The Harvard researchers ended their review with a call for more clinical trials to determine whether magnesium could be effective in treating and preventing cardiovascular disease. This initiative should be supported—any work that examines magnesium’s benefits for heart disease can raise awareness of this mineral and thus potentially save lives. As the studies continue to pour in, the evidence seems clear and unambiguous: Because magnesium deficiency is such an important determinant of heart disease, magnesium supplementation can play a definite and primary role in heart disease prevention.
CONCLUSION
Having read this chapter, you now have a better understanding of how heart disease develops—and what you can do about it. An emerging model that attempts to explain the origins of heart disease is the starved heart model, which asserts that the heart that is starved for magnesium is a heart that cannot produce enough energy, clearing the pathways to inflammation and eventually cardiovascular disease. The underlying cause—the missing link that may explain why so many Americans today die of heart disease—is magnesium deficiency.
Despite the preponderance of evidence currently available, most doctors are only recently beginning to pay attention to the role of magnesium in heart disease. When the dust finally settles regarding the research on hypertension, cardiomyopathy, congestive heart failure, arrhythmia, premature ventricular contractions, heart attacks, and cardiac arrest, one thing will be clear—that magnesium deficiency is involved in every one of these cardiovascular conditions.
It may take years for the medical community to get wise to the importance of magnesium for your heart. But you need not wait in order to reap the advantages of this powerful mineral. In the chapter that follows, you’ll learn of magnesium’s benefits for other diseases, including type 2 diabetes, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, and insomnia. Then, Chapter 6 will provide you with a practical guide to optimizing your magnesium levels.
If magnesium deficiency is the root cause of heart disease, the solution is simple. Address the problem at the source! By making sure that you never lack for magnesium, you can significantly reduce your risk of developing heart disease. Protect yourself—the power is in your hands!
5
Magnesium’s Other Health Benefits
Although this book focuses on magnesium’s capacity to both prevent and help reverse heart disease, it is important to note that magnesium has advantages for many other areas of your health. In fact, an understanding of this miraculous nutrient will change the way you view—and treat—many of our nation’s most common conditions and diseases. Magnesium deficiency underlies countless pressing health issues; accordingly, magnesium supplementation can do much to either prevent or remedy them. In addition, supplementation can improve conditions for which magnesium deficiency is not a direct factor. The benefits of magnesium are powerful and wide-ranging.
This chapter explores the role played by magnesium in some of the most widespread health epidemics that face Americans today, including obesity, diabetes, depression, gastrointestinal disorders, and sleep issues. While magnesium cannot solve all your problems, it can certainly be a valuable addition to your daily regimen, particularly if you suffer from any of the conditions discussed below.
OBESITY, DIABETES, AND METABOLIC SYNDROME
One hundred years ago, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic syndrome were all virtually nonexistent in our nation. Now, however, these conditions have become more common with each passing year. Not only are obesity, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome dangerous on their own, but each of these conditions also raises its sufferer’s risk for developing heart disease and other serious conditions, including cancer.
All three of these conditions are generally known as lifestyle diseases, meaning that their development is closely linked to eating habits and other behavioral choices, including exercise, or the lack thereof. It is interesting to note that the increased incidence of these conditions parallels the steady decline of magnesium in our nation’s soil and food supply, along with the progressive development of other magnesium-robbing factors, as discussed in Chapter 2.
One point that is important to emphasize about these three conditions is that they are all interrelated. Obesity and metabolic syndrome are risk factors for diabetes, and at the same time, the insulin resistance that characterizes type 2 diabetes is also independently associated with metabolic syndrome and obesity. This is no coincidence: All three conditions are in actuality manifestations of the same underlying factors. While magnesium deficiency is not the sole cause of these conditions, it certainly plays a major role in their development and progression. Let’s take a closer look at each condition so that you can better understand why this is so.
Obesity
The statistics on obesity are staggering. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 17 percent of all American children between the ages of two and nineteen are currently obese. That’s 12.5 million children—triple the number recorded in 1980. In adults, the problem is even worse. According to the CDC, 35.7 percent of all men and women in the United States are obese. Two decades ago, not a single state in the nation had an obesity rate higher than 15 percent. Today, every state does, with twelve states having obesity rates of 30 percent or more. All told, Americans are overweight by a collective 4.5 billion pounds. And this trend shows no signs of reversing itself—an additional 30 percent of Americans are classified as overweight.
New research indicates that weight gain is not simply a matter of consuming more calories than you burn. In fact, there are a number of more important factors implicated in unhealthy weight gain. It’s no coincidence that studies have consistently shown that magnesium levels are lower in people who are overweight or obese than they are in people of normal weight. Among the factors scientists have consistently linked to obesity are chronic stress, insulin resistance, and inflammation—three conditions that are also heavily associated with magnesium deficiency.
Stress can contribute to obesity in a number of ways, most notably by interfering with your metabolism. During an acute or momentary episode of stress, your body releases a hormone called cortisol. In order to provide your body with the fuel it needs to power its “fight-or-flight” response, cortisol stimulates the production of certain hormones that turn your existing food stores into energy, including insulin, which processes glucose (sugar). In the short term, thus, cortisol might be seen as preventing weight gain, since it essentially speeds up your metabolism.
In the long term, however, stress can have the opposite effect. When you are exposed to chronic stress, your body is flooded with insulin; over time, however, your body becomes used to its presence and loses the ability to respond to it, developing a condition called insulin resistance. The result is that you continue to eat, but fail to properly process the contents of your food. Your metabolism slows, you burn through fewer calories, and you gain weight.
As discussed in Chapter 2, magnesium can help you regulate stress. By increasing your magnesium intake, you can buffer the effects of cortisol, and thus help avoid weight gain. If you don’t increase your magnesium intake during stressful periods, cortisol will run rampant, advancing insulin resistance. To make matters worse, as previously noted, chronic stress causes magnesium deficiency, which in itself contributes to insulin resistance, because magnesium helps to control the production and regulate the activity of insulin.
Magnesium deficiency also underlies another critical factor in weight gain: inflammation. A recent study showed that obesity is often characterized by the presence of chronic low-grade inflammation, and, in turn, that inflammation seems to be either caused or exacerbated by low magnesium levels. Evidence suggests that chronic inflammation can affect the proper functioning of the hypothalamus, the part of your brain that controls your hunger response. When the hypothalamus is inflamed, you lose your ability to regulate cravings and normal eating habits; the result is weight gain.
Help is available. By maintaining adequ
ate levels of magnesium, you will improve your overall capacity to control the effects of stress and inflammation on your metabolism. Research also shows that increasing magnesium levels through diet or oral magnesium supplements directly reduces insulin resistance, even in people with normal levels of magnesium.
Of course, magnesium by itself is not a magic bullet for weight loss. If you are overweight, simply increasing your magnesium intake alone will not be enough to shed your unwanted pounds. You will also need to engage in moderate daily physical activity—a thirty-minute walk each day will suffice for most people. Avoid overeating, and instead, eat healthily: Cut out sugar, sodas, and all simple white carbohydrate foods and minimize your intake of complex carbohydrates, as high-carbohydrate intake depletes magnesium. Manage your stress levels, and get adequate amounts of sleep each night. But if you’ve already been doing all of these things with little to show for it, now you know why. Increase your magnesium intake and see results!
Type 2 Diabetes
Type 2 diabetes is a chronic condition in which your body has difficulty making or using insulin, a hormone that, as previously discussed, helps your body metabolize or make use of glucose (sugar), our main source of fuel. Unlike type 1 diabetes, in which the pancreas is damaged by the immune system, in type 2 diabetes the pancreas is intact, but either the amount of insulin produced is insufficient or the body fails to respond to its effects, developing a condition called insulin resistance. If left untreated, type 2 diabetes can be life-threatening.
The incidence of type 2 diabetes in the United States rises with each passing year. Even more troubling is the fact that in the last two decades, there has been a dramatic spike in the number of children and adolescents who have developed type 2 diabetes—an increase that parallels and corresponds to the growth in obesity rates for both groups. While doctors once thought type 2 diabetes only developed in older people, calling it “adult-onset diabetes,” as more children and adolescents are diagnosed, it is now quite clear that this disease can occur at any age.
The rise of type 2 diabetes parallels the rise in magnesium deficiency. This is no coincidence; in fact, according to Dr. Jerry Nadler of the Eastern Virginia Medical School, diabetes is “a magnesium deficiency state.”
Research has established that magnesium levels of diabetic patients tend to be much lower than normal, with at least 90 percent of all diabetes patients classified as magnesium deficient. Aside from diet, one possible explanation for this deficiency is that diabetics excrete more magnesium through their urine than nondiabetics do. This means that their need for magnesium in diabetics is even greater than it is for most other people because they lose magnesium at a faster rate than others do. Research has indicated that lack of magnesium also underlies the development of other problems suffered as a consequence of diabetes, including retinopathy (damage to the blood vessels of the eye), altered glucose levels, high blood pressure, and abnormal platelet function.
A study conducted by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) supported the use of magnesium supplements to improve the symptoms of type 2 diabetes. Specifically, the study proved that magnesium supplementation improves insulin sensitivity and blood glucose control in diabetic subjects with low magnesium levels. As a result of the study, the ADA published a consensus statement recommending that patients with diabetes who have low levels of magnesium take magnesium supplements.
These findings were supported by two large-scale studies conducted by researchers at the Harvard Medical School and School of Public Health. In the first study, approximately 85,000 female and 42,000 male test subjects were followed for eighteen and twelve years, respectively. During that time, about 5,400 people developed diabetes. Even after taking into account other diabetes risk factors (age, weight, physical activity, smoking, and family history), the study found that those study participants who consumed the most magnesium-rich foods had significantly lower risk for diabetes when compared with those who consumed less magnesium-rich food. The level of risk remained the same even after researchers adjusted for other dietary factors such as the fat and fiber content of foods and their glycemic load. The second study, involving nearly 40,000 women age forty-five or older, showed similar results.
The evidence is clear: Increase your intake of magnesium, and reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes. If you already have type 2 diabetes, check with your doctor first before beginning a supplementation program; because kidney function is impaired in some diabetics, you may have difficulty excreting excess amounts of magnesium.
Metabolic Syndrome
Also known as syndrome X or insulin resistance syndrome, metabolic syndrome refers to a combination of health disorders that collectively increase the risk for not only obesity and diabetes, but also heart attack, stroke, and other types of heart disease. Metabolic syndrome is characterized by four conditions:
•Hyperlipidemia—high levels of triglycerides or fats in your blood
•Hypertension—high blood pressure
•Hyperglycemia—high blood sugar
•Imbalances or irregularities in the hypothalamic, pituitary, and adrenal glands
Typically, you need to have at least three of these conditions in order to be diagnosed with metabolic syndrome; however, any one of these conditions increases your risk of developing heart disease, and the more of them you have, the greater your overall risk is.
According to the American Diabetes Association, over 34 percent of Americans suffer from metabolic syndrome, many of them unknowingly. And this rate is likely to rise, as metabolic syndrome is a risk factor for obesity and type 2 diabetes—both conditions that have seen statistical increases as well. While metabolic syndrome was previously believed to predominantly affect men, in recent years, rates of incidence have already increased for women, children, and adolescents. Older people have a higher risk for metabolic syndrome, as do Asians and Latinos.
Given the role that magnesium deficiency plays in both obesity and diabetes, it’s not surprising that lack of magnesium also significantly increases the risk for metabolic syndrome. When magnesium levels are low, the proper balance between magnesium and calcium is thrown out of kilter. As you learned in Chapter 4, magnesium is the gatekeeper that regulates the level of calcium inside your cells; when your body doesn’t receive enough magnesium, excess calcium builds up inside your body’s 100 trillion cells. And, as Drs. Lawrence M. Resnick and Mildred S. Seelig have shown, this excess calcium leads to metabolic syndrome.
A fifteen-year study of over 4,600 people between the ages of eighteen and thirty found that people who ate the highest amounts of magnesium-rich foods reduced their risk of developing metabolic syndrome by as much as 31 percent. No doubt the risk would be further reduced by adding magnesium supplementation to a diet rich in magnesium foods.
The relationship between magnesium deficiency and metabolic syndrome has been confirmed in other studies as well. In one, 192 men and women with metabolic syndrome were compared to a control group of 384 healthy adults to determine the relationship between magnesium deficiency and metabolic syndrome. Tellingly, however, researchers found that over 65 percent of test subjects with metabolic syndrome suffered from magnesium deficiency, compared with less than 5 percent of the control group. The study concluded that not only was there a strong overall correlation between magnesium deficiency and metabolic syndrome, but that magnesium deficiency was separately indicated in two of the preconditions of metabolic syndrome, hyperlipidemia and high blood pressure, and could also be considered an independent risk factor for type 2 diabetes.
Magnesium Protects Our Nation’s Children
The incidence of obesity is increasing at an alarming rate among our children, and as a result, the incidences of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome are increasing as well. Although research had previously established that magnesium deficiency is a characteristic of nearly all adults who suffer from insulin resistance and impaired glucose regulation, it wasn’t until 2005 that researchers at the U
niversity of Virginia confirmed that the same phenomenon existed in children.
In a study to determine the relationship between magnesium deficiency and insulin resistance in obese children, researchers found that 55 percent of obese children between the ages of eight and seventeen did not get enough magnesium from the foods they ate, compared with 27 percent of lean children. Not only did the obese children not eat enough foods rich in magnesium, but they also exhibited problems in the way their bodies made use of the dietary magnesium they did get. Researchers discovered that the obese children actually derived 14.4 percent less magnesium from the foods they ate than lean children did, even though obese and lean children ate about the same number of calories per day. As a result, the obese children had much lower magnesium levels in their blood than the lean children. Most important, the obese children were found to also suffer from insulin resistance in direct proportion to how to the severity of their magnesium deficiency.
The findings of this study cannot be overemphasized, because they provide us with a simple and easy solution for preventing three of our nation’s most serious disease epidemics. By ensuring that our children get all the magnesium they need up to and throughout adulthood, we could conceivably reverse the trend of childhood obesity and wipe out both type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome within a generation.
The discussion of obesity, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome was begun by pointing out how pervasive these conditions are in modern-day society, and how each of them significantly increases your risk of heart disease. Now that you have read this far, you know how magnesium can prevent or help to reverse each of these conditions. By increasing awareness of magnesium’s importance, before long, we can return to a time when all three of these conditions are virtually nonexistent.
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