Minerals - Zinc, Magnesium & Selenium results

[CaroMaxx]

Please would someone point me in the right direction for optimal mineral levels. I did a recent minerals blood test with Get Tested. (See picture of results) I’m thinking my Zinc & Magnesium are not optimal as they’re quite low on the scale. My selenium is high so I’ll cut back on the Brazil nuts for a bit

[Jaydee1507 Administrator]

I have removed the image as it showed your name. You can edit this post to add a new image or post it in the comments as a reply.

[CaroMaxx in reply to Jaydee1507]

Sorry I missed that second mention of my name. I had already cropped it but sone it again now 😊

Minerals blood test results

[humanbean]

I have always worked on the basis for nutrients that if I have no specific information or research material on what constitutes optimal then I will assume that mid-range is a good level, or at least is safe.

[CaroMaxx in reply to humanbean]

Thank you 🙏🏽 I’ll aim to increase my magnesium and zinc. Any research on the best magnesium supplements? There’s so many it’s confusing

[humanbean in reply to CaroMaxx]

Magnesium is one of the difficult minerals - testing for it is very unreliable.

If you look at this link : ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

and scroll down to Table 2 you'll see that :

0.3% of the body's magnesium is found in the serum,

0.5% in the red blood cells,

19.3% in the soft tissue,

27% in the muscles,

52.9% in the bone.

When the body's magnesium runs low in the blood it will be stolen from the other sources of magnesium in the soft tissue, muscle and bone. The result is that it is not common for the blood to be deficient in magnesium but other parts of the body could be very deficient.

There are claims that testing the red blood cells for magnesium is more reliable than testing whole blood, but given the amounts of magnesium in both I'm not convinced. And testing the red blood cells for anything is much more expensive than testing whole blood.

Someone who wants to take magnesium supplements should only do so if they know that their kidneys are functional. Excess magnesium is excreted via the kidneys. If the kidneys don't work then magnesium can build up in the body to toxic levels.

Anyone with poor kidney function might want to read this before taking magnesium.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

...

Best magnesium supplements are discussed in these links - note they don't all agree so read several and decide which one you want to try, if any.

drjockers.com/best-magnesiu...

naturalnews.com/046401_magn...

explore.globalhealing.com/t...

...

Just for reference :

Magnesium deficiency : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magne...

Magnesium toxicity : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyper...

[asidist in reply to CaroMaxx]

CaroMaxx, unless you have a restrictive diet, you can also relatively easily get good amounts of magnesium from foods and my understanding is it's better absorbed via foods as well.

Some foods high in magnesium off the top of my head include legumes (especially moth beans), whole grains, nuts and seeds (in my diet almonds and pumpkin seeds are staple high sources, and pumpkin seeds are high in zinc as well, which I know you are looking to increase), and oats.

The daily intake recommended for middle aged adult females in the US is 320 mg but I think 400 is a better goal to shoot for, especially for hypos given we can have difficulties with absorption. I find most days I can get upwards of 400 mg of magnesium if I'm being conscious about it (I use a nutrition tracker app) and typically at least 300 if not (and on those days I'll supplement 1-200 mg). I def notice a difference and feel better getting most of my mag from foods (less cramping etc). And we get other essential nutrients our bodies need when eating healthy high magnesium whole foods.