Magnesium is a naturally occurring mineral that the body uses in its many systems such as the muscles, nerves, and brain. When magnesium is chelated, it is easier for your body to absorb.
Chelated Magnesium helps your body function in many ways. Unfortunately, less than 50% of people in the US and Europe get less than the recommended dose of magnesium. It is used as a supplement to maintain adequate magnesium in the body.
Proper magnesium intake is essential to your body, brain, and heart.
Eating foods rich in magnesium is essential to your overall health. We recommend at least 400-800 mg of magnesium a day. Opt for supplements that include all four absorbable forms - orotate, citrate, taurinate, and glycinate.
If you have had renal insufficiency or kidney failure, it’s very important to consult your doctor before taking it, and have it monitored. Excessive levels can be dangerous if suffering from these conditions. However, if you have never experienced renal conditions, magnesium supplements are safe to use.
What Are the Benefits of Chelated Magnesium?
Magnesium maximizes the function of many systems in your body, and in fact, every single cell in your body needs it to function. It is a mineral found in the earth, sea, plants, animals, and of course, humans.
About 60% of magnesium is found in your bones, and the rest lies in the soft tissues, blood, and fluids. As magnesium takes up so much of your body, it only seems natural that it has many benefits to your overall health.
Biochemical Reactions Involving Magnesium
One of the many roles of magnesium is being a helper molecule that assists in biochemical reactions happening in your body.
Magnesium is involved with many of your body's reactions such as converting food into energy, forming new proteins and amino acids, creating and repairing DNA and RNA, contracting and relaxing muscles, and helping regulate your nervous system.
Helps Fight Diabetes
Another benefit of magnesium is the role it plays in regulating blood sugar. Magnesium is an essential nutrient, and having a deficiency is sometimes seen with people who have type 2 diabetes. It occurs more with type 2 diabetes, but can occur with type 1.
Your body produces insulin with type 2 diabetes, just not enough for your body's needs. Having a low level of magnesium is associated with insulin resistance. People who struggle with sensitivity to insulin or resistance to it, lose magnesium in their urine and therefore develop a low level of magnesium.
Exercise Booster
Magnesium gives you energy, and boosts your stamina when exercising, but you also lose magnesium when you’re exerting energy. Magnesium triggers blood sugar movement and helps in disposing of lactate, which, when built up, can cause tiredness and fatigue. If you are someone who exercises frequently, you may want to consider taking a supplement to make up for the lost magnesium.
Magnesium has been linked to athletic performance in many cases, including one study where volleyball players took magnesium supplements, as well as another study in which athletes were given magnesium supplements for an extended amount of time -- about 4 weeks.
While research is always evolving, both of these studies showed signs of athletic improvement, and subjects reported feeling faster, stronger, and more energetic.
Depression Fighting
Magnesium also serves as a mood booster, playing an extremely important role in brain function, mood, and depression.
Consuming foods with low amounts of magnesium is often the culprit in contributing to the low magnesium levels which trigger depression. If you’ve heard the term “brain food” in reference to magnesium rich foods such as almonds, this is what it’s in reference to.
That term is exactly right, as magnesium increases brain function, increases your mood, and reduces symptoms of depression exacerbated by a deficiency.
Lowers Blood Pressure
Magnesium is shown to lower blood pressure and increase heart health. Although magnesium contributes to lowering blood pressure, this is usually with people who have especially high blood pressure.
If your blood pressure sits at a normal level, magnesium will not lower it further, and likely have no effect on changing your blood pressure at all.
Aids Menstrual Cramps
If you’ve heard of the stereotype of women craving sweets and chocolate during menstruation, that is actually a well-backed fact.
Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) affects everyone who has a period. You might feel especially bloated, experience cramping, feel especially irritable, sensitive, or tired. Magnesium is a mood booster, thus it helps with the mental, hormonal component of PMS.
However, it also helps reduce water retention and alleviate cramps. Rather than waiting until you are experiencing PMS, try to be mindful of keeping your magnesium intake up all month long.
Taking a magnesium supplement throughout the month, or increasing the amount of magnesium you consume through food all month long, will help ease your pain when experiencing PMS, and be more effective than waiting until your PMS is at its worst.
Anti-inflammatory Properties
Inflammation is the cause and side effect of many ongoing conditions, chronic disease, and obesity. In fact, children with a low magnesium level are often shown to have the highest levels of inflammation. High magnesium foods reduce inflammation in those with high blood sugar, are prediabetic, are overweight, aging, or suffering from chronic disease.
Prevents Headaches and Migraines
Having a continuous headache or migraine is some of the most debilitating pain you can experience.
The only thing that might make it feel better is to shut all the blinds, close your eyes, crawl under your covers, drink some water, put a cool cloth on your head in case the nausea gets to be too much.
Light and noise sensitivity are at an all time high, and in general, it’s just about impossible to think about anything but the pain you’re experiencing.
While magnesium may not cure your migraines, it may help in minimizing their frequency or at least their strength. Magnesium rich foods are a great place to start getting more magnesium into your system, and taking a supplement is a way to ensure you are getting the magnesium you need.
Magnesium may even be more helpful in treating migraines than over-the-counter medication.
Magnesium Deficiency
Magnesium deficiency has become an increasingly prevalent problem. So what contributes to this? Several factors include:
- Stress
- Medication
- Diet
- Carbonated Beverages
- High amounts of Calcium
Foods Containing Magnesium
Food is the easiest way to get magnesium into your system regularly. Eating is something you are doing routinely anyway, so adding some magnesium-rich foods may be the perfect way to get it into your system without having to think too much or go out of your way.
Magnesium is essential for good health, but it's easy to consume far less than we need. It’s recommended that men consume about 400-420 mg per day, and women consume about 310-320 per day, and magnesium can be consumed from either food or supplements.
Some excellent magnesium-rich foods include:
- Nuts -- Pumpkin seeds, almonds, and cashews.
- Leafy Greens -- Swiss chard and spinach.
- Dark chocolate
- Black beans
- Quinoa
- Fish -- Halibut, salmon, mackerel.
- Avocados
- Bananas
- Apricots
Magnesium Supplements
You might want to check with your doctor before increasing your magnesium dosage, as sometimes there might be a reaction with increased magnesium mixed with diuretics, antibiotics, or heart medications.
However, there are minimal side effects, if any, from consuming too much magnesium as the kidneys will eliminate the excess amounts through the urine.
Bowel cleansing and constipation will be the biggest side effects of a high magnesium dosage. It’s nearly impossible to develop toxicity from too much magnesium, but your body will let you know and you can always adjust your dosage.
There are plenty of magnesium supplements available and on the market, but the important thing to remember when deciding on your supplements is that not all magnesium supplements are created equal.
Chelated magnesium, magnesium citrate, glycinate, orotate, or carbonate are all good options. However, it is important to refer to your specific doctor when deciding on the right supplement for you. Remember that adding magnesium through your diet is a great way to increase your magnesium intake organically.
Conclusion
Magnesium is a trace element that is essential to overall health and well-being. It is unfortunately far too common for magnesium levels to be low, and without this incredible mineral, your body will not function optimally.
