It will help you calm down and relax muscles.
It’s deficiency is the hidden cause of chocolate cravings.
It is deficient in the soils where our food grows, so most of us are deficient unless we supplement.
Have you heard this about the mineral magnesium?
If there is truth to these statements, then how do we get enough? The current adult Recommended Daily Allowance for magnesium is 420 milligrams. To get that in food you might include these in your diet:
- 1/2 cup cooked spinach for 77 mg
- 1/2 ounce pumpkin seeds for 75 mg
- 1/2 cup cooked black beans for 60 mg
- 1 medium avocado for 58 mg
- salmon fillet (178g) for 53 mg
- 1/2 ounce cashews for 41 mg
- 1 ounce dark chocolate for 41 mg
- 1 large banana for 37 mg
You would have to eat all of these in one day to get your daily intake! For most of us, we will want to supplement.
In the supplement section of your local drugstore or health food store you see many different forms of magnesium. Which one should you buy? As for most topics in health, it is not as simple as one answer for everyone.
Magnesium comes in different forms, and each form is used for a different purpose. Let’s look at the forms of magnesium you can buy, and when you might want to use each one.
Dissolving Epsom salts in your bath water gives you magnesium sulfate, often recommended for a relaxing bath. However, research is inconclusive about whether the effect you get is from the absorption of magnesium; you might be relaxing from taking time out sitting reclined in the hot bath water. Either way, if it works, then continue to do it! Just realize you are not helping fulfill your daily magnesium needs this way.
Topical magnesium preparations usually contain magnesium chloride. This is good for targeting tight or spastic muscles, as it easily absorbs where you need it. However, it is a drop in the bucket for your overall daily magnesium needs. In fact, if you were sufficient in magnesium, you most likely would not get muscle cramps! (unless you were dehydrated)
Then, what should we be taking for our baseline levels of magnesium?
If you go to one of those stores beginning in “Wal-“ or “Cost-“ you might find loads of inexpensive magnesium. When you read the label, you see “magnesium oxide.” It turns out that this is just about as good as eating dirt.
Our bodies are designed to absorb minerals from plants, in a matrix in which it is attached to an organic molecule. We can absorb a very limited amount of minerals in their inorganic form, and that is what magnesium oxide is. Magnesium oxide is only about four percent absorbed; your body was simply not designed to take in more this way. Therefore, magnesium oxide is a poor way to supplement if you expect to get sufficient magnesium into your body.
One form of magnesium that you will want look at taking is magnesium glycinate. Its forte is relaxing and calming as well as affecting blood flow to cool you down, so it often helps to take it before bed. It calms and relaxes this for several reasons. This magnesium is attached to the glycine molecule, which is an organic molecule so the body absorbs it better and faster. The effect of glycine itself is also calming, being an amino acid neurotransmitter. In addition, this form is resistant to being digested by stomach acid, so it persists to be absorbed in the intestines. For short-acting relaxation, magnesium glycinate is the way to go.
An adjunct form of magnesium to use for stress and injury is magnesium taurate. It is often used in conjunction with other forms but not so much used by itself. Magnesium taurate works through the GABA neurotransmitter pathways to calm. In addition, it helps by scavenging free radicals produced by white blood cells while repairing injury.
The form of magnesium which is most useful for preventing muscle cramps and for energy is magnesium malate. This is the workhorse form of magnesium that your body can absorb. Malic acid naturally occurs in your cells and supplementing with it helps your energy production keep going when oxygen is low, such as when exercising vigorously or at high altitude. In addition, magnesium malate can prevent muscle cramps by helping make efficient the energy production in your muscles so they can continue to contract and relax. When you take magnesium malate in a sustained-release form, you are getting this benefit throughout the day and night.
High power athletes often use magnesium orotate for performance along with magnesium malate for recovery. Magnesium orotate helps athletes avoid the burn of lactic acid accumulation in muscles, so they can work out longer and harder. This form of magnesium is a great adjunct supplement if you want to push your body to its limits.
Only one form of magnesium, magnesium L-threonate, crosses the blood-brain-barrier, resulting in improved cognitive function. This magnesium L-threonate helps nerve cells in the brain to grow denser connections and form new pathways. This results in more information getting through at a faster rate for clearer thinking. This is especially useful for students and people as they get older.
To be complete, we must also include magnesium citrate. This is in the solution you take to clean yourself out before you have a colonoscopy. It is also used for constipation relief in tablets at much lower doses, because a little goes a long way. You do not absorb any significant amount of magnesium from this form. Instead, magnesium citrate draws water into the intestines and somewhat relaxes the smooth muscle wall, resulting in easy expulsion of stool.
If you find yourself eating 10 ounces of dark chocolate at a sitting, you might realize that you are trying to make up for a magnesium deficiency and may want to supplement in other ways.
The first form of magnesium to consider is magnesium malate to prevent muscle cramps and for energy. It works best in a time-released form so you have a steady supply. If you need to calm down to sleep, you may want to add magnesium glycinate before bed. Finally, if you want to improve cognitive function, magnesium L-threonate is the form to supplement.
All of these are available in my office or through Fullscript, my mail-order supplement service. Contact me to get registered for Fullscript or for an office visit to find out what is appropriate for you. Comment below what you have already discovered about magnesium for your body and lifestyle.
