When it comes to nutrition, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably聽is. Meal replacements聽may claim to strike a聽perfect balance of nutrients, but they聽taste terrible. Supplements like probiotics and vitamin B are touted as cure-alls for a wide range of ailments, but they鈥檙e largely unregulated聽and most people don鈥檛 need them. Now聽magnesium is getting the silver-bullet treatment. Marketers of magnesium pills, body sprays, and bath salts claim that their products will boost recovery and energy levels聽and promote all kinds of important-sounding bodily functions like DNA synthesis and bone strength. Here鈥檚 what you need to know about getting enough magnesium.
Magnesium Is Not a Health Food, It鈥檚 an Essential Nutrient
Unlike trendy (and expensive) health foods like acai and ashwagandha, magnesium is an essential nutrient that鈥檚 naturally found in many of the foods you鈥檙e already eating. If you remember anything from high school chemistry, you might know that magnesium is technically a metallic element. In nutrition, it鈥檚 classified as a mineral and falls into the micronutrient category, which includes vitamins and minerals that your body depends on to function. Your body can鈥檛 produce magnesium, though, so you need to get it from your diet. Adults require 300 to 400 milligrams of , which is doable if you鈥檙e regularly eating good sources like nuts, seeds, legumes, whole grains, leafy greens, certain fruits and vegetables, and聽fatty fish.
Without It, You鈥檇 Be Dead
Magnesium is abundant in the body. Hundreds of biological processes, including聽the creation of new proteins, energy production in cells, and DNA synthesis, depend on it, explains Colin MacDiarmid, a senior nutrition scientist at the University of Wisconsin鈥揗adison. Without it, the body stops working. Because it鈥檚 so important, your body is good at holding on to the magnesium you ingest, most of which gets stored in your bones, where your body can access it as needed. If your bones get too low on magnesium because you鈥檙e using it up without properly replenishing it through your diet, they can weaken over time.
It Might Be Hard to Tell if You鈥檙e Magnesium Deficient
A 聽estimated聽that anywhere from 10 to 30 percent of people in developed countries have a mild magnesium deficiency, which might come with few or no symptoms. 鈥淢any reports argue that subclinical deficiencies are widespread and poorly recognized聽and may contribute to the development of many different chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, mood disorders, and hypertension,鈥 MacDiarmid says.
Severe deficiencies, while uncommon, are easier to spot. Symptoms include loss of appetite, vomiting, and fatigue, which might be followed by numbness, muscle cramps, seizures, personality changes, and coronary spasms as the deficiency continues, . Your doctor can measure magnesium levels in your body with a blood test.
Keep Calm and Eat Whole Foods (Plus a Supplement, Maybe)
A doctor might prescribe magnesium supplementation if you regularly experience cramps, fatigue, or irritability. And in some cases, magnesium might be used to treat constipation, says Aja McCutchen, an Atlanta-based gastroenterologist. But a healthy diet rich in whole, unprocessed聽foods is still the easiest protection against a magnesium deficiency. (Processing grains and other foods reduces their magnesium content, notes MacDiarmid.) An ounce of raw almonds鈥攁bout a handful鈥攃ontains 80 milligrams of magnesium.
If you don鈥檛 regularly load up on magnesium-rich foods, or if you experience the mild symptoms (cramps, fatigue, and irritability) mentioned above, supplementation might be a good idea. There鈥檚 no benefit to supplementing unless you鈥檙e deficient, says MacDiarmid, but there isn鈥檛 much risk either. While some vitamins and minerals are extremely toxic in high doses, magnesium is relatively nontoxic聽because we have effective mechanisms to prevent excess magnesium absorption. The exceptions are people with kidney problems, who might not be able to properly excrete excess magnesium, and people on certain drugs鈥攕o聽check with your doctor before adding a magnesium (or any) supplement.
There鈥檚 No Need to Get Fancy
If you鈥檙e browsing supplements and don鈥檛 know whether to spring for the expensive stuff or take a chance on a budget-friendly brand, don鈥檛 stress.聽鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 really matter which one you take,鈥 MacDiarmid says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not clear that any form of magnesium is more easily absorbed or more effective.鈥 Supplemental magnesium usually exists as magnesium oxide, magnesium aspartate, or magnesium citrate (which provide magnesium bound to聽different compounds, like oxygen, aspartic acid, or citric acid, respectively), but it all breaks down to the same molecule in your body. Your body might tolerate some forms better than others, so if you experience聽discomfort after starting a supplement, it鈥檚 worth trying out another.
And while products like聽magnesium-enriched聽oils, creams, and bath salts have been gaining traction, science says slathering it on your body probably won鈥檛 do much. A 聽of studies that examined the effect of topical applications of magnesium (including soaking in聽the Dead Sea) found that the vast majority didn鈥檛 produce statistically significant increases in the subjects鈥 magnesium levels. More research needs to be done, but for now, skip the expensive oil.
The bottom line: it鈥檚 possible that you have a slight magnesium deficiency, but anything short of a blood test can鈥檛 prove it. If you鈥檙e concerned,聽talk to your doctor about taking聽an inexpensive magnesium supplement.