You’ll never hear enough about Magnesium! Critical to the maintenance of your health, vibrance and performance!
It’s a nutritional factor that you likely need to consider supplementing with. Recent data coming from NHANES, a national nutrition survey, suggests that over 50% of Americans are deficient in this one mineral!
Some argue that sufficient amounts are able to be obtained from a whole foods eating approach. It’s possible, but there is an element of uncertainty. Magnesium levels in soil are highly variable. And overall, levels of magnesium in the soil have declined, partly due to unbalanced crop fertilization.
You see, somewhere along the line someone thought it would be okay to just fertilize our soils with cheap NPK product (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium). It works, but the nutritional quality of our food suffers. Animals grazing on pasture fertilized with this stuff actually suffer from a condition called “grass tetany” due to excessive amounts of potassium and lack of magnesium in the grass!
You can eat the right food with the right magnesium content and still not achieve ideal magnesium status!!! Poor digestive and kidney function result in poor absorption and increase magnesium loss.
An extra heads up athletes!
When it’s game time, magnesium is bounced from storage sites (mostly bone), to fat and muscle to support the mobilization and use of stored energy so you can keep kicking ass. As this occurs, products of metabolism are created that keep your kidneys from picking up magnesium in your soon to be urine. So intense activity is sending more of your precious magnesium off to porcelain pastures!
In addition, magnesium being moved around in this way is lost in sweat. Magnesium losses have been found to be as high as 60mg/L of sweat, depending on temperature and humidity.
Why should you care about your magnesium levels?
-In addition to what we covered above, good magnesium status attenuates oxidative stress that comes with training and competition. This means you recover quickly and get back in the game sooner!
-You need to protect your brain! Good magnesium status protects your cells from excitotoxicity, which causes death of brain cells! This means faster reaction time!
-Increased levels of substance P beyond what would be normal following noxious stimuli have been observed with marginal deficiency in magnesium! One of Substance P’s functions is to tell your body you are in pain. So Pain reduction!
-Disease! We all want to age gracefully. Magnesium deficiency has been linked to depression, epilepsy, Parkinson’s, heart disease, and stroke!
How do you know if you’re getting enough from your dietary strategy? Recall that magnesium participates in the function of over 300 different proteins. This means that magnesium deficiency has many faces! However, what often appears first is MUSCLE SPASM, followed by cramping and fatigue. So keep an eye out for muscle twitching!
Magnesium status is best assessed by looking not only at serum levels, but at levels inside tissues, since the majority of your body’s magnesium is tucked away inside cells!
Recap!
-Over half of Americans are likely deficient in Magnesium.
-Magnesium deficiency is associated with various chronic degenerative conditions.
-Exercise increases magnesium losses in sweat and urine.
-Healthy magnesium status = faster recovery, less pain, better performance.
-Magnesium levels are NOT best determined by looking in serum only.
While supplementing with magnesium may seem like a no-brainer, it’s important to work with someone who can determine if doing so is appropriate for you!
[1] Agarwal, Sanjiv, et al. “Comparison of prevalence of inadequate nutrient intake based on body weight status of adults in the United States: An analysis of NHANES 2001–2008.” Journal of the American College of Nutrition 34.2 (2015): 126-134.
[2] Guo, Wanli, et al. “Magnesium deficiency in plants: An urgent problem.” The Crop Journal 4.2 (2016): 83-91.
[3] De Baaij, Jeroen HF, Joost GJ Hoenderop, and René JM Bindels. “Magnesium in man: implications for health and disease.” Physiological reviews 95.1 (2015): 1-46.
[4] Nielsen, Forrest H., and Henry C. Lukaski. “Update on the relationship between magnesium and exercise.” Magnesium research 19.3 (2006): 180-189.
[5] Costill, D. L. “Sweating: its composition and effects on body fluids.” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 301.1 (1977): 160-174.
[6] Elin, Ronald J. “Assessment of magnesium status for diagnosis and therapy.” Magnesium Research 23.4 (2010): 194-198.