The Journal of Nutrition published a study by doctors at the National Cancer Center in Tokyo, Japan involving 40,000 men and 46,000 women, an reassuringly large sample for testing.
The 40,830 men and 46,287 women were followed up for 8 years. This study did not include an analysis of supplement use among participants. It focused strictly on magnesium intake from foods and dietary sources.

The study showed that higher intake of dietary magnesium was strongly associated with a decreased risk of colorectal cancer (colon cancer) in men. The study, however, showed no such correlation among the women. Investigators speculate that this discrepancy between the genders may be partly due to differences in alcohol consumption. Japanese men consume nearly four times as much alcohol as women, and that magnesium may counteract the oxidate stress of alcohol.

The investigators acknowledge that beneficial associations between magnesium intake and CRC risk may include the influence of other nutrients from foods, as participants with higher intakes of magnesium also tended to consume higher intakes of foods rich in calcium, zinc, fiber, folate, B-6 and vitamin D. Researchers conclude by stating “Increased intake of magnesium-rich foods is recommended if other studies, including randomized control trials, confirm our findings.”

The findings show a strong 52% reduction in colon cancer among men whose daily intake of magnesium was 327mg or greater, as opposed to the group whose intake was 238mg or less.

This was the latest of several studies suggesting a link between insufficient magnesium intake and colon cancer, including a Swedish study that showed magnesium reducing the chances of colon cancer in women. This study included supplements, and readers should note that Swedish women and Japanese women have very different genetic predispositions and diets.

Two things that are worth repeating here…

One is that increased consumption of magnesium  rich foods almost guarantees that you will be getting more of all kinds of good nutrition. Again, foods that are high in magnesium tend to be very healthy and nutritious foods to begin with. So, by targeting more magnesium in your diet, you are in fact improving your diet in countless ways that you do not even know of.

The second point is the relation between alcohol and magnesium. While not mentioned by the doctors in the study above, alcohol consumption is know to decrease the magnesium levels in your cells. Obviously, eating a magnesium rich diet would help to counteract this. This may have also played a role in the Japanese study, as Japanese men do tend to drink much more than Japanese women (though many Japanese women are surprisingly strong drinkers as well).

Keep this in mind if you drink more than you should, and at least try to balance it out with a healthy diet of foods high in magnesium.

Maybe it’s a happy coincidence, but foods high in magnesium also tend to be incredibly healthy. In that vein, two studies by Harvard researchers suggested that a diet of magnesium rich foods can help prevent the onset of Type II diabetes.

The 2007 National Diabetes Fact Sheet estimates that 23.6 million people in the USA suffer from diabetes, the vast majority of those being Type II. It was also the 7th leading cause of death in the USA in 2006.

Two separate teams of researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School (HMS) published their findings on magnesium and the associated reduced type II diabetes risk in the January 2004 issue of Diabetes Care.

One study used data from the Women’s Health Study (WHS) to track 38,025 women from 1993 through 1999. The other study looked at 85,060 women identified by the Nurses Health Study (NHS), and who were tracked for 18 years, and 42,872 men chosen from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study who were tracked for 12 years.

The participants in both studies were adults. None had any personal history of diabetes, cardiovascular disease or cancer.

Magnesium was shown to have played a positive role in reducing the risk of type II diabetes in both studies. The WHS team concluded that only overweight and obese women would have a reduced risk of type II diabetes onset with increased magnesium intake, while the NHS study found that men and women of all weight groups would have decreased type II diabetes risk.

HMS Assistant Professor of Medicine Simin Liu, the study’s author, said he believed the studies differed because of differing definitions of “overweight.” In the WHS study, a woman was considered overweight if her BMI (total body fat), was above 25, which is the lower limit of an overweight categorization as defined by the National Institute of Health.

The NHS study, though, used a BMI of 27 to define an overweight person. HMS Assistant Professor of Medicine Frank B. Hu, the study’s author, said this was because 27 is the median BMI for overweight people. He added that his findings on dietary magnesium intake were independent of BMI and would not have changed with a different BMI index. He defended his study as the more accurate study because of the larger pool of participants in the NHS group.

In spite of these disagreements, both studies agreed that the general population would benefit from increased dietary magnesium intake, and that Americans generally fall short of the recommended levels of magnesium rich foods in their diet. This has been one factor suggested as a cause of the increasing cases of type II diabetes in the population.

A previous Harvard study, published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, suggested that higher dietary magnesium intake may reduce the risk of developing type II diabetes, because women with higher magnesium consumption tend to have greater insulin sensitivity. Decreased insulin sensitivity, also called insulin fasting, is the immediate cause of type II diabetes.

“The primary concern here is not which group is affected the most,” Hu commented“Whether you are overweight or obese or not, you need enough magnesium.”

Magnesium Supplements Do Not Have This Same Effect

Even while magnesium rich foods have shown a positive effect in preventing diabetes, the studies further found that multivitamins and other magnesium supplements have not shown similar effects.

“The NHS study didn’t show any supplemental effect of magnesium, only of magnesium-rich foods,” said Dr. Liu.

“This suggests that there may be something else in those foods that works with magnesium to reduce diabetes risk. For now, I can only recommend foods that are rich in magnesium.”

Magnesium rich foods include whole grains, nuts, and green leafy vegetables, broccoli, tofu and other items.

Hu and Liu both agreed there should be continued research to better determine the effects of magnesium and magnesium supplements on type II diabetes.

USA                             Canada

Infants up to 3 years old:         40-80 mg                20–50 mg
Children 4 to 6 years old:         120 mg                    65mg
Children 7 to 10 years old:      170 mg                    100–135 mg
Adolescent to adult males:      270–400 mg        130–250 mg
Adolescent to adult females:   280–300 mg        135–210 mg
Pregnant females:                        320 mg                    195–245 mg
Breast-feeding females:             340–355 mg         245–265 mg

This chart is for “normal” people. If your body is expelling more magnesium than it should, you will need higher doses.

But taking supplements, you should consult a doctor. It is possible to get too much magnesium when you are using most supplements. Also, if you are taking any medication at all, you should confirm with your doctor that magnesium supplements with not interfere with them. If you have heart disease or kidney problems, check with your doctor as well about these.

With that in mind, lets look at how to add magnesium to your body.

First off, most magnesium supplements can be enhanced by taking additional vitamins that aid in magnesium absorption. Starting with chelated magnesium (the kind that is best absorbed by the body) you can aid your magnesium supplements by the following:

? Calcium (one or two parts calcium for one part magnesium)
? Vitamin C (helps your body utilize magnesium)
? Take your supplements with food
? Avoid taking vitamin D, which can interfere with magnesium

If you miss a does of magnesium, take it as soon as possible. However, if it is almost time for your next dose, just skip the missed does. In other words, do not double dose.

Next up….which supplements to take?

This is where I get a bot stuck. The fact is, oral supplements do not absorb well. On top of that, they affect the digestive tract and could increase the chance of diarrhea. For some things, oral supplements, but for magnesium I highly doubt their efficacy.

On the other hand, the effectiveness of epsom salt baths are well established. Going on this, I tend to believe that transdermal (absorbed through the skin) supplements may be the way to go. I put a banner on the front page, just above the list, and also provide a link here to what may be the best option so far as this goes – from a distributor called Ancient Minerals.

I am still open to hearing more, and encourage comments from other people who have tried magnesium oils for skin applications. So far, they seem far superior to magnesium supplements.

ADHD and magnesium

There are suggestions that children suffering from attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may be in fact displaying the results of a mild magnesium deficiency. The deficiency may cause irritability, decreased attention spans, and mental confusion. The clinical study below observed 116 children with ADHD, and found a striking 95% to be magnesium deficient. In a separate clinical study, 75 magnesium-deficient children with ADHD were chosen at random to receive either magnesium supplements in addition to standard treatment or just standard treatment without the supplements for a period of 6 months. Those who received the magnesium supplements displayed significant improvements in behavior, while those who received only the usual therapy, without magnesium supplements, were observed to display deteriorating behavior.

These results suggest that magnesium supplementation, or at least high amounts of magnesium in the diet and magnesium rich foods, may prove to be beneficial for children with ADHD.

Source-

Starobrat-Hermelin B, Kozielec T. The effects of magnesium physiological supplementation on hyperactivity in children with attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD): positive response to magnesium oral loading test. Magnesium Research. 1997; 10(2):149-156.