The Incredible Power of Magnesium
Few nutrients play as big a role in our bodies as magnesium. Magnesium is involved in over 300 biochemical functions within our body including our heart rhythm, a vital role in managing blood sugar, sleep and our stress response. Many people around the globe are walking around unaware that they are most likely lacking sufficient amounts according to a recommended daily value. While there are many magnesium rich foods, most of us are eating insufficient amounts and need to turn to supplementation.
On this week’s episode we discuss why this mineral is so important and the role it plays in many key systems. We speak about why many of the foods we eat may not have the levels of magnesium that you may have thought and what to look for when choosing a quality magnesium supplement.
Some Topics We Discussed:
What are the risks of being deficient in magnesium? (2:33)
What happens if you take calcium without taking magnesium as well? (6:11)
Where can we find magnesium in foods? (10:25)
Why is supplementation with magnesium so important? (10:51)
What should you look for in a magnesium supplement? (15:41)
Are there supplements that you should take in conjunction with magnesium to increase solubility? (21:28)
Key Takeaways From This Episode:
Magnesium is always in the top 3 nutrients everyone should be taking. (2:13)
Magnesium keeps calcium in solution in the body by helping keep calcium deposits from forming. (7:54)
We recommend between 400-800 mg/day of magnesium. (16:37)
Don’t buy magnesium oxide unless the only benefit you want is constipation relief. (17:04)
A red blood cell test is the best way to check your magnesium levels. (23:43)
Products + Resources:
Thank you to this episode’s sponsor: Mt Angel Vitamins
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL SHOW TRANSCRIPT
Brian Strickland 00:43 Hello, everyone, and welcome back to The Holistic Navigator Podcast, where we believe the body has the capacity to heal itself. If given the proper care and nutrients. We're so glad that you're joining us today. My name is Brian Strickland. I'm the producer of the show. And today we're talking about a nutrient that is involved in over 300 functions of the body. And that is magnesium. This is a nutrient that's often overlooked. So that's why we wanted to spend some time covering the different forms, what to look for when choosing a supplement foods that contain high amounts of magnesium and some of the important ways it can benefit you. Well, with that being said, I'm going to turn it over to the man with 40 years of experience in the natural health industry and the host of this show, Mr. Ed Jones.
Ed Jones 01:34 Good morning, Brian, and I am so happy to be here as always. I love doing this. You know, tomorrow is never promised to us. So I'm putting all this Encyclopedia of knowledge into this podcast that is a part of my legacy, I suppose. Things will change with time. But I'm putting on a type of information that will be very standard for many, many, many years to come. And yes, magnesium is crucial to our health. I know you may think if you've listened to me before that, Oh, well, you know, Ed thinks all 4,000 nutrients are essential. Well, they're all very important. But if someone asked me, which is a tough question, which is, if I could only take one supplement, what would it be? Well, part of that depends a little bit on, you know, the mood I'm in and the person who's asking me the question, but magnesium would always be in the top three, Brian because, like you referred to, there's 300 systems of the body that rely on this particular molecule. Just imagine in your own personal life, if 300 things were not meeting, the goal of being even average, like your bed was worn out, your toilet was leaking. You didn't have enough food and refrigerator. That's the minor part. And then you talk about there's not enough money in the bank. Well, 300 things that are not optimal in your body. And it's easy to fix people very easy. So what's going to happen if you are deficient? We do know this 85% of all Americans are walking around being deficient. And I will explain in a moment why that is. But magnesium because of its massive role that's being played and also on PubMed. I looked up all ago Brian 106,000 references to magnesium in the PubMed. So when it's low, one thing that happens when magnesium is low, because magnesium has the magical ability to relax things that are constricted. Well, that sounds pretty cool because we all know what a muscle cramp is. But guess what? Some heart attacks are nothing but the heart going into a cramp and it can't get its rhythm back. Magnesium prevents significant amounts of rhythm issues in the heart, sometimes blood pressure issues because what is blood pressure? It's a constricted artery. Now it can be small because of plaque. But many times it's just simply constricted due to stress, not sleeping, and all these other things. So we're talking about the heart, incredibly needing magnesium. Next, blood sugar. Most people don't realize it but magnesium plays a vital role in managing the level of blood sugar glucose. Extremely important. I talked about that on many of the podcasts that we must have optimal levels of glucose and insulin, or we are going to age at a very accelerated rate. Next, it actually produces energy when you have enough and removes it when you don't. How many of us walk around, wishing that we could have more stamina and energy? I actually did a podcast on what to learn if you want to feel bette and have more energy. So if you go back, you can listen to that. Poor sleep. Well, one reason we sleep poorly, and we have done a podcast on sleep, but it has to do with again the word constrictive, tight. Well, that has, of course, a negative result if you're trying to sleep, because sleep is the opposite of that. It's relaxed and calm. So if the body is tight, and constricted, it will affect sleep. It will lower your stress levels, if you take magnesium, if and you are deficient, because cortisol, the stress hormone, is higher when your magnesium deficient. It will cause a loss of appetite in certain people. And you know, that's an issue that if you don't have that problem, you don't recognize it as significant as it is. But walking around with no appetite, Brian, is negative to your health, because what happens is, you know, people just sometimes don't eat. And then secondly, when they do, they pick around, they don't eat the quality or quantity of food necessary. And it's not a sign of good health. And so that's just part of the story of magnesium. Now, the story about osteoporosis is a huge story. And we still haven't done that yet. Because we're all being fed a bunch of lies when you go and you hear conventional information on osteoporosis, which is take calcium, one of the worst mistakes possible. And that little statement I just made is gonna segue me into this conversation of what happens when you don't take magnesium and you take calcium, or you eat calcium rich foods. Let me tell you a really quick story. It was about 22 years ago, Brian, and I had the opportunity because I kind of wormed my way into this. And I may have mentioned this before, on one of the podcasts, I just don't remember. But it was where I got to go out and I get to be in observation of a cadaver lab. I've talked to that once before, haven't I?
Brian Strickland 06:59 I think so. Yeah.
Ed Jones 07:00 And what was cool about it, because I'm such a detective about health and have been my entire life is we had three people. They were all over the age of 70. There were two men and one one woman and I got to observe every single organ, all the blood vessels, the kidneys, the liver, the trachea all the way into anything I wanted to touch, feel and hold. The body was cut wide open. And I would squeeze different parts to it and it would crunch and I just assumed it was because it was dried out. Well when I asked the physician on charge about Okay, I guess it's making noise because it's dried. He said Oh, no, is because calcium, left the bones and went to where it did not need to go which is plaque in the arteries. If it goes to the to the esophagus that you can't swallow, if it goes to the heart is not going to beat right. And it just really rang a bell with me. So I spent many, many years in fact decades trying to figure out what causes that to happen. Well, here's the reason number one cause is lack of magnesium, because magnesium keeps calcium in solution. Now I want to tell you about an experiment I did only three days ago. One of my staff members, Adam, I was talking to him about an upcoming TV show that I'm going to be doing on magnesium in fact tomorrow and I wanted to have a visual. So I kept trying to think how can I show the effects of magnesium and how it keeps calcium in solution. So we decided to get two pieces of chalk, the same chalk that we use during grammar school. So well now I don't know if they still use it, but I'm sure everyone knows what chalk is. And we put one piece of chalk and a plastic cup with 98 degree water. We put a same size piece of chalk in a second cup and 98 degrees water. Well the second cup, we added 400 milligrams of magnesium powder. And I didn't know what would happen. I just assumed it might work but I did not know. Came back and look 24 hours later and then another 24 hours later, the chalk without the magnesium was not touched in the least. It was actually exactly as I had put it in the cup. The magnesium water with the chalk, it was 80% of dissolved. Well chalk is calcium. Well it does exactly the same thing in the body. What we don't want is calcium to re-solidify once we've eaten it from foods or taking it in supplements and that is where kidney stones, bone spurs, migraine headaches, cataracts, wrinkles. All of these things are caused because are not 100% caused but contributes to them being a problem because you did not have enough magnesium to keep it in that solution. The piece of chalk continued to be big and formed in these places it did not need to be. So anyone out there who's having these issues chronically family members, you need to talk to your health care people or you become educated yourself and take a leading role in your own health. I mean, legally, I have to say, if you have medical issues, check with your doctor. I'm not here to give medical advice. I want to educate the public. That's why I spend so much time and effort doing this. So if magnesium is playing this many roles, where do I get it? Well on foods, here's the top ones, spinach, kale, broccoli, avocados, those are the top four foods. Almond butter has some, some other nuts do. You can get some magnesium from doing an epsom salt bath. There's actually an oil you can put on that gives you magnesium. But, you know, of course, me being who I am. I'm a huge proponent of supplementation, because here's the reason. It's consistent, it's quality. It is something you can plug into your routine every day and you know, you're getting it. You know, the foods we eat today are shipped from so many different farms and places we don't know when they were picked, what chemicals were on them and the soils that they were grown on. The reason we are so magnesium deficient, partially is because the souls are depleted. It doesn't matter that the avocado looks and tastes the same. If it is grown on depleted soils, you're not going to get the magnesium you need. It's almost like my tirade on salmon that is farm raised. There, they actually put coloring in the foods so it makes it look that pinkish color. But the farm raised salmon are not producing omega threes or astaxnthin like it needs to be well the same with magnesium and some of these foods, so it's not safe to rely on foods totally.
Brian Strickland 12:01 Alright, everyone, let's pause for just a moment to learn more about our sponsor for this week. This episode is brought to you by Mouth Angel Vitamins. Mt Angel is dedicated to providing quality supplements to suit your busy lifestyle. They understand that picking out vitamins and supplements can be overwhelming. So they offer simple solutions for what your body really needs. And they can help you maintain your health before something needs to be fixed. For more information, visit MtAngelvitamins.com. Mt Angel Vitamins, simple, proactive wellness. And even if it was a pure clean product, I mean, the the normal or the average person isn't going to be able to eat enough of those foods to really get the amount of magnesium that they need. And in a daily value, right?
Ed Jones 12:57 Not in a daily value value, you could probably do it on an off and on schedule, if you're really focusing on super healthy eating. And most of us who are listening to this, I'm sure are doing better than the average. But life is chaotic these days. I don't know about you, but it certainly is for me and those that I observe. And sometimes you know the choices of food, we just grab what we can. You know, we're tired, we're overworked or sometimes out of money, this and that. And so we don't always get the most optimal food. And that's just life. So let's use an insurance policy against that. In fact, I saw a little booklet that someone wrote, and it was why I don't need to take nutritional supplements to achieve optimal health and other health lies that I have loved in the past. Because when you really study this science, you cannot turn your back on proper supplementation if you want to live the longest, healthiest, optimal life, that's possible. And then people you walk around and you say that are bent over, that are so tight, achy, look like an old dinosaur, a big part of this is that calcium has solidified between the joints and in the bloodstream and all the tissues. And it's sad because here's the catch. If you wait too long, you can't remove that. It becomes solidified. It's almost like I'm going to tell you, Brian, don't worry about saving money for retirement until you're about 63 years old, then you can start How foolish is that type of idea? It's ridiculous.
Brian Strickland 14:39 Yeah. And when we talk about proper supplementation, I mean, there is something to be said about the quality of what you're purchasing. You can't really just go out to any store and pay any amount of money and expect to get what you're actually needing. And I think a lot of the naysayers when it comes to supplementation are basing their ideas, you know, on that fact of saying, well, there is a lot of garbage out there, but you have to do your own homework and research in order to get the quality that your body actually needs.
Ed Jones 15:13 That's exactly what and what a good point to make. Because you know, if people have bad experiences with poor quality, no results, they kind of, you know, wave a whole blanket about the industry. And it's simply not true. Everything we do and talk about in life, I don't care if it is finances, you find the people who are ethical, honest, and have the wisdom to help you properly. And if you run across people who don't you don't just throw the baby out with the bath.
Brian Strickland 15:41 Yeah, so on that topic, if we can talk about just a little bit, if somebody was coming into your store, and they're wanting to choose a magnesium supplement, I know there are several different forms of magnesium different dosages. Could you just kind of give a rundown if somebody was just wanting a general needs supplement? What was what should they look for?
Ed Jones 16:02 Well, that is the exactly perfect question. And one thing I want to say is, I really believe that the privately owned Health Food and Nutrition stores in this country, overall are the most reliable place to go get information and products. You know, if you really know your stuff, you can go a lot of places, but most people don't. And most of these locally owned health food stores have spent their entire life studying all the science of this and it is a science. However, here's the bullet points make it real easy for everyone out first off, how much do we need of magnesium a day? I think every single a grown adult needs between 400-800 milligrams of magnesium a day. So there's the dose for most people. A few need more, a few need less, but that's the range you need to be in. So that's the number. Two, what type of magnesium you know, I could make this really complex and give you like 14 different types and and explain every one, I'm not going to do that. What I'm going to tell you is what not to purchase. And this will help clear up a lot of the confusion. Do not purchase if you're doing this for your health, magnesium oxide. I like oxide for one reason only when people are chronically constipated, it keeps moisture in the stool. Well, me saying that tells you that if it stays in the stool, it's not going to the heart is not going to the brain, right or other places. So if you have chronic constipation, please listen to my podcast on that. I fill you in totally. And I do mention the magnesium on that. But there's nothing wrong with magnesium oxide, if that's your only goal in mind. But that's not the 300 systems of the body.
Brian Strickland 17:54 Yeah, and if if you turn the labels over even on like a lot of the multis and some other, you know, complexes are out there, you pretty frequently see mag oxide on those, right?
Ed Jones 18:05 Absolutely, because it's cheap. The magnesium I take and which does not mean it has to be for everyone is a form of magnesium called glycinate, ascorbate, malate and aspartate. And there are many brands out there there are powders, capsules, tablets. I recommend no tablets because they may not melt, I recommend capsules and powder. You know one of the powdered brands name Calm is the most popular version of magnesium. And even though it's not oxide, citrate still has the effect on the colon. It does not have any comparison with the words that I read off the aspartate and malate and ascorbate. So stay away totally from oxide, try to stay away from set right and purchase anything else would probably suit your needs. Here's the other second bullet point. If you do get loose stools cut back. Your body will get used to it most likely in a period of one to two weeks. Because it can happen in any form as always been a little bit of an issue for me. But I take about 500 milligrams a day of my form and it's never caused me a problem once I get used to it. I do have to mention that there's a special form of magnesium called magnesium threonate and it has some very solid research that it can improve memory it can help maintain memory as we age and the reason three a night is the only form that crosses the brain barrier. So I'm also supplementing with some threonate, about 200 milligrams a day. So my total is about 550 if I had the three and eight in on that. And then we also got the magnesium oils that are being sold. I do not believe that you can completely supplement with the oils by applying it externally. But here's another bullet point that I have discovered through my journeys. If a person has a specific muscle that keeps cramping at night or whenever, using the oil before bedtime, or before the cramps every single day can spot dose it. And that can be very helpful with in addition to the of course, the supplementation and those people who have heart arrhythmias, I'm a huge fan of applying magnesium all on top of the heart on the chest. Morning and evening. I will say that the oil can be slightly irritating to the skin. And so if it is mix it with another oil like coconut or something else.
Brian Strickland 20:47 Would that be as effective or less effective than like taking a bath with some sort of powder?
Ed Jones 20:55 I think the bath with the epsom salts is very effective. There would be no problem with that. Also, I think the old is going to last a little longer, because it's all based instead of water base. And we all know the old wives tale of you know, take a bath before bed if you can't sleep, and you know that it is calming and lowers cortisol. But when you add that magnesium into the bathwater, it is something else. For some people, it truly, truly helps. I'm not a bad person. I'm a shower person. So it didn't work too well for me, but I would highly recommend it.
Brian Strickland 21:28 Yeah, so let's talk about solubility for just a moment. While we're on that topic. And I know we, we spoke about you know, the different forms and you can get in powder or capsules. But there other nutrients that you should pair with magnesium when you're taking it in order to increase solubility? I know that obviously some vitamins are fat soluble. So does that pertain to magnesium as well?
Ed Jones 21:53 Absolutely. Brian, you know, I've continued to always speak about the fact that health is almost exactly like an orchestra that's playing with hundreds of instruments. If they're all tuned up, and you have a great conductor, it's wonderful, beautiful music. However, when you have some out of tune, or the conductor is not watching or skillful, then you'd create chaotic music. And we have chaotic health today in so many levels. One of which is because we get bad advice, and you have to be leery of that issue. But vitamin K and vitamin D are two of the most important instruments playing in this orchestra. And because we deal with something that is always a synergistic effect that means it's, you know, blending with all these other things that create more power, because of the blending affects. Magnesium, calcium, vitamin K, and vitamin D all work in conjunction with each other to do multiple things. So we are always pushing the fact that those people who really want to embrace the full picture of long term health don't look for single entities. We are not in the drug industry where they have one drug for one purpose. This is building a robust, resilient health. That's what we're after here on The Holistic Navigator. And we'll continue to do that for the remainder of my days. We are we're almost doomed if we don't take an aggressive stance against the father time for one and also against the world. But luckily, we have access to information that we never used to, we have the ability to blood test. And I want to make this final point. If you want to get blood tested for magnesium, and you go to a conventional practitioner, they'll say okay, we'll test it, they will probably do it wrong because they will test serum. Serum is totally inaccurate. You have to do what's called a red blood cell test, not a serum test. If you want to do that on your own. Go to our products page on TheHolisticNavigator.com and go to Direct Labs, and you can order for $59 a red blood cell magnesium test. I would always shoot for being on the higher end of those numbers not in the middle. Brian, that kind of wraps it up for magnesium. The very last point I do want to make is if you have serious medical conditions, ask your healthcare practitioner before you started. But the one specific one that I know is of the most concern to me is if you are in the end stage of kidney failure, do not be taking magnesium without some super good supervision or it will just add to your troubles even though it's important. The kidneys are going to be overworked by the mineral. And I noticed lastly Brian one of the very final bullet points I want to make is if you are walking around and you have eye twitching. Well eye twitching sometimes can be a sign of Magnesium deficiencies so listen to your body. In fact, Hippocrates, one of my most favorite quotes he said was before someone can be healed, they must be willing to give up the things that made them sick. Some of those things that make you sick with maybe like lack of discipline, or the inability to learn or listening the wrong people, there's a whole list and then secondly, always end with this one. If a doctor cannot do good, he must be kept from doing harm.
Brian Strickland 25:39 The information on this podcast and the topics discussed have not been evaluated by the FDA or anyone of the medical profession, and is not aimed to replace any advice you may receive from your medical practitioner. The holistic navigator assumes no responsibility or liability whatsoever on the behalf of any purchaser or reader of these materials. The holistic navigator is not a doctor, nor does it claim to be, please consult your physician before beginning any health regimen.