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For years we have thought that anything that cramps needs Potassium. We now know Magnesium is the cure. The attached article is an excellent review of the many benefits of Magnesium. Make sure you’re getting enough. To your health, Michele

Dr. Josh Axe - “Every known illness is associated with a magnesium deficiency and it’s the missing cure to many diseases,” according to Dr. Norman Shealy. Magnesium is an essential mineral for cellular health and is essential for over 300 biochemical functions in the body.

A study published in BMC Bioinformatics found that your body has 3,751 magnesium binding sites. This indicates that magnesium benefits are far greater than previously imagined. Because your body requires and uses magnesium for so many different functions, you can quickly become deficient. 

Some of the major functions that require magnesium are: 

• Protein synthesis
• Nerve function
• Blood sugar control
• Neurotransmitter release
• Blood pressure regulation
• Energy metabolism
• Production of the antioxidant glutathione

Magnesium Deficiency 

Magnesium deficiency is dramatically under-diagnosed because it does not show up on a blood test!  Only 1% of the magnesium in your body is stored in your blood and the majority of it is stored in your bones.

It’s been estimated that 80% of American’s are deficient in magnesium, this means that millions are suffering daily and they don’t even know it.  Some of the main health challenges that have been linked to a magnesium deficiency include:

• Hormone imbalance and PMS
• Fibromyalgia
• Heart Attack
• Type 2 Diabetes
• Osteoporosis
• Constipation
• Tension or Migraine Headaches
• Anxiety and Depression
• Chronic Fatigue

The Most Common Causes of Magnesium Deficiency

Most common causes of magnesium deficiency include:

• Consuming less than 3 servings of vegetables per day
• Excess alcohol consumption
• A diet high in sugar and phytic acid
• Taking prescription medications like antibiotics and diuretics
• Poor digestive absorption due to leaky gut

How to Increase Your Magnesium Intake

If you think you might be deficient in magnesium, your best way to address this issue is to start consuming foods that are high in magnesium.

Buying foods from your local farmers market and foods that are certified organic may have higher levels of magnesium. The soil from conventional farms is depleted of magnesium because they do not rotate their crops or let the land rest. Also, they typically only put nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium back in the soil, but leave out magnesium.

Typically, the foods you’ll find that are highest in magnesium are green leafy vegetableswhich are packed with chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is known as the “life blood” of a plant and has the ability to absorb the sun’s light and turn it into energy.

One major difference between human blood and chlorophyll is that human blood hasiron at the center of the cell, but plants have magnesium at the center of the cell.

That being said, green leafy vegetables aren’t the only foods rich in magnesium and chlorophyll, here are the top 10 foods high in magnesium that you will want to add into your diet.

Top 10 Magnesium Rich Foods

(Men RDA 400mg and Women RDA 310mg a day)

• #1 Spinach 1 c: 157 mg (40% DV)
• #2 Chard 1 c: 154 mg (38% DV)
• #3 Pumpkin seeds 1/8 c: 92 mg (23% DV)
• #4 Yogurt or Kefir 1 c: 50 mg (13% DV)
• #5 Almonds 1 oz: 80 mg (20% DV)
• #6 Black Beans ½ c: 60 mg (15% DV)
• #7 Avocado 1 medium: 58 mg (15% DV)
• #8 Figs ½ c: 50 mg (13% DV)
• #9 Dark Chocolate 1 square: 95 mg (24% DV)
• #10 Banana 1 medium: 32 mg (8% DV)

Other foods that are also high in magnesium include: salmon, coriander, cashews, goat cheese and artichokes.

Magnesium More Important Than Calcium

Most of the press and research over the last 50 years has gone towards calcium supplementation. But if you look at the statistics, supplementing with magnesium is even more important.

Eating a ‘traditional diet’ or ‘primal diet’ (my thoughts on paleo here) will give you a pretty close 1:1 or 2:1 ratio of calcium to magnesium. But today most people are consuming the ‘SAD Diet’ (Standard American Diet) and we now have a 3.5:1 ratio, which causes magnesium deficiency.

Also, remember this, for you body to utilize calcium you need to have magnesium as a cofactor. So, there are millions of people taking calcium supplements without magnesium, and they have zero improvement to show for it!

Medical Research On Magnesium 

There is also a large amount of medical research on the health benefits of magnesium with well over 10,000 studies. Here are 5 key areas where magnesium has been proven effective.

Cardiovascular Disease – A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, which was done on 241,378 participants, found a diet high in magnesium could reduce the risk of a stroke by 8%. Another study found that increasing magnesium through diet decreased the risk of a heart attack by 38%.

Fibromyalgia - A study published in Magnesium Research examined how magnesium may improve outcomes for fibromyalgia. The research indicated that increasing magnesium consumption reduced pain and tenderness and also improved immune blood markers.

Type 2 Diabetes - High magnesium diets can also significantly lower the risk of type 2 diabetes because magnesium plays a role in glucose metabolism. An increase of 100 mg/day of magnesium was found to decrease the risk of diabetes by 15% in a meta-analysis of the data.

Osteoporosis – Magnesium is an essential mineral for bone formation and for the utilization in calcium. In fact, more than half of the magnesium in the human body is stored in the bones. A study published in Biology Trace Element Research found that supplementing with magnesium slowed the development of osteoporosis.

Migraine Headaches - Magnesium deficiency has been linked to migraine headachesbecause of it’s importance in balancing neurotransmitters in the body. A study published in Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics found that taking 300mg 2x of magnesium reduced the frequency of migraine headaches.

Best Magnesium Supplements

If you think you might be more severely magnesium deficient and you want to improve your levels more quickly you may consider taking a magnesium supplement.

For supplementation I recommended taking either magnesium citrate, magnesium glycinate or magnesium theonate.

Sources:

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