Are you getting enough Magnesium Mg?

Hi everyone,

Magnesium is an essential mineral and over 50% of the Western population don't get their RDA for Mg.

Magnesium is important for strong bones, can help with depression, regulating blood sugar levels, reducing blood pressure, reducing inflammation, for absorbing vitamin D, improving sleep and treating migraines.

I often take vitamin D at the end of the winter and take magnesium at the same time because they work together and if you're low on magnesium as well taking vitamin D can cause a headache.

If you want to take a magnesium supplement, they are not all equal as magnesium oxide is a laxative so chelated Mg is best and the gentlest way to absorb it is through the skin. You can buy magnesium oil spray but you can also make your own much cheaper with Mg flakes, mixed 50-50 with boiling water to dissolve (100g mg flakes to 100 ml water) then when its cooled pour into a bottle and massage a little onto the skin this is great for muscle pain too.

Here's a couple of links about Mg:

medicalnewstoday.com/articl...

draxe.com/magnesium-deficie...

I've added a new Topic section Nutrition to HE now.

[Cooper27]

I didn't realise I was deficient in magnesium, until my nutritionist suggested supplements. When I stopped taking them in December, I gradually noticed symptoms coming back again. You don't realise the difference it makes, until you feel better.

I didn't know about taking magnesium at the same time as vitamin D, so I might need to rethink this. I take magnesium citrate every night before bed, as it helps with a rested night's sleep, but I prefer not to take vitamin D at night, because it confuses my body to be getting a high dose of Sunshine vitamin before bed...

[Hidden in reply to Cooper27]

Hi Copper, I'd take vitamin D in the morning and magnesium at night as you'd know you were getting enough and taking it when it suits you. 😊

[flo72003]

I was wondering, whether it's possible to get enough Magnesium from your diet? I mean, to avoid taking supplements, if possible.

[Cooper27 in reply to flo72003]

It is, but sometimes we can have issues extracting it from our food if we have digestive issues (such as low stomach acid) or autoimmune disease, which is why I supplement.

Here are some food sources for you:

medicalnewstoday.com/articl...

[flo72003 in reply to Cooper27]

Thank you.

[Hidden in reply to flo72003]

Another thing is the soil doesn't have as much magnesium in it that it used to so we get less from the soil. And processed foods tend to be devoid of nutrients. So Cooper27 is right.

[Zest]

Hi Hidden

Thanks, I shall look forward to reading this information. I use a Magnesium spray sometimes, which I find helpful.

Zest

[Fran182716 Prediabetic]

Ive been concerned about magnesium levels, but have found supplements give me a racing heart and the jitters - though it generally relaxes people there are a few it has the opposite effect on. So I have tried Epsom salts in the bath but it’s hard to know how much you’d absorb, and I don’t have time to lie in the bath every day!

[Jennymary]

Hi Jerry, found your post interesting, as I've posted on this forum and the HU Bone health forum recently, I've found out that I'm borderline osteoporosis, T scores -2.4, (from a bone scan 5 years ago) -2.5 is osteoporosis, had to ask GP about vit D testing, have a blood test she said, rang a couple of weeks ago and I'm lacking in vit D so she put me in supplements also calcium supplements, no mention of Magnesium, somewhere along the way I was told about another vit D blood test, so yesterday I asked a pharmacist, got some answers, asked her about magnesium and she said to leave for now, my next bone scan is at the end of this month, and the vit D blood test a couple of weeks after that, whether GP will help/support if I'm diagnosed with osteoporosis remains to be seen, however I'll look at the links you've posted over the coming days as I'm trying to get as much info on the subject as I can

[Hidden]

Hi Jenymary, Interestingly I have borderline osteopenia so my bones are slightly thin but the density is still good.

Here's something to think about, calcium supplements are calcium carbonate which's chalk and its molecules are much larger than calcium in food so we only absorb a fraction, so I eat lots of foods with calcium and one surprising one is sesame seeds, here's a link to plant based foods high in calcium as we all know about dairy:

onegreenplanet.org/vegan-fo...

Apparently magnesium deficiency is hard to test for as it doesn't show up well in a blood test.

Also worth bearing in mind is that caffeine strips our bodies of calcium, so there's lots we can do by tweaking our diets.

And good luck with your diagnosis,

Jerry 😊