Magnesium

As Mr. Carlson said, we should have a page on Magnesium! Did you know that it's a VERY interesting mineral?
 * = [[image:magnesium.jpg width="149" height="144"]] ||= [[image:magnesium2.jpg width="235" height="139"]] ||

[|Magnesium Supplements May Help Lower High Blood Pressure]:

"Magnesium supplements have a small but significant effect on lowering blood pressure, according to a study in this month's Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association."

[|Magnesium Reduces Opiate Dependency and Cocaine Cravings] Healthnotes Newswire (August 14, 2003) People addicted to opiate drugs, such as heroin and morphine, may be able to reduce their use by taking oral magnesium, according to a new study in Journal of Addictive Diseases (2003;22:49?61). Magnesium may also help cocaine addicts experience fewer cravings for the drug, although it is not clear that it reduces cocaine use.

Mineral deficiencies. In addition to magnesium, deficiencies of the minerals zinc and chromium may contribute to food cravings, too. Simontacchi says that **if you find yourself craving carbohydrates, you may be deficient in zinc. Sugar cravings may indicate a chromium deficiency.**

Women lose magnesium when menstruating, and this might be the reason they crave chocolate, a good source of magnesium

[|Counting the Many Ways Sugar Harms Your Health] Sugar upsets the mineral relationships in your body: causes chromium and copper deficiencies and interferes with absorption of calcium and magnesium

[|Magnesium might help people with asthma:] Some studies have demonstrated that people with asthma are magnesium deficient. Magnesium-rich foods include spinach, navy beans, pinto beans, sunflower seeds, tofu, halibut, cashews, artichokes and black-eyed peas.

[|Meat, cancer, and dietary advice for the public] Conclusions: Meat is a good source of protein, readily available iron, calcium, magnesium, selenium, zinc and a range of B vitamins. Since the evidence for any role in colon carcinogenesis is so weak, and since such a high proportion of women of child-bearing age are iron deficient, the consumption of meat, as part of a balanced and varied diet, should be actively encouraged.

[|Magnesium may prevent diabetes]

[|Phytic acid in grain binds with minerals, causing mineral deficiency]

Dean asked for references to the notion that phytic acid in cereal grains causes calcium depletion. In 1992 Professor Harold H. Sandsted, who is Interim Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the most important journal of nutrition, noted that "the evidence seems overwhelming that high intakes of fiber sources that are also rich in phytate can have adverse effects on mineral nutrition of humans" and that, "in view of the [reviewed] data, it appears that some health promoters who suggest that U.S. adults should consume 30-35 g dietary fiber daily either have not done their homework or have simply ignored carefully done research on this topic" [1]. My own opinion is that authorities who advocate cereals in a prudent western diet largely do so for practical reasons [2].

So let's look do the homework. Whole meal cereals and other seeds have in their shells phytic acid which strongly binds to minerals like calcium, iron, zinc and magnesium to form insoluble salts, phytates [1, 3-7]. It is well known that whole meal cereals by this mechanism decrease the absorption of such minerals [1, 3-7]. There is apparently no adaptation to a habitual high intake of phytic acid [8] which is an important contributing cause of iron deficiency in third world countries and possibly in the western world [9]. It is also an important cause of mineral deficiency in vegetarians [10-12]. The most commonly studied minerals are bound to phytic acid possibly in the following decreasing order: calcium > iron > zinc > magnesium (Fredlund K, personal communication).

[|Nutrition and ADD] Examples of some recent studies:
 * A 1994 study at Purdue University found that boys diagnosed with ADHD had lower levels of the omega-3 essential fatty acid DHA (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition)
 * 1997 study found that 95% of ADHD children tested were deficient in magnesium (Magnesium Research, 1997,10)
 * A 1996 study found that ADHD children had zinc levels that were only 2/3 the level of those without ADHD (Biological Psychiatry 40, 1996)

[|Phytic acid added to white-wheat bread inhibits fractional apparent magnesium absorption in humans -- Bohn et al. 79 (3): 418 -- American Journal of Clinical Nutrition] Phytic acid added to white-wheat bread inhibits fractional apparent magnesium absorption in humans1,2,3 Torsten Bohn, Lena Davidsson, Thomas Walczyk and Richard F Hurrell Background: Phytic acid has been reported to impair the absorption of minerals and trace elements such as calcium, zinc, and iron in humans.