Beware Of This Mineral Deficiency That Can Hurt Your Bones And Overall Health (Hint: It’s Not Calcium!)

Vivian Goldschmidt, MA Supplements

Evidence-Based
8 min Read

Today’s post is about a mineral deficiency. This mineral is crucial to your bones, but it’s just as important for your overall health. In fact, it’s so vital that a lack of it can produce symptoms that mimic serious illnesses, and it’s so common that around 80% of the population suffers from it. Yet the Medical Establishment doesn’t recognize it, leading to frequent misdiagnosis.

But you don’t have to worry about that, because Savers are armed with knowledge, which gives you the power and confidence to take charge of your own bone health. And in so doing, you’re also covering many other aspects of your health, as you’ll discover today.

We’re going to explore this mineral in depth, and you’ll also learn how to be an active participant in your health care and its attenuating decisions. In addition, I am going to show you how you can develop your personal bone health philosophy to act as your anchor when others question your choices.

So read on and be empowered and informed!

Magnesium Deficiency: An All-Too-Common Problem

Sadly, magnesium consumption has declined sharply over the last century, most likely due to large-scale farming and soil depletion. In addition, the typical acidifying Western diet, high in sugar and processed food, actively depletes magnesium in the body.

For example, according to a study published in The Clinical Biochemist Reviews,

Refining or processing of food may deplete magnesium content by nearly 85%. Furthermore, cooking, especially boiling of magnesium-rich foods, will result in significant loss of magnesium.” 1

A high intake of sugar increases magnesium secretion in the urine, and saturated fat reduces magnesium uptake in the intestines.

As I pointed our above, research suggests that a significant majority of Americans are deficient in magnesium.2 But determining whether or not you have a deficiency can be difficult for several reasons.

For one thing, the symptoms can mimic those of other illnesses – some of them quite serious. (And magnesium deficiency can actually cause serious health conditions, too, which we’ll discuss below.)

The other reason is that testing for deficiency is woefully inaccurate. Blood tests fail because 99% of the magnesium in your body is not found in your blood; it’s found in your bones and muscles, particularly your heart muscle.

Yet another complicating issue is the rate of magnesium absorption. It varies significantly from one day to the next, with absorption rates ranging from 24 to 85%. Vitamin D levels, digestive health, protein ingestion, and calcium levels all affect the uptake of magnesium in the body.

Fluoride ingestion is yet another influential factor – fluoride competes with magnesium for absorption into the bones, because they are absorbed along the same biological pathway.

Therefore, it’s particularly important to familiarize yourself with…

The Symptoms Of Magnesium Deficiency

Knowing some key symptoms is an important step in understanding your own personal magnesium needs.

  • Anxiety
  • Confusion/Poor memory
  • Nausea
  • Fatigue
  • High blood pressure
  • Muscle twitches, weakness, and pain
  • Sensitivity to sound and light
  • Irritability
  • Restless leg syndrome
  • Difficulty sleeping

Many of these symptoms can be signs of illness, which is exactly the problem – doctors tend to consider disease, not magnesium deficiency, when their patients complain of the above issues.

And your doctor is even less likely to mention magnesium as it relates to preventing and reversing osteoporosis.

“Modern” Health Conditions Caused By Insufficient Magnesium

Magnesium is involved in hundreds of metabolic processes, which accounts in part for the wide range of deficiency symptoms. Magnesium deficiency has also been linked to some conditions that have mysteriously shown up in recent years, such as:

  • Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) confounds the medical community. It tends to follow a viral infection, and involves aching joints and muscles, fever, depression, and extreme fatigue.

    In a clinical trial involving 32 participants, 15 were given magnesium injections and 17 were given a placebo. “Patients treated with magnesium claimed to have improved energy levels, better emotional state, and less pain,” 6 the study reports.

  • Fibromyalgia is a painful inflammatory condition that also baffles the Medical Establishment. Higher than normal serum levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines are often present in the blood of fibromyalgia sufferers. It causes tenderness in joints, muscles, and other soft tissues, and it can also contribute to depression, anxiety, and sleep problems. (It’s interesting to consider that those conditions are also associated with magnesium deficiency.)

    When 24 people with fibromyalgia were given a supplement containing malic acid and magnesium, “…significant reductions in the severity of all 3 primary pain/tenderness measures were obtained without limiting risks.” 4

    Another study published in the Journal of Nutritional Medicine showed similar results – study participants experienced pain relief just 48 hours after taking a malic acid/magnesium supplement. After 4 to 8 weeks, tenderness was greatly reduced. 5

  • Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) can be a very frustrating condition that comes on at nighttime or during periods of rest. According to the Medical Establishment, it’s a neurological condition of unknown origin that causes strange sensations in the legs, and often a strong urge to move the legs. Sometimes the legs will jerk and twitch. The Johns Hopkins Center for Restless Legs Syndrome postulates that up to 10% of the population over the age of 65 has RLS.

    Researchers have been looking into the connection between RLS and magnesium for some time. Back in 1998, a small study of 10 participants showed that taking magnesium improved RLS. “Our study indicates that magnesium treatment may be a useful alternative therapy in patients with mild or moderate RLS-or PLMS-related insomnia,” 7 the study authors noted.

  • Difficulty Sleeping is, unfortunately, a widespread problem. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the last 20 years have seen a three-fold increase in sleeping pill prescriptions.8 Interestingly, magnesium-rich Foundation Foods like almonds and bananas can help promote sleep.

How You Can Get Plenty Of Magnesium

When I began following the Osteoporosis Reversal Program, I discovered that when I took care of my bone health, my overall health also improved.

So when you follow the dietary recommendations of the Program, you will be eating plenty of magnesium-rich foods and adopting an active, healthy lifestyle that will address various health conditions and issues.

A word about supplements: I am not currently recommending a specific brand of magnesium, but I suggest 400 mg of amino acid chelated magnesium, as it’s the most bioavailable form of this mineral.

Why I Developed My Personal “Bone Health Philosophy,” And Why You Should, Too

Forming the right mindset for your bone health can act as a “rock” in times of doubt and uncertainty when you’re not following the “standard” protocols. As you embark on a bone-rejuvenating lifestyle, you’ll discover the amazing health benefits of the Foundation Supplements that help far more than just your bones.

And as you grow more confident in your philosophy, you can avoid potential problems that can arise from a wrong diagnosis by a doctor. (Magnesium deficiency is just such one example.)

It’s all about a positive, informed mindset that has at its core a belief that decisions regarding your health and your body are yours to make. It’s amazing to me when I hear people say their doctor “put them on” a drug, or “had them take” a particular medication.

There’s more good news. If you have the Program and you’re not really sure how to form your own bone health philosophy, or if you just need a little encouragement and help on your bone health journey, you have a dedicated and knowledgeable bone health coach to guide and inform you along the way.

So if you don’t have the Program` yet, don’t delay. Because today is the day to take control of your own health!

Till next time,

References

1 Swaminathan, R. “Magnesium Metabolism and its Disorders.” The Clinical Biochemist Reviews. May 2003. 24(2): 47-66. Web. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1855626/
2 Ford ES, Mokdad AH. “Dietary magnesium intake in a national sample of U.S. adults.” J Nutr 2003;133: 2879-2882.
3 Eisinger, J., et al. “Selenium and magnesium status in fibromyalgia.” Magnesium Research. December 1994. 7(3-4): 285-8. Web. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7786692
4 Russell, I.J., et al. “Treatment of fibromyalgia syndrome with Super Malic: a randomized, double blind, placebo controlled, crossover pilot study.” The Journal of Rheumatology. May 1995. 22(5): 953-8. Web. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8587088
5 Percival, Mark, Dr. “Fibromyalgia: Nutritional Support.” Clinical Nutrition Insights. 1997. PDF. https://acudoc.com/Fibromyalgia.PDF
6 Cox. I.M., Campbell, M.J., PhD, and Dowson, D., MB. “Red blood cell magnesium and chronic fatigue syndrome.” The Lancet. March 30, 1991. Vol 337, issue 8744, pages 757-760. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PII0140-6736%2891%2991371-Z/abstract
7 Hornyak, M. “Magnesium therapy for periodic leg movements-related insomnia and restless legs syndrome: an open pilot study.” Sleep. 1 August 1998. 21(5): 501-5. Web. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9703590
8 Chong, Yinong, PhD, et al. “Prescription Sleep Aid Use Among Adults: United States, 2005-2010.” NCHS Data Brief. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Number 127, August 2013. Web. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db127.htm