Fitness, relaxation, balance … Magnesium is an essential mineral. As to when to take it and in what form, are quiet hard. Should a blood magnesium test be carried out? What are the different types of food supplements? Answers from experts about magnesium cure.
Summary
- How to manifest lack of magnesium?
- Should we dose magnesium?
- When to take a food supplement?
- What form of magnesium to choose?
- At what dose and for how long to take it?
- What precautions?
Magnesium is one of the most common minerals in the body. This trace element participates in all major metabolisms, that of carbohydrates, fats and proteins, which it transforms into energy.
It contributes to the proper functioning of different tissues and organs because it involves numerous enzymatic reactions. With a particular affinity for the muscles, including the heart, as well as for the brain and its synapses through which the impulses transmit. Magnesium is also an essential ally in times of stress.
How to manifest lack of magnesium?
Since magnesium is little stored in the body, it must be provided in sufficient and regular amounts through food. The recommended nutritional intake (ANC) has been defined at 6 mg/kg/day, i.e. 360 mg for a woman of 60 kg or 420 mg / d for a man of 70 kg. Nutritional intakes are higher for pregnant women and athletes.
If the intakes are insufficient, the magnesium deficiency are:
- Tiredness,
- A nervousness,
- Irritability,
- Tingling at the extremities,
- of spontaneous trembling lips, cheek or eyelid,
- Cramp’s nocturnal calf,
- Magnesium cure
Should we dose magnesium?
98% of the body’s magnesium is inside cells and only about 1% is present in the blood. The dosage of blood magnesium (magnesemia) therefore poorly reflects our magnesium stock. These are essentially the clinical signs that alert you to a deficit.
When to take a food supplement?
Source of magnesium can be useful in the event of stress, because it accelerates the loss of the mineral by the urine, especially as a strong deficit in magnesium amplifies the reaction to stress. The tiredness is another indication of the lack of magnesium.
It is also useful to supplement oneself when taking certain drugs which favor the urinary elimination of magnesium or decrease its intestinal absorption: it is the case of diuretics, estroprogestatifs (hormonal contraception or hormonal treatment of menopause), or proton pump inhibitors (taken to lower stomach acid).
What form of magnesium to choose?
Tablets, oral solution or ampoules, whatever the presentation, it is the type of salt linked to magnesium which is determining for its absorption by the cells, and therefore its action and its tolerance. Thus, naturally occurring salts of which marine magnesium is a part, are more or less well assimilated by the body and, above all, generally induce more diarrhoea than synthetic salts.
Another important point, vitamin B6 and taurine (a sulfur amino acid participating in the regulation of stress) are known to promote the uptake and use of magnesium by cells. “More recently, we have also highlighted a synergy of action between magnesium and vitamin D, ” said experts.
At what dose and for how long to take it?
As a preventive measure, before a great period of stress , exams for example, an intake of 100 mg per day is enough for a treatment of 1 to 3 months.
If signs of a deficit are present, supplementation of 300 mg per day is perfect in an adult for 1 to 2 months. Knowing that this dose can be increased in athletes, pregnant women and teens who need larger intakes. “Daily doses above 100 or 200 mg are preferably taken in several doses for better assimilation,” say experts.
What precautions?
Magnesium is taken at least 2 hours apart from large doses of calcium (which interfere with its digestive absorption) and certain drugs.
There is no risk of an overdose except in case of renal failure: supplementation then requires medical advice to adjust the dosage. For more such articles, you can follow us on social media.
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