eggs and carrots

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Why Everyone Should Take Magnesium Supplements

*** 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

Magnesium is the 12th element in the periodic table. In pure concentrated form, it’s a shiny gray metal, but in trace amounts, it’s a very important part of your body’s functions.

Magnesium is naturally present in many different foods. It’s in dark chocolate, beans, nuts and seeds, dark leafy greens, avocados, and animal products. However, due to various factors like mineral depletion in the soil, medications that deplete the body of magnesium, and the prevalence of processed foods in the diet, most people are probably deficient in magnesium. Let’s take a closer look at magnesium, and why it might be worth supplementing!

What Magnesium Does in Your Body

Magnesium is a cofactor for many chemical reactions that happen in your body – that means without magnesium, the chemical reaction won’t happen. This includes the chemical reactions that lead to protein synthesis, blood glucose control, blood pressure control, bone development, and even DNA/RNA synthesis! It also helps transport ions across membranes, which is important for processes like nerve function and heart rhythm.

Magnesium is also important for processing other important nutrients. Vitamin D helps you absorb calcium, which is important for a healthy skeleton. In turn, your body needs magnesium to metabolize vitamin D – without magnesium, your body won’t be able to absorb it! In this way, magnesium can help with absorbing calcium as well.

Benefits of Supplementing Magnesium

As you can probably imagine, since magnesium plays such an important role in your body, there are a lot of positive effects to supplementing with magnesium! A few of the potential benefits are:

Different Types of Magnesium Supplements

If you want to start supplementing magnesium, you have a few different options. In supplement form, you won’t see magnesium on its own – it is usually paired with another compound. The different pairings can result in different effects and different levels of absorption.

There has been a good amount of research into the bioavailability of different versions of magnesium – for example, it seems like magnesium citrate is more bioavailable than magnesium oxide. In mice, magnesium pidolate, citrate, gluconate and aspartate were best absorbed. Magnesium glycinate (which by the way, is the same compound magnesium bisglycinate / diglycinate) also seems like a good option for bioavailability.

In terms of what’s on most shelves, it seems like magnesium citrate and magnesium glycinate are good options for supplementation.

Sources & Further Reading