magnesium summary

[OzJames]

I subscribe to Consumer Lab which looks at the science behind vitamins minerals etc.. it then tests these to see if the products are what they say they are. Hopefully you can open the link. It’s long but gives an understanding of magnesium and why we need it if our levels are low. Click on Magnesium supplement review

consumerlab.com/reviews/mag...

[Iamfuzzyduck]

oooh, that is interesting, especially as my one, possibly two episodes of afib have started with a migraine...I am guessing maybe I was low on it...

Do we need to subscribe to see the full report or is the summary sufficient? Thanks

[OzJames in reply to Iamfuzzyduck]

I’m not sure how much you can read, it’s about 10 paragraphs? , I’m in Sydney and subscribe to this US company. I find they research and test lots of things from green tea, cinnamon, coffee, vitamins etc…. and review published studies related to the topics they cover

[Ppiman]

I wish they had managed to find some proper scientific support the claims for oral magnesium. Apart from helping with constipation, I can't find much of value at all.

Steve

[OzJames in reply to Ppiman]

Yes agreed Steve, though my son who works in emergency at a major Sydney hospital says they give it by IV to people who come in with AF before they take the next step of either drugs or CV so they’re must be a belief that it does work in some cases

[Ppiman in reply to OzJames]

Ah - but in emergency medicine that is only ever being given intravenously where it has a near instant effect on the heart. I think that is likely where the idea arose that oral magnesium might work, too, but, no. from what I can find out, over the years, there's been a lot of interest in it and many studies but - unless I’ve missed it - not a single one reports of meaningful success.

I should think that the problem with oral magnesium is that it is almost all left unabsorbed to be excreted unchanged by the bowel (hence its laxative effect as it acts as an irritant and causes the bowel to draw in water to dilute it). That's a safety mechanism, though, as electrolytes are potentially very toxic to the heart and kidneys with the latter working constantly to maintain amazingly precise concentrations by the process of physiological homeostasis.

Steve

[OzJames in reply to Ppiman]

That’s a good point and it does make sense and too much Mag can bring on arythmia so we do have to be careful taking these supplements. I’ve looked at forms of magnesium that are better absorbed like Bisglycinate and Taurate which I take. I find magnesium works as a relaxant and maybe it’s effective in some people in terms of reducing stress levels which can can contribute to AF episodes. I’ve discussed this with my other son who is a Project Manager Clinical Trials at the University and the cost of doing Trials is in the millions and often funded by Pharma and as we know Pharma will not fund things they can’t make money on. They do have Investigator led Trials but they require the funding which is harder to raise.

[Ppiman in reply to OzJames]

I go with all of that! Your son has a good job there but the sound of it.

Be sure that pharma does fund an awful lot that doesn’t work out as planned, despite the cynicism in some quarters. The cost of developing a new drug is vast and profit has to be found to fund it. I’m warmer to them than many having worked inside it. We’d all like to have capitalism constrained so long as it doesn’t affect or include us - but doing so is such a can of worms.

Steve