Magnesium, the fourth most abundant mineral in your body, is important for more than three hundred enzymatic reactions, many of which affect your heart. Researchers estimate that about 75 percent of us are deficient in magnesium. And a deficiency in this vital nutrient can adversely affect numerous heart conditions.
Among its benefits, magnesium helps you relax. Think about one of the most relaxing things you can do: soaking in an Epsom salt bath. When you soak in Epsom salts, you’re delivering a large dose of magnesium to your body, absorbed right through your skin. And if you’ve ever gotten a vitamin drip from an integrative physician, you already know that there’s nothing like magnesium for making you sleep like a baby.
Magnesium is a cofactor in manufacturing adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the cellular energy molecule. One study linked magnesium deficiencies to ischemic heart disease, and countless others found a connection between low levels of magnesium and poor cardiovascular health.
Magnesium also helps widen and relax blood vessels. Relaxing your arteries lets your heart pump blood more easily, thereby reducing blood pressure. Studies show that people who consume more magnesium tend to have lower blood pressure. And magnesium also helps lower blood sugar.
Taking magnesium is associated with numerous benefits, such as Better sleep
Decreased muscle cramps Better blood pressure control Better blood sugar control Decreased constipation
Decreased migraine headaches
Decreased cardiac heart arrhythmias and as a result decreased risk for sudden cardiac death Here are some examples of foods rich in magnesium (and also perfect Smart Fat Solution foods).
MAGNESIUM CONTENT IN FOOD
SERVING SIZE MAGNESIUM C O NTENT in mg Nuts and se e ds
Roaste d pumpkin se e ds 1 oz 151
Q uinoa (dry, uncooke d) ¼ cup 89
Almonds 1 oz 78
Braz il nuts 1 oz 107
C ashe ws 1 oz 74
Be ans and le gume s
C anne d white be ans ½ cup 67
Soybe ans (e damame ), cooke d ½ cup 74
Black be ans, cooke d ½ cup 60
Pe anuts 1 oz 50
Fish (cooke d)
Halibut 4 oz 120
C hinook salmon 4 oz 138
Le afy gre e n ve ge table s
Froz e n spinach ½ cup 81
Swiss chard 1 cup 76
Artichoke he arts ½ cup 50
Smart Magnesium Supplementation
Magnesium is an effective way to treat constipation, if you use the right form (magnesium citrate).
You’ll want to avoid magnesium oxide forms of this supplement, which can produce the opposite of constipation—frequent unwanted trips to the bathroom. For best absorption, choose magnesium chelate, malate, or glycinate, though you’ll likely find these in combination.
You’ll often see calcium and magnesium combined, sometimes with other nutrients, in what are sold as “bone” formulas. Just remember that magnesium and calcium have a slightly complicated relationship, as calcium blocks magnesium absorption; they are best taken in a ratio of 2:1 (calcium to magnesium).
THE CALCIUM CONTROVERSY
For decades, it was a nutrition truism: Everyone should take calcium supplements to build strong bones—especially women. Now, we’re not so sure.
In one study, researchers with the National Cancer Institute and several other research facilities looked at data from 388,000 men, fifty to seventy-one years of age, in six states and two big metropolitan areas.† The participants were followed for twelve years. Compared with men who didn’t use supplements, men who consumed more than 1,000 milligrams a day of calcium from supplements had a significantly increased risk of death from heart disease by the end of the study. The problem was that the researchers didn’t calculate how much calcium the men consumed in their diets, nor whether they were getting enough magnesium to balance the additional calcium.
This was just an observational study, not a clinical one, but it adds to a growing concern among many health professionals that when it comes to calcium supplements, we may have been overdoing it.
The fact is that we need calcium, especially for bone health. It’s also an important ally in fighting weight gain. If you don’t get at least 600–800 milligrams of calcium per day, you may notice weight gain. Menopausal women are particularly at risk.
But it’s possible to get too much. Though the RDA for calcium is 1,000 milligrams a day for people nineteen to fifty years of age, that amount refers to total calcium from diet and supplements together. Emerging evidence indicates that many people have been under the impression that they should supplement with at least 1,000 milligrams a day and didn’t consider the diet part of calcium intake. For example, in one study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, women who had a daily dietary intake of calcium greater than 1,400 milligrams and also took supplements had a higher cardiovascular risk than women who had the same dietary calcium and didn’t take supplements.
This doesn’t mean that we think you should never take calcium supplements, though we do think you need to take them in correct proportion to magnesium, ideally 2:1. But we do think you should get most, if not all, of your calcium from food sources, which does not seem to be a problem for either sex.
Only if you do not meet your calcium needs through diet should you turn to supplements to fill in the gap. Remember, the recommendations are for total calcium intake, not just calcium supplement intake!
Here are some good calcium food sources to help you reach 800 to 1,000 milligrams daily calcium in your diet.†
Calcium-fortified almond milk, 500 milligrams per cup
Calcium-fortified soy and coconut milk, 300 milligrams per cup Cow’s milk (any fat content), 300 milligrams per cup
Plain regular yogurt, 400 milligrams per cup Plain Greek-style yogurt, 300 milligrams per cup Cooked navy beans, 128 milligrams per cup Edamame, 100 milligrams per cup
Kale and other cooked greens, 125 milligrams per cup Almonds, 75 milligrams per ounce
Add up your calcium intake for a typical day. If you are getting less than 800–1,000 milligrams daily, add a supplement so your combined diet plus supplement reaches this range. If you do supplement, avoid calcium carbonate, which you’ll encounter widely as it is the cheapest form of calcium. It is sometimes contaminated with lead, and it can cause gastrointestinal problems, including constipation, particularly if it’s not taken with food; also, its absorption rates are poor. Instead, choose protein-bound calcium or a calcium chelate (calcium malate chelate or calcium glycinate chelate) for the best absorption. Calcium citrate is also an option, but the absorption is not as good as protein-bound or chelate forms.
† Kuehn BM. “High calcium intake linked to heart disease, death.” JAMA. 2013; 309(10): 972.
† We don’t include hard cheese, though 1 ounce provides 100 milligrams of calcium. This is a small quantity, and because hard
(organic) cheese is a neutral fat, we don’t think of it as a major source of calcium since you probably will not have it more than once a day if you’re following our recommendations.