In this solo episode, I’m taking an in-depth look at magnesium – a critical yet frequently underestimated mineral in our health. Magnesium stands tall among vital nutrients for its significant role in multiple aspects of human physiology. During this podcast, we’ll delve into the widespread negative health effects caused by a lack of magnesium and discuss why increasing your magnesium intake might be key to achieving optimal health.
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CHAPTERS:
(01:05) Why the effects of magnesium are far-reaching
(03:25) Why athletes need at least 10-20% more magnesium than the RDA
(07:30) Why magnesium deficiency & insufficiency are common
(08:56) How to determine if you’re getting enough magnesium
(09:02) The problem with magnesium blood tests
(11:52) Magnesium supplements
(14:28) The effectiveness of epsom salt baths (see also 01:09:19)
(14:55) Is magnesium threonate better at crossing the blood-brain barrier?
(21:46) Why magnesium threonate shouldn’t count toward your RDA goal
(22:42) What magnesium supplement do I take?
(23:09) The effect of stress on magnesium balance
(26:53) Why the energy demands of workouts affect magnesium balance
(29:34) Does magnesium supplementation improve sleep?
(30:42) Why trials in the field of nutrition are often misleading
(34:04) Does higher magnesium intake improve cognition?
(35:45) Does magnesium have a role in preventing Alzheimer’s disease?
(38:47) The effect of creatine on the brain (and its relationship to magnesium)
(39:20) Why magnesium may prevent excitotoxicity in the brain
(40:10) Magnesium’s potential for managing migraines
(43:19) The role of magnesium in aging
(44:17) Why magnesium deficiency impairs DNA repair
(45:51) Magnesium’s role in cancer prevention
(47:52) Why magnesium is intertwined in genomic stability
(50:42) Why we shouldn’t disregard observational data in nutrition
(51:30) How magnesium intake affects mortality risk and cancer
(54:27) Magnesium in osteoporosis prevention
(55:59) Why magnesium intake in early life affects bone accretion
(57:44) The effect of magnesium on vitamin D metabolism
(01:03:14) Does magnesium treat high blood pressure?
(01:06:50) Does magnesium help manage muscle cramps?
(01:09:19) Is transdermal absorption of magnesium effective?
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#magnesium
If a person’s magnesium intake is adequate this can enhance the body’s ability to maintain healthy levels of vitamin D on the other hand if magnesium intake is low like 45% or half the population roughly of the US that may hinder the body’s ability to utilize vitamin D effectively even if vitamin D
Intake is sufficient I would say a really important takeaway from this section is is magnesium threonate is not the best option for meeting daily magnesium needs it shouldn’t be included as contributing to your recommended daily allowance of magnesium and that is because magnesium 3na contains a very low amount of
Elemental magnesium so if you are considering supplementing with magnesium 3 andate for its potential brain health benefits which I would say have not been established do not count that magnesium dose towards your RDA goal welcome to the found my fitness podcast I’m your host Rhonda Patrick there is a lever you
Can pull every day to significantly enhance your body’s ability to repair damage to your DNA potentially reducing cancer risk in a dose dependent manner this is the power of magnesium a mineral that plays a foundational role in our health yet is often overlooked the stakes of magnesium deficiency are high
Affecting crucial biological process processes like DNA repair replication and transcription when these processes are compromised due to insufficient magnesium it can lead to development of potentially cancer-causing mutations more alarmingly recent studies indicate a potential link between insufficient magnesium levels and accelerated brain volume loss which could hasten the onset
Of dementia as we age I’m here to unpack the science behind magnesium often termed as the most prevalent micronutrient deficiency and its profound implications for nearly 45% of the US population who is falling short nearly half of the population in the United States doesn’t get enough magnesium primarily because our diets
Lack sufficient dark leafy greens where magnesium is abundantly found hidden within the chlorophyll that gives plants their vibrant green color that means that roughly half of you watching or listening to this episode right now have inadequate magnesium intake in the landscape of essential nutrients magnesium is a giant it’s part of a
Triad of micronutrients that when deficient have far-reaching impacts on our health let’s dive deep into the reasons that make magnesium a key player in maintaining our well-being and how boosting your intake could be a critical step towards Optimal Health magnesium is a co-actor for about 300 different
Enzymes in our bodies which are special proteins that perform functions magnesium is required for these enzymes to work properly so to put that into perspective our bodies have around 75,000 types of enzymes so the enzymes that need magnes magnesium make up about 0.4% of all the enzymes in our body this
Shows that while magnesium’s role is specific it’s crucial for a wide range of bodily functions which are we are going to discuss today so adult women generally need about 310 to 320 milligrams a day which increases to about 360 milligrams a day during pregnancy adult men require about 400 to
420 milligrams a day and athletes and those that are have high physical activity including people that are also regular sauna users may need additionally about 10 to 20% above the recommended dietary allowance due to their greater magnesium loss through urine and sweat there’s data from nutritional surveys like en haanes
Revealing that the average intake of magnesium in the US Falls below the RDA so the typical intake for women is around 230 milligrams per day while men consume about 320 milligram per day so this deficit is more pronounced in female athletes who are at a higher risk of magnesium deficiency such deficiency
Can potentially lead to serious health issues including arhythmia like atrial fibrillation as well as muscle spasms and other complications what makes the situation worse is that the RDA value is based on the absolute minimum amount necessary in order to prevent severe diseases associated with magnesium deficiency so even if you’re meeting
That 300 to 400 milligrams per day threshold you are still only running at the bare minimum necessary to function magnesium plays a really important role in maintaining healthy electrolyte balance and preventing dehydration it helps regulate the body’s balance of electrolytes which are pretty important for conducting nerve impulses Contracting muscles also maintaining a
Healthy heart rhythm so when the body is deficient in magnesium it can disrupt this balance and that can potentially lead to dehydration and other related complications so this aspect of magnesium’s role is particularly important for athletes and those again with high physical activity as they’re more susceptible to these electrolyte
Imbalances due to increased sweat and fluid loss good dietary sources of magnesium include dark leafy greens legumes nuts seeds whole grains brown rice and fish like maceral the net absorption of magnesium in the diet is only about 50% it’s even lower with high fiber diets but most of the studies that
Have found this are studies where they feed people super high amounts of fiber which most people aren’t getting even when they have a high plant Rich diet so a big reason for poor magnesium bioavailability in plant sources it be is because magnesium is bound to phate
In plants and there are ways to increase bioavalability of magnesium from plants and that is by activating phases these are enzymes that break down phate so for example if you heat up oats or you cook your leafy greens or legumes or you germinate or you sprout your grain
Grains and seeds all of these things decrease phate levels because they activate those enzymes that are called phases so as it turns out both wheat and yeast also have strong phyas activity during the baking process so there are ways that again you know we just heat itself but also you germination and
Sprouting and heating up oats cooking leafy greens these are all ways that we increase magnesium bioavailability from plant sources because of the activation of the phases the other really important factor that can limit the bioavailability of magnesium is excessive supplemental Zinc at doses higher than 124 milligrams a day which
Is quite High um that’s well above the RDA and people should not be taking that much zinc on a daily basis because it can also inhibit the absorption of other Trace elements for example copper there is an exception so the exception of people doing a little bit of a mega sort
Of a higher dose of zinc would be during illness or the onset of illness where higher zinc dose supplementation like in the order of for example 80 milligrams a day has been shown to lessen respiratory illness symptoms and decrease duration of illness as well so uh I would say
That you know taking high high doses of zinc on a very very shortterm basis where it’s just a a couple of days is different than you know someone who’s daily supplementing with a high dose of zinc because it it can inhibit magnesium absorption diet composition is the main reason magnesium insufficiency and
Deficiency are so common the typical standard American diet is high in calories it’s low in micronutrients including magnesium so eating a calorically dense meal full of processed foods Meats dairy products these are poor sources of magnesium in contrast green vegetables like dark leafy greens are rich in magnesium because of their
Chlorophyll content magnesium is at the center of a chlorophyll molecule another reason is bioavailability which we just discussed um magnesium is only so bioavailable from certain foods like the plant sources and so ways of increasing their bioavailability like heating up greens or sprouting in germination like we we discussed also improves magnesium
Bioavailability and the last reason that um magnesium insufficiency and deficiency are common is because there’s certain health conditions and lifestyle choices that can enle that can lead to increased magnesium excretion so for example diabetes leads to this as well as alcohol consumption so alcohol can increase the rate at which the body
Excretes magnesium uh despite normal absorption rates in the gut because it acts like a diuretic so it leads to increase urine production and then losses of magnesium through urine so this diuretic effect contributes to a higher rate of magnesium being filtered out by the kidneys and expelled in urine
Rather than being absorbed and used in the body I think the logical question is how do you know if you’re getting enough magnesium well naturally one would think a blood test might help shed some light but unfortunately most of the time it does not and the reason for this is
Because magnesium levels are assessed in plasma and I’m going to take a moment to explain this because I think it’s important so the average person has slightly less than 1 ounce of magnesium in their body roughly 60% of all the Magnesium is found in the skeleton so
Most of our magnesium is found in our bones about 27% is found in the muscle and 6 to 7% is found in other cells less than 1% is f found outside of our cells about onethird of the magnesium in the bones is exchangeable in other words it
Serves the bones are serving as a reservoir so that the body can draw from it in times of need so when magnesium levels are low the body will draw from the bones to get that magnesium because it’s so so important so most of the time magnesium will be pulled from the bones
Into plasma to maintain optimal levels the body regulates plas plasma magnesium concentrations within a very narrow range so typically around 0.7 to 1 Millar per liter if plasma magnesium levels drop below this range it could lead to hypom magnesia which is you know can cause all sorts of problems muscle
Weakness Tremors seizures abnormal heart rhythms and other potentially serious complications so our body will just continually pull from our bones to prevent magnesium levels from going below 0.7 m per liter for this reason plasma magnesium is not a good indicator of magnesium status for most healthy adults similarly a red blood cell
Magnesium test which measures magnesium inside red blood cells while it might provide a better indication of magnesium status than plasma levels it still may not fully represent total body magnesium content so both tests are more likely to identify I would say more severe magnesium deficiency rather than a mild
Or moderate deficiency or something that we would call magnesium insufficiency so really to ensure adequate magnesium intake the most practical approach is to track and calculate the Magnesium content in your diet this involves being a little more mindful of the Magnesium rich foods you consume such as green uh
Vegetables like leafy greens nuts seeds grains fish the usda’s food data central is a good resource for estimating the micronutrient and macronutrient content in various Foods so that would include magnesium it’s still I I personally think it’s still a good idea to get a plasma or a red blood cell magnesium
Test just to rule out severe deficiency but not to use it as a guide of whether or not you have Optimum levels of magnesium or you have sufficient magnesium levels it’s really just to rule out severe deficiency so naturally the next question on people’s minds are what about magnesium supplements where
Do they fit in what if I don’t don’t get enough magnesium from dietary sources can I supplement so let’s start with supplemental magnesium doses so how much is too much the US Institute of medicines food and nutrition board has set the upper safe limit for daily supplemental magnesium intake at 350
Milligrams per day so this is the level considered you know that it’s unlikely to cause diarrhea or gastrointestinal issues for most people diarrhea is the first sign of excessive magnesium supplementation it’s often used therapeutically as a laxative but this is a bit of a conservative dose it does not include magnesium from dietary
Sources so in other words there’s no evidence that going above the RDA for magnesium is harmful in fact some evidence suggest that it may even be beneficial particularly if the Magnesium is mostly coming from dietary sources for optimal bioavailability of magnesium supplements it’s also generally more effective to take the total daily dose
In divided smaller am amounts rather than a single large dose so this approach allows for more efficient absorption by the body it can also minimize the potential GI discomfort so smaller spaced out doses they’re processed better by the digestive system and this also ensures maximum absorption utilization of the Magnesium the
Bioavailability of different magnesium supplements does vary and it’s not fully standardized in studies clinical research on organic magnesium salts so these include magnesium citrate magnesium glycinate magnesium tarate these indicate um magnesium malate is also in there these organic salt forms of magnesium are generally more bioavailable and effectively raise
Plasma magnesium levels compared to inorganic forms of magnesium like magnesium oxide magnesium chloride magnesium sulfate so organic magnesium salts are better absorbed in the digestive tract it can lead to more significant increase in magnesium levels in the blood and I think this for this reason it makes them more effective
Choices for supplementing magnesium and also of course addressing deficiencies but just to eliminate any confusion um the term organic in this context refers to the presence of carbon being in the acid molecule so we’re not talking about agricultural standard of being organically grown here it’s a it’s a
Different term me magnesium sulfate can be taken orally but and this is an inorganic form but it’s often more commonly used as Epsom salt for a transdermal through the skin applications when it’s taken orally it can act as a laxative and it’s used therapeutically as a laxative the effectiveness of epson salt particularly
In baths is unclear we’ll talk about this a little bit later because the transdermal absorption of magnesium through epson salt baths really hasn’t been conclusively proven but let’s talk about another form of magnesium called magnesium threonate magnesium threonate is a form of magnesium that has garnered a lot of attention because of its
Potential impact on brain function so generally only a small portion of the Magnesium ingested in a supplement form reaches the brain and this is due to the intricate active transport systems that control the progression of magnesium from the digestive tract into the bloodstream and then subsequently from the bloodstream um across the blood
Brain barrier the body establishes and manages a very tight concentration grade it creates a higher magnesium level in the blood compared to the cerebral spinal fluid and that allows a very controlled quantity of magnesium that can actually get transported into the brain this precise regulation is really important to maintaining this
Equilibrium of magnesium necessary for optimal brain function so in humans it’s been found that even an increase up to 300% in blood magnesium results in less than 19% change in the cerebral spinal fluid magnesium content and I think this really highlights the significant role that physiological processes in maintaining magnesium balance play which
Then influence the brain health and function so some animal evidence suggest that magnesium threonate can easily get across the bloodb brain barrier and at a human equivalent dose of 8.1 millgram per kilogram body weight so that would be around 662 mg for a 180 lb person can improve cogn nition and decreased amalo
Beta plaques now this is in the brains of mice and it’s thought that the Magnesium 3na is uniquely effective in crossing the bloodb brain barrier due to its specific molecular structure so this form of magnesium is chelated to thonic acid and that is a metabolite of vitamin
C so this chelation enhances its ability to pass through the bloodb brain barrier or so it’s thought um the precise mechanism by which magnesium 3 and8 bypasses this L regulated concentration gradient between the blood and the brain is not fully understood it is believed though that its molecular structure does
Somehow facilitate easier entry into the brain thereby increasing concentration of magnesium in the brain more effectively than other forms of magnesium that is solely based on a very small and limited number of animal studies when we turn to human studies only a couple have explored the effects
Of magnesium 3 and8 so these studies are I want to point out industry funded which does invite us to consider a potential conflict of interest so the initial study that I I think garnered a lot of attention was published in 2016 it was a small scale study that
Only had 44 participants total um those in the treatment group took daily doses of about 1,500 to 2,000 mg of magnesium 38 so this is mar marketed as magine and they took it for over 12 weeks based so this was based on their body weight that’s why there’s a range in dose the
Findings of this study I personally think are underwhelming so the treatment group only achieved a marginal increase in plasma magnesium levels with no elevation noted in red blood cell magnesium levels compared to the placebo group additionally there was a significant increase in urinary magnesium which suggests that most of
The supplemented Magnesium 3 and8 was actually being excreted through urine there were some cognitive tests that were also done there was no significant difference observed when each of these four different measured cognitive tests were looked at in isolation compared to the placebo group but if the data was
All pulled together so all four cognitive tests were then pulled together then there was a a statistically significant difference in cognitive function compared to the placebo group obviously this suggests degree of statistical uncertainty in the study’s conclusions whether or not it was just due to a small sample size I
Said there’s only 44 people in this study perhaps if there were 444 people there would have been more of a stronger signal and uh the data wouldn’t have had to have been pulled together or maybe there really isn’t much of an effect there’s no telling the second study was
Also industry funded which I think is important to keep in mind this study was published in 2022 and it involved 100 participants and the treatment group was given 400 milligrams of magnesium 3na along with vitamins c d B6 and phosphole Serene in contrast the placebo group received only 2 gram of a
Starch capsule so despite the absence of any elevation of serum or brain magnesium levels the treatment group did have improved cognitive test performance compared to the bisso group I would say this study raises pretty significant questions around causations because the treatment group was not just given magnesium 3 and8 they were given a
Variety of vitamins they were given vitamin C the B vitamins vitamin D B6 but they were also given phosl Serene so I I think to be able to establish a solid conclusion that magnesium threonate is responsible for improving cognitive function the placebo group should have gotten all those other
Vitamins and the phosphaline but not the Magnesium 3 and8 uh however that was not the way the study was done so in my opinion I think it’s an interesting study but really no conclusions can be stated directly about magnesium 3 and8 itself so I think a concluding statement with respect to
Supplemental magnesium um there’s a few concluding statements one to enhance bioavailability it’s advisable to take smaller frequent doses of magnesium supplements organic magnesium salts like magnesium glycinate or magnesium tarate are generally more readily absorb than inorganic forms like magnesium oxide I also think there’s some added benefits of these organic salts for example
Taking magnesium glycinate also gives you some accompanying compounds like glycine so glycine could potentially be beneficial at least According to some studies also magnesium tarate would give you tarene which also may have some health advantages but that’s the subject of another podcast there is some caution that should be taken without you know
Not wanting to ex seed um super super high doses of magnesium so 350 milligram per day is the the safe upper limit and um that is for either organic or inorganic magnesium supplements if you go above that you may get GI side effects so that’s something to keep in
Mind I would say a really important takeaway from this section is magnesium threonate is not the best option for meeting daily magnesium needs as outlined by the RDA it shouldn’t be included as contributing to your recommended daily allowance of magnesium and that is because magnesium 3 and8
Contains a very low amount of Elemental magnesium so if you are considering supplementing with magnesium threonate for its potential brain health benefits which I would say have not been established do not count that magnesium dose towards your RDA goal so to ensure you’re getting enough magnesium you know
You need to to calculate what you’re getting from your foods but also consider supplementing with other organic magnesium forms like magnesium glycinate which does have a higher amount of Elemental magnesium content as you can tell there are many different forms of magnesium available a natural
Question is what do I take the answer is I hedge my bets I take a supplement that has many different forms of magnesium salts which seems logical to me there are not many products I have found that offer that one of them is magnesi om by Moon Juice the other one I sometimes
Take at night is magnesium glycinate by pure encapsulations there are many different brands I’m not affiliated with either of those but I know many of you want to know what I take so there you have it the other area I want to kind of dive into and I find very interesting
With respect to where magnesium plays a role in physiology is the stress response so the stress response that your body experienes involves the production of hormones stress hormones like adrenaline cortisol those stress hormones can potentially lead to a reduction or depletion of magnesium levels in the body so these hormones are
Released during times of stress and then subsequently your body uses up more magnesium to try to help manage the Str the stress reactions so what ends up happening is this can reduce overall amounts of magnesium available for other functions of the body so to better understand how stress hormones like
Adrenaline can lead to magnesium deficiency orow lower magnesium levels and its clinical implications there was a study by white at Al that looked at how adrenaline which is a well-known stress hormone affects our magnesium levels and what they found I personally thought was an interesting study um they found when
Adrenaline was infused into people it didn’t just temporarily lower magnesium levels these levels stayed significantly reduced even an hour after stopping the adrenaline infusion without showing any immediate signs of bouncing back so in other words the adrenaline immediately lowered magnesium levels and those levels stayed low for quite some time
There have been a range of studies that have found that stress exposure things that are stressful and are known to increase cortisol adrenaline can influence magnesium levels both in blood and urine so for example young adults undergoing persistent or even intermittent stress like for example anti anticipating a military conflict
They experienced substantial decreases in their overall and plasma magnesium concentrations over 3 months and there is similar results or outcomes found um when the impact of shortterm so this is a one day and also a longterm which would be like a month of sleep deprivation on magnesium levels was
Examined so this was done in healthy men and both short-term and long-term sleep deprivation cause reduction in magnesium red blood cells so the the the magnesium levels in red blood cells with the long-term sleep deprivation having the the most robust impact another study found an increase in anxiety levels and
A corresponding rise in urinary magnesium excretion in University students during exam time so that would indicate if you’re excreting more magnesium in your urine that you are not uh absorbing it and and and using it in in your body and another related study this was done um over the course of four
Weeks this was post exams researchers found a significant reduction in the concentration of magnesium in red blood cells among college students yet again sort of solidifying how the stress response will lower magnesium levels so yet another study confirmed this this was done um in in people that were
Impact they were affected by noise exposure so they had been subjected to noise exposure and their magnesium levels of course went down after the PO after the noise exposure and their urinary excretion peaked after a few hours and it continued for up to two days so it
Seemed like there was some sort of long-term effect with respect to excreting more magnesium through urine which is something I mentioned that alcohol also does just from that stress response from the the very loud noise exposure it’s interesting how our body magnesium levels respond not only to mental stress but also physical stress
Like exercise so acute or short-term stress can lead to a brief spike in our blood magnesium levels this is a phenomenon known as transient hyper magnesia this has been observed in the aftermath of like short intense exercise sessions lasting around 20 minutes but after pushing your body hard it appears
It rallies the Magnesium resources probably to Aid in the energy production you know and other vital functions but when you start to engage in a more prolonged let’s say 1H hour session that initial elevation in magnesium is not found and it seems like there’s a threshold after which your body does not
Respond in that way and um magnesium levels then have been noted to go below what your Baseline resting levels are so exercise does deplete magnesium but let’s talk briefly about why mental and physical stress can decrease magnesium so the body’s neuroendocrine system response to stress through a process
That many will recognize as the fight or flight response so this is primarily activated by the adrenal glands uh the hormones adrenaline and cortisol rapidly increase during this response they’re responsible for preparing the body for that for Action Now part of this preparation involves the mobilization of magnesium which is a crucial co-factor
For enzymes that drive energy production and utilization in the form of ATP so during this stress response the body rapidly pulls magnesium from from the cells causes a temporary surge in serum serium magnesium levels but the catch is this mobilization of magnesium is not an infinite resource so as the stress
Continues it’s extracting magnesium and it and then and then expelling it through the body through urination which then gradually depletes our overall Body store of magnesium and then there’s the role of cortisol which is often considered the prim the body’s primary stress hormone so when cortisol levels r
It signals to the kidneys that they need to kick into turbo mode and start expelling more magnesium out of the body this action further reduces our body’s total magnesium Supply and then on top of all this stress also triggers certain hormones that can affect The Balancing Act of magnesium in our body especially
In in in organs like the gut kidneys and the bones so these hormones can result in less magnesium getting absorbed in the intestines more getting expelled from the kidneys as I just mentioned leading to this downward spiral in magnesium levels if we don’t replenish it properly let’s move on to another
Area that has gained popularity the role of magnesium in sleep so the role of magnesium in sleep has recently become a topic of Interest we know that sleep deprivation can deplete magnesium levels but does this create a cycle affecting Sleep Quality observational Studies have shown that adults with higher dietary
Magnesium intake often report better sleep quality however this could be the healthy user bias right people with higher magnesium intake might also have other healthy habits contributing to good sleep now when we look at randomized control trials the picture gets more complex a meta analysis of some trials suggests that magnesium
Supplementation can improve some sleep metrics including scores on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and also can improve sleep efficiency and duration yet the results across different studies are very very mixed um there’s quite a few studies out there showing that magnesium supplementation has has no effect on sleep so it really
Highlights the need for more research in this field I’m not going to say that magnesium supplementation will not improve sleep but I will say there is not strong evidence that magnesium supplementation will improve sleep I do think this I I have to go on a little bit of tangent here because randomized
Control trials in this field of nutrition are very different than the gold standard of randomized controlled trials that are used with pharmaceutical drugs so we know that 45 % of the population has insufficient magnesium intake okay so 55% have sufficient levels of magnesium so when you’re starting a clinical trial in nutrition
With something like magnesium half the population of in that trial are going to are going to need that magnesium supplement and the other half really aren’t because they’ve already got sufficient magnesium intake this is very different from a drug trial everyone at the start of a drug Tri trial has the
Same amount of drug in in their system which is zero so you either give the person the drug or a placebo and it’s very clear that if there is an effect that it’s because of the drug and that if there is not an effect it’s because
The drug did not have an effect but in the case of magnesium if you are not identifying who is deficient or has insufficient magnesium at the start of the trial then you’re not going to know whether or not giving them a supplement really is important or going to make it
Difference because they might already have sufficient magnesium so I think this really illustrates why it’s so important for nutritional randomized control trials to account and to measure or at least at the very least look at a dietary intake in magnesium and figure out you know who at the start of this
Trial is deficient in this nutrient that we are investigating let’s start with that population because essentially you’re you’re what you’re looking at is giving some your trying to to avoid deficiency right and that and that’s the real important thing here to avoid deficiency so with that said um when I
Say there’s a lot of mixed results in these randomized control trials with respect to magnesium and sleep or with respect to magnesium and fill in the blank effect right whatever outcome we are looking at I think it is very important for people to keep in mind particularly poor people that are you
Know doing clinical trials in the medical field that have this mentality that randomized control trials are the gold standard because they are coming from this pharmaceutical background keep in mind that nutrition is different because we all have different starting levels of nutrients and and it is very very important to measure these
Nutrients or in some way figure out at the start of the trial if our starting population is low in that nutrient if they’re not then it’s it’s not you know then that’s another question that would be is supplementing you know Supra levels going to do anything right that’s a completely different question than
Avoiding deficiency all right so sorry for that tangent but I do think it’s very important um because until we address these trial flaws the these fundamental methological oversights we are going to continue to have conflicting data in the field of nutrition so I think we need to improve
Study designs we need to consider individual nutritional baselines you know and until we do that we’re going to continue facing confusion uncertainty and a lot of conflicting data with respect to nutritional trials okay so on that note let’s dive into brain health there’s some pretty recent research that suggests there’s a potential association
Between dietary magnesium intake and brain health so this was an observational study using data from over 6,000 participants they were aged 40 to 73 it was the UK biobank data and those who reported a higher magnesium intake had on average larger brain volumes which could convey up to approximately
One year of reduced brain aging compared to those with lower magnesium intakes so the results revealed that so the higher dietary magnesium consumption this was about 550 milligrams per day seem to correlate with larger gray matter and hippocampal volumes than the average intake of about 350 milligrams per day
Which is actually closer to the RDA um this was actually particularly notable in women I would say this is an intriguing link obviously interpretation of these results have to recognize that these are observational studies so they really can’t provide a cause and effect relationship only suggest a c a possible
Association so the data is based on self-reported diet dietary intake that could be influenced by other overall you know dietary patterns or other factors like lifestyle habits or health conditions to really I would say conclusively say state that magnesium is improving brain health by increasing brain volume particularly gray matter in
The hippocampal Regal of the brain we would need clinical trials you know to substantiate that potential relationship those probably aren’t going to be done so kind of just have to to look at this data and and make what you want out of it um magnesium has been linked to the
Development and progression of various age- related brain disorders higher cerebral magnesium levels have been shown to decrease um oxidative stress and inflammation and improve Pro synaptic plasticity also counteract other mechanisms leading to neur degeneration so there was a recent systematic review that revealed individuals with Alzheimer’s disease also have significantly lower plasma
Magnesium levels compared to healthy controls so researchers looked at a lot of data from different sources like blood serum plasma the fluid around the brain the cerebral spinal fluid which helped them sort of be more confident about their findings however when they specifically checked the fluid the cerebral spinal fluid it wasn’t entirely
Clear so um there was a hint that Alzheimer’s patients might have lower magnesium in the cerebral spinal fluid but it wasn’t as clearcut as in the plasma in the blood for example in serum in a study that followed over 1,000 middle-aged adults for 17 years researchers found
That those who ate the most magnesium so they were getting at least 196 milligrams per day had a 37% lower chance of getting dementia when they got older compared to those who ate the least magnesium so they were getting 174 milligram per day or less there was another study in people aged
60 and above who did not have dementia also showed that eating more magnesium so this was at least 434 milligrams might help them from um getting uh mild cognitive impairment which is the stage before dementia the numbers from this study suggest that you know the risk was
Much lower for those who ate more magnesium and again another observational study this was 2 thou over 2,500 older adults who are mentally healthy again found higher magnesium intake this was over 407 milligrams per day was also linked to overall better brain function um but this benefit was
Actually only seen in women so again all these studies are observational uh they’re really only so showing associations they really can’t Pro prove that higher magnesium intake directly causes these health benefits we need more control trials um clinical research to really establish that definitive link but we do know that
Magnesium is a vital co-enzyme that plays a crucial role in a a variety of biochemical processes in the brain so it serves as the key factor in a variety of brain specific enzymes so adenosine triphosphatases these are atpases they’re crucial enzymes that control our ability to hydrolyze ATP
Which is the major energy source for all of our cells very important in the brain so magnesium is a co-actor it’s essential for those enzymes to properly function and you know this is really important for the sodium pottassium atpa and the calcium atpa which help establish this electrochemical gradient
Across our cellular membranes in our brain it’s essential for neuronal function another enzyme would be involved with creatine so everyone you guys have heard of creatine uh most people think about it in the context of bodybuilding muscle muscle mass but it also um is important in the brain as
Well so creatine passes phosphate groups um from phosphocreatine to ADP to make ATP that energy currency and so you know the enzymes that are doing this again require magnesium to do it so another reason why magnesium would be important for the brain it’s also important for another enzyme called glutamine
Synthetase so this enzyme it enables the conver ver of glutamate into ammonia and glutamine and magnesium is required for the appropriate function of this enzyme because and this is really critical because maintaining that glutamate to glutamine balance in the brain is important for preventing exot toxicity so this could potentially lead to
Neuronal damage if you if you’re not maintaining that balance you might have too much glutamate which could lead to that excitotoxicity and neurotoxicity right so too much excitatory activity from gluto you’ll end up you could end up with neuronal damage so magnesium plays this is just three examples of enzymes in the
Brain where magnesium plays a critical function and why magnesium is so crucial for brain function I would say one area with respect to the brain where the data is a bit stronger is migraines so ma magnesium might play a role in managing migraines which is a condition that affects many people worldwide there’s
Recent randomized control trials that have really shed some light on magnesium’s potential benefits for those suffering from migraines so what is happening in the brain during a migraine one key element is something called cortical spreading depression so it’s a kind of wave of brain activity that leads to visual and sensory changes we
Often associate with migraine or us so interestingly magnesium supplementation seems to help prevent these waves but there’s a little more to it magnesium may also decrease the release of certain chemicals in the brain like substance p and glutamate which are known to transmit pain signals so by reducing
Their release magnesium could play a role in lessening the pain associated with migraines also it might prevent the further narrowing of brain blood vessels caused by serotonin another neurotransmitter involved in migraines so as it turns out individuals who suffer from migraines are often found to be deficient or have insufficient
Magnesium now this might not be entirely surprising when we consider that nearly half the US population doesn’t get enough magnesium in their diet but it does highlight a potential link between widespread nut nutritional gaps and specific health conditions like migraines understanding these connections can offer us insights I
Think into simple yet impactful ways to improve our health so there’s results of R randomized control trials that we’re going to discuss there were five randomized control trials that indicate that magnesium supplementation can effectively reduce the frequency and intensity of migraine relapses so magnesium is believed to work by preventing cortical spreading depression
The brain signaling waves often responsible for migraine Aura we just talked about um and additionally magnesium reduces those the release of those pain transmitting chemicals like substance p and glutamate the effective magnesium dose for preventing migraines seems to be around 600 milligrams per day which is almost twice the suggested
Upper limit to minimize gastrointestinal discomfort I think it’s advisable to to divide the dose into smaller amounts such as 200 milligrams taken three times throughout the day this can really help minimize you know the irritation on the digestive tract while still providing an effective dose for migraine management
So I I mentioned this data comes from five different randomized control trials I do think that while there’s only a few studies the implications could be significant you know migraines they’re not just headaches they’re really complex neurological events so understanding how something is accessible as a magnesium supplement for
Some people could mitigate these symptoms I think is really it’s a it it offers New Hope and a potential new Avenue for relief for some people so it’s a great example of how diving deep into some of the brain science and understanding magnesium’s role and looking at some of the clinical studies
Can kind of help lead to some practical everyday health benefits let’s move on to aging magnesium depletion is a slow process so marginally low intake would likely take years to manifest but it would still take a toll it’s likely a factor in aging and the development of
Chronic disease so I want to take a moment to discuss a concept that has been a significant focus in the field of nutrition particularly a theory put forth by my mentor Dr Bruce Ames who has introduced what is known as the triage Theory and published several studies on
It it’s really a fascinating way to understand how our bodies deal with micronutrient scarcity like with magnesium so Dr Ames has published several papers on this topic highlighting how Nature has possibly evolved a mechanism to prioritize certain biological processes over others when micronutrient resources are limited
So magnesium for example is a key player in numerous biological functions some of these are critical for immediate survival and preventing diseases that could lead to acute life-threatening conditions however magnesium is also pivotal for long-term Health processes like DNA repair so deficiencies in DNA repair might not cause immediate harm
But they can Le to a gradual accumulation of DNA damage mutations that over time can then become oncogenic or cancer-causing so the triage Theory posits that in the face of limited magnesium the body will prioritize its use for enzymes involved in essential short-term survival such as enzymes like
Energy production this means that other processes that are vital for long-term Health like DNA repair might get less of this magnesium what’s the and result well we might not be getting enough magnesium we might be getting enough to avoid acute deficiency even pulling it from our bones to maintain levels in our
Muscles and other tissues we could be you know setting the stage for chronic health issues like osteoporosis down the line so I think this inadequate intake of magnesium and micronutrients in general can accumulate it Insidious damage over time in the context of magnesium when DNA repair and replication which both do require
Magnesium to properly function they aren’t functioning optimally due to those inadequate levels the accumulation of this damage can lead to these mutations cell dysfunction and potentially cancer development and it’s a clear example of how you know subtle long-term effects of micronutrient inadequacy or magnesium inadequacy in this case can contribute to the aging
Process and the development of chronic disease so we’re talking about cancer let’s dive in a little bit more into that topic magnesium does play a crucial role in DNA repair and this has implications for cancer prevention so every day our our DNA is facing damage from both internal sources like
Metabolism and external forces things like UV radiation pollution things like that as we age our DNA repair mechanisms naturally slow down like everything else but when we’re also low in magnesium it’s kind of like throwing gasoline on a fire the risk of DNA damage escalates magnesium is essential for the proper
Functioning of DNA repair enzymes so consider the sheer frequency of cell division in our bodies millions of cells divide daily with some tissues like our skin and and intestinal lining they have exceptionally High turnover rates so DNA replication which is necessary to make a new cell is really vital for that you
Know process of making a new cell and magnesium plays a role in DNA replication as well it’s it’s essential for the proper functioning of those enzymes called DNA polymerases these are essentially the workhorses of cell division without adequate magnesium these processes can be compromised and this could lead to potential errors and
Mutations when you are making new DNA now let’s dive a little bit into the role of magnesium in what’s called Matrix metalloproteinases or mmps so these are enzymes they’re they’re more like agents of extracellular Matrix breakdown they’re involved in critical processes like tissue remodeling wound healing and magnesium deficiency can upset the de
Delicate balance here with the activity of these MMP enzymes that also could potentially Aid in cancer cell Invasion and progression so it plays a a little Downstream role um in cancer progression and um cell Invasion but again I think it really highlights the sort of broader impact of magnesium on cellular health
Cancer prevention and it’s really an important micronutrient that is just it’s fundamentally you know intertwined with our body’s ability to maintain what’s called genetic integrity and to prevent the formation of you know anagenic cells which are cancer cells so let’s talk about a study that followed
About over 66,000 men and women aged 50 to 76 years old so this was part of the vitamins and lifestyle study or the vital study it was from 2 the year 2000 to 2008 um among the 151 participants who ended up developing pancreatic cancer those with magnesium intake below the
RDA had a significantly higher risk of pancreatic cancer specifically those getting 75 to 99% of the RDA the risk was increased by 42% and for those with less than 75% of the RDA that risk jumped to 76% but what was even more striking about that study was that for
Every 100 mgram per day decrease in magnesium intake there was an increase in a 24% increase in pancreatic cancer incidents so this was in a dose dependent manner every 100 milligram decrease was associated with a 24% increase in pancreatic cancer incidence and what’s particularly interesting here is also the role of magnesium
Supplementation so that inverse association between magnesium intake and pancreatic cancer risk seemed to be more pronounced among those who took magnesium supplements either from a multivitamin or even as an individual supplement so uh in other words what I’m saying is that within that cohort it wasn’t just dietary intake it was also
Supplemental intake and people that were also supplementing with magnesium that was associated with a stronger decreased risk in pain pancreatic cancer obviously um it’s important to approach findings with a very nuanced understanding right this is still observational data still means correlation can’t really establish causation um there could be a variety of
Other factors that could influence this as well so that’s always important to keep in mind when we’re talking about observational data there was another study um this was this was the Paris perspective study 2 which followed about 4,000 men aged 30 to 60 over 18 years
Old and and that study found that men with the highest magnesium levels that that was associated with a 40% lower all cause mortality and a 50% lower decrease in cancer death compared to those with the lowest magnesium levels yet again all the caveats I just mentioned this
Was also an observational study so um you know the I I think the beauty of observational studies on honestly is is in their ability to reveal these patterns these associations in large population ations over extended periods so that is that is really the beauty of observational data and then you know
Once you get that observational data you kind of need to approach it with a little bit more of a critical eye and and sort of also try to turn to some Interventional studies as well um with respect to cancer incidents that’s going to be very challenging because cancer
Takes decades to develop so um having a randomized control trial with a supplement like magnesium is is is going to be challenging if not impossible to do so um that’s also something to keep in mind but let’s dive a little deeper into a meta analysis that examined both dietary and supplemental magnesium
Intake and their effects on mortality risks so diet dietary magnesium intake was linked to a significantly lower risk of both all cause mortality and cancer mortality so specifically for every additional 100 milligram per day of dietary magnesium there was a 6% reduction in all cause mortality and a
5% reduction in cancer mortality and again this was in a dose dependent manner so for each 100 milligram increase per day that was you you got those reductions um so I do want to point out that this was from dietary sources and not from supplemental sources so it really could could be that
There’s just a a a barrage of things going on um because you’re talking about getting magnesium from you know sources of healthy foods so what I’m trying to say is because foods that are high in magnesium like leafy greens they come with a they’re packed with the plethora of other vital micronutrients and
Phytonutrients you know so these components collectively contribute to overall health they’re also a part of a food Matrix that enhances their benefits the analysis also looked at supplemental magnesium intake and here’s where things get intriguing the supplemental magnesium intake showed a nonsignificant positive association with cancer mortality risk based on three studies
It’s important to note that non-significant doesn’t mean that there was no effect um in fact the P value that’s used to determine significance can actually be quite arbitrary but that’s a whole other uh tangent but I do think it highlights the complexity of interpreting data similarly there was a
Total magnesium intake which looked at both dietary and supplemental sources and um that really didn’t show any significant association with cancer mortality or cause mortality but there was a lot of what’s called heterogeneity between studies in other words some studies did see an effect other studies
Saw no effect and so again it comes down to that mixed mixed data um really those sorts of things those sorts of differences come down to you know differences in study design population other factors that can just add all these layers of complexity to our understanding I think these findings
Reinforce the idea that getting magnesium from dietary sources might be the most beneficial approach they also underscore the nuanced nature of nutritional research right the variation in these studies the arbitrary nature of statistical significance the heterogeny between studies they all really point to this careful interpretation a deeper understanding of how nutrients like
Magnesium are impacting our health and again to how trials and nutrition and just how how complex trials in nutrition are and um you know the need to sort of standardize some of these trials as well we can get better data I do want to shift gears and talk a little bit about
Osteoporosis so magnesium also plays a role in bone health we already discussed how roughly 60% of the body’s magnesium is stored in the bones it serves as a reservoir during times um when you need magnesium your body will pull it from your bones to to to get that source of
Magnesium as a person ages magnesium losses from the bones increase and this is partly because the body strives to maintain very narrow stable range of magnesium in the plasma when our dietary intake is insufficient the body compensates again by pulling magnesium from the bones which is a reservoir I
Know I’m being repetitive here but it’s important to understand that just like the muscle is a reservoir for amino acids our body pulls amino acids out of muscle when we need to get when we need amino acids and when we’re low on protein which is not a good thing
Because you end up losing muscle mass well the same concept here your body is pulling magnesium from your bones that’s a reservoir for magnesium but pulling from the bones especially when you’re talking about over a Lifetime right you’re talking about in older adults this can contribute to a decrease in a
Very large decrease in bone magnesium content in fact over a lifetime nearly half of the Magnesium content of bone is lost in people and and there’s some evidence that suggests that this magnesium loss in the bones over decades contributes to osteoporosis so adequate magnesium intake early in life really
Honestly is like an investment in your long-term bone health right because if you are getting enough magnesium from your diet and supplemental sources your body’s not going to have to pull on the Magnesium from your bones to get it what it needs so Studies have shown that magnesium Rich diets in
Pre-adolescence are positively positively um F bone density in young adulthood um particularly in the heel bone there’s been a year-long magnesium supplementation study that found that magnesium supplementation for one year can enhance bone mass in the hips of Perry Pub uh puberal girls and I think this highlights again um magnesium’s
Crucial role Beyond just calcium in building strong bones and preventing osteoporosis a lot of people think about the role of calcium also very important for bone health but getting enough magnesium early in life is I think really important so I’m not talking about supplementing with magnesium later in life when you already have
Osteoporosis I’m talking about preventing your body from pulling that magnesium out of your bones so that you don’t you’re not going to get so that you you lower your risk of osteoporosis later in life um so you know magnesium is important for ensuring stronger bones
As you age and I think again again think of it as an investment strategy earlier in life you’re you’re going to make make sure that your body is not going to pull that magnesium from your bones year after year after year after decade after decade eventually depleting you know 40%
Of your your body’s uh bones you know reservoir of magnesium I think on a very similar note let’s get into vitamin d and vitamin D metabolism vitamin D also plays a role in bone health but I think even more important here is the Ro magnesium plays in vitamin D metabolism
So it’s just another layer of you know connection that magnesium has to our bone health because we know vitamin D plays a role in bone health as well so vitamin D is important for calcium absorption and bone health magnesium by acting as a co-actor for several enzymes that metabolize vitamin D then helps
Make sure that we’re getting vitamin D and using it it effectively magnesium directly contributes to bone density because it’s it makes up the bone right so it but it also plays an important role in bone health indirectly by contributing to vitamin D metabolism which is a key player in bone health so
The Synergy between magnesium and vitamin D metabolism I think is a perfect example of how interconnected our nutrient intake is with you know overall bodily functions and how some of these micronutrient nents are sort of working together and synergizing and why some trials where you’re just giving one
Micronutrient may not be enough because another one is needed because they work in concert so let’s discuss this a little bit high intake of magnesium whether from the diet or supplements or both is linked to a lower risk of having low levels of vitamin D there’s also a notable interaction between magnesium
And vitamin D intakes that influence the risk of vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency so what do I mean for example if a person’s magnesium intake is adequate this can enhance the body’s ability to maintain healthy levels of vitamin D on the other hand if magnesium intake is low like 45% or half the
Population roughly of the US that may hinder the body’s ability to utilize vitamin D effectively even if vitamin D intake is sufficient so this study found that the benefits of having higher vitamin D levels in reducing the risk of death um especially from cardiovascular disease and colore rectal cancer were
More significant in individuals that had above average intake of magnesium building on the insights of those observational studies I just mentioned a randomized control trial helped shed further light on how magnesium supplementation influences vitamin D status so magnesium is key for enzymes that convert vitamin D3 into 25
Hydroxy vitamin D which is the main circulating form of vitamin D in our bodies it’s what we typically measure on a vitamin D blood test so this Tri trial showed that for people with low 25 hydroxy vitamin D levels which usually can indicate vitamin D deficiency magnesium supplementation effectively
Increase these levels it appears that magnesium is aiding in the conversion of vitamin D3 into this more stable form of vitamin D which is 25 hydroxy vitamin D so what this tells us is that magnesium’s influence on vitamin D status is not a one-size fits all it really varies based on your existing
Vitamin D levels it’s playing a critical role in either helping stabilize vitamin D in the body converting that vitamin D3 into that active that that stable circulating form or it’s also activating that c that circulating stabilized form 25 hydroxy vitamin D into the active steroid hormone depending on your
Individual needs I think this study really I like this study it offers a deeper understanding of like the intricate relationship between magnesium and vitamin D they’re both crucial micronutrients although vitamin D actually functions as a steroid hormone in the body but it also adds layers of complication to randomized controlled
Trials using vitamin D and perhaps there’s a negative result where you’re getting no effect after giving a vitamin D supplement well if half the US population is not getting enough magnesium and magnesiums required to make vitamin D function as an active steroid hormone then you’re going to
Have a problem those trials are they’re going to be flawed at the get-go and again it it just it it highlights the important role of thinking about nutrition differently than pharmaceutical drug trials we have to think about not only the the varying levels and and and different levels
People have of these nutrients at the start of the trial but how these nutrients are interacting with each other and if a deficiency in one is going to affect the function of another then giving that supplement of the other isn’t going to do much if you’re still deficient in the important micronutrient
That is needed to make that other one properly function so again um I I just I just want you guys to understand why nutritional trials are so comp complicated and why there’s so much mix data out there it’s it’s just it’s incredibly hard to design the trial
Properly and to think of all these things um and to get enough funding to do them as well so um lots of things to keep in mind when it comes to interpreting the results of a trial okay let’s shift gears and talk now about blood pressure hypertension the role of
Magnesium in lowering blood pressure so hypertension or high blood pressure it’s actually a pretty prevalent issue so it affects nearly half of us adults including 20% of young adults age 18 to 39 which wow that’s kind of important 20% of young adults age 18 to 39 have hypertension it’s it’s really crucial
For people those young adults people in their 20s and 30s to be aware of their blood pressure elevated blood pressure is not only going to increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases but it also significantly raises the risk of dementia later in life and what’s the most important factor for that is the
Cumulative exposure to high blood pressure so the earlier in life you get high blood pressure the more the the risk you have of dementia later in life and this is because sustained high blood pressure can lead to damage in the small vessels of the brain and that impairs cognitive functions and potentially
Leads to conditions like dementia as a person ages so monitoring and managing blood pressure for from a young age I think is really important and can be crucial for mitigating these dementia risk these cardiovascular disease risk so where does magnesium come into this well magnesium helps control blood
Pressure by boosting the production of substances like prostacyclin and nitric oxide which relax blood vessels and improve overall cardiovascular health it also AIDS in the widening of blood vessels which reduces blood pressure so vasodilation it makes it easier for the heart to pump blood also magnesium’s ability to fight inflammation and
Protect against damage to blood vessels also is another way that it can support cardiovascular health and I think this shows you know there’s a lot of different ways that magnesium plays a vital role in helping maintain and keep the cardiovascular system healthy so there was a comprehensive metaanalysis involving 34 different randomized
Control trials there was over 2,000 participants and re res archers discovered that magnesium supplementation at an average dose of 368 MGR per day notably lowers both systolic and diastolic blood pressures this effect which is slightly influenced by the dose and duration of magnesium I think does underscore the potential for
Magnesium to play a role in blood pressure management perhaps in some people there are laboratory studies that also back this up that have found magnesium ability magnesium’s ability to adjust vascular smooth muscle function it it can reduce V vascular resistance it can combat hypertension prevent Vaso constriction also it it’s been shown to
Have antioxidant properties in the vascular system I think all these things um help mitigate vascular damage caused by oxidative stress and and other factors as well and I think this latest research including um a comprehensive metaanalysis really does a meta analysis of r control trials really does highlight that magnesium may could play
A role in help managing blood pressure effectively in some people also integrating you know magnesium rich foods into the diet also is an important way as well and there’s been a lot of studies out there showing things like a dash diet which are which include a lot
Of foods that are rich in magnesium is another great way to manage hypertension or high blood pressure as well so let’s move on to an area that has really I would say gored significant interest and that is the effect of magnesium supplementation for the prevention and treatment of muscle
Cramps um this Interest really I think stems from magnesium’s role in muscle function it’s essential for muscle contractions relaxation um deficiencies in magnesium could potentially lead to increased muscle excitability and cramps making supplementation an area of interest for those with low magnesium levels or those prone to to muscle cramps such as
Athletes or elderly individuals or those with certain medical conditions however when we look at the data surrounding magnesium supplementation and its effect on muscle cramps it’s really a mixed bag some studies suggest benefits especially in pregnant women but the broader picture is a little more complex uh I
Think this complexity likely stems from the fact that not all studies check if participants were you know deficient in magnesium or had insufficient magnesium at the start of the trial as we’ve already discussed um also another layer of complexity is the fact that muscle cramps have a diverse you know array of
Causes so not are all related to magnesium levels so considering only about half the US population might actually have a low magnesium intake supplementation would only affect perhaps the the half of the PO you know population that um would not be enough magnesium and so you you might you might
Expect that there would be some mixed data with with respect to some of these trials again based on on those facts um I would say overall the data is not very strong supporting magnesium supplementation and its effect and its effects on reducing muscle cramps um but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have
Any effect again like I’ve been really sort of trying to drive home throughout this podcast is that the nutrition trials in in you know nutrition micronutrients things like magnesium are flawed at the get-go and so in in a way you’re almost setting you’re almost setting yourself up for failure and when
You actually get a positive result in my opinion it’s kind of like almost just amazing um because of all the hurdles that need to be overcome with respect to designing randomized control trials in nutrition the other area that I think um with respect to muscle cramps and
Magnesium that’s got a lot of interest is the epsin Sal baths and we talked a little bit about this um earlier in the podcast and and this is where I think we really go into scientifically unchartered Waters there’s a debate on whether whether or not magnesium so
Magnesium from epsen Sal is in the form of magnesium sulfate and there’s there’s a debate on whether or not the skin can effectively absorb magnesium and sulfates from these kinds of baths to influence muscle and tissue health I would say there are some studies that suggest a pathway for magnesium
Penetration via the sweat glands and hair follicles um they’re representing a very small fraction of the Skin’s overall surface area so the clinical significance of absorption remains a question um not to mention that there’s never been any indication that epson salt soaking in epson salt can actually increase any
Plasma magnesium levels like that’s I have not seen that study showing that there are I I would say there have at least been some studies showing that Epsom salt particularly dead sea salt so dead sea salt is high in um magnesium it can improve Skin Barrier function and and
Hydra hydration as well but with respect to muscle cramping you know I would say that there’s no real scientific validation that EPs and salts are going to improve muscle cramps um nonetheless I would say that you know ultimately if you find relaxation and a sense of well-being by taking an Epson salt bath
As I do then you should continue to do that because at the end of the day that’s what’s most important as we wrap up today’s Deep dive into the world of magnesium and its Myriad of roles in health and disease prevention I think it’s clear that magnesium holds a
Pivotal place in the intersection of Neuroscience physical Health and Longevity magnesium’s contribution extends far beyond its role in muscle function and bone health it’s touching on crucial aspects of metabolic Health cardiovascular function and even cognitive processes for individuals aiming for longevity and Peak Performance I think understanding the subtleties of magnesium’s effects
Particularly in the context of dietary intake potential supplementation is important uh the evidence suggests that a tailored approach recognizing that while some may benefit significantly from increased magnesium others particularly those with already sufficient levels may not see much of an effect or improvement with increased magnesium intake or supplementation and
This really highlights the importance of a sort of personalized datadriven approach to nutrition one that considers individual health statuses and goals so that brings us to the end of today’s discussion friends I really appreciate your tuning in and sharing this deep dive into the fascinating realm of magnesium and its pivotal role in
Evidence-based nutrition thank you for your curiosity and commitment to understanding how this essential mineral influences our health off
