Magnesium Supplements Crash Course: Benefits and Side Effects

Suddenly, everyone is obsessed with magnesium supplements. It’s the cardinal constituent successful #sleepygirlmocktails, powders stirred into tart cherry foodstuff and prebiotic soda, a wellness cocktail for anxious millennials. Your coworkers are popping magnesium glycinate earlier furniture alternatively of melatonin, due to the fact that it allegedly cures insomnia, constipation, and existential dread. Folks look particularly acrophobic with optimizing their poop and pillow time. In the past year, Google searches for “which magnesium is champion for sleep” and “which magnesium makes you poop” person much than doubled.

Magnesium is indispensable for maintaining a steadfast cardiovascular system. It’s besides 1 of the astir abundant minerals successful the quality body, moving more than 300 biochemical reactions, from macromolecule synthesis to nervus relation and humor sweetener regulation. It supports bony operation and helps shuttle calcium and potassium crossed compartment membranes, a process that allows for musculus contractions and mean bosom rhythms.

You tin get it from foods similar legumes, leafy vegetables, and full grains, oregon from fortified foods and dietary supplements. The question is: Do you request to supplement?

Symptoms of Magnesium Deficiency

While an indispensable mineral for wide health, galore radical don't get capable magnesium. This is partially due to the fact that magnesium is predominantly recovered successful high-fiber foods, and a important information of Americans bash not devour capable fiber, according to registered dietitian Sue-Ellen Anderson-Haynes. Research confirms this: More than 90 percent of women and 97 percent of men neglect to conscionable the recommended regular intake for dietary fiber.

Older adults are peculiarly astatine risk, arsenic the body's quality to sorb magnesium decreases with age. Health conditions similar Crohn’s illness oregon kidney disease, intoxicant usage disorder, and the usage of diuretics tin each pb to magnesium depletion.

Anderson-Haynes notes that a magnesium deficiency (also known arsenic hypomagnesemia) tin effect successful a scope of symptoms, specified arsenic headaches, nausea, constipation, tremors, bosom palpitations, and musculus soreness. Chronic magnesium deficiency tin summation the hazard of processing precocious humor pressure, osteoporosis, insulin resistance, and benignant 2 diabetes.

Benefits of Magnesium Supplements

There are respective forms of magnesium supplements, including:

• Magnesium citrate: Often taken arsenic a remedy for occasional constipation.
• Magnesium glycinate: Often taken for amended slumber and reduced anxiety.
• Magnesium oxide: Often taken for constipation oregon indigestion.
• Magnesium l-threonate: Often taken for amended sleep, cognitive function, and reduced stress.
• Magnesium chloride: Often taken arsenic an electrolyte replenisher and for its laxative effect.

Supplements are astir utile for radical with a confirmed deficiency, but early probe suggests imaginable benefits for circumstantial conditions, including migraines, insomnia, and cardiovascular disease.

“It’s truly overlooked that magnesium tin assistance with menstrual rhythm irregularity successful presumption of making definite that you’re not having terrible cramping,” says Anderson-Haynes, who adds it whitethorn besides payment women successful perimenopause and menopause. Clinically, it whitethorn beryllium portion of the attraction for gestation complications similar preeclampsia and eclampsia.

Can You Take Too Much?

The recommended dietary allowance is 320 milligrams per time for women and 420 milligrams per time for men. These are amounts astir radical tin scope with a balanced diet; steadfast kidneys modulate magnesium levels, excreting excess erstwhile magnesium intake is precocious and conserving it erstwhile it’s low.

Daily supplements nether 350 milligrams are mostly considered harmless for steadfast adults. “If you instrumentality excessively overmuch magnesium, you’ll astir apt get diarrhea, due to the fact that it loosens the bowels,” Anderson-Haynes says. Other broadside effects see nausea, gastrointestinal discomfort, and, astatine precise precocious levels of magnesium (usually from overusing laxatives oregon antacids), debased humor pressure, musculus cramps, breathing problems, and, successful uncommon cases, cardiac arrest. People with kidney illness are astatine the highest hazard of toxicity.

Should You Supplement?

For astir steadfast adults, magnesium supplements aren’t essential. If you conflict with migraines, insomnia, oregon different conditions wherever probe suggests wellness benefits, they whitethorn beryllium worthy trying—but archetypal speech to a wellness attraction professional.

Otherwise, absorption connected magnesium-rich foods. These see but are not constricted to: legumes (beans, lentils, chickpeas), leafy greens (artichokes, kale, spinach), full grains (oats, barley, quinoa), nuts (almonds, cashews, peanuts), effect (bananas, avocado, dried apricots), and soy products (tofu, soy milk, edamame).

If you bash determine to instrumentality immoderate dietary supplements, “look for a seal oregon certification that says GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) oregon NSF,” says Anderson-Haynes, stressing the value of third-party tests and verifications, considering the FDA doesn't modulate dietary supplements successful the US.

Meet the Experts

• Sue-Ellen Anderson-Haynes, MS, RDN, CDCES, is simply a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and laminitis of 360Girls&Women.

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