Magnesium Health Watch

Millions of Americans suffer from sleep problems.  It’s particularly common to experience changes in your sleep patterns as seasonal changes in sunlight can trigger sleep disorders.  We’ve been talking a lot about how to address sleep problems through your diet.  This includes B vitamins that promote wakefulness during the day found in foods like whole grain sand leafy greens.   Also, stay away from caffeine even several hours before bedtime.

Magnesium is one mineral that can help relax the body and help alleviate insomnia.

“Known as the “anti-stress” mineral, magnesium relaxes the body and calms the nervous system. Eat foods rich in magnesium–pumpkin seeds, almonds, and green vegetables–at or after dinner and take a magnesium supplement just before bed (combine with bone-builders calcium and vitamin D for best results). Begin with 150 mg of magnesium and increase if necessary.”

Eat Your Way to a Restful Sleep — baltimoresun.com.

We haven’t been posting much specifically about coral calcium lately, but much like other supplements, its usefulness and claims are often called into question.   We like to share both the positive and negative information about mineral supplements, especially magnesium and calcium, so that you can make an informed decision.

Coral calcium is calcium carbonate, which is the most common type of calcium supplement available. Coral calcium isn’t chemically different from other calcium carbonate products.  Several years ago, claims of its disease-curing properties lead to an FTC ruling against Robert Barefoot and its coral calcium products.  However, the products are still available and widely popular, minus some of the original claims.

Some negatives raised about coral calcium include its cost.  Also, there have been dangerous amounts of certain metals present that may be unsafe.   We also haven’t seen evidence that coral calcium is more effective than regular old calcium supplements.  Be sure to get as much information as you can find before deciding to take a mineral supplement like coral calcium.

Be Wary of Coral Calcium and Robert Barefoot.

Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night with leg cramps?  There are many remedies for this irritating and painful condition, where your leg or foot will flex without your intending.

Studies have shown that in addition to Vitamin E, other mineral therapies such as magnesium may reduce leg cramping, by addressing the all-too-common magnesium deficiency.

Here’s more detail:

“Low levels of certain minerals known as electrolytes—magnesium, potassium, calcium and sodium—have long been linked to leg cramps. (Marathon runners sweating out the miles are particularly prone to this variety.) Certain drugs, such as diuretics (water pills) for the heart and for high blood pressure, have also been cited as a cause of leg cramps. Dialysis patients, who have their blood filtered by a machine because their kidneys don’t work properly, often complain of leg cramps. And pregnancy, it seems, is also a factor”

Prevention’s Healing with Vitamins Leg Cramps.

Colon cancer is one of the most curable cancers when detected early.  Research from Vanderbilt University has indicated that it is the proper balance of magnesium and calcium levels that reduces the risk of colon cancer.  As you’ve probably seen, calcium and magnesium combination supplements are extremely common because too-high levels of calcium can deplete magnesium.  This balance is essential not only in addressing colon cancer but a variety of conditions.

The article states:

Both high magnesium and calcium levels have been linked to reduced risks of the disease, but studies have also shown that high calcium levels inhibit the absorption of magnesium.

“According to Qi Dai, MD, PhD, and co-workers, Americans have high calcium intake, but also a high incidence of colorectal cancer. “If calcium levels were involved alone, you’d expect the opposite direction. There may be something about these two factors combined – the ratio of one to the other – that might be at play,” said Dai.

At the AACR conference, the researchers report results from a large clinical trial that found indeed that supplementation of calcium only reduced the risk of cancer recurrence if the ratio of calcium to magnesium was low, and remained low during the intervention period.

“The risk of colorectal cancer adenoma recurrence was reduced by 32 per cent among those with baseline calcium to magnesium ratio below the median in comparison to no reduction for those above the median,” said Dai”

Magnesium may be key to calcium’s cancer benefits: study.

This site is a great resource for information on nutrition and wellness.  It includes ‘fact sheets’ on topics, providing basic information on things like minerals.  For example, the magnesium fact sheet includes symptoms of deficiency, levels of toxicity, sources, recommended daily allowance and its physiological functions.

“Magnesium has roles in energy metabolism, muscle contraction, and nerve impulse transmission, and bone mineralization. It is a required cofactor for an estimated 300 enzymes. Among the reactions catalyzed by these enzymes are fatty acid synthesis, protein synthesis, and glucose metabolism. Magnesium status is important for regulation of calcium balance through parathyroid hormone-mediated reactions. Secretion of parathyroid hormone and end-organ responsiveness to the hormone are dependent on availability of the mineral.

As a positively charged divalent cation, magnesium acts as a calcium antagonist at the cell membrane level which is necessary to maintain normal electrical potentials and to coordinate muscle contraction-relaxation responses. In muscle, increased intracellular calcium concentration triggers contraction while increased intracellular magnesium concentration counteracts this effect resulting in relaxation. Magnesium is also involved in metabolism of ATP which enables release of energy stored in the high-energy phosphate ester bond. It is also a potent vasodilator. Magnesium and calcium coordinate the constriction/relaxation of capillary blood vessels which contributes to regulation of blood pressure.”

Nutrition Fact Sheet: Magnesium, Nutrition, Feinberg School of Medicine.