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At Mercola.com, Dr. Joseph Mercola discusses the benefits of magnesium for sufferers of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. He writes:
Editor’s Note: This article is a reprint. It was originally published April 10, 2017.
If you’re looking for a way to decrease your risk of developing coronary heart disease, stroke and Type 2 diabetes, research has revealed profound results from starting a simple new habit: consuming an extra 100 milligrams (mg) of magnesium via your food on a daily basis.
Researchers at Zhejiang University and Zhengzhou University in China found that more than 1 million people across nine countries who consumed the most magnesium tested out with a 10% lower risk of coronary heart disease, a 12% lower stroke risk and a 26% lower risk of Type 2 diabetes.
Regarding the research, which was published in Biomed Central,1 lead study author Fudi Wang, Ph.D., explains:
“Low levels of magnesium in the body have been associated with a range of diseases, but no conclusive evidence has been put forward on the link between dietary magnesium and health risks.
Our meta-analysis provides the most up-to-date evidence supporting a link between the role of magnesium in food and reducing the risk of disease … Our findings will be important for informing the public and policy makers on dietary guidelines to reduce magnesium deficiency-related health risks.”2
Wang said in a Medical Xpress news release3 that although current guidelines recommend that men take about 300 mg of magnesium a day, and women 270 mg per day, deficiencies in this mineral are still common, affecting anywhere between 1.5% and 15% of the population.
The researchers hope this information serves to not just encourage people to make sure they’re getting adequate magnesium, but to prompt policy makers to change dietary guidelines, which could diminish the number of magnesium deficiency-related diseases.
Heart Issues Linked to Low Magnesium, but Science Takes a ‘Wrong Turn’
In 2013, the upshot of a “groundbreaking” review covering what was known about cardiovascular disease from as early as 1937 found that low magnesium levels — not high cholesterol or consumption of too much saturated fat — are the leading cause of many aspects of heart disease.
The 10-year review, conducted by research scientist and author Andrea Rosanoff, Ph.D., was based on the earlier research of Dr. Mildred Seelig, who studied the relationship between magnesium and cardiovascular disease for more than 40 years. Seelig noted:
“These numerous studies have found low magnesium to be associated with all known cardiovascular risk factors, such as cholesterol and high blood pressure, arterial plaque build-up (atherogenesis), hardening of the arteries and the calcification of soft tissues.
This means we have been chasing our tails all of these years going after cholesterol and the high saturated-fat diet, when the true culprit was and still is low magnesium.”4
As early as 1957, Rosanoff says, it was very clear that low magnesium was “strongly, convincingly, a cause of atherogenesis and the calcification of soft tissues. But this research was widely and immediately ignored as cholesterol and the high saturated-fat diet became the culprits to fight.”
The “wrong turn” scientists took when the research was so clear, Rosanoff asserts, created a trajectory in the way heart disease and other cardiovascular issues have been dealt with across the board. This resulted in entire populations failing to balance their magnesium intake with their calcium intake, and it’s getting worse.
Studies continue to show that when calcium and magnesium intake aren’t on an even keel, Rosanoff asserts, the risk of heart disease increases.
Read more here.
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