June 18, 2025 • 26 mins
Even though I generally love supplements, there are really only 2 or 3 that I would say are mandatory if you want to be healthy. If you want to lower your chances of developing high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, heart attack, arrhythmias, malignant tumors, kidney stones, cholesterol problems, depression, attention problems or other psychiatric disorders, fatigue, and poor athletic performance, you need enough magnesium. 80% of the American population does not get enough magnesium. Be in the 20% and your life will be better.
Email me: healthcouragecollective@gmail.com
NOT affiliate links:
MagSRT by JigSaw health
Magnesium Breakthrough by BioOptimizers
Book: The Magnesium Miracle
Are you ready to give your cells their best chance to not have to stop living before they die by allowing them access to physiologic levels of hormones, but aren't sure how to even get started? Join the waitlist for my new beta program here and help me figure out how best to help wonderful women like you get the hormone care they deserve!
Come visit me: www.healthcouragecollective.com
email me: healthcouragecollective@gmail.com
Email me: healthcouragecollective@gmail.com
NOT affiliate links:
MagSRT by JigSaw health
Magnesium Breakthrough by BioOptimizers
Book: The Magnesium Miracle
Are you ready to give your cells their best chance to not have to stop living before they die by allowing them access to physiologic levels of hormones, but aren't sure how to even get started? Join the waitlist for my new beta program here and help me figure out how best to help wonderful women like you get the hormone care they deserve!
Come visit me: www.healthcouragecollective.com
email me: healthcouragecollective@gmail.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Even though I really love supplements, there are really only
two or three that I would say are mandatory. If
you want to be healthy. If you want to lower
your chances of developing high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, heart attack, arrhythmias,
malignant tumors, kidney stones, cholesterol problems, depression, attention problems or
(00:20):
other psychiatric disorders, fatigue, and poor athletic performance, you need
enough magnesium. Eighty percent of the American population does not
get enough magnesium. Be in the twenty percent and your
life will be better. You're listening to the Healthcage Collective podcast,
Episode two hundred and seven, Magnesium a supplement Worth your
(00:41):
time and money. Originally published April thirteenth, twenty twenty two.
Welcome to the Health Courage Collective podcast, the show for
women who are too busy to slog through hours of
generalized and applicable and often contradictory health information, but too
smart to ignore that a few minutes of focused attention
now can bate years of suffering in the future. I'm
(01:02):
your host, Christina Hackett, a pharmacist who doesn't want you
to live on prescriptions. A certified coach specifically trained to
maximize your potential and a compulsive learner obsessed with preventative,
cutting edge, holistic and integrated medicine. I'm on a mission
to increase your physical and mental resilience so you can
fearlessly look forward to your next forty plus limitless years.
(01:25):
Your time is now. Let's go him, my friend, and
welcome to the podcast. I hope you're doing great today.
Thank you so much for being here and for caring
about your wellness and your ability to show up in
the world for the people who need you, including yourself.
How is being abnormal going? I hope you're remembering the
different ways that being like everyone else is not always
(01:46):
a good thing, and what you plan to do about it.
Today we're going to talk about magnesium. I debated with
myself back and forth quite a bit about whether to
do this episode or not, because I feel like the
topic has been beaten to death and you can go
online and find a thousand different articles that are all
exactly the same, and it becomes like the Charlie Brown
(02:12):
Teach your Voice. But on the other hand, eighty to
ninety percent of the US population is magnesium deficient. That's huge,
and it might include you. I want you to have
boundless energy for years to come. And you can't live
your best life with chronically low magnesium levels. So here
we are. Magnesium is a cofactor in three hundred different
(02:36):
chemical processes in the body, so not having enough magnesium
causes suboptimal subcellular performance, which is super lame. It can
cause anything from almost imperceptible energy lows to death. Yes, death.
Some people can correct their potentially deadly heart arrhythmias or
high blood pressure with just fixing their low magnesium levels.
(03:00):
Low magnesium levels can also cause or contribute to calcification
of the arteries. It's a big deal, and it's a
big problem that's really cheap and easy to fix. So
let's dive in and I'll really try to avoid slipping
into the trap that everyone else regurgitates. You can find
(03:22):
that stuff everywhere, and I want to keep this short
and genuinely useful to you, our little friend. Magnesium is
a group two alkaline earth element. It is the eighth
most common element in the crust of the Earth. The
concentration of magnesium in the ocean is fifty five milli
moles per liter. In the dead sea, it's one hundred
and ninety eight milli moles per liter. I live by
(03:43):
the Great Salt Lake, so I think the concentration there
is probably higher than in the sea. Two. The concentration
of magnesium in the human body is about twenty millimles
per kilogram of fat free tissue. It's the fourth most
abundant mineral in your body. Percent of magnesium is located
in the bone, muscles, and non muscular soft tissue, not
(04:06):
in your blood serum. That's kind of a big deal.
One to five percent of the magnesium in your body
is ionized or free, and ninety five to ninety nine
percent is complex to another element or molecule. It's positively charged,
so it likes to bind to something negatively charged. Ionized
calcium has the greatest biological activity. Magnesium is hydrophilic or
(04:30):
water loving. It dissolves in water very easily and binds
more tightly to water than calcium, potassium or sodium. You
have fifteen essential minerals in your body. They are calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, iron, chloride, zinc, copper, iodine, manganese, molebdenum, phosphorus, selenium, sulfur,
(04:53):
and silica. If you've ever sweated or thrown up or
had diarrhea. You probably know a electrolytes. These are molecules
that carry electrical charges in water. Our bodies are electric,
so that matters. All electrolytes are minerals, but not all
minerals are electrolytes. Some electrolytes are essential minerals, and some
(05:16):
electrolytes can actually be toxic. Arsenic, cadmium, and lead are electrolytes,
so hopefully those aren't in your gatorade. But magnesium is
so highly water soluble. Taking certain magnesium supplements can sometimes
draw water into the intestine really quickly, causing a disaster
pants kind of scenario. So you want to pick a
(05:39):
good magnesium supplement at the appropriate dose because it's so
soluble in water. Magnesium chloride is the salt used in
float tanks to make you superbuoyant in the water because
they can get the salt concentration up really high. Have
you ever been in a float tank. I've only done
it once, so I'm no kind of expert, but it
was definitely a very different sensation to just float in
(06:02):
complete darkness with no sensory input whatsoever. Side note, it's
traditionally said that you absorb a dose of magnesium through
your skin in a float take or an EPSOM salt bath.
But new thinking is that maybe the dose of magnesium
you get is actually from breathing in the water vapor
in the air. I thought that was interesting. It's probably
(06:23):
some of both. Okay. So, other than being the fourth
most common mineral in our body, why is everyone so
crazy about magnesium. Well, it's involved in three hundred metabolic
reactions that are essential to our life, including energy production,
blood pressure regulation, nerve signal transmission, and muscle contraction. Sometimes
just a little cheap and easy to find magnesium can
(06:44):
completely cure high blood pressure and heartarhythmias. It can prevent
heart attacks and calcification of the arteries. Depending on the person,
of course, and their entire broad metabolic picture. Magnesium is
important for our metabolism, our immune function, and our bone strength.
It can prevent or treat muscle spasms and help muscles
(07:05):
to be more supple. It's also involved in protein formation,
gene maintenance, and nervous system regulation. It helps with the
release of neurotransmitters. It's a stabilizer for enzymes, including several
enzymes that generate atp the energy molecule in mitochondria. Magnesium
might be more important for bone health than calcium. It's
(07:28):
essential for vitamin deabsorption and is required for the production
of the hormone calcitonin, which draws calcium into the bones
if you remember back to episode twenty one. The other
thing besides magnesium that keeps calcium where it should be
is vitamin K two, one of my favorites. Everything works
together beautifully. Magnesium is also the ultimate relaxation mineral. It's
(07:52):
essential for both contraction and relaxation of muscles, so your
body cannot relax without enough magnesium on board. Neither can
your mind. Magnesium hangs out in the synapse between two
neurons along with calcium and the neurotransmitter glutamate. Calcium and
glutamate are both excitatory. If there's enough magnesium around, it
can sit on the NMDA receptor site without activating it
(08:17):
like a guard at the gate. But when there's not
enough magnesium around, calcium glutamate can keep activating that excitatory receptor,
revving up our brain. Magnesium can also activate GABBA receptors,
which are calming receptors that are also activated by sleeping medications,
anxiety medications, seizure medications, and anesthetics. Magnesium is needed for
(08:39):
a calm demeanor and for RESTful sleep. Magnesium is needed
for the proper utilization of calcium, potassium, vitamin K, vitamin D,
and many other nutrients. So other healthy stuff can't do
its healthy job without adequate levels of magnesium. High estrogen
levels are often correlated with low magnesium levels. If you
(09:02):
remember back to our two episodes about hormones, high estrogen
often causes heavier menstrual flow, PMS, period cramps, headaches, breast tenderness, anxiety,
and trouble sleeping. Magnesium can help alleviate all of those,
Plus remember you need to balance estrogen with proper levels
of Progesterone. Risk of high blood pressure is seventy percent
(09:24):
lower among people with adequate to high normal magnesium levels.
Seventy percent. That's a really big number, like mind blowingly big.
Most people in our society think that increasing blood pressure
just comes along with increasing age, but guess what, increasing
age is often correlated with decreasing magnesium levels too. It's
(09:49):
such a safe and easy fix that has only positive
side effects, well except for explosive diarrhea. I suppose we
might count that one as a negative side effect, but
it can be avoid the rest of the side effects,
like more tranquil energy during the day, more RESTful sleep
at night, less hardening of the arteries, and stronger bones
and teeth are all good. If everyone who first got
(10:12):
diagnosed with pre hypertension or regular hypertension which is high
blood pressure, were properly tested for magnesium status and supplemented
if needed, there would be a lot fewer people on
blood pressure medication. Why take a medication to treat a
condition that's not even a condition, just a symptom of
a low mineral level. Plus the first line blood pressure
(10:35):
medications are diuretics, which further decrease your magnesium and other electrolytes.
It's insane. If your blood pressure is high, almost no
doctor would ever talk about curing it, just treating it
or managing it, which usually requires adding more and more
and more medications to the list. Over the years, I
(10:58):
see tons of people on four, five or six blood
pressure medications. Some of them probably really do need those,
but some of them would probably be benefited by some magnesium.
And all of those blood pressure medications aren't even treating
the root cause they're just masking it, kind of like
spray painting the tree leaves green if you remember back
to that episode, and they simultaneously make it harder for
(11:21):
it to ever really be cured. High blood pressure is
dangerous and should most definitely be dealt with, and I'm
glad we live in a world where we have medication
that can treat it. But like always, there's more to
the story than just take a reading if it's high
prescribe or drug, but that's literally the standard of care.
(11:42):
It's a similar story with arrhythmias. People go on medications
that zap their energy and or get their heart nodes
literally burned, when it's possible that their arrhythmia could be
cured just by fixing their mineral and nutrient levels. Conservative
people say two thirds of the population is magnesium deficient,
and what would the opposite be, liberal people? I guess
(12:05):
liberal people magnesium liberal magnesiophiles. I kind of like that word.
Maybe it could catch on you get the point. Other
people say that ninety percent of the population is magnesium deficient.
I hope you can see that this can have far
reaching effects. We only talked about a handful of the
(12:26):
three hundred things magnesium is involved in. The next logical
question is but why. I think it's a question we
should ask more of in general. Take a cue from
the wise toddlers in your life. Why why? Why? But really,
our bodies can only function optimally on high levels of magnesium.
(12:48):
Then why is it so hard to get enough? Well?
Lots of reasons, all of them related to our modern environment.
One reason is that the soil that our crops are
grown in is magnesium depleted, and or the crops we
eat are magnesium depleted because of the kinds of artificial fertilizers, pesticides,
and herbicides that are used. This is part of a
(13:10):
longer discussion, but when crops aren't fertilized by organic compost,
the amount of magnesium in the fruit of the plant
is lower. It might also have to do with the
living microbiome of the soil. Another reason is that processed
foods are very low in magnesium. The more processed foods
you eat, the lower your magnesium level is likely to
be something I mentioned in just about every episode. Sugar
(13:34):
washes magnesium out of your system, so does caffeine. Fluoride
and chlorine also decrease your magnesium levels. Magnesium does play
a role in kulating heavy metals, which is a good
thing in that it protects you from toxicity. But the
more toxins in your environment, the more magnesium gets used up.
Cleaning those up too. Calcium decreases your magnesium levels, so
(13:57):
getting a lot of calcium from supplements, lots of dairy
press or calcium fortified foods like orange juice can decrease
your magnesium levels. Taking lots of calcium can actually decrease
your bone health by decreasing your magnesium level. Just being
stressed can actually reduce your magnesium levels, and exercising hard
(14:18):
and sweating which is good for you, but decreases your
magnesium level. Alcohol and drugs can decrease your magnesium levels,
including prescription drugs, maybe especially prescription drugs. We won't spend
too much time here about proton pump inhibitors for heartburn.
I have a lot to say about those reduce your
magnesium level, as do statins for cholesterol. I have even
(14:40):
more to say about those. Okay, you already know diuretics
for blood pressure can waste magnesium, so can vasodilators, fluoride steroids,
birth control pills, aminoglycoside, antibiotics, digoxin, amphotericin, cyclosporin, and cysplatin.
Those last few drugs are for some pretty serious conditions,
so I'm hoping none of you have to take those,
(15:02):
but if you do for some reason, you can still
optimize under your own unique circumstances. Getting our nutrients from
our food is always the goal. People used to get
some of their magnesium from their drinking water, but with
fluoride and chlorine in the water, plus water softeners and purifiers,
these days most people don't get much or any magnesium
(15:23):
from water. Magnesium is the central atom in the chlorophyll molecule,
so making chlorophyll the first step is to put magnesium
right there in the middle, and then it build out
around the edges of it. So you're gonna get magnesium
from plants that you eat. There's some magnesium in leafy greens, spinach, kale, sprouts, nuts,
(15:43):
and seeds are also good sources of magnesium. Unprocessed cereal
grains are also a good source, but they're not very
common these days. Avocados, bananas, and lagumes are a pretty
good source too. Pink Himalayan sea salt has a little
bit of magnesium, as does wild cow fish and dark chocolate.
(16:04):
A good healthy variety of fresh, real, actual, non engineered
food is awesome. Not as awesome as it used to
be because our soils are so depleted and kind of
generally jacked up, but real food is always best. Even then,
I think it's good to consider taking a magnesium supplement.
(16:24):
There's a spectrum of propensity to take supplements. Some people
are extremely reluctant and others act like it's a competitive sport. Right.
I tip to the right side of that equation. Well,
maybe it's the left, if that's the liberal side, the
magnesiophile side. Whatever. I like supplements, and I take well
(16:49):
more than a few of them. But I get and
totally respect people who are much less inclined to just
pop a bunch of pills. If that's you, I kind
of love that about you. But if I were to
pick only two supplements that most people should take, magnesium
would be one of them. Unless we had good blood
work data that showed that it wasn't needed. That would
(17:10):
be a different story and highly unlikely. So for most people,
magnesium would be my number one or number two pick.
I haven't quite decided which it would be. It would
be between that and Omega three fish oil, but I
do think it would rank above some of the other
things I think are critically important, like vitamin D and
vitamin K two. The National Institutes of Health recommends three
(17:34):
hundred and ten to three hundred and sixty milligrams a
day for women and four hundred to four hundred and
twenty for men. Peak performance type, athletic and body optimizing
people recommend five milligrams per pound of body weight. That's
pretty different. That would be instead of three hundred milligrams
a day, seven hundred and fifty milligrams a day for
(17:55):
a one hundred and fifty pound person. I tend to
think the higher number is closer to the truth, and
people with a lot of muscle mass may need even
more than that. Your absorption of magnesium is correlated with
how deficient your body is in magnesium, So if you
have pretty high body levels, you don't absorb as much
from the same pill that somebody who's deficient will absorb.
(18:16):
Of all the magnesium consumed, only twenty four to seventy
six percent of it will be absorbed, and the rest
eliminated magnesium is mainly absorbed in the small intestine by
passive electrochemical gradient solvent drag. It gets in in between
your terocite cells and your gut lining. We'll talk more
about that in a couple of weeks. A small amount
(18:37):
of magnesium is absorbed in the large intestine. Interestingly, magnesium
excretion through urine follows a circadian rhythm, with maximal excretion
occurring at night. It's pretty hard to get magnesium toxicity
unless you have kidney disease or take really radically high
doses of magnesium supplements. If you have any medical condition,
(18:59):
be it kidney problems or anything else, always make sure
you use good judgment for your own idiosyncratic situation. Signs
of magnesium overdose are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle weakness, irregular breathing, lethargy,
and urinary retention. Like every nutrient, phytonutrient, vitamin, mineral, enzyme,
amino acid, anything, it doesn't just work all on its own.
(19:24):
One nutrient or supplement isn't going to create a singular
effect for you. We've been so conditioned to think in
terms of drug studies. You take this pill or a
placebo pill. You take one measurement. Either it worked or
it didn't. It's not like that. Everything interacts and we're
trying to provide all the right conditions and supplies so
(19:44):
that our bodies have what they need to thrive and
that state of thriving doesn't have to decrease with every birthday.
We have really okay back on tracks. So magnesium is
required for all kinds of pathways and other nutrients to
run correctly. Likewise, magnesium isn't properly absorbed if we don't
have enough active vitamin B six called P five p
(20:05):
on board and active B nine which is full eight,
and active B twelve are methylcalbolamin. They're all required for
magnesium to be properly absorbed and utilized. The odds are
pretty high that you're low in magnesium. Plus it's easy
and pretty inexpensive to supplement, so that's why it's one
of the top things I recommend that you consider taking
every day, or multiple times a day if you're trying
(20:27):
to get up to that seven or eight hundred milligrams
a day. But like everything, the best way to know
whether you need it and how much is to get
your blood tested. If you remember, ninety nine percent of
the magnesium in your body is bound up in your
bones and muscles and stuff. Only one percent is found
in extracellular fluids. Of that, only zero point three percent
(20:48):
is found in serum. Your serum level of magnesium does
not reflect your total body magnesium status. It's almost meaningless.
And guess what's measured With almost all lab tests, serum
magnesium mostly worthless. In fact, a high serum level of
magnesium sometimes but not always, correlates with low body magnesium
(21:13):
stores because it can sometimes mean that magnesium is being
leeched out of bones and muscles because the total body
magnesium is deficient. Despite what some people in the functional
medicine realm say, there isn't a perfect measure for magnesium.
The best would be a complicated series of both blood
and urine tests, and it's not worth it to do
that for regular people who are just trying to live
(21:35):
their healthiest lives. So the next best thing is to
measure red blood cell magnesium. This is the best option
we have. It's not perfect, but it's a much better
evaluation than serum magnesium. It's completely possible to have so
called normal magnesium blood levels and still have a total
body deficit. You also have to take in consideration with
(21:56):
all lab tests that it's a comparison to the average
among them population, which is not the optimal person or
the optimal you. What is considered so called normal has
actually decreased over the years because the average nutrient status
of people has decreased over the years. So don't take
it at face value. If your doctor says your magnesium
(22:17):
levels are fine. First of all, if it's the serum level,
it's probably worthless. Second, if it's a red blood cell level,
it still isn't fine if it's in the lower half
of the so called normal range. But if your doctor
smart enough to order a red blood cell level, she
probably understands that already. Whew, there's so much more we
can talk about. I have all the information handy about
(22:38):
the different forms of magnesium supplements, but I don't want
to bore you or waste your time by reading off
a list of all the forms, followed by which each
different form is good for. That's when we get into
the realm. It's good to know and to use that
to make your decision about which form to take. If
you decide to do a supplement, some of it has
(22:59):
to do with how it's able to be absorbed, but
a lot of it is just related to what it's
complex to. Magnesium is most active in its unbound ionic form. Remember,
magnesium is a positively charged molecule, so it looks to
be bound to a negatively charged molecule to form a
salt or a chylate. So a lot of like magnesium
taorate is good for blood pressure and magnesium glycinate is
(23:22):
good for sleep, is just because the amino acid taurine
is good for blood pressure and the amino acid glycine
is good for sleep. So it's not that the actual
magnesium in that supplement is magically different in some way.
If it would be useful to you to talk more
about different forms of magnesium, I'd be more than happy
to do that in the future, But for now, what
(23:42):
I'll say is to probably avoid magnesium citrate, magnesium chloride,
and magnesium oxide. Consider where you are on the spectrum
of supplement enthusiasm. The optimal would be to take several
different forms of magnesium, So to get up to your
seven hundred milligrams by taking a few different forms here
or there. If that seems extreme, just start with one. Well,
(24:05):
absorbed form like magnesium malate, tourate three and eight, glycinate,
or oritate. You can pick one based on whether you
prefer help with sleep or heart health or energy production.
Another good option is to try something called mag SRT.
It's made by Jigsaw Health. That's a slow release magnesium
(24:27):
malate form with really good studies to show actual efficacy.
Or there's one called Magnesium Breakthrough by Biooptimizers. That one's
my favorite because it's a combination of seven different forms
of magnesium all in one pill, which is super awesome.
I take that one during the day every day, and
magnesium glycinate at bedtime. I also take extra magnesium on
(24:50):
days that I sweat a lot in my sauna. Chronic
latent magnesium deficiency has been linked to atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, hypertension, arrhythmias,
malignant tumors, kidney stones, blood lipid alterations, psychiatric disorders, fatigue,
and poor athletic performance. Magnesium is necessary for energy production,
(25:12):
and iron, zinc and copper balance and three hundred other things.
I hope I've convinced you or reaffirmed to you how
important magnesium is for your body. I'll put some links
in the show notes to those two supplements I mentioned.
They're not affiliate links or anything, so do with them
whatever you wish if you're interested in learning more. I'll
(25:33):
also put links to a book called The Magnesium Miracle
and a concept called the Root Cause Protocol that shows
magnesium is the root cause for a lot a lot
of medical conditions. It's super interesting. Next week we're going
to talk about developing a mature character that will help
us live and give more as we get older. Until then,
(25:55):
decrease your risk of chronic diseases. Give your body the
magnesium it needs to flourish, and it'll be normal. Thank
you so much for tuning into the Health Courage Collective podcast.
I am truly honored that you have paid me the
enormous compliment of your time and attention. I would be
so grateful if you would share this podcast with someone
you know and subscribe so you never miss an episode.
(26:17):
This podcast is for entertainment and information purposes only. Statements
and views on this podcast are not medical advice. This podcast,
including Christina Hackett and producers, disclaim responsibility for any possible
adverse events by use of information contained hearing. If you
think you have a medical problem, consult a licensed pocision
Even though I really love supplements, there are really only
two or three that I would say are mandatory. If
you want to be healthy. If you want to lower
your chances of developing high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, heart attack, arrhythmias,
malignant tumors, kidney stones, cholesterol problems, depression, attention problems or
(00:20):
other psychiatric disorders, fatigue, and poor athletic performance, you need
enough magnesium. Eighty percent of the American population does not
get enough magnesium. Be in the twenty percent and your
life will be better. You're listening to the Healthcage Collective podcast,
Episode two hundred and seven, Magnesium a supplement Worth your
(00:41):
time and money. Originally published April thirteenth, twenty twenty two.
Welcome to the Health Courage Collective podcast, the show for
women who are too busy to slog through hours of
generalized and applicable and often contradictory health information, but too
smart to ignore that a few minutes of focused attention
now can bate years of suffering in the future. I'm
(01:02):
your host, Christina Hackett, a pharmacist who doesn't want you
to live on prescriptions. A certified coach specifically trained to
maximize your potential and a compulsive learner obsessed with preventative,
cutting edge, holistic and integrated medicine. I'm on a mission
to increase your physical and mental resilience so you can
fearlessly look forward to your next forty plus limitless years.
(01:25):
Your time is now. Let's go him, my friend, and
welcome to the podcast. I hope you're doing great today.
Thank you so much for being here and for caring
about your wellness and your ability to show up in
the world for the people who need you, including yourself.
How is being abnormal going? I hope you're remembering the
different ways that being like everyone else is not always
(01:46):
a good thing, and what you plan to do about it.
Today we're going to talk about magnesium. I debated with
myself back and forth quite a bit about whether to
do this episode or not, because I feel like the
topic has been beaten to death and you can go
online and find a thousand different articles that are all
exactly the same, and it becomes like the Charlie Brown
(02:12):
Teach your Voice. But on the other hand, eighty to
ninety percent of the US population is magnesium deficient. That's huge,
and it might include you. I want you to have
boundless energy for years to come. And you can't live
your best life with chronically low magnesium levels. So here
we are. Magnesium is a cofactor in three hundred different
(02:36):
chemical processes in the body, so not having enough magnesium
causes suboptimal subcellular performance, which is super lame. It can
cause anything from almost imperceptible energy lows to death. Yes, death.
Some people can correct their potentially deadly heart arrhythmias or
high blood pressure with just fixing their low magnesium levels.
(03:00):
Low magnesium levels can also cause or contribute to calcification
of the arteries. It's a big deal, and it's a
big problem that's really cheap and easy to fix. So
let's dive in and I'll really try to avoid slipping
into the trap that everyone else regurgitates. You can find
(03:22):
that stuff everywhere, and I want to keep this short
and genuinely useful to you, our little friend. Magnesium is
a group two alkaline earth element. It is the eighth
most common element in the crust of the Earth. The
concentration of magnesium in the ocean is fifty five milli
moles per liter. In the dead sea, it's one hundred
and ninety eight milli moles per liter. I live by
(03:43):
the Great Salt Lake, so I think the concentration there
is probably higher than in the sea. Two. The concentration
of magnesium in the human body is about twenty millimles
per kilogram of fat free tissue. It's the fourth most
abundant mineral in your body. Percent of magnesium is located
in the bone, muscles, and non muscular soft tissue, not
(04:06):
in your blood serum. That's kind of a big deal.
One to five percent of the magnesium in your body
is ionized or free, and ninety five to ninety nine
percent is complex to another element or molecule. It's positively charged,
so it likes to bind to something negatively charged. Ionized
calcium has the greatest biological activity. Magnesium is hydrophilic or
(04:30):
water loving. It dissolves in water very easily and binds
more tightly to water than calcium, potassium or sodium. You
have fifteen essential minerals in your body. They are calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, iron, chloride, zinc, copper, iodine, manganese, molebdenum, phosphorus, selenium, sulfur,
(04:53):
and silica. If you've ever sweated or thrown up or
had diarrhea. You probably know a electrolytes. These are molecules
that carry electrical charges in water. Our bodies are electric,
so that matters. All electrolytes are minerals, but not all
minerals are electrolytes. Some electrolytes are essential minerals, and some
(05:16):
electrolytes can actually be toxic. Arsenic, cadmium, and lead are electrolytes,
so hopefully those aren't in your gatorade. But magnesium is
so highly water soluble. Taking certain magnesium supplements can sometimes
draw water into the intestine really quickly, causing a disaster
pants kind of scenario. So you want to pick a
(05:39):
good magnesium supplement at the appropriate dose because it's so
soluble in water. Magnesium chloride is the salt used in
float tanks to make you superbuoyant in the water because
they can get the salt concentration up really high. Have
you ever been in a float tank. I've only done
it once, so I'm no kind of expert, but it
was definitely a very different sensation to just float in
(06:02):
complete darkness with no sensory input whatsoever. Side note, it's
traditionally said that you absorb a dose of magnesium through
your skin in a float take or an EPSOM salt bath.
But new thinking is that maybe the dose of magnesium
you get is actually from breathing in the water vapor
in the air. I thought that was interesting. It's probably
(06:23):
some of both. Okay. So, other than being the fourth
most common mineral in our body, why is everyone so
crazy about magnesium. Well, it's involved in three hundred metabolic
reactions that are essential to our life, including energy production,
blood pressure regulation, nerve signal transmission, and muscle contraction. Sometimes
just a little cheap and easy to find magnesium can
(06:44):
completely cure high blood pressure and heartarhythmias. It can prevent
heart attacks and calcification of the arteries. Depending on the person,
of course, and their entire broad metabolic picture. Magnesium is
important for our metabolism, our immune function, and our bone strength.
It can prevent or treat muscle spasms and help muscles
(07:05):
to be more supple. It's also involved in protein formation,
gene maintenance, and nervous system regulation. It helps with the
release of neurotransmitters. It's a stabilizer for enzymes, including several
enzymes that generate atp the energy molecule in mitochondria. Magnesium
might be more important for bone health than calcium. It's
(07:28):
essential for vitamin deabsorption and is required for the production
of the hormone calcitonin, which draws calcium into the bones
if you remember back to episode twenty one. The other
thing besides magnesium that keeps calcium where it should be
is vitamin K two, one of my favorites. Everything works
together beautifully. Magnesium is also the ultimate relaxation mineral. It's
(07:52):
essential for both contraction and relaxation of muscles, so your
body cannot relax without enough magnesium on board. Neither can
your mind. Magnesium hangs out in the synapse between two
neurons along with calcium and the neurotransmitter glutamate. Calcium and
glutamate are both excitatory. If there's enough magnesium around, it
can sit on the NMDA receptor site without activating it
(08:17):
like a guard at the gate. But when there's not
enough magnesium around, calcium glutamate can keep activating that excitatory receptor,
revving up our brain. Magnesium can also activate GABBA receptors,
which are calming receptors that are also activated by sleeping medications,
anxiety medications, seizure medications, and anesthetics. Magnesium is needed for
(08:39):
a calm demeanor and for RESTful sleep. Magnesium is needed
for the proper utilization of calcium, potassium, vitamin K, vitamin D,
and many other nutrients. So other healthy stuff can't do
its healthy job without adequate levels of magnesium. High estrogen
levels are often correlated with low magnesium levels. If you
(09:02):
remember back to our two episodes about hormones, high estrogen
often causes heavier menstrual flow, PMS, period cramps, headaches, breast tenderness, anxiety,
and trouble sleeping. Magnesium can help alleviate all of those,
Plus remember you need to balance estrogen with proper levels
of Progesterone. Risk of high blood pressure is seventy percent
(09:24):
lower among people with adequate to high normal magnesium levels.
Seventy percent. That's a really big number, like mind blowingly big.
Most people in our society think that increasing blood pressure
just comes along with increasing age, but guess what, increasing
age is often correlated with decreasing magnesium levels too. It's
(09:49):
such a safe and easy fix that has only positive
side effects, well except for explosive diarrhea. I suppose we
might count that one as a negative side effect, but
it can be avoid the rest of the side effects,
like more tranquil energy during the day, more RESTful sleep
at night, less hardening of the arteries, and stronger bones
and teeth are all good. If everyone who first got
(10:12):
diagnosed with pre hypertension or regular hypertension which is high
blood pressure, were properly tested for magnesium status and supplemented
if needed, there would be a lot fewer people on
blood pressure medication. Why take a medication to treat a
condition that's not even a condition, just a symptom of
a low mineral level. Plus the first line blood pressure
(10:35):
medications are diuretics, which further decrease your magnesium and other electrolytes.
It's insane. If your blood pressure is high, almost no
doctor would ever talk about curing it, just treating it
or managing it, which usually requires adding more and more
and more medications to the list. Over the years, I
(10:58):
see tons of people on four, five or six blood
pressure medications. Some of them probably really do need those,
but some of them would probably be benefited by some magnesium.
And all of those blood pressure medications aren't even treating
the root cause they're just masking it, kind of like
spray painting the tree leaves green if you remember back
to that episode, and they simultaneously make it harder for
(11:21):
it to ever really be cured. High blood pressure is
dangerous and should most definitely be dealt with, and I'm
glad we live in a world where we have medication
that can treat it. But like always, there's more to
the story than just take a reading if it's high
prescribe or drug, but that's literally the standard of care.
(11:42):
It's a similar story with arrhythmias. People go on medications
that zap their energy and or get their heart nodes
literally burned, when it's possible that their arrhythmia could be
cured just by fixing their mineral and nutrient levels. Conservative
people say two thirds of the population is magnesium deficient,
and what would the opposite be, liberal people? I guess
(12:05):
liberal people magnesium liberal magnesiophiles. I kind of like that word.
Maybe it could catch on you get the point. Other
people say that ninety percent of the population is magnesium deficient.
I hope you can see that this can have far
reaching effects. We only talked about a handful of the
(12:26):
three hundred things magnesium is involved in. The next logical
question is but why. I think it's a question we
should ask more of in general. Take a cue from
the wise toddlers in your life. Why why? Why? But really,
our bodies can only function optimally on high levels of magnesium.
(12:48):
Then why is it so hard to get enough? Well?
Lots of reasons, all of them related to our modern environment.
One reason is that the soil that our crops are
grown in is magnesium depleted, and or the crops we
eat are magnesium depleted because of the kinds of artificial fertilizers, pesticides,
and herbicides that are used. This is part of a
(13:10):
longer discussion, but when crops aren't fertilized by organic compost,
the amount of magnesium in the fruit of the plant
is lower. It might also have to do with the
living microbiome of the soil. Another reason is that processed
foods are very low in magnesium. The more processed foods
you eat, the lower your magnesium level is likely to
be something I mentioned in just about every episode. Sugar
(13:34):
washes magnesium out of your system, so does caffeine. Fluoride
and chlorine also decrease your magnesium levels. Magnesium does play
a role in kulating heavy metals, which is a good
thing in that it protects you from toxicity. But the
more toxins in your environment, the more magnesium gets used up.
Cleaning those up too. Calcium decreases your magnesium levels, so
(13:57):
getting a lot of calcium from supplements, lots of dairy
press or calcium fortified foods like orange juice can decrease
your magnesium levels. Taking lots of calcium can actually decrease
your bone health by decreasing your magnesium level. Just being
stressed can actually reduce your magnesium levels, and exercising hard
(14:18):
and sweating which is good for you, but decreases your
magnesium level. Alcohol and drugs can decrease your magnesium levels,
including prescription drugs, maybe especially prescription drugs. We won't spend
too much time here about proton pump inhibitors for heartburn.
I have a lot to say about those reduce your
magnesium level, as do statins for cholesterol. I have even
(14:40):
more to say about those. Okay, you already know diuretics
for blood pressure can waste magnesium, so can vasodilators, fluoride steroids,
birth control pills, aminoglycoside, antibiotics, digoxin, amphotericin, cyclosporin, and cysplatin.
Those last few drugs are for some pretty serious conditions,
so I'm hoping none of you have to take those,
(15:02):
but if you do for some reason, you can still
optimize under your own unique circumstances. Getting our nutrients from
our food is always the goal. People used to get
some of their magnesium from their drinking water, but with
fluoride and chlorine in the water, plus water softeners and purifiers,
these days most people don't get much or any magnesium
(15:23):
from water. Magnesium is the central atom in the chlorophyll molecule,
so making chlorophyll the first step is to put magnesium
right there in the middle, and then it build out
around the edges of it. So you're gonna get magnesium
from plants that you eat. There's some magnesium in leafy greens, spinach, kale, sprouts, nuts,
(15:43):
and seeds are also good sources of magnesium. Unprocessed cereal
grains are also a good source, but they're not very
common these days. Avocados, bananas, and lagumes are a pretty
good source too. Pink Himalayan sea salt has a little
bit of magnesium, as does wild cow fish and dark chocolate.
(16:04):
A good healthy variety of fresh, real, actual, non engineered
food is awesome. Not as awesome as it used to
be because our soils are so depleted and kind of
generally jacked up, but real food is always best. Even then,
I think it's good to consider taking a magnesium supplement.
(16:24):
There's a spectrum of propensity to take supplements. Some people
are extremely reluctant and others act like it's a competitive sport. Right.
I tip to the right side of that equation. Well,
maybe it's the left, if that's the liberal side, the
magnesiophile side. Whatever. I like supplements, and I take well
(16:49):
more than a few of them. But I get and
totally respect people who are much less inclined to just
pop a bunch of pills. If that's you, I kind
of love that about you. But if I were to
pick only two supplements that most people should take, magnesium
would be one of them. Unless we had good blood
work data that showed that it wasn't needed. That would
(17:10):
be a different story and highly unlikely. So for most people,
magnesium would be my number one or number two pick.
I haven't quite decided which it would be. It would
be between that and Omega three fish oil, but I
do think it would rank above some of the other
things I think are critically important, like vitamin D and
vitamin K two. The National Institutes of Health recommends three
(17:34):
hundred and ten to three hundred and sixty milligrams a
day for women and four hundred to four hundred and
twenty for men. Peak performance type, athletic and body optimizing
people recommend five milligrams per pound of body weight. That's
pretty different. That would be instead of three hundred milligrams
a day, seven hundred and fifty milligrams a day for
(17:55):
a one hundred and fifty pound person. I tend to
think the higher number is closer to the truth, and
people with a lot of muscle mass may need even
more than that. Your absorption of magnesium is correlated with
how deficient your body is in magnesium, So if you
have pretty high body levels, you don't absorb as much
from the same pill that somebody who's deficient will absorb.
(18:16):
Of all the magnesium consumed, only twenty four to seventy
six percent of it will be absorbed, and the rest
eliminated magnesium is mainly absorbed in the small intestine by
passive electrochemical gradient solvent drag. It gets in in between
your terocite cells and your gut lining. We'll talk more
about that in a couple of weeks. A small amount
(18:37):
of magnesium is absorbed in the large intestine. Interestingly, magnesium
excretion through urine follows a circadian rhythm, with maximal excretion
occurring at night. It's pretty hard to get magnesium toxicity
unless you have kidney disease or take really radically high
doses of magnesium supplements. If you have any medical condition,
(18:59):
be it kidney problems or anything else, always make sure
you use good judgment for your own idiosyncratic situation. Signs
of magnesium overdose are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle weakness, irregular breathing, lethargy,
and urinary retention. Like every nutrient, phytonutrient, vitamin, mineral, enzyme,
amino acid, anything, it doesn't just work all on its own.
(19:24):
One nutrient or supplement isn't going to create a singular
effect for you. We've been so conditioned to think in
terms of drug studies. You take this pill or a
placebo pill. You take one measurement. Either it worked or
it didn't. It's not like that. Everything interacts and we're
trying to provide all the right conditions and supplies so
(19:44):
that our bodies have what they need to thrive and
that state of thriving doesn't have to decrease with every birthday.
We have really okay back on tracks. So magnesium is
required for all kinds of pathways and other nutrients to
run correctly. Likewise, magnesium isn't properly absorbed if we don't
have enough active vitamin B six called P five p
(20:05):
on board and active B nine which is full eight,
and active B twelve are methylcalbolamin. They're all required for
magnesium to be properly absorbed and utilized. The odds are
pretty high that you're low in magnesium. Plus it's easy
and pretty inexpensive to supplement, so that's why it's one
of the top things I recommend that you consider taking
every day, or multiple times a day if you're trying
(20:27):
to get up to that seven or eight hundred milligrams
a day. But like everything, the best way to know
whether you need it and how much is to get
your blood tested. If you remember, ninety nine percent of
the magnesium in your body is bound up in your
bones and muscles and stuff. Only one percent is found
in extracellular fluids. Of that, only zero point three percent
(20:48):
is found in serum. Your serum level of magnesium does
not reflect your total body magnesium status. It's almost meaningless.
And guess what's measured With almost all lab tests, serum
magnesium mostly worthless. In fact, a high serum level of
magnesium sometimes but not always, correlates with low body magnesium
(21:13):
stores because it can sometimes mean that magnesium is being
leeched out of bones and muscles because the total body
magnesium is deficient. Despite what some people in the functional
medicine realm say, there isn't a perfect measure for magnesium.
The best would be a complicated series of both blood
and urine tests, and it's not worth it to do
that for regular people who are just trying to live
(21:35):
their healthiest lives. So the next best thing is to
measure red blood cell magnesium. This is the best option
we have. It's not perfect, but it's a much better
evaluation than serum magnesium. It's completely possible to have so
called normal magnesium blood levels and still have a total
body deficit. You also have to take in consideration with
(21:56):
all lab tests that it's a comparison to the average
among them population, which is not the optimal person or
the optimal you. What is considered so called normal has
actually decreased over the years because the average nutrient status
of people has decreased over the years. So don't take
it at face value. If your doctor says your magnesium
(22:17):
levels are fine. First of all, if it's the serum level,
it's probably worthless. Second, if it's a red blood cell level,
it still isn't fine if it's in the lower half
of the so called normal range. But if your doctor
smart enough to order a red blood cell level, she
probably understands that already. Whew, there's so much more we
can talk about. I have all the information handy about
(22:38):
the different forms of magnesium supplements, but I don't want
to bore you or waste your time by reading off
a list of all the forms, followed by which each
different form is good for. That's when we get into
the realm. It's good to know and to use that
to make your decision about which form to take. If
you decide to do a supplement, some of it has
(22:59):
to do with how it's able to be absorbed, but
a lot of it is just related to what it's
complex to. Magnesium is most active in its unbound ionic form. Remember,
magnesium is a positively charged molecule, so it looks to
be bound to a negatively charged molecule to form a
salt or a chylate. So a lot of like magnesium
taorate is good for blood pressure and magnesium glycinate is
(23:22):
good for sleep, is just because the amino acid taurine
is good for blood pressure and the amino acid glycine
is good for sleep. So it's not that the actual
magnesium in that supplement is magically different in some way.
If it would be useful to you to talk more
about different forms of magnesium, I'd be more than happy
to do that in the future, But for now, what
(23:42):
I'll say is to probably avoid magnesium citrate, magnesium chloride,
and magnesium oxide. Consider where you are on the spectrum
of supplement enthusiasm. The optimal would be to take several
different forms of magnesium, So to get up to your
seven hundred milligrams by taking a few different forms here
or there. If that seems extreme, just start with one. Well,
(24:05):
absorbed form like magnesium malate, tourate three and eight, glycinate,
or oritate. You can pick one based on whether you
prefer help with sleep or heart health or energy production.
Another good option is to try something called mag SRT.
It's made by Jigsaw Health. That's a slow release magnesium
(24:27):
malate form with really good studies to show actual efficacy.
Or there's one called Magnesium Breakthrough by Biooptimizers. That one's
my favorite because it's a combination of seven different forms
of magnesium all in one pill, which is super awesome.
I take that one during the day every day, and
magnesium glycinate at bedtime. I also take extra magnesium on
(24:50):
days that I sweat a lot in my sauna. Chronic
latent magnesium deficiency has been linked to atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, hypertension, arrhythmias,
malignant tumors, kidney stones, blood lipid alterations, psychiatric disorders, fatigue,
and poor athletic performance. Magnesium is necessary for energy production,
(25:12):
and iron, zinc and copper balance and three hundred other things.
I hope I've convinced you or reaffirmed to you how
important magnesium is for your body. I'll put some links
in the show notes to those two supplements I mentioned.
They're not affiliate links or anything, so do with them
whatever you wish if you're interested in learning more. I'll
(25:33):
also put links to a book called The Magnesium Miracle
and a concept called the Root Cause Protocol that shows
magnesium is the root cause for a lot a lot
of medical conditions. It's super interesting. Next week we're going
to talk about developing a mature character that will help
us live and give more as we get older. Until then,
(25:55):
decrease your risk of chronic diseases. Give your body the
magnesium it needs to flourish, and it'll be normal. Thank
you so much for tuning into the Health Courage Collective podcast.
I am truly honored that you have paid me the
enormous compliment of your time and attention. I would be
so grateful if you would share this podcast with someone
you know and subscribe so you never miss an episode.
(26:17):
This podcast is for entertainment and information purposes only. Statements
and views on this podcast are not medical advice. This podcast,
including Christina Hackett and producers, disclaim responsibility for any possible
adverse events by use of information contained hearing. If you
think you have a medical problem, consult a licensed pocision
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