Magnesium Might be the Answer

Magnesium is a star nutrient that should be part of everyone’s diet. This mineral has many roles in different processes inside the body. Therefore, a magnesium deficiency can be affecting your health silently. In the same way, having an appropriate intake of magnesium can incredibly boost your health.

• One of its main roles is that it helps convert food into energy. It also helps in the process of creating proteins. 
• More than half of the magnesium in the body is stored in bones. So, it also contributes to keeping healthy and strong bones. 
• Magnesium is essential in the glycolysis process; hence it helps regulate glucose in the body. 
• Magnesium also helps muscles contract and relax; so, it can help avoid cramping.
• Bearing in mind that the heart is also a muscle, this mineral is also beneficial for our cardiovascular health. 
• This nutrient even plays a role in the nervous system by regulating nerve transmission and protecting cells from death by excessive stimulation, also known as excitotoxicity. 
• Finally, it also helps in the synthesis of DNA by stabilizing polyphosphate in the cells. 

Knowing all the key functions that magnesium has in the body, we can deduce that without this mineral, the body will not perform at its best. Moreover, even though the amount of people with a magnesium deficiency is not too high, most people do not meet their daily magnesium intake, which is around 300 mg per day in adults from 19 to 64 years.

However, it is still possible that you have a magnesium deficiency. Some signs of this include numbness, constant cramps, and tingling, arrhythmia, fatigue, loss of appetite, and high blood pressure, among other symptoms.

Magnesium is easily accessible. You can ingest it both from food and supplements. Some good food sources of magnesium include vegetables like spinach, broccoli, carrots, nuts such as almonds, cashews, and peanuts. Black beans, pumpkin seeds, and dark chocolate are foods with high contents of this mineral. 

Ingesting magnesium is still not enough to guarantee that the body can use its supplies. Some other components can deplete magnesium. It is the case with fluoride and chlorine. Similarly, some other factors that hinder magnesium absorption are smoking, liver disease, alcohol abuse, vomiting, and diarrhea.

A practical way to boost magnesium absorption is through the intake of Vitamin D. This vitamin helps absorb it more efficiently while reducing its retention making it more accessible for the body to use. These two nutrients complement each other since magnesium is also necessary for vitamin D to be synthesized.

Orthopedic Corner | Leon Mead MD Orthopedic Doctor | 730 Goodlette Road North, Suite 201  Naples Florida 34102 | Phone: (239) 262-1119