Magnesium Benefits and Best Types - Ask a Nutritionist

Transcript:

Britni: Good morning and welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition's midweek segment called “Ask a Nutritionist”. On today's show, we will be answering a nutrition question we've received from our Dishing Up Nutrition listeners. The question today is, “How do you decide which magnesium to take? You mentioned Magnesium Glycinate is the most absorbable form. What about magnesium chloride?”

Magnesium’s functions in the body

Wonderful question because we talk about magnesium and its benefits so often and it is a little bit confusing to know which form is best for you. So first, let me tell you a little bit about magnesium and the functions in the body. It's an extremely important mineral involved in hundreds of different biochemical reactions. Think of it as your relaxation mineral. The major, major function of magnesium is helping to relax our muscles and promoting regular muscle contraction.

Why is it common to be deficient in magnesium?

And many people are deficient in magnesium for multiple reasons. The nutrients in our soil have been depleted a lot over the years. You know, many people aren't eating enough magnesium rich foods to begin with.

Sugar, alcohol and coffee, all deplete magnesium from our body. And here's a big one, stress depletes magnesium from our body. Basically, everybody has some stress in their life, right? The majority of individuals are deficient in magnesium for that reason and because it's involved in so many different reactions in the body, there's a huge demand for it. And it gets used up very quickly.

Symptoms of magnesium deficiency

I want to run through some symptoms of magnesium deficiency so you can identify if you are deficient or not. Muscle cramps, spasms or twitching, insomnia, anxiety, irritability, heart palpitations, constipation, headaches, migraines, fatigue;

High blood pressure, PMS and menstrual cramps. You know, basically anything that's tight or cramping can be related to a magnesium deficiency. I think the majority of people can identify with at least one of those symptoms. Let's go back to the original question about the different forms of magnesium.

Best forms of magnesium (& when to use each)

Magnesium glycinate is a highly absorbable form because it's chelated, and chelated means that it's bound to something to basically help carry it across the lining of our gut, so we absorb it a lot better. Magnesium glycinate specifically is bound to the amino acid, glycine, and glycine has a very calming effect on the body.

So together it makes a great supplement for sleep and relaxation. This is the Magnesium Glycinate is my go-to magnesium recommendation for the majority of my clients. Unless you tend toward constipation. Then I would choose a Magnesium Citrate or the Nutrikey Mixed Magnesium.

Mixed Magnesium is generally my preference for individuals that experience constipation because it contains half magnesium glycinate and half magnesium citrate. So you get all the benefits of the magnesium glycinate, but then the magnesium citrate will pull fluid to your stool to help to soften it. If you take too much magnesium citrate, you're going to get loose stools. So it does take a little bit of trial and error to find that right dosage for you.

Forms of magnesium to avoid

Forms of magnesium that you want to avoid are magnesium oxide and carbonate. Those are poorly absorbed forms and generally just cause diarrhea. So even in your multivitamin, if you take one, I would look at the ingredient list or the facts page and look at the form of magnesium in that.

The listener specifically asked about magnesium chloride, which is a combination of magnesium and chloride, generally extracted from seawater. And this form isn't as absorbable as magnesium glycinate, and it's really a better form used topically. So it is the most prevalent form of magnesium in magnesium lotion and oils.

1 other form of magnesium to consider for specific brain conditions: magnesium threonate

And, you know, I do want to mention one other form of magnesium that you can find on the Nutrikey website. It's called Magnesium Threonate. And this form of magnesium is really special because it crosses the blood-brain barrier. So it's not going to provide us the, all of the muscle benefits that I was talking about earlier. But it's going to provide us with a lot of brain benefits.

So individuals who might benefit by taking this would be if you're looking to improve memory, cognition, focus, reduce anxiety, and improve ADHD symptoms. It can help your sleep as well. But as I noted earlier, magnesium glycinate is, is also really great for sleep.

And hypothetically, you could take that Magnesium Glycinate or that Mixed Magnesium to get all the muscle benefits and maybe if you're constipated to help relieve that. Plus, you could take the Magnesium Threonate to get those brain benefits.

How much magnesium should I take & when?

Dosing of magnesium varies quite a bit from person to person. I would say a lot of people fall between 300 and 600 milligrams. I would just suggest starting off, you know, maybe with two. And then you can continue to increase until you do get relief from those symptoms that I mentioned earlier.

And I would recommend taking most of your magnesium or all of your magnesium at night before bed to get that relaxation effect, and that will help to put you into a deeper sleep. If you are taking it to relieve constipation, you might benefit from taking one or two in the morning as well.

And I also want to mention that magnesium is physically a large molecule, so there is only about a hundred milligrams that can fit into a capsule or a tablet of magnesium. So I know it might feel like you're taking a lot.

But unfortunately there's no getting around that. And when I had mentioned multivitamins earlier, oftentimes there is little to no magnesium in multivitamins again for this reason because it's just physically a large molecule. So it's difficult to fit that in along with all the other vitamins and minerals.

I often get questions from my clients after they've gone to do their annual physical about their magnesium level. A lot of times that's tested with the various other labs during a physical. But getting that blood test of magnesium is not an accurate measure of your magnesium status, and the reason is about 99% of your magnesium is found in your cells. So testing your blood magnesium is really only testing about 1% of your magnesium.

So I would not use that as a way to measure whether or not you need to supplement with magnesium. I think basically everybody, most individuals can really benefit from taking some form of magnesium.

What are some food sources of magnesium? 

And I don't want to forget to mention food sources of magnesium. Of course, you always, always want to focus on the food part of, of getting all the adequate nutrients in. Magnesium rich foods are nuts, seeds, beans, seaweed, avocado, fatty fish like salmon and mackerel and halibut. Leafy greens contain magnesium. And meat also provides you some magnesium too.

So by upping your magnesium rich foods, you know, reducing, eliminating that sugar, caffeine, alcohol, and then supplementing with magnesium, that should really get rid of any of those magnesium deficiencies symptoms that I did mention earlier. Thank you so much for listening  to “Ask a Nutritionist”. If you have a question you would like us to answer, we invite you to join our Dishing Up Nutrition Facebook community by searching Dishing Up Nutrition on Facebook.

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