Dr. Jeethan Bendoor
M.B.B.S.
Private Practitioner, Metabolic and Anti-ageing Enthusiast, Mumbai
Correspondence: E-mail: drbendoor@gmail.com
We do not think much about micronutrients like magnesium like we do about iron. Magnesium is central in my medical practice. Here are some facts about magnesium:
- Magnesium is the fourth most common mineral in the human body after calcium, sodium, and potassium.
- Magnesium is the second most common intracellular cation after potassium.
- Within the frame of a 70 kg individual, there is an average of 25 grams of Mg in reserve with:
- 53% in bone
- 27% in muscle
- 19% in soft tissues
- less than 1% in the serum.
Because less than 1% of magnesium is detectable in serum, which does not reflect intracellular magnesium, the latter making up more than 99% of total body magnesium, most cases of magnesium deficiency are undiagnosed, when serum levels are used as a diagnostic criteria for hypomagnesemia or deficiency.
Abnormalities of serum Mg may be the most underdiagnosed serum electrolyte abnormality in clinical practice today; the incidence ranges from 12.5% to 20%. Detecting magnesium-based health challenges (Table 1) needs a deep understanding of the mineral , both from a medical/nutritional practitioner's point-of-view as well as the individual's.
Table 1: Signs of magnesium challenges.
The reason for magnesium challenges to manifest in a wide range of signs (Table 1) is because it is involved as a cofactor in more than 300 enzyme systems, as well as is required in fundamental processes such as energy production and nucleic acid synthesis (Table 2).
Table 2: Physiological roles of magnesium
So, how does one become hypo-magnesemic or magnesium-deficient? In many cases, it is because of poor food choices and reduced absorption that result in low intracellular and bone levels of magnesium.(Figure).
Figure: Causes of chronic magnesium deficiency.
Basic magnesium requirements can be addressed by consuming food rich in magnesium, as well as from magnesium supplements that are available in various salt forms in the nutraceutical space (Table 3).
Table 3: Table 3- Selected magnesium supplements and therapeutic uses.
The take-home message here is that magnesium is a crucial micronutrient that gets very little importance. It is high time we understand how to recognise address hypo-magnesemia-based-challenges.
Figures, tables and text have been adapted from :
1. Schwalfenberg GK, et al. The Importance of Magnesium in Clinical Healthcare. Scientifica 2017, Article ID 4179326, 14 pages https://doi.org 10.1155/2017/4179326
2. DiNicolantonio JJ, et al. Open Heart 2018;5:e000668. doi:10.1136/
3. Ismail AAA, et al. Chronic magnesium deficiency and human disease; time for reappraisal? QJM: An International Journal of Medicine, 2018, 759–763
4. Nielsen FH. Magnesium: Basic Nutritional Aspects. Molecular, Genetic, and Nutritional Aspects of Major and Trace Minerals. 2017 Elsevier Inc. .http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-802168-2.00025-7
