances insulin secretion, facilitating sugar metabolism. Without Mg insulin is not able to transfer glucose into cells. Glucose and insulin build up in the blood, causing various types of tissue damage.
- Fatigue — Mg - deficient patients commonly experience fatigue because dozens of enzyme systems are under-functioning. An early symptom of Mg deficiency is frequent fatigue.
- Heart disease — Mg deficiency is common in people with heart disease. Mg is administered in hospitals for acute myocardial infarction and cardiac arrhythmia. Like any other muscle, the heart muscle requires Mg. Mg is also used to treat angina, or chest pain.
- Hypertension — With insufficient Mg, spasm of blood vessels and high cholesterol occur, both of which lead to blood pressure problems.
- Hypoglycemia — Mg keeps insulin under control; without Mg episodes of low blood sugar can result.
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- Insomnia — Sleep-regulating melatonin production is disturbed without sufficient Mg.
- Kidney disease — Mg deficiency contributes to atherosclerotic kidney failure. Mg deficiency creates abnormal lipid levels and worsening blood sugar control in kidney transplant patients.
- Liver disease leading to liver failure — Mg deficiency commonly occurs during liver transplantation.
- Migraine — Serotonin balance is Mg dependent. Deficiency of serotonin can result in migraine headaches and depression.
- Musculoskeletal conditions — Fibrositis, fibromyalgia, muscle spasms, eye twitches, cramps and chronic neck and back pain may be caused by Mg deficiency and can be relieved with Mg supplements.
- Nerve problems — Mg alleviates peripheral nerve disturbances throughout the whole body, such as migraines, muscle contractions, gastrointestinal spasms and calf, foot and toe cramps. It is also used in treating central nervous symptoms of vertigo and confusion.
- Obstetrics and Gynecology — Mg prevents Premenstrual Syndrome; prevents dysmenorrhea (cramping pain during menses); is important in the treatment of infertility and alleviates premature contractions, preeclampsia and eclampsia in pregnancy. Intravenous Mg is given in obstetrical wards for pregnancy-induced hypertension and to lessen the risk of cerebral palsy and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Mg should be a required supplement for pregnant mothers.
- Osteoporosis — Use of calcium with Vitamin D to enhance calcium absorption without a balancing amount of Mg causes further Mg deficiency, which triggers a cascade of events leading to bone loss.
- Raynaud’s syndrome — Mg helps relax the spastic blood vessels that cause pain and numbness of the fingers.
- Tooth decay — Mg deficiency causes an unhealthy balance of phosphorus and calcium in saliva, which damages teeth.
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Carolyn Dean is a medical doctor, a naturopathic doctor, acupuncturist, homeopath, herbalist, clinical nutritionist, writer, researcher, inventor, lecturer, educator and media spokesperson. She appears regularly on ABC’s “The View”. Her most recent book is The Miracle of Magnesium
by Random House/Ballantine, released January 2, 2003. Currently she runs Body Rejuvenation Cleanse programs in Manhattan as a powerful antidote to our increasingly toxic world. See www.carolyndean.com and www.brcleanse.com
Material excerpted from Carolyn Dean. The Miracle of Magnesium (Ballantine Books: New York, NY), 2003. pp. 5–7.
* The Blood Ionized Magnesium Test is available through Drs. Bella and Burton Altura, State University of New York, Health Science Center at Brooklyn, New York, NY 11203, USA.
718-270-2194 or 718-270-2205.
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