Getting Magnesium Naturally
Stress may be the most common ingredient of our American lifestyle. The constant buzz of traffic, television, faxes, and e-mails can be tremendously jarring to our nerves. By some estimates, stress may lead about one out of every ten Americans to develop panic attacks, phobias, or some other kind of chronic anxiety. In many of these cases, conventional medicine has been all too willing to prescribe a "club to the head" approach when simply getting more exercise and changing your eating habits might suffice. While much has been written about the value of exercise in combating stress, the intricate relationship of food to mood has been largely neglected by the popular press.
The Hidden Food Factors
A few years ago, a remarkable study appeared in the journal International Clinical Nutritional Review. In testing a randomly selected group of patients, Dr. Sherry Rogers, a New York physician, discovered that 51% suffered from a magnesium deficiency. As a result, she prescribed supplements for a period of two weeks (two 64 mg magnesium chloride tablets twice daily). By the end of the study, patients reported significant reductions in muscle twitching, pains, asthma, and cardiac arrhythmia, as well as a feeling of increased energy, well-being and strength. But some of the most impressive results related directly to overcoming such nervous system disorders as: depression, anxiety, panic attacks, insomnia, dizziness, disorientation, paresthesia and chronic headache.
The fact that such a high percentage of people in this study had magnesium deficiency coincides with much of recent research literature which has increasingly found magnesium deficiencies (ranging from 60 to 85%) in virtually every level of American society from the very young to the elderly.
While magnesium is quite plentiful in various grains, beans and seeds, too often these foods are processed, resulting in up to a five-fold decrease in its availability. On one side of the magnesium deficiency scale, caffeine, alcohol, and high salt diets can significantly increase urinary excretion of magnesium while, on the other side, high protein and sugar diets may add considerably to magnesium needs. Moreover, people who rely on several medications (such as those commonly used for asthma or heart disease) will find their magnesium stores greatly depleted.
One of the world's foremost authorities in magnesium research, a Frenchman named Dr. Jean J. Durlach, found that a significant proportion of the population in industrialized countries is in a state of marginalthough chronicmagnesium deficiency. In addition to the reasons stated above, Dr. Durlach found that excessive use of dairy products and soft water (typically very low in magnesium) adds to the problem.
Many times the "final blow" to one's magnesium levels comes in the form of chronic stress. Stress releases a group of chemicals we can visualize as the body's "barking dogs." When our brains perceive something as crucial for survival, it signals the adrenal glands to release the barking dogs (otherwise known as catecholamines). Since magnesium is used by so many of the body's functions, a great deal of it must be available for all the cells which the barking dogs have alarmed into activity. Moreover, once the barking dogs have warned the neighborhood, additional magnesium will be needed to get them to settle down. Further barking will only irritate everyone. By this point, however, with all the excess magnesium floating around in the blood (hypermagnesemia), the body will attempt to get rid of it by letting it pass out in the urine. Thus, you can see that barking dogs, that is "stress hormone" reactions, are okay to have for emergencies, but constant barking (i.e. chronic stress) can rapidly deplete the body of it's best natural tranquilizer, magnesium.
| Foods High in Magnesium (mg.) | ||
| Almonds | 1 cup | 386 |
| Almond butter | 1 T | 48 |
| Amaranth grain | 1 cup | 518 |
| Pinto beans,cooked | 1 lb. | 590 |
| Quinoa | 1 cup | 357 |
| Sesame seed, whole | 1/4 cup | 126 |
| Spinach spaghetti, cooked | 1 cup | 87 |
| Spinach | 1 cup | 44 |
| Squash or pumpkin seeds | 1/4 cup | 303 |
| The RDA for Magnesium is 280-350mg | ||
Having said all this, I can practically hear you groaning about the bleak future of your own magnesium "stockpiles." Fortunately, there is some good news. Magnesium can be found in a variety of foods and in certain types of mineralized water. Many fruits and vegetables don't have a great deal of magnesium, nor for that matter does meat, but a vegetarian diet that excludes lots of sugar and dairy will preserve the magnesium that you do have. Eating whole cereals, beans and nuts normally provides you with the best sources of dietary magnesium. Some of my own favorites are bananas, pumpkin seeds, and quinoa.
In addition, when going through an extremely stressful time, you may need a customized diet, including perhaps a six week to two month supplementation program. Under normal circumstances, however, if you eat a balanced diet with an emphasis on whole grains and nuts, you will be meeting your body's basic nutritional needs and getting plenty of magnesium.
References
Rogers S.A., Unrecognized Magnesium Deficiency Masquerades as Diverse Symptoms: Evaluation of an Oral Magnesium Challenge Test. International Clinical Nutritional Review 1991;11(3):117–125.
Durlach J., Magnesium in Clinical Practice, John Libbey and Co. (Eurotext), 1988. ISBN 0–86196–144–7.
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