MAGNESIUM- IS IT ESSENTIAL ?
how many of you like to play the supportive role the editor in a creative team the offensive line on a football team the Healer in a video game despite being crucial to the success of whatever they’re trying to accomplish. These roles can easily be overlooked or underappreciated and even the nutrition world is not exempt from this see your body has a lot of complex chemical processes that go through an order of operations in order to do really anything.
Every bodily function has a multitude of actual physical ingredients
elements compounds enzymes hormones that form the most efficient team you’ve ever seen each of these will trigger another which will trigger yet another automatically accounting for inconsistencies inefficiencies and having fail safe after in order to keep your body handling as well as possible the human body is most impressive and reliable mechanism on the face of the Earth and it’s not even close that is as long it’s given what it needs and there’s one nutrient in particular that seems to have its metaphorical hand in everything supporting.
every bodily process you could possibly imagine let’s take a peek behind the curtain see who’s really pulling all the strings and get back into the true nutrients magnesium is undeniably one of the most important minerals in the body though it gets noticeably less attention than many others it was first discovered in 1808 by British chemist Humphrey Davey and it is considered to be an essential nutrient meaning it is absolutely necessary for Optimal Health and function but the body cannot produce it on its own thus it must be consumed
Magnesium like many other minerals is classified as an electrolyte a particle that carries a charge in this case positive charge the overwhelming majority of magnesium is found intracellularly. About 60% of the body’s magnesium is found in the bones while most of the rest it is in skeletal muscle and soft tissue less than 1% of it is actually found circulating in the blood magnesium levels are mainly controlled by the kidneys as it excretes a noteworthy amount over 100 milligram per day the kidneys do however reduce excretion rates when magnesium concentration is low.
interestingly despite how critical magnesium is it not required to be on the standard nutrition label at least not yet that is unless there’s extra magnesium added to a certain product all in magnesium is a fairly standard micronutrient but it is very unique in what it does unlike most other nutrients we’ve covered thus far magnesium doesn’t have many functions that it itself performs is needed for the structure of proteins in certain organel specifically the mitochondria which is say it with me the PowerHouse of the cell when it’s stored it’s also used for the structure of Bones strengthening calcium phosphate but pretty much everything else magnesium does is related to it being a co-factor effectively a helper molecule assisting in or triggering chemical reactions performed by enzymes currently magnesium is known to be a co-factor in over 300 enzyme systems basically regulating everything some of the most important functions that magnesium has a heavy hand in regulating include the following protein synthesis from amino acids including DNA creation having a stabilizing effect on DNA stimulating RNA transcription and translation kicking off the enzymes that play a role in preventing or removing DNA damage muscular contraction and relaxation acting as a natural calcium blocker to help muscles relax by competing for the same binding spots that calcium uses for stimulation this effectively prevents muscle overexertion cramps or spasms this also applies to your heart muscles working in tandm with calcium to maintain a healthy heartbeat brain and nervous system preservation acting as a gatekeeper for nerve cells magnesium measures strength of triggers preventing weak signals from unnecessarily stimulating nerve cells without magnesium nerve cells can become overstimulated potentially resulting in damage or even their death realistically though I’m not going to sit here and list 300 reasons why you would die without magnesium so I’m just going to Rapid Fire off a list of some the ones that might catch your attention.
proper magnesium consumption contributes to lowered blood pressure and sugar levels improved mood combating anxiety and depression Aid with proper sleep stabilization of ATP generating reactions effectively having an impact on everything that requires energy many factors related to immune Health transportation of ions like calcium and potassium across cell membranes activation of the parathyroid hormone proper handling of blood sugar and lactate during exercise and recovery from exercise related muscle damage and
many many more like I said magnesium has a supporting role in pretty much everything and if you don’t have it in the right amounts only question is what part of your body going to fail you first so what exactly is the right amount of magnesium well an average human body contains about 20 to 25 G of magnesium the standard recommended daily intake for magnesium is 400 milligram for men and 310 for women this is obviously higher when pregnant and in general slightly goes up with age magnesium is absorbed at a roughly 30 to 40% rate
mainly in the small intestine absorption rate is shown to fairly increase when protein and vitamin D are sufficient and it’s shown to be less efficient when in the presence of certain antinutrients like phate the estimations for how much of the population is magnesium deficient varies from roughly 15 to 30% not as much certain other nutrients we’ve covered in the past but still an alarming amounts given how much magnesium impacts most of the time insufficient magnesium is due to a lack of it in the diet but course other more rare medical
conditions can be the cause now insufficient magnesium is called hypomagnesemia and it may be asymptomatic for a little while however hypomagnesemia has the potential to contribute to all sorts of bad things the most noteworthy being the usual nausea fatigue and loss of appetite anxiety depression migraines over stimulation of Senses muscle cramps high blood pressure type 2 diabetes heart disease chronic inflammation osteoporosis Etc again basically every chemical function in the body is reliant on magnesium for support now on the
other end too much magnesium is called hypermagnesemia it’s exceptionally rare and almost never a nutritional issue but more of a medical one same as usual if you have any concerns again I say go get your blood mineral levels measured and go from there all right last stretch let’s talk about good sources of magnesium now the first thing I want to mention is minerals in water drinking water on average contains about 10 Mig per liter of magnesium I also forgot to mention in my last video that this is the case with calcium as well
drinking water containing on average 20 mg per liter of calcium now on to the food sources you can find Trace Amounts of magnesium in pretty much every food out there but are some food groups and individual foods that are much better sources when it comes to plant Foods nuts and seeds are the most magnesium dense leafy green vegetables are a good low calorie source and beans and unprocessed grains also contain a noteworthy amount special mention to True dark chocolate as well for its surprisingly great magnesium contribution now looking at animal Foods. Magnesium is not quite as dense or accessible but there’s still a variety of options similar to many other micronutrients the best sources come from the sea most notably fatty fish Crustaceans and mollusks like cuttlefish and octopus land Meats on the other hand are a fine Source but you’d be hard pressed to consume enough exclusively from them magnesium is not the most accessible mineral but it is far from the least if you ever find yourself struggling to get enough again I encourage you to go test your blood mineral levels first but keep in mind the Magnesium supplements are a thing they’re actually one of the most commonly used micro supplements and are shown to be very safe in recommended amounts when we start getting this deep nutrition conceptually starts getting more complicated while a better understanding of how food and nutrients affects your body is not going to hurt you there is definitely a threshold that an average person should know most bodies can take care of themselves when given what they need and trust me when I tell you that they need this one for the average person just Embrace eating with intent do your best to find the balance between function nutrient density pleasure and consistency.