hi all
Hope all well with you all.
I have been interested in comments about taking magnesium. However there are so many different types it's a tad confusing.
I would like a high quality supplement from a reputable supplier.
Any tips would be appreciated.
thanks as always.
😀☀️
I've spent far too much time researching this an have repeated been told by Dr's to take any one of them even the lest expensive one off the shelf.
My Dr phoned me one day to say my Mg was at the bottom of the 'normal' range. His recommended action was to take 10 nuts daily (almost any sort) and re-test in a month. After that time my Mg had risen to mid limit. Woohoo. Simple, cheap and cheerful cashews which aren't the healthiest but I like the taste.
another vote for nuts to improve heart heaalth.
A food first approach is always better than taking supplements, in my opinion. There are many beneficial compounds in nuts and usually it’s the synergetic effects that seem to lead to better real world health outcomes compared with supplements. Supplements have their place but I think they’re overused and oversold.
Take a look at this one and note all the other helpful ingredients for hearts.
yournutritionshop.com/shopd...
My Naturopath put me on it with CoQ10 and I have kept up with it for 10 yrs. No AF but I also take Flecainide to stop episodes.
You'll get all kinds of useful advice and it seems to be a magic pill for some people, but the science will tell you that all kinds of magnesium are sufficiently well absorbed to raise blood levels a little. A little is all that can happen with any form as magnesium absorption is very carefully controlled by the body. Absorption occurs in the small intestine with all excess, i.e. most of what you take, passed straight into the large bowel. While there, the excess draws in water and loosens the motions, so expect gurgling with any excess dose.
I have tried various kinds over extended periods, and none have had the slightest effect on my heart or health, and there's no medical studies that I can find which shows it does. That said, it's safe and well worth trying, and there are a few on this forum swear by it.
Magnesium occurs abundantly in food; in fact, it's a central part of all vegetables, fibre, nuts, milk and such like. Natural sources are the best absorbed of all so eating more greens, pulses, nuts and fibre (porridge oats, for example) will boost magnesium naturally and generally improve health in many other ways.
If you have a genuine absorption problem this can be tested and treated differently. For a very few people, long term antacid use with PPI drugs can cause this,
Steve
Thanks. That’s very informative. Magnesium supplements didn’t make one iota of difference to my constant ectopics and I even thought they were making them worse but that probably wasn’t the case in reality. The blood tests are actually measuring the electrolytes in the blood and as you say these are very tightly controlled by the body. These tests aren’t any indication of nutrition status or “deficiency”. Looking at my blood tests over the past year or so, I tend to be at the upper end of the range, but obviously not out of range and we definitely don’t want that. My diet is fairly high in magnesium-containing foods so I doubt I’m “deficient” (and I have no idea how that is tested) so this probably explains why I saw no benefit in supplementing.
I wonder if those supplements didn't get your intestines gurgling, push them up into your diaphragm, and tickle the heart into ectopic beats? I would say that is entirely possible.
Steve
All I know is that magnesium supplements didn’t get results. But then, lots of people who have had ablations and take anti arrhythmic drugs swear by their supplements … so they must work 😉
Hi
You can take a natural banana for magnesium. Green bananas have higher mag.
Supplements I've read be very careful., too nuch more than normal range is toxin. Also supplements have not been proven as helpful. Or prescribed as required.
cheri JOY
I read that too much absorbs water and you end up with water retention especially in anles and wrists.
The main problem (I'm told) with 'natural' absorption from your food is that with the modern intensive farming practices, the soil has been badly depleted and the food no longer contains what magnesium it should. So any supplement should be useful. The dosage required varies for everyone, so take an increasing dose until you get the runs, and then cut back a little. With that approach, I'm with the others who say the cheapest/easiest to get hold of.
It does seem that modern farming is bad for lots of things, especially wildlife. However, I would say that there has to be a good amount of magnesium in soil (or added as fertiliser) or crops wouldn’t be green and milk wouldn’t be produced. Milking cows are, I gather, sometimes given magnesium chloride to supplement their intake.
I’ve read estimates that magnesium levels are lower than in the past, but this would vary very widely indeed as magnesium is a major and common element that occurs widely in nature in many rocks and soils.
It is generally considered that a mixed and balanced diet contains all and more of the vitamins and nutrients we need except perhaps vitamin D during winter time.
Steve
It’s all trial and error for what helps you the best. I tried magnesium spray, won’t cause diarrhoea. Good ones to try are Better You Magnesium Chloride from any good health shop, it is quite drying on the skin, or Transdermal Magnesium Chloride from Spartan on line. If you still need the tablets they don’t give you diarrhoea if taken after the spray has been absorbed.
Try Heart Calm. You can purchase it on Amazon. I use it and it helps.
From what I have read, heart changes that can lead to AF and more are linked to changing concentrations of various electrolytes, including phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, calcium and sodium. But the cause of these changes (which might not exactly be "imbalances" as such and simply be age-related or genetic) seems as yet, unknown. The chicken and egg question remains. Certainly, as we age, calcium deposition in the artery walls becomes a known issue but taking more magnesium in the diet by a supplement hasn't been shown to reduce this.
Whether it is a good thing to increase blood levels of one specific electrolyte, such as magnesium, hasn't yet been shown to be useful but some cardiologists recommend it, and it seems a safe to do so., even if not provably effective. I would have thought that reducing levels of sodium seems more likely to be a useful thing to do, since dietary sodium levels are generally considered too high?
In high intravenous doses, it is thought that magnesium acts as a calcium channel blocker and so, reduces the heart rate and post-operative fibrillation. Perhaps this is why magnesium has caught on as a means of "calming" the heart (as well as the nerves, and promote sleep and so on)? That, coupled with the reduced levels of magnesium in the diet from modern farming methods has fed the idea that magnesium supplementation must be a good thing, even though there is still a lot of magnesium in a modern balanced diet.
Steve
So, if I am reading this correctly, skip the supplements and eat a handful of almonds a day…
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