Magnesium: Running On Empty

Magnesium might be the most underrated nutrient in your body's health arsenal. This powerful mineral acts as the essential backstage crew for over 300 enzyme systems, silently orchestrating everything from stress response and sleep quality to immune function and heart health. Yet astonishingly, about 40% of Canadians are walking around with chronic magnesium deficiency without even knowing it.

Why does this matter? When your magnesium tank runs low, the effects ripple throughout your entire body. Muscle cramps, brain fog, poor concentration, disrupted sleep, migraines, and elevated blood pressure are just the beginning. The challenge is that standard blood tests often miss magnesium deficiency because most of your body's stores are in bones, muscles, and inside cells – not circulating in your bloodstream where tests measure.

The modern lifestyle creates the perfect storm for magnesium depletion. Poor diet choices, chronic stress, and even certain medications can drain your reserves faster than they're replenished. This creates a vicious cycle where low magnesium leads to poor sleep and higher stress, which further depletes magnesium levels, making symptoms progressively worse.

But there's good news! Boosting your magnesium intake doesn't require expensive supplements or complicated regimens. Nature provides abundant sources in foods like nuts, seeds, whole grains, legumes, and dark leafy greens. These whole foods deliver magnesium alongside fiber, antioxidants, and other nutrients that work synergistically to support optimal health.

If dietary changes aren't enough due to high physical demands, chronic stress, or medical conditions, supplementation may help – but choose wisely. Opt for better-absorbed forms like magnesium glycinate, citrate, or malate rather than poorly absorbed forms like oxide. And always remember that more isn't better; the goal is adequacy, not excess.

Ready to give your body the magnesium respect it deserves? Listen now to discover practical strategies for assessing your magnesium status, incorporating magnesium-rich foods into your diet, and determining if supplementation makes sense for your unique situation. Your sleep, stress levels, and overall well-being might depend on it!

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Dr. Jules

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Hey everyone, welcome to Season 2 of the Dr Jules
Plant-Based Podcast, where wediscuss everything from
plant-based nutrition to themain pillars of lifestyle
medicine.
Lifestyle Medicine Yo,plant-based buddies, welcome
back to another episode.
Today we're going to be talkingabout the mighty mineral that

(00:32):
you're probably not gettingenough of magnesium.
So here's a wild statistic foryou Almost half of Canadians are
walking around every single daywith a deficiency in one of the
most important minerals intheir body, and they probably
don't even know about it.
This isn't some rare tracedelement you only hear about in

(00:57):
obscure health blogs.
Magnesium is involved in over300 chemical reactions in your
body, and it impacts everythingfrom your sleep to stress, to
even heart health, but mostpeople aren't even close to
getting enough magnesium on adaily basis.
So today we're going to talkabout why it matters, what

(01:21):
happens when you don't getenough, how to know if you might
be low and how to fix itthrough food and lifestyle.
Let's start with the basics.
Magnesium is like your body'sbackstage crew you don't see it
working, but without it, thewhole show falls apart.

(01:43):
It acts as a cofactor andthat's basically a helper for
over 300 enzyme systems.
Now these enzymes are proteinsthat activate important
compounds and hormones.
So, for example, your vitaminD3 isn't fully active until it's
been converted by enzymes thatdepend on magnesium.

(02:06):
You don't have magnesium, youdon't have activated vitamin D.
Now, magnesium is involved in awhole bunch of other processes,
including your stress response,your sleep quality, your immune
function quality, your immunefunction, electrolyte balance

(02:28):
specifically potassium and evenblood vessel relaxation.
But that's just the short list.
Magnesium does a lot more Well,the problem is that 40% of
Canadians don't even get enoughmagnesium from their diet, and
we're not talking about mildoccasional dips.
We're talking about chronicmagnesium deficiency that can

(02:51):
silently impact your health foryears Now.
Most of your body's magnesiumis stored in bones and muscles
and inside of your cells.
That tiny amount left in yourblood the part that we checked
with blood tests is just afraction of the total, and that
means that a normal blood testcan easily miss deficiencies in

(03:14):
magnesium, unless thatdeficiency is severe or acute.
So how do you know if you'relow?
Well, the most practical methodin checking your magnesium
levels is not a blood test.
It's actually simply trackingyour intake.
The RDA, or Recommended DailyAllowance, is about 300 to 320

(03:38):
mg per day for women and 400 to420 for men, athletes may need
up to 20% more because magnesiumis lost in sweat and chronic
stress even psychological orphysical stress can also drain
magnesium stores faster.

(04:00):
So the vicious circle is poordiet, high stress, poor sleep,
and all of these three factorsare common and they can all
lower magnesium levels.
Now people simply get caught inthis vicious cycle where they
get poor diet leads to lowmagnesium, which leads to poor

(04:23):
sleep, and higher stresshormones, which makes you lose
more magnesium, and then you geteven worse sleep and worse
stress.
Now, on top of that, somemedications can actually
increase magnesium loss in yoururine.
So meds like diuretics, bloodpressure pills, some antibiotics

(04:46):
and even long-term use ofacid-reducing medications like
PPIs.
These are protein pumpinhibitors, medications that
drastically reduce your stomachacidity.
Now they're useful for reducingGERD or reflux disease, for
stomach ulcers, esophagitis, butthey can also lead to lower

(05:10):
absorption of magnesium, and Ihad patients that required
urgent intravenous magnesiumsupplementation because of low
levels caused by PPIs.
Magnesium deficiency cancontribute to muscle cramps,
people get brain fog, they havereduced cognitive functions.

(05:31):
Concentration and attention areall negatively impacted.
People have poor sleep quality,more migraines, higher blood
pressure and it can also worsenmany chronic diseases.
But the key is that most ofthese improvements from
magnesium supplementation happenonly in people who are already

(05:53):
deficient.
If you eat a healthy diet andalready have adequate magnesium,
there's no strong evidence thattaking more will give you more
superpowers.
Now I know online that there'sa lot of influencers that are

(06:13):
promoting replenishing magnesiumthrough supplementation.
I don't necessarily disagree ifyou're deficient.
Not everyone benefits fromsupplementation.
We need to supplementresponsibly.
We need to respect supplementsbecause they can lead to
toxicity or to negative healthoutcomes when taken in excess

(06:36):
and, like I said, there's nostrong evidence that
supplementing with magnesium isbeneficial if you're already
getting enough from your diet.
But still, I get asked all thetime should I take magnesium
supplements Now?
My answer would be get it fromfood first, if you can.
You'll get magnesium plus.

(06:59):
You'll get a whole package ofother beneficial nutrients that
would reduce your risk of heartdisease, your risk of cancer and
your risk of other chronicdiseases.
Now, foods that are rich inmagnesium would include nuts and
seeds, almonds, pumpkin seeds,sunflower seeds being the best
and whole grains are greatsources like brown rice, oats or

(07:22):
quinoa.
You can find magnesium inlegumes like beans, chickpeas
and lentils, and in dark leafygreens, much like.
There's an iron atom in themiddle of the hemoglobin
molecule.
There's a magnesium atom in themiddle of a chlorophyll
molecule, and chlorophyllproduces energy for plants, much

(07:46):
in the same way as hemoglobincarries oxygen in humans.
Now the beauty of food sourcesof magnesium is that they're
safe, they're effective and theycome with fiber, antioxidants
and other minerals.
And our bodies have built-inregulation mechanisms that help

(08:07):
avoid excessive magnesiumabsorption or to increase
magnesium absorption if ourlevels are low.
If your diet is lackingmagnesium or if you have higher
needs like heavy training, highstress, certain medical
conditions or even medicationsthat you're taking that increase

(08:31):
magnesium losses, supplementscould help, but you need to
choose wisely.
Inorganic forms like magnesiumoxide or magnesium sulfate are
less well absorbed and mostlyare used as laxatives.
Organic forms like magnesiumglycinate, citrate or malate

(08:52):
tend to be absorbed better andthey cause fewer digestive
issues.
But please always check withyour doctor or pharmacist before
starting supplements,especially if you have kidney
disease or take othermedications that could impact
electrolyte balance.
Now I've already done a fullpodcast episodes on the risk of

(09:17):
overdoing vitamins.
You may remember Samantha, whowas perimenopausal, was
experiencing a whole ton ofsymptoms and her health coach
recommended four differentproducts to help with energy,
immune function and sleep.
But all of these supplementscontained small amounts of
vitamin B6.

(09:38):
And before she knew it, she wastaking 140 milligrams of
vitamin B6 per day.
All of these supplements werestacking up small doses of B6
that were now higher than theupper tolerable intake.
She ended up with permanentnerve damage.

(09:58):
So make sure that if you'retaking supplements, talk to your
doctor, and just to make surethat if you're taking
supplements, talk to your doctorand just to make sure that
you're not getting yourself inany trouble.
But personally, I don't takemagnesium supplements, even
though I work out.
On most days I run somewherebetween 50 to 100 kilometers,
sometimes per week, because mydiet provides more than enough.

(10:22):
I make sure to track.
I make sure to know if I'veingested magnesium-rich foods or
not.
That's because I eat plenty ofwhole plant-based foods every
single day.
Now, if you're eating mostlyprocessed foods, your magnesium
intake is probably low, and ifyou think you're eating healthy,

(10:45):
that's when tracking your dailyintake for a week or two may be
eye opening.
So I know magnesium might notbe as trendy as collagen or as
hyped as protein powder, butmagnesium is fundamental to your
body's health and if you wantto sleep better, reduce your

(11:09):
stress, have a healthier bloodpressure, stronger bones.
Start with includingmagnesium-rich foods in your
diet, but always remember tomake sure to track your intake.
Eat real food that grows in theground, from a plant or from a
tree, and only supplement if youreally need to.

(11:30):
And if you are going tosupplement, consider organic
forms of supplements, becausethese get better absorbed, and
make sure to choose high-qualityforms.
Your body runs on magnesium, sodon't make it run on an empty
tank.
Magnesium impacts so manybiochemical reactions in your

(11:53):
body that it's impossible toachieve optimal health if you're
chronically deficient Right on.
I hope this episode helps youpay magnesium the respect it
deserves.
If you're going to supplement,make sure to talk to your

(12:13):
pharmacist or healthcareprovider and supplement
responsibly.
I want you to respectsupplements.
I want you to respectsupplements.
Give them the credit theydeserve.
They can really improve healthoutcomes.
But it's important to understandthat optimal supplementation
means supplementing in a sweetspot.
Too little and you're at riskfor deficiency, but too much

(12:42):
could put you at risk fortoxicity and undesirable side
effects.
So, even if it's good for you,more is not always better and
most often, when it comes tomagnesium, less is more.
You don't need ultra high doses, you just need enough Right on.
Thanks so much for listening.
Make sure to get your magnesiumfrom foods first, and

(13:05):
supplement only if needed.
Talk to your health careprovider or pharmacist about
which sources may be the rightones for you, but at the end of
the day, whether you get it fromfood or from supplements, make
sure that you're consumingenough magnesium Right on.
Thanks for tuning in.
Have an amazing day.

(13:25):
We'll catch you in the nextepisode, peace.
Hey, everyone.
Go check out my websiteplantbaseddoctorjulescom to find
free downloadable resources andremember that you can find me
on Facebook and Instagram at DrJules Cormier, and on YouTube at

(13:47):
Plant-Based Dr Jules.