*** Disclaimer – this is not medical advice. I am not a medical professional. You should consult with a medical professional before making changes to your supplement routine, in the case that a supplement may interact with a medication you’re currently taking
If you’ve read my post on why you should supplement with magnesium, you may be wondering where to start. Here is a list of some great magnesium supplements – I’ll give options for magnesium glycinate and magnesium citrate, since those are some of the most widely available and bioavailable forms.
When I look for good supplements, I’m looking for third party testing, minimal additional ingredients, and a reasonable dosage size (i.e. I don’t want to take 10 pills to get to the recommended daily dose). It’s important to be careful with supplements – some brands have really misleading (or incorrect) reporting on dosage amounts, and there isn’t a lot of regulation to protect the consumer. Here is a link about how general supplements are often off, and here is a link to a study about magnesium supplements on Amazon specifically. The people running the study found that their supplements are the best, so take this with a grain of (magnesium) salt….
Magnesium Glycinate
Magnesium glycinate is also sometimes called magnesium bisglycinate or magnesium diglycinate. This is the combination of magnesium and the amino acid glycine (which on its own, is super important for the human body too). Some great options include:
Pure Encapsulation – this is a great brand for supplements, as they seem to take third-party testing very seriously. Each pill is 120mg of magnesium.
NOW – this is the brand that tested products on Amazon, and they seem to have a pretty high standard. If their test is accurate, their pills have 100% soluble magnesium, which is important for absorption. Each pill has 200mg of magnesium.
Magnesium Citrate
Magnesium citrate will differ a bit from magnesium glycinate – since mag glycinate is paired with glycine, it is supposed to have more of an effect on your nervous system / anxiety. Magnesium citrate is more helpful for digestive symptoms.
Natural Vitality – this brand offers powders (flavored and unflavored) which easily dissolve into water, and third party testing has shown that the magnesium content is pretty close to the label. There are some concerns with arsenic concentration, but arsenic is also found in foods like sardines and mushrooms – as long as you are eating these foods / supplementing in moderation, you should be fine.
Magnesi-om – this is also a powder form of magnesium, and this particular mix contains different forms of magnesium. It contains magnesium gluconate in addition to magnesium citrate, which will help with getting all the different benefits of magnesium supplementation.