Magnesium Glycinate

[keiralee]

Hi, is this worth taking. I do take Magnesium but it doesn't say Glycinate on the Box. Just Magnesium. Is it worth taking this and if so what would be the dose. Many thanks

[ChrisColumbus]

Magnesium helps some, if taken in the right form and quantity, but it does nothing for others.

Firstly you need a bio-available form of magnesium, one that can be readily absorbed by the body.

If your package doesn't say which magnesium salt it contains it could be magnesium oxide which isn't easily absorbed: you have to take a lot for quite a long time to get any real benefit, and it's main usefulness at those levels is as a laxative!

The easiest to find bio-available form in UK retail is magnesium citrate, which I take. While this can certainly have a laxative effect, I originally found that if I took a 200 mg tablet in the morning and again at lunch and again in the evening this both stopped my RLS symptoms and didn't trouble my bowel. (And I have post-radiotherapy proctitis of the bowel). I've now, several years later, cut back to 200 mg a day.

You will find magnesium glycinate in some retail outlets, and also available online. This is highly bio-available and tends not to have a laxative effect. I tried the recommended 400 mg a day but found it less effective than citrate - but I then found that the brand I found (Solgar, now owned by Nestle) had mixed glycinate with oxide making it over all less effective. You need a brand that ONLY contains glycinate.

[Eryl in reply to ChrisColumbus]

The citrate form has more of a laxative effect than the glycinate form.

[ChrisColumbus in reply to Eryl]

As I pointed out.

The laxative effects of citrate are exacerbated by poor diet, by various bowel conditions, and by timing: even with post-radiotherapy proctitis of the bowel I can take citrate as long as I don't take more than 200 mg at a time.

[Eryl in reply to ChrisColumbus]

Yes, I can only take 200 mg of mag citrate daily whereas I have been taking 400 mg of mag glycinate for many months.

[ChrisColumbus in reply to Eryl]

I started taking 3 × 200 mg spread through the day before I had radiotherapy for prostate cancer: after that, because of the bowel issues that followed the therapy, I reduced to 2 x 200 mg which was fine. I'm currently down to just 1 x 200 mg for maintenance, but that's not because of bowel issues but just because I had only a limited stock on hand after trialling glycinate for a month.

I couldn't work out why 2 x 200 mg of glycinate seemed much less effective than 2 x 200 mg citrate: I was getting cramps etc. I was shocked when I looked more closely at the label to find that Solgar/Nestle had 'spiked' the glycinate with oxide. After several emails, their position seemed to be that customers wanted smaller pills but the manufacturer wanted to keep the listed elemental magnesium content high: they didn't respond to the observation that oxide has a high elemental number but low bio-availability. I've told them that I won't buy it!

[Madlegs1 in reply to ChrisColumbus]

I don't buy or use any Nestlé product because of their illegal promotion of milk formula substitute in many developing countries. Thereby increasing infant deaths because parents have to mix formula with contaminated water.

Nestlé is BAD.

[SurvivorD in reply to ChrisColumbus]

That's why capsules are much better!!!

[Boldgirl45 in reply to Eryl]

Eryl - can I ask what make of glycinate you use? I will be avoiding Solgar as above (and had no idea Nestle now own that brand!!)

[Eryl in reply to Boldgirl45]

The brand that I'm currently taking are New Leaf which I get off ebay though I've recently found that they should be available from Superdrug and Amazon.

[Boldgirl45 in reply to Eryl]

Thanks Eryl!

[SEBARTA in reply to Eryl]

I use Swanson's Albion Magnesium Glycinate. They are offered in 130 mg capsules 90 per bottle. They are on sale. Two bottles for only $8.67 US.

[ChrisColumbus]

What I also found was that while magnesium helped me immediately (after I'd already established that my ferritin levels were high) all sorts of things stopped it appearing to help.

I identified medications that made RLS worse again for me - there's a whole list on the RLS-UK website - and stopped taking statins.

I also found that if I take too much sugar, alcohol or caffeine in the evenings, or 'diet' food and drink containing artificial sweeteners (particularly aspartame) at any time, RLS comes back.

[smilingjane in reply to ChrisColumbus]

Sorry to jump in on someone else's post, but. Quick query. Having a quick look at my my magnesium packet it is L-Threonate. Anybody have any experience/knowledge of this one.Thank you

Jane

[Eryl in reply to smilingjane]

This explains them all: youtu.be/hIAsSAgTRb4?si=UJw...(Not working as expected?)

[smilingjane in reply to Eryl]

Thank you Eryl

[smilingjane in reply to Eryl]

That is really helpful. Who would know so many differing positives in different magnesiums!!Thank you again

[ChrisColumbus in reply to smilingjane]

L-threonate is promoted as being bio-available - although I've not seen a comparative figure for it - but also because animal studies suggest that it may have benefits for cognitive function. If there is any evidence of this effect in humans I've not seen it (but it may exist).

[smilingjane in reply to ChrisColumbus]

I am planning to start a dose of 200 mg thrice daily. As opposed to 400 mg at night. Any improvement in cognitive ability. I will report back

[SueJohnson]

I believe you are taking iron to raise your ferritin. Be sure to take the magnesium at least 2 hours apart from the iron.

[SleepDepriv3d]

Some people seem to find magnesium helps, but if you read any of the scientific literature and listen/read recent updates by the RLS foundation, there is no scientific evidence whatsoever that magnesium helps (despite this being the first thing GPS tell you to do lol)

[amrob123 in reply to SleepDepriv3d]

It's interesting the number of people that do find that magnesium helps. I swore by it in pregnancy when i couldn't take usual meds but i'd never use it as a stand-alone therapy by choice. There was this recent small-scale study which showed that magnesium citrate improved (i.e. reduced) IRLS scores:

jcsm.aasm.org/doi/10.5664/j...

[SleepDepriv3d in reply to amrob123]

Thank you for sharing this study.

I’m glad it helped you in your pregnancy. I used oral magnesium, magnesium spray and patches during my pregnancy and they did nothing

[Pipsee22]

I take magnesium lysinate glycinate with B6 about an hour before bed. Seems to help me

[hscarangella]

What dose of B6 do you take?

[Pipsee22 in reply to hscarangella]

Just one pill.

[Bernaldi]

I never see the form of Mg that I take and have taken for a couple of decades -- not for RLS but for low Mg in general. If you have ever taken a fluoroquinolone antibiotic, very likely the fluoride has displaced Mg (and other minerals) and made you deficient, with deficiency symptoms. The form of Mg I take is called Mag-Tab SR. The tabs are time-released and I take six a day, in two doses. I think that's about 700mg, and I need all of it.

My understanding of glycinate (which gives me the runs) is that it may be helpful because the glycine pushes out glyphosate, and if you are having symptoms from glyphosate intake (Roundup) then the glycinate form of Mg would likely be helpful for that reason.

[ironbrain]

I buy magnesium citrate hydrate powder in 250 and 500 gram sizes, and take about a small teaspoon of it a day. I tend to sprinkle it in or on food. As it tends to clump, I mix about one-part tri-calcium phosphate to five of magnesium citrate, the tri-calcium phosphate acting as an anti-caking agent.

For me, the laxative effect passes within a few days.

Search

magnesium+glutamate+NMDA

to find out about probable action of magnesium in relation to RLS.

[anniekelnat]

I take mag. glycinate as well - recommended to me by a functional medicine doctor in US. I order from Amazon, the mfg. is PURE Capsulations.