Posted by JLx on September 2, 2005, at 7:48:14
In reply to Re: Why is magnesium used?, posted by Meri-Tuuli on September 2, 2005, at 5:59:13
> I am definately going to start getting some magnesium in my diet! What sort of doseages are we talking about for any effect?
Mildred Seelig recommends 6-8 mg per kg of body weight, but I think that was for "normal" people, and may be too low for people under conditions that deplete magnesium, i.e. stress, diets high in fat, sugar, phosphate, phytates, Vit D, calcium; intense exercise; use of prescription drugs, alcohol.
Here's an excellent page about it, including a quiz to see if you are magnesium deficient:
http://www.thewayup.com/newsletters/081501.htm
Here's a nutritionist's recommendations. http://www.krispin.com/magnes.html#Recommended%20Dietary
Carolyn Dean recommended 500 mg supplementation for most women.
Here's a good page on magnesium and aging: http://www.drlam.com/A3R_brief_in_doc_format/1999-No3-MagnesiumandAging.cfm
The problem in taking supplements of magnesium can be diarrhea, which you don't want as that just makes a magnesium deficiency worse.
Spacing out supplements, and experimenting with the different types to see which are most tolerable, is necessary. And don't forget food and water. Fiji water is one that has a good ratio of calcium to magnesium as mg is almost equal.
It is possible to take too much mg also in terms of the calcium/magnesium ratio, as I've done it. For me that was very little calcium in my diet along with 800-1000 mg of magnesium.
When I first started taking it, however, I tried to take 1000 mg, and did so for about 2 months before I felt as if I was getting more balanced and had to worry about more calcium. There's also potassium and sodium that mix into the works there, but I can't begin to explain it.
The bottom line is that most of our diets are deficient in even the RDA for magnesium, much less what's probably optimal. Add in stress and other factors, such as how hard it is to obtain from one's diet these days, and I think most people could benefit from additional 4-600 mg/day. That's only 2-3 200mg tablets, so easily doable.
Despite what you may ordinarily may hear about taking it with food, Carolyn Dean said to take it on an empty stomach, or at least without a high fat content meal.
JL
poster:JLx
thread:548966
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20050812/msgs/549916.html