Studies published in The Journal of Intensive Care Medicine, have shown that a deficiency in this critical nutrient can make you twice as likely to die early than others. It also accounts for a long list of symptoms and diseases — which are easily helped and often cured by simply adding this nutrient into your diet. In fact, this nutrient is one of my secret weapons against illness. Yet up to half of us are deficient in this nutrient and are unaware.
According to the World Health Organisation, many western countries display high rates of magnesium deficiency, with countries such as America and certain European countries failing to meet the recommended daily intake by as much as 80% of the population.
Possible signs that you could be magnesium deficient are:
• Muscle cramps or twitches
• Insomnia
• Irritability
• Sensitivity to loud noises
• Anxiety
• Autism
• ADD
• Palpitations
• Angina
• Constipation
• Anal spasms
• Headaches
• Migraines
• Fibromyalgia
• Chronic fatigue
• Asthma
• Kidney stone>
• Diabetes
• Obesity
• Osteoporosis
• High blood pressure
• PMS
• Menstrual cramps
• Irritable bladder
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Reflux
• Trouble swallowing
If you have more than one of the above symptoms, it is highly likely you could be deficient in magnesium, and could benefit from some sort of magnesium supplement.
Magnesium is necessary for many functions throughout the body such as;
• Relieves muscle cramp and twitches
• Decreases insulin resistance
• Provides rigidity and flexibility to your bones
• Increases absorption of calcium
• Regulates blood pressure
• Promotes restful sleep
• Lessens or removes ADD or ADHD in children
• Aids weight loss
• Treats asthma and emphysema
• Allows for proper vitamin D consumption
• Enhances circulation
• Helps prevent congestive heart failure
• Prevents and reverses kidney stones
• Lowers cholesterol levels and triglycerides
• Ends cluster and migrane headaches
• Helps make proteins
• Aids the digestion of carbohydrates
• Prevents osteoporosis
• Can prevent atherosclerosis and stroke
• Relieves fibromyalgia and chronic pain
• New evidence showing preventative roles in many cancers
• Inflammation in the body and higher CRP (c-reactive protein).
Therefore by adding enough Magnesium into your diet, you could help lower Magnesium deficiency linked to many of the problems associated, and reap the health benefits.
Magnesium has long been widely used throughout medicine, with doctors using it for many various ailments. It features as a critical part of the emergency room crash cart in the form of intravenous magnesium, used in life threatening arrhythmia (irregular heart beat). It has been used for constipation, or in the preparation of a colonoscopy, in the form of Milk of Magnesia or liquid Magnesium Citrate, which empties the bowels. It has also been used in association with pre-term labour, high blood pressure (pre-eclampsia) or seizures, and given intravenously in these cases.
With this in mind, why is it then, that so many of us are low in magnesium?
Tests conducted using conservative standards of measurement (blood, or serum magnesium levels), found 65% of people admitted to the intensive care unit and about 15% of the general population have a magnesium deficiency.
This method of testing, however, is a very inaccurate way of testing for deficiencies, as only about 1% of the bodies magnesium is actually located in the blood. Therefore the true rates of magnesium deficiency are bound to be much higher and many cases are left untreated due to these errors in readings.
The reason many of us are so deficient is simple: Many of us eat a diet containing practically no magnesium. Modern diets consisting on highly-processed, refined food containing white flour, meat, and dairy (all of which have no magnesium), contribute to the levels of magnesium consumed today dwindling to less than half of what it was a century ago.
Much of modern life conspires to help us lose what little magnesium we do in our diet. Magnesium levels are decreased by excess alcohol, salt, coffee, phosphoric acid found in colas, profuse sweating (with exercise), prolonged or intense stress, chronic diarrhoea, excessive menstruation, diuretics (water pills), antibiotics and other medications, and some intestinal parasites. In fact, one study in Kosovo, found people dealing with chronic war stress lost large amounts of magnesium in their urine.
This is all further complicated by the fact that magnesium is often poorly absorbed and easily lost from our bodies. To properly absorb magnesium we need a lot of it in our diet, plus enough vitamin B6, vitamin D, and selenium to get the job done.
It is difficult to measure and hard to study, but magnesium deficiency accounts for much untold suffering — and is simple to correct. If you suffer from any of the symptoms mentioned or have any of the diseases noted, don’t worry — it can be easy to fix!!
The Relaxation Mineral
Think of magnesium as the relaxation mineral. It is a great antidote to stress, helping improve anything tight, cramping or stiff – whether part of the body or mood, and can help improve sleep.
Magnesium is actually responsible for over 300 enzyme reactions and is found in all body tissue — but mainly in your bones, muscles, and brain. It is a vital mineral in order for your cells to make energy, for many different chemical pumps to work, to stabilise membranes, and to help relax muscles.
When was the last time you had a good dose of seaweed, nuts, greens, and beans? If you are like most westerners, your nut consumption mostly comes from peanut butter.
That is why the list of conditions that are found relating to magnesium deficiency is so long. In fact, there are over 3,500 medical references on magnesium deficiency!
Stop Draining Your Body of Magnesium
• Limit coffee, colas, salt, sugar, and alcohol intake
• Limit processed foods
• Learn how to practice active relaxation, (tensing then relaxing different muscles)
• Check with your doctor if your medication is causing magnesium loss (many high blood pressure drugs or diuretics cause a loss of magnesium)
Adding Magnesium into your body
Include the following in your diet as often as you can:
Kelp, wheat bran, wheat germ, almonds, cashews, buckwheat, Brazil nuts, dulse, filberts, millet, pecans, walnuts, rye, tofu, soy beans, brown rice, figs, dates, collard greens, shrimp, avocado, parsley, beans, barley, dandelion greens, and garlic.
Use MagnesiumLife Transdermal Magnesium Chloride to Raise your levels safely and effectively.
Use other supplements such as tablets or liquid form which can be added to your diet.
Due to the fact that magnesium is often hard to absorb into the body, due to low vitamin D, poor gut bacteria and a number of other conditions, it is recommended to include a magnesium supplement into your diet, as increasing your levels by food alone is often difficult. Transdermal supplementation is deemed one of the best forms of supplementation.
A recent scientific review of magnesium concluded, “It is highly regrettable that the deficiency of such an inexpensive, low-toxicity nutrient results in diseases that cause incalculable suffering and expense throughout the world.” I couldn’t have said it better myself!