Heavy Metal Toxicity
Given the prevalence of environmental pollutants in our air, water, and soil supplies, as well as the use of a wide variety of potentially toxic chemicals in industries ranging from agriculture to manufacturing, it is hardly surprising that most Americans host hundreds of different toxins inside their bodies. Consequently, our bodies’ organs of detoxification—particularly the liver—are forced to work harder in their attempts to eliminate, or at least minimize the effects of, such toxins. Long-term or intense exposure to heavy metals can produce a variety of health issues, including gastrointestinal dysfunction, organ failure, cancer, and neurological disorders—and can occasionally lead to death.
Magnesium supports your body’s detoxification system by allowing the production and proper function of the antioxidants that help you filter out heavy metals. First, discussed in Chapter 4, magnesium plays an essential role in both producing and activating ATP. Without enough ATP, your body lacks the energy it requires to detoxify. Second, magnesium stimulates the sodium-potassium pump of the cellular wall, which regulates the levels of potassium and sodium inside and outside of the cell. When these levels are maintained in their proper ratio (thanks to magnesium) your cells are able to cleanse themselves of wastes, including toxins. In addition, magnesium prevents the influx of excess calcium inside the cells, thus also helping to prevent cellular calcification and premature cell aging and cell death.
Research has shown that magnesium assists in protecting your body from harmful heavy metals, especially aluminum, cadmium, lead, mercury, and nickel. Magnesium helps your liver produce an amino acid called glutathione, a powerful antioxidant that is one of your body’s primary weapons against heavy metals. When you are exposed to heavy metals—such as mercury emitted from the placement of dental amalgams, lead in paints, or aluminum contained in vaccines or deodorants—the body instinctively engages glutathione to rid the body of this perceived threat. Once glutathione has been produced, magnesium also keeps it supplied with fuel, allowing for the constant supplies of ATP that glutathione needs in order to carry out the energy-intensive process of detoxification. Without magnesium, your body cannot detoxify itself, and heavy metals and other toxins can build up, damaging cells and tissues and resulting in the health issues mentioned above.
Kidney Stones
Kidney stones are small, hard mineral deposits that form inside the kidneys or within the urinary tract. Approximately one million Americans develop kidney stones each year. Among those that do, between 70 and 80 percent will experience a recurrence of kidney stones later in life. Chronic dehydration is the primary cause of most cases of kidney stone formation, but poor diet (especially a diet high in acidifying foods such as dairy, meats, and starchy carbohydrates) can also be a cause. Genetic predisposition or family history can also be a factor, as can kidney disease and imbalances in the parathyroid gland.
There are four classes of kidney stones, with the most common (80 percent of all cases) being calcium stones. Calcium stones are formed by crystallized deposits of calcium oxalate, a compound that is found in a number of foods, including dark leafy green vegetables, peanuts, and chocolate. People who are prone to kidney stone formation are advised to avoid these foods and increase their intake of pure, filtered water in place of soda, alcohol, coffee, and caffeinated teas, all of which dehydrate the body.
In addition to these dietary measures, people who are at risk for developing calcium stones are also advised to increase their intake of calcium oxalate crystal growth inhibitors—substances that prevent the development of stones. Chief among these inhibitors are citrate (citric acid), vitamin B6, and magnesium. While you can thus prevent kidney stones by drinking or eating citrus fruits, doctors advise against using magnesium- and B6-dense foods in a similar manner, as these foods tend to be rich in oxalates—the source of the problem—as well.
Having read this far, you should not be surprised that magnesium is a powerful agent for preventing kidney stones; this book has already documented its capacity to regulate calcium. The use of magnesium in treating and preventing kidney stones was recognized as early as the seventeenth century, and more recent research has validated magnesium’s effectiveness as well. In one notable study, fifty-five test subjects with a history of recurring kidney stones were given an oral magnesium supplement at a dose of 500 mg per day, while a control group of forty-three subjects with a history of kidney stone formation took nothing. The patients were followed for up to four years. By the end of the study, there was a 90 percent drop in the rate of kidney stone recurrence among the test subjects who took the magnesium supplements, and 85 percent of the subjects remained stone-free overall. By contrast, 59 percent of the patients in the control group developed new stones.
Research has shown that while B6 is effective for regulating your liver’s production of oxalate, when taken in combination with magnesium, B6 can significantly reduce the risk of kidney stone formation. As you will read in Chapter 6, B6 is a cofactor for magnesium, helping to increase the availability and activation of our favorite mineral and allowing it to inhibit crystal growth. The symbiotic relationship between magnesium and B6 has been known since at least 1974, when a landmark study involving 149 test subjects with a history of recurrent kidney stones showed that patients who were given a combination of magnesium and B6 saw their stone production fall 92 percent, from an average 1.3 stones per person per year to just 0.1.
Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is a condition characterized by thin, brittle, porous bones. It affects nearly 16 percent of all postmenopausal women in the United States. Four percent of older American men also suffer from osteoporosis. Overall, osteoporosis accounts for over two million bone fractures each and every year, primarily of the hips, spine or wrist.
American statistics contrast sharply with those of traditional cultures, where osteoporosis and other chronic degenerative health conditions are virtually unknown. As clinical nutritionist and medical anthropologist Dr. Susan Brown has shown, the difference can be attributed to diet: Compared with the standard American diet, which features acidifying foods and beverages (refined carbohydrates, sugar, excessive animal proteins, sodas, and juices), traditional diets tend to feature alkalizing foods. Such foods act to maintain proper pH balance, preventing the development and buildup of acids, which are proven to set the stage for disease. Additionally, many of the alkaline foods found within such diets are rich in minerals, including magnesium.
Based on the research of Dr. Brown and others, it is obvious that shifting to a healthier, more alkalizing diet is an essential step for both preventing and helping to reverse osteoporosis. Certain nutritional supplements, including magnesium, can also provide significant benefits. Research indicates that magnesium not only helps to maintain and even restore bone density, but also improves calcium’s ability to improve bone health by regulating the metabolism and deployment of calcium in the body. Magnesium also plays a similar role for vitamin D, another essential vitamin in maintaining bone health.
Various studies have demonstrated magnesium’s ability to maintain and restore bone density. In one such study, 75 percent of postmenopausal women who took a daily oral magnesium supplement for two years saw their bone mineral density increase by 1 to 8 percent. This result is all the more noteworthy because postmenopausal women typically lose bone density at a rate of 3 to 8 percent each year. These findings were confirmed by a larger study of over 2,000 elderly men and women, which revealed that increased magnesium intake from both diet and supplementation resulted in improved total-body bone density in white men and women, although the same benefits were not observed in black men and women, who have naturally lower osteoporosis rates.
Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS)
Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) encompasses a range of physical symptoms—including bloating, breast tenderness, joint pain, fatigue, headache, fluid retention—and emotional or behavioral issues, including mood swings, irritability, depression, anxiety, bout
s of crying, and appetite changes or food cravings.PMS affects an estimated 70 to 90 percent of women prior to their monthly menstrual cycle, with up to 40 percent of women experiencing severe symptoms.
Studies have shown that women who suffer from PMS typically have low levels of magnesium in their red blood cells. In one such study, researchers from the Universities of Modena and Pavia in Italy found that women who took 360 mg of magnesium each day from the fifteenth day of their menstrual cycle to the beginning of their next period all reported noticeably lessened PMS symptoms when compared to the control group, who took no magnesium and whose symptoms remained unchanged.
In another study conducted by researchers at the University of Reading in England, similar results were achieved with only 200 mg of magnesium. This study found that magnesium reduced PMS-related symptoms of fluid retention, breast tenderness and bloating by 40 percent, while also significantly reducing PMS-induced weight gain and swelling in the participants’ hands and legs.
The research shows that magnesium works to relieve PMS symptoms by acting as a muscle relaxant, reducing cramping and preventing blood vessels from tensing or spasming, thus also alleviating or preventing PMS-related headaches and migraines. Because the stress associated with PMS can deplete the body of its magnesium stores, magnesium supplementation can help relieve emotional and behavioral symptoms, including anxiety, depression, irritability, tension, and appetite changes. Magnesium also serves to replenish diminished energy supplies, and has a diuretic effect, helping to ease fluid retention and bloating.
Sleep Disorders
According to the National Sleep Foundation, approximately 60 percent of all Americans suffer from insomnia or other sleep-related problems. Sleep is a critical time for your body to rest and repair itself—hormones regulating growth and metabolism are released, muscles are repaired, and memories are consolidated. When sleep is disrupted, your body suffers; studies have repeatedly shown links between sleep disorders and a number of other unhealthy conditions, including depression, obesity, and cardiovascular disease.
While there are many causes of sleep disorders, stress is one of the most significant and controllable factors. Stress affects sleep by disrupting your body’s circadian rhythms, which are a series of physical, mental, and behavioral changes that occur over a twenty-four-hour cycle, largely as a result of varying levels of light and darkness. Sleepiness, body temperature, and hormone concentrations all fluctuate throughout the day according to circadian rhythms.
Among the substances whose concentrations are subject to circadian rhythms is the stress hormone cortisol. When the sun rises, your body begins to ramp up its production of hormones that induce wakefulness, including cortisol. Under normal, healthy conditions, your body’s natural cortisol concentration reaches its peak between 8AM and 9AM, telling your body to wake up and get work done. From that point on, your cortisol level drops progressively, reaching its lowest point at midnight, when, deprived of this “go” hormone, you finally nod off. About two hours later, your body once more begins to produce cortisol, gradually increasing production until it peaks and you wake again. When this cycle unfolds the way nature intended, your waking hours are productive and your sleep is deep and restful.
Unfortunately, the normal ebb and flow of cortisol is easily disrupted by stress. As discussed in Chapter 2, stress forces your body to produce more cortisol on a regular basis in order to deal with the pressures of daily life. As anybody who has experienced stress can attest, this can have serious consequences for your ability to sleep. Sometimes stress can even cause the cortisol cycle to reverse itself, with your cortisol level peaking during normal sleeping time and reaching its lowest point upon awakening. Flooded with cortisol at the wrong time, you’re anxious and alert when you should be sleeping, and groggy and tired when you should be energized. Worse still, this disruption of cortisol’s normal cycle is in and of itself another systemic stressor, further contributing to your body’s magnesium depletion.
Stress also disrupts another hormone that is implicated in the circadian sleep cycle, melatonin. Melatonin complements cortisol; it is a hormone that encourages sleep, as cortisol encourages wakefulness. As your cortisol level drops throughout the day, your melatonin level rises, peaking at midnight and helping you nod off. After that point, melatonin production decreases, and then stops completely when the sun begins to rise, signaling your body to produce wakeful hormones like cortisol so that you can get up and go about your daily business. There are four different steps that your body takes to metabolize melatonin and make it usable, and all four of these steps require the presence of magnesium. Under periods of prolonged stress, you become magnesium deficient, and thus can’t make the melatonin you need to get to sleep at night.
As you can see, without magnesium, your body simply can’t produce or regulate the hormones that allow it to carry out its natural sleep cycle. Thus difficulty sleeping is often yet another effect of magnesium deficiency. While doctors often recommend that people with sleep disorders or insomnia take melatonin in order to reset their circadian rhythms, it makes more sense to treat the root of the problem—lack of magnesium. Instead of relying on melatonin supplements or sleeping pills, both of which carry risks, it is far easier to remedy your sleeping problems by increasing your daily intake of magnesium. This fact is borne out by scientific research.
One study involved 100 men and women between the ages of 51 and 85, all of whom suffered from poor-quality sleep. Half the group was given a daily magnesium supplement of 320 mg, while the other half was given a placebo. At the end of the study, researchers found that the participants in the magnesium group not only experienced improved sleep, but also had lower levels of chronic inflammation, another stressor linked to poor sleep.
Research has also confirmed that magnesium supplementation increases deep levels of sleep, regulates brain wave patterns and improves abnormal brain wave patterns associated with insomnia, and reduces the amount of time it takes to fall asleep. In addition, magnesium has been shown to help symptoms of sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome.
CONCLUSION
While the primary goal of this book is to make you aware of the significance of magnesium in maintaining heart health and preventing heart disease, this chapter demonstrates that magnesium can have direct benefits for countless other common diseases and conditions. Moreover, it’s important to point out that many of these health issues are related, both to each other and to cardiovascular disease. For example, chronic fatigue syndrome can have symptoms of muscle pain and headache, and can lead to depression; chronic sleep deprivation is a risk factor for mental disorders, obesity, high blood pressure, and also heart attack. This cross-correlation between conditions is not coincidental: Magnesium deficiency underlies most, if not all, of these health problems.
Thus, an understanding of magnesium can not only help you treat these serious health issues, but also prevent their very occurrence. In addition, by using magnesium to forestall the onset of a specific condition, you may very well be allowing your body to fight off other conditions that are associated with it, including heart disease. When taken appropriately, magnesium can—and should—be a powerful weapon in your fight for a better, healthier life.
Now that you have read this far, the time has come to put the information you have just read into practice. Chapter 6 will teach you how to determine your body’s own magnesium levels, and also how to most effectively ensure that you are meeting your body’s daily magnesium needs through both proper diet and magnesium supplementation. Read on!
6
How to Take Magnesium
Now that you understand the importance of magnesium for your heart and overall health, it’s time to discuss what you can do to ensure that you get all the magnesium that your body needs on a daily basis. This chapter tells you everything you need to know about optimizing your magnesium levels. In it, you will learn how to evaluate your current magnesium status and needs—and, accordingly, how to increase t
hat status through diet, supplements, and other methods. You will also find information on the various types of magnesium and the precautions you should take when consuming magnesium. Finally, you will learn how to monitor and maintain your magnesium levels, so that you will always enjoy the good health that this magnificent nutrient can provide.
DETERMINING YOUR CURRENT MAGNESIUM STATUS
Despite the mountain of evidence pointing to magnesium as an important component of overall health, there still remains a great divide between what we know and how we use this information. At this time, most doctors do not routinely screen their patients for magnesium deficiency, though this will surely change as the dangers of this condition become better known and understood. In addition, the standard blood panel—the set of blood tests that serves as the best indicator of what’s going on inside our bodies—does not usually evaluate magnesium levels, and those that do often use an inaccurate form of measurement. In order to determine your current magnesium status, you are going to have to be proactive.
The first step is to find a physician who will be able to guide you on your journey to better health. Preferably, you will find a doctor who is trained in integrative medicine, or one whose treatment methods emphasize diet and nutrition over pharmaceuticals. To help you out, there is a list of organizations whose memberships comprise nutritionally oriented physicians in the Resources section of this book.
Blood Testing
Magnificent Magnesium Page 14