The Age-Defying Power of Antioxidants – Part Five

The Age-Defying Power of Antioxidants – Part Five

The Marvels of the “Miracle Mineral”

Antioxidants can help restore youth, replenish energy, and even improve heart health. But did you know that one mineral is so vital that deficiency doubles your chance of death? And guess what? Experts estimate that 80 percent of the population is exactly that.

That miracle mineral is magnesium.

The claim that magnesium deficiency doubles your chances of death is quite genuine. The finding came from a study published in The Journal of Intensive Care Medicine. But the conclusion comes as no surprise to leading experts in the field. They agree that magnesium is critical to long life and good health.

“Magnesium deficiency triggers 22 conditions,” says Dr. Carolyn Dean, M.D. As a magnesium expert, she should know. She has led medical research on the subject for over 30 years. She currently serves as the Medical Director of the Nutritional Magnesium Association and wrote The Magnesium Miracle.

Among the 22 conditions that magnesium deficiency can cause, she lists anxiety, diabetes, heart disease, and migraines. And she notes that “the introduction of magnesium can help alleviate these conditions.”

Dr. Mark Hyman – a Massachusetts physician who serves on the Board of Advisors of Georgetown University – also champions magnesium. “In my practice, this nutrient is one of my secret weapons against illness,” he says. “Yet [over] half of Americans are deficient in this nutrient and don’t know it.”

“I remember using magnesium when I worked in the emergency room,” says Dr. Hyman. “It was a critical ‘medication’ on the crash cart. If someone was dying of [an] irregular heart beat, we used intravenous magnesium. If pregnant women came in with seizures, we gave them high doses of magnesium.”

Benefits of Magnesium

Magnesium is an essential element of good health. It is responsible for over 300 enzyme reactions and is present in all bodily tissues. It’s a critical component in bones, muscle and brain. And your cells need it to make energy, stabilize membranes, and help muscles relax.

It can fight depression, fatigue, and even kidney disease. And it’s critical to many essential bodily functions. But let’s look more closely at just one area that it benefits.

According to Dr. Dean, a heart attack can injure us in many ways. Damages sustained during a heart attack can include:

• Blood clots which lead to blocked blood vessels
• Decreased blood flow as blood vessels go into spasm
• Extended heart damage as calcium floods the muscle

However, our “magic” mineral counters these effects. It naturally:

• Dilates blood vessels
• Prevents spasms in the heart muscle and blood vessel walls
• Fights the action of calcium, which increases spasms
• Helps dissolve blood clots
• Acts as an antioxidant against free radical formation

It also promotes good health in many other vital functions. And yet, you don’t often hear about. Which begs the question…

Why Is Magnesium Shut Out of “Big Medicine”?

If magnesium were man-made, chances are pharmaceutical companies everywhere would grab on to it and tout it as a wonder drug.

But instead, magnesium is an inexpensive mineral, found in nature. And big pharma isn’t interested in pushing something they can’t get a patent on.

“This mineral is ignored because it is not a drug,” says Dr. Hyman. “It is more powerful than drugs in many cases. That’s why we use it in hospitals for heart failure.”

Dr. Dean agrees. She believes big pharma has good reason to ignore it.

“Most of the funding for medical research comes from drug companies,” she says. “Magnesium is not a drug and will not be studied by drug companies. Except to try to disprove its action.”

But there’s another reason why magnesium doesn’t get enough credit.

“In our society, magnesium deficiency is a huge problem,” says Dr. Hyman. “By conservative standards of measurement (blood or serum magnesium levels), 65 percent of people admitted to the intensive care unit have magnesium deficiency.

“But this underestimates the problem. A serum magnesium level is the least sensitive way to detect a drop. So rates of magnesium deficiency could be even higher.”

And that’s bad news for good health. Magnesium deficiency has been linked to migraines, inflammation, and high CRP levels.

Reasons for Magnesium Deficiency

It’s a scientific fact that modern man is deficient in magnesium. One recent study concluded…

It is regrettable that deficiency of such an inexpensive, low-toxicity nutrient results in diseases that cause incalculable suffering throughout the world.

So why are we so deficient? What’s changed?

As is often the case, our own diets work against us. Highly processed foods contain little magnesium. Carb-rich foods like white flour and pasta have no magnesium at all. Neither does dairy.

Worse, many of the foods we do eat reduce our levels. Dr. Hyman says alcohol, salt, cola, and coffee all reduce magnesium. And our modern lifestyle does the same: stress, antibiotics, and diuretics decrease our levels too.

Another reason we have low levels is because it’s hard to absorb. Worse… our bodies lose it easily. That’s why it’s important to maintain our magnesium levels.

Maintain Your Magnesium Levels

There are three simple, common sense ways to do this:

Now you know how to maintain your levels. The next step is to increase your intake.

Rich Sources of Magnesium

Many foods are rich in magnesium. Good sources include almonds, cashews, walnuts, shrimp, green drinks, and leafy green vegetables.

Dr. Hyman suggests taking a supplement.  While the recommended daily amount is about 300 mg a day, he believes most of us get less than 200 mg. And he says that most people could benefit from as much as 400 to 1,000 mg a day.

Another good option for kicking up your levels are Epsom salts. Taking a hot bath in Espom salts (magnesium sulfate) helps reduce stress and allows easy absorption of magnesium.

Doctors Dean and Hyman suggest that magnesium citrate, glycinate taurate, and aspartate are the most easy to absorb. They caution against magnesium carbonate, sulfate, gluconate, and oxide because they are more difficult to absorb.

Dr. Hyman also notes that people with kidney or heart disease should consult a doctor to define safe levels.

To your health,

Ian Robinson,
Managing Editor, Total Health Breakthroughs