Why Most MD's Don't Prescribe Magnesium...

Why Most MD's Don't Prescribe Magnesium

According to Carolyn Dean, MD, ND, “research is showing that many common symptoms for which we really have no drug treatment can be treated by magnesium… simple things like angina (chest pain caused by heart problems), muscle spasms, tics, insomnia, migraines and a list of twenty-two other conditions.”

It’s well-known that during pregnancy, if a woman has seizures or hypertension - a condition called preeclampsia - the treatment is intravenous magnesium. MD’s won’t use drugs for fear of damaging the fetus, so they use something extremely safe (magnesium), and it always works.

However, a typical heart attack patient will go all the way through five different types of drugs before number six is given - magnesium.  MD’s don’t give it first because it’s really not written up in the medical references.  It’s not a drug, so it doesn’t make the “short list”. People have been led to believe that drugs are powerful, and they’re what doctors give. Doctors don’t give supplements. They’re too common.

Dr. Dean stated “It’s just not something that even I learned about in medical school, so doctors do not feel comfortable, it seems, prescribing dietary supplements. When they go through six to ten years of medical school and internships and residencies, they figure if they haven’t learned it in their training, then it doesn’t exist. They do not learn nutrition and they do not learn dietary supplements and they shy away from them.”

The Essential Nutrient…

Magnesium is an essential nutrient for all living things. Along with calcium and phosphorus, magnesium is considered a major element in human nutrition, and is one of the four electrolytes along with calcium (Ca), sodium (Na), and potassium (K).  Biochemically, a large part of magnesium’s essentiality comes from the critical role it plays in the production of ATP (energy).

While it was estimated in 1968 that magnesium was a required cofactor for over 300 enzyme systems, that number is now more reliably estimated at 700 – 800.  And yet, 70-80% of the American population is magnesium deficient.  That’s right; you have a 70-80% chance of being magnesium deficient!  Are you comfortable with those kind of adds stacked against you?  If not, keep reading…

In order for cells, organs and glands to be healthy they require a constant balance between calcium and magnesium.  Calcium is found mostly outside of your cells, while magnesium is found mostly inside your cells.  To make things more delicate, they must be present in a certain ratio… not too much or too little of calcium or magnesium inside versus outside the cell.  Are you with me?  This is called ionic balance. 

Now, if we have too much calcium in the body and not enough magnesium, this imbalance can change everything in the human body because the problem exists at the cellular level.  The truth is, most people have way too much calcium and not enough magnesium in their diet, especially if you drink milk, eat fortified foods, and don’t eat 7-8 servings of fruits/vegetables every single day – remember that 70-80% figure? 

The scary part is this… when a person has an abnormal Mg:Ca ratio as a result of a chronic magnesium nutritional deficiency state, some predictable disease states can occur. These include:

1. Cardiovascular diseases. All the usual markers (or risk factors) for heart disease such as hypertension (high blood pressure), high total cholesterol, low HDL cholesterol, high LDL cholesterol, high homocysteine, and high C-reactive protein, can be the result of low magnesium status. Recent studies show that high anxiety and depression (symptoms of human magnesium deficiency) can predict heart disease even more than the traditional risk factors.

2. Hypertension. Chronic high blood pressure (essential hypertension) can be caused both directly and indirectly by a magnesium deficiency. Low magnesium/high calcium in blood vessel muscle cells cause them to contract which results in a hypertensive state. In addition, a low cellular magnesium impedes a healthy sodium to potassium ratio which is necessary for normal blood pressure.

3. Type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is seen as part of a syndrome, Syndrome X or metabolic syndrome, which includes hypertension, obesity, unhealthy blood cholesterol levels, and high blood sugar coupled with cells’ inability to properly respond to insulin (insulin resistance). These, with the exception of obesity, have been linked to low Mg:Ca cellular ratio, and the type of obesity most predictive of this syndrome, abdominal obesity, has been shown to be relieved with a long term diet containing high magnesium foods and a regime of regular exercise

4. Osteoporosis. Many people take calcium supplements to prevent depletion of minerals from bone that can lead to osteoporosis. To properly use this extra calcium, a body needs to have a healthy magnesium status. If magnesium is low, extra calcium can increase the severity of the magnesium deficiency which causes improper calcium metabolism as one of its symptoms. One of the first signs of a magnesium deficit can be low blood calcium.

Other conditions that may be associated with a magnesium deficiency include: asthma, PMS, pregnancy induced hypertension, migraine headache due to constriction of blood vessels in the head, depression, and high anxiety.

Some of the initial problems seen in people who have or are developing magnesium deficiency are neuromuscular. These are presumably due to the abnormal muscular contraction-nerve firing states brought on by a low Mg:Ca cellular ratio which can be a result of chronic low magnesium intake, very high calcium intake, or a combination of the two.

Most health professionals are taught and many believe that magnesium deficiency is rare, occurring mainly in alcoholism or with general malnutrition, and that most diets give a person enough magnesium given that magnesium is widespread in foods. The research does not support this widespread view. They are wrong!

Diets of the industrialized world can be quite low in magnesium. Refined grains and refined sugar are among the lowest foods in Mg content, so when these are high in the diet, Mg intake can be quite low. Given the wide use of refined sugar and flour in processed foods, widespread use of calcium supplements, and the increased practice of fortifying foods with calcium, daily magnesium supplements can be protective (remember though, taking the right kind in the right amount is critical).

According to Carolyn Dean, MD, ND, “The powdered form is probably the best because you start absorbing it straight away, even in the mouth. So, powdered form first, and then capsules, and then tablets. The tablets usually have a lot of binders and fillers and are harder to dissolve than capsules.”

Dr. Craig’s Comments:

There you have it, one more “key ingredient” for your “personal recipe” in the creation of a healthy, disease-free body.  By the way, Chiropractors don’t prescribe medications for a reason, but we do prescribe the necessary building blocks to maintain health and prevent disease – magnesium is one of them!  Please, see the front desk if you want to know what is the right kind and the right amount for you.  Becky will be happy to point you in the right direction!

Speak up and educate others,

Dr. Craig Burns