Magnesium – A Miracle Mineral

Scientists are often very wary of calling a particular nutrient “the miracle nutrient”. This is because as far as we know there is no one ingredient in foods that provide all of our health needs. But there are a number of nutrients that provide so many positive health benefits that they really should be an essential part of a person’s diet. Magnesium is one of these nutrients.

Magnesium is a miracle mineral not because it is the latest health fad that is said to cause a whole bunch of unsupported benefits, but because there is a vast amount of scientific research that shows how important magnesium is in the human diet.

To that end, magnesium is a crucial part of many dietary supplements. The most effective supplements are the ones which are based on scientifically proven, top quality ingredients. Make sure to always check what is going into the supplements you take in order to ensure you are getting something that will work. Read objective reports based on expert research of different supplement at Customer Review.

Disease Prevention

Magnesium has been shown to contribute to the prevention of certain diseases like:

• Metabolic syndrome and diabetes
• Hypertension
• Cardiovascular disease
• Osteoporosis
• Pregnancy complications
• Migraines
• Asthma

There too many health benefits to talk about each in detail but this article will discuss the biggest three which are the leading cause of death in many countries.

Metabolic Syndrome And Diabetes

Metabolic syndrome and diabetes are characterized generally by insulin resistance, and in severe cases, a complete lack of insulin. Insulin is the hormone that is released when levels of glucose are high in the blood. Insulin then causes the cells in the body to take up this glucose so that they can use it as a form of energy.

Cells have a special protein on their surface called the tyrosine kinase receptor. This protein acts like a gate. Insulin attaches to it which causes the uptake of glucose by the cell. Magnesium helps this protein to perform its function and a deficiency of it can cause a number of tyrosine kinase receptors throughout the body to become ineffective. The result is metabolic syndrome.

Hypertension And Cardiovascular Disease

Hypertension is really just a fancy word for long-term high blood pressure. Blood pressure is divided into two measurements: systolic and diastolic. Systolic pressure is the pressure that the blood is under when the heart is contracting while diastolic pressure is when the heart is relaxing. What researchers have determined is that when the high blood pressure is a consequence of a heart that is contracting too hard, magnesium can reduce this effect and in doing so, reduce blood pressure.

The heart is governed by electrical activity which is what causes it to contract. In order for the muscles of the heart to relax, magnesium has to flood into the heart cells and neutralize the electrical activity. This helps the heart muscles to contract at a much more moderated strength so that they do not force blood as hard through the vessels. The scientific evidence is quite clear that people who consume enough magnesium are at much lower risk of developing hypertension because of this effect.

Cardiovascular disease is quite a complicated set of conditions, but the main characteristics include irregular heart contractions and inappropriate clotting. These often lead to a heart attack or a stroke.

The irregular heartbeat is dealt with by the relaxing effect of magnesium but magnesium also reduces the activation of platelets. Platelets are tiny pieces of a cell that flatten and stick together to form a clot in the blood. When they form a clot inappropriately, it can block a blood vessel which can lead to a heart attack or a stroke.

Magnesium prevents platelets from flattening and sticking together so that they don’t form a clot inside a blood vessel and cause these problems.

Your Daily Dose Of Magnesium

Magnesium is found in a number of foods but is high in bran and oat cereal, brown rice, spinach, fish, almonds and peanuts. An adult requires about 350 mg of magnesium a day, while children require about 110 mg. Eating about three servings of the foods mentioned should give you this dose. Otherwise, consider magnesium supplements.

As you can see it’s quite important for your health to take in enough magnesium, so if you aren’t, it’s really something you should be considering. If you are worried that you might be magnesium deficient, take this easy at-home magnesium deficiency test to find out.