Author: Jan

Listened to a brief presentation by Dr.Alan Gaby about magnesium and it kindled my continued interest in the importance of this mineral for immune, bone, muscle and nerve health, most Canadians are deficient in this mineral, our foods and soils are low in magnesium, deficiency is a sign of poor diet or insufficient diet as well as an outcome of alcohol abuse or drug interaction with thiazides, Lasix and proton pump inhibitors, drugs that many of our clients with chronic disease take regularly.  Deficiency is often seen with psychosomatic, osteoporosis, heart disease, depression, diabetes and many GI disorders with spasming stomach, possibly irritable bowel disease.  He also associated magnesium with asthma, migraines, kidney stone reoccurrence, chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia, and pain management.  Although it may be required for all of these conditions, the bottom line is that we should certainly should be aware of its importance and weary of the side effects of too much, which include diarrhea or complications in renal disease or with certain medications including ACE inhibitors.  Magnesium from supplements should not exceed 350 mg/day.

Foods that are rich in magnesium include nuts, seeds, soy, legumes, whole grains, dairy, fish and some vegetables.  The requirement is 400-420 mg/day for men and 310-320/day for women.  Some people are very sensitive to oral magnesium, and may experience diarrhea, usually there is a bowel tolerance rule, it can be given by IV, or orally concentrated, chelated, magnesium oxalate, aspartate and gluconate are all available supplements.

By the way,  if you are a gardener, you may want to add Epsom salts to the soil regularly and for that matter, one can throw Epsom salts in your bath, for topical absorption, its magnesium sulfate so you don’t have to worry aboutsodium!