Vibrant Lives Podcast - Magnesium & Your Health

Magnesium is essential to our health and our bodies need it to function. Listen to this Five Minute Food Facts episode to find out what magnesium is, all the amazing things is does in our bodies, where we find magnesium in our food supply and how much we need.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to Vibrant Lives podcast,

Formerly Amanda's wellbeing podcast,

Five minute food facts series.

I'm Amanda Hayes,

Your host,

A lawyer turned nutritionist with a passion for learning about how to live a vibrant life through practising mindfulness and meditation,

Eating a nourishing and healthy diet and moving my body.

And for me,

That involves mainly trail running and triathlon and sharing what I learn with you on this podcast.

Please note that any information or advice provided in Vibrant Lives podcast is not intended to be used to treat,

Cure or prevent injuries,

Disease or medical conditions.

And it is never a substitute for advice from your own health professionals.

Today,

I will be talking about magnesium,

Including the roles magnesium plays in our bodies,

Where we obtain it in our diet,

And what happens if we don't get enough or too much of it.

So first of all,

What is magnesium?

Magnesium is essential to our health,

Indeed to our life and our bodies need it to function.

It is the fourth most abundant mineral in the human body.

And the adult body contains about 22 to 26 grams of magnesium.

It's a prime mover in our metabolism,

And is involved in over 80% of known metabolic reactions,

And also in more than 300 enzyme reactions,

Often acting as a co-factor,

In other words,

A helper molecule in those reactions.

I mentioned that the adult body contains between 22 and 26 grams of magnesium.

So where is it?

50 to 60% of body magnesium is incorporated into our bones.

Most of the rest is found in our soft tissue,

Including our skeletal muscle.

And only about 1% of total body magnesium is found in the extracellular fluid.

So that's things like blood serum and red blood cells.

And there it works as an electrolyte,

And this helps maintain the fluid balance in our bodies.

So some of the amazing things that magnesium is involved with in our bodies include metabolism,

It helps convert food into energy,

And in particular,

The body's use of glucose to create energy.

It's involved in protein synthesis,

Which means creating new proteins from amino acids and contributing to the structural development of bones.

It plays a role in gene maintenance,

Including creating and repairing DNA and RNA.

It's important in muscle function,

And it works with calcium to regulate the contraction and relaxation of muscles.

It's also part of our nervous system regulation.

It helps regulate neurotransmitters,

Which send messages throughout our brains and nervous system.

It is also critical to heart function,

Including electrical conduction in the heart,

And blood pressure regulation.

And it seems to have a role in protecting against hypertension.

Clearly,

Magnesium is a very important mineral that we need to consume.

Where do we find magnesium in our diets?

It's naturally present in many foods,

And is therefore quite abundant in our food supply.

So some of the richest sources of magnesium include green leafy vegetables,

Like spinach.

And that's because magnesium is part of the chlorophyll molecule,

Which is responsible for the green colour of plants.

It's also found in whole grains and nuts,

Especially almonds and cashews,

And seeds like pumpkin seeds,

Legumes,

Bananas and dark chocolate.

Yay!

Fruit,

Meat and fish are moderate sources of magnesium,

And dairy foods have poor levels.

So it's great to know where we can find it in our food supply,

But how much do we need?

According to the National Health and Medical Research Council,

Here in Australia that is,

The recommended dietary intake for men is about 400 to 420 milligrams per day,

And for women it is 310 to 320 milligrams per day,

Going up slightly during pregnancy.

So those figures themselves are really not all that meaningful unless we know what that looks like or how it translates into the food we eat.

So to give you an example,

If you ate the following foods over the course of a day,

You would be consuming 400 milligrams of magnesium,

And that would be a quarter of a cup of pumpkin seeds,

Plus half a cup of boiled spinach,

Plus a slice of whole wheat bread.

I mean the big question is,

Do we get enough magnesium?

It is estimated that Australians don't consume the recommended amount of magnesium,

However that said,

Frank deficiency symptoms are rarely observed,

Except in people with certain diseases,

For example kidney disease,

Because kidneys are integral to the regulation of the concentration of magnesium in our body.

So therefore if they're not working properly,

The regulation of magnesium in our bodies is not working properly.

Also it's seen in alcohol abuse,

Malabsorption due to gastrointestinal diseases like Crohn's disease,

Or prolonged vomiting or diarrhoea.

There are also some prescription medications that can interfere with magnesium absorption and retention in our bodies,

Including some antibiotics,

Diuretics,

Allergy and asthma medications.

So this is obviously something that you will need to talk to your medical practitioner about if you are taking any of those types of medications,

Because not all of them will interfere with magnesium absorption.

The problem with subclinical magnesium deficiency is that it may not have any overt symptoms,

But chronic low magnesium status,

Because it has so many roles in our bodies,

May impact one's risk for hypertension,

Kidney disease and other disorders.

Deficiency symptoms when they do occur can include nausea,

Fatigue,

Weakness and sleep disturbances.

On the other end of the scale,

Can we have too much magnesium?

Well yes,

We can.

Magnesium toxicity is very rare,

Yet in the extreme it can actually be fatal.

It is almost impossible to reach toxic levels from food sources alone,

So to reach magnesium toxicity it really means someone needs to have taken it in supplement form.

The most common side effect of excess magnesium is diarrhoea,

So it's not a surprise to hear that magnesium is often one of the main ingredients in laxatives.

We often hear about magnesium as an ergogenic,

That means performance enhancing aid in sport.

In theory this really makes sense,

Because of its integral role in energy production and muscle function.

However to date,

Studies in healthy athletes have not really borne this out.

Another thing we often hear about is magnesium in relation to muscle cramps,

And since magnesium plays a role in muscle contraction,

It has been hypothesized that magnesium deficiency might cause muscle cramps.

Again,

No convincing evidence has been seen in clinical trials,

Except for in the case of pregnant women,

Where some trials have found that magnesium supplements do help reduce muscle cramps.

If you go into a pharmacy or a health food shop,

You will often see a huge array of magnesium supplements available,

And they are marketed to promote relaxation in times of stress,

And to support metabolic pathways and improve sleep quality.

Supplements come in different formations,

For example magnesium oxide and magnesium citrate.

Some are more soluble and therefore easily absorbed by the body than others.

For example,

Magnesium citrate is better absorbed than magnesium oxide.

I'm not really going to go into this here,

But if you want to take a magnesium supplement,

I would suggest it's a good idea to speak with your health professional first to work out the best formulation for you.

I also confess that because I do a lot of exercise,

From time to time I take magnesium supplements as a kind of insurance policy to prevent any deficiency,

And I've certainly not noticed any downsides.

So my dietary tip in terms of ensuring you obtain enough magnesium is to eat a variety of unprocessed foods and try to include leafy greens and nuts and seeds every day if you can.

Thank you very much for listening today,

I do hope you found the episode interesting.

Eat well,

Move well,

Think well.

Reviews

Really Informative thank you for broadening my understanding in all aspects of magnesium. Please keep sharing your vast knowledge and experience. I’m so happy to have found your guidance to add to my tool
belt. 🥰💜🙏💜🥰

Woohoo, magnesium! Thanks so much 🖤 I love your voice and pace.

very interesting and informative, thank you

Excellent info. 💜

What about the oxalates in leafy green vegetables?

Thank you so much for this piece of information have a blessed day 😊

Great info. Thx. 4 months ago I started taking Mg for sleep trouble. It's helping. For insomnia, Mg, peanut butter and warm milk put me to sleep 💤 😴