Dr. Dean explains it as follows:

“Magnesium is farmed out of the soil much more than calcium. A hundred years ago, we would get maybe 500 milligrams of magnesium in an ordinary diet. Now we are lucky to get 200 milligrams. People do need to supplement with magnesium.”

Namely, the industrial agriculture has significantly drained most soils of essential minerals such as magnesium. Yet, in case you find biologically-grown organic foods (grown on soil treated with mineral fertilizers), you still may get high amounts of magnesium from your food.

The center of chlorophyll is rich in magnesium, allowing the plant to use the sun energy. Also, magnesium can be found in high amounts in avocados, seaweed, green leafy vegetables such as spinach and Swiss chard, nuts, and seeds(pumpkin, sesame, and sunflower seeds).

Moreover, you can try juicing in order to get high amounts of nutrients from your vegetables.

Yet, most foods which are grown nowadays lack magnesium and other important minerals. Moreover, herbicides, such as glyphosate  act as chelators, effectively obstructing the uptake and use of minerals. Therefore, magnesium supplementation is of great importance.

On the other hand, there is no easily available commercial laboratory test that can accurately check your magnesium status in the tissues. Namely, only 1% of magnesium in the body is distributed in the blood, so a serum magnesium blood test would be largely inaccurate if based on a simple sample of magnesium.

There are certain specialty labs which provide an RBC magnesium test which is significantly accurate. However, it seems that it is extremely useful to learn to recognize magnesium deficiency symptoms, in order to treat it on time.

The early symptoms of magnesium deficiency are headaches, fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, and weakness.

If not treated on time, these symptoms may be aggravated, and the person will experience other signs such as seizures, personality changes, abnormal heart rhythms, numbness and tingling, muscle contractions and cramps, and coronary spasms.

Dr. Dean, in the book “The Magnesium Miracle” provides a list of 100 helpful factors in order to determine whether your body lacks magnesium or not.

If you decide to take magnesium supplements, you need to know that there are several different magnesium forms. Magnesium oxide supplements are the cheapest sources of magnesium and they are poorly absorbed by your body, approximately 4 percent.

The other 96 percent goes through your intestines, which explains the laxative effect, which is useful in the case of constipation.

Your magnesium status can also be enhanced by the use of Epsom salt baths or foot baths as well. Epsom salt is a magnesium sulfate which is easily absorbed through the skin. Magnesium oil (from magnesium chloride) can also be topically applied and absorbed.

There are various magnesium supplement types on the market, and this is due to the fact that this mineral must be bound to another substance, and there is no 100% magnesium compound supplement (except pico-ionic magnesium).

Thus, the substance which accompanies magnesium in the supplement affects its absorption and bioavailability, and may provide a bit different health benefits:

• Magnesium sulfate / Magnesium hydroxide(milk of magnesia) are usually used as a laxative, and remember to take them as directed, as you can easy overdose.
• Magnesium glycinate is a chelated magnesium form which provides the highest absorption and bioavailability levels, so it is ideal to improve your magnesium levels in the body
• Magnesium oxide is a non-chelated type of magnesium, bound to an organic acid or a fatty acid, and includes 60 % magnesium. It has properties which soften the stool.
• Magnesium chloride / Magnesium lactate have only 12 % magnesium but provides a better absorption than others
• Magnesium threonate is a rather new type of magnesium supplement  and it has an excellent ability to enter the mitochondrial membrane
• Magnesium citrate is magnesium with citric acid, which has laxative properties
• Magnesium taurate includes a combination of magnesium and an amino acid, taurine, and it calms the mind and body
• Magnesium carbonate has strong antacid properties and includes 45% magnesium

Furthermore, Dr. Dean, the two most important factors which exhaust the amounts of magnesium in the body are stress and prescription drugs. Sadly, the conventional medical approach in the case of stress includes prescription drugs, so the situation gets significantly worse.

Dr. Dean provides an explanation for this:

“The scenario that I like to talk about is very basic. You will recognize it immediately in either yourself or your family members. You go to your doctor. You’re under massive stress. Massive stress means you’re losing magnesium. You’re burning magnesium out of your body because it helps support your adrenal glands.

It helps keep you away from anxiety and depression. It helps relax your muscles. If you’re all tight and stressed, your magnesium is being lost, [which makes] the muscles of your blood vessels tighten. That tightness is going to cause increased blood pressure. Your doctor… will say, ‘Oh, your blood pressure is elevated.

We’ll give you a diuretic. ‘A diuretic will drop the fluid level in your body to take the pressure off your blood vessels, so your blood pressure will drop. But diuretics also drain off your magnesium… A month later you come back, and the doctor finds your blood pressure’s even more elevated.

Yes—because you’ve just lost more magnesium! Your doctor then puts you on a calcium channel blocker. Now, they have that part right. They know that without magnesium, your calcium is going to become elevated and will tighten up your blood vessels, so they try to block calcium.

But they don’t know that magnesium is a natural calcium channel blocker. Your doctor may also put you on an angiotensin-converting-enzyme (ACE) inhibitor, another blood pressure drug… So, you go away with three drugs now.

After two or three months, you come back and have blood taken to make sure that drugs aren’t hurting your liver… All of a sudden, your cholesterol is elevated. All of a sudden, your blood sugar is elevated. What does the doctor say? ‘Oh, we caught your cholesterol. We just caught your blood sugar. We can put you on medications.’ But they didn’t catch them; they caused them.”

Dr. Dean also warns that the reduces amounts of magnesium in the body lead to uncontrolled cholesterol levels, as magnesium balances the enzyme that creates cholesterol and thus helps in the regulation of  cholesterol.

Also, she claims that statin drugs destroy the same enzyme that magnesium balances. In the case of diabetes, patients often experience magnesium deficiency, and drugs may inadvertently contribute to diabetes by reducing the amounts of magnesium in the body.

This is especially true in the case of drugs which contain fluoride. Fluoroquinolone antibiotics such as Cipro are known due to the high amounts of fluoride and its associated side-effects. Furthermore, fluoride is included in numerous different drugs, including painkillers for arthritis, anti-anxiety drugs, and some cholesterol medications.

Namely, magnesium binds to fluoride to create magnesium fluoride, which depletes magnesium from the body. Numerous drugs also lead to chronic inflammation. Dr. Dean states that calcium is a precursor of inflammatory effects, and magnesium has powerful anti-inflammatory properties.

Hence, it is of crucial importance to maintain the balance between these minerals, calcium, and magnesium, as excessive amounts of calcium without sufficient amounts of magnesium may lead to a heart disease.

Dr. Dean adds:

“We’ve got three studies now in the British Medical Journal. It was a research facility out of New Zealand that showed that women who simply take calcium supplements are at a much higher risk for heart disease. Nothing is said about magnesium. People were just sort of left up in the air. Some doctors are saying, ‘Yeah, don’t take calcium anymore.’ Nobody’s talking about magnesium as being the balance point.”                              

Source: articles.mercola.com
Reference: wisemindhealthybody.com
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