Magnesium may be called the body’s “master mineral” but it doesn’t get nearly enough attention. Magnesium is involved in more than 300 essential metabolic reactions yet national surveys of American’s dietary habits estimate that 45% of us are deficient in this important mineral.

Why You Need Magnesium

Magnesium plays important roles in the structure and function of the human body. Much of the magnesium, about 60%, is found in the skeleton and about 27% is in muscle. The remainder is found in other cells or fluids. Here’s just a few of the processes that rely on magnesium:

• Metabolism of carbohydrates and fats to produce energy
• Creation of proteins, components of muscles, bones, skin and hair
• Activation of enzyme reactions
• Synthesis of glutathione – the body’s principal antioxidant that protects cells
• Structural component of bones, cell membranes and chromosomes
• Movement of other minerals across cell membranes which affect nerve impulses, muscle contraction and normal heart rhythm.
• Cell-signaling which impacts many other processes including the secretion of hormones that regulate metabolism

Deficiency Symptoms

When deficient in magnesium, it may affect:

• Calcium uptake and utilization
• Cardiovascular health
• Energy levels resulting in increased fatigue
• Muscle strength and stamina
• Gastrointestinal health
• Mood, memory and cognitive function
• Blood pressure levels
• Blood sugar metabolism
• Respiratory health
• Balance and equilibrium
• Potassium uptake and utilization

Sources and Supplements

If magnesium is so important, why are almost half of us not getting enough from our diet? There are multiple reasons ranging from changing dietary habits to modern farming techniques that have stripped the soil of many minerals.

Current recommended magnesium intakes for adults 31 and older is 420 mg for men and 320 mg for women. However, many experts think our magnesium levels should be twice that amount.

The highest dietary sources of magnesium include:

Bran cereal – ½ cup provides about 93 mg
Brown rice – 1 cup cooked delivers 86 mg
Almonds – one ounce (23 almonds) contains 78 mg
Spinach – ½ cup frozen chopped provides 78 mg
Swiss chard – ½ cup cooked has about 75 mg
Lima beans – ½ cup cooked contains about 63 mg
Peanuts – 1 ounce delivers about 48 mg

To fill in any nutritional gaps, magnesium supplements come in a variety of forms including citrate, gluconate and amino acid chelates which may be more absorbable and utilized by your body.

Sources:

Linus Pauling Institute
Natural Society

Unless you’re lucky enough to enjoy a sunny climate year-round, fall signals the season that you may want to start taking a vitamin D supplement—but not just any form of vitamin D. A recent study finds that vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) does a better job of maintaining vitamin D levels than the D2 (ergocalciferol) form.

Normally, our bodies can make some vitamin D from the sun provided we get regular exposure to sunlight on uncovered skin—this means no sunscreen too. But if you spend most of your time indoors, or live in a northern climate with little UV exposure in the fall and winter months, vitamin D stores can drop below healthy levels. In fact, it is estimated that as many as 60% of us are deficient in vitamin D.

That’s why this new study comparing vitamin D3 to D2 is such good timing.

The researchers from the University of Otago in New Zealand, found that 1,000 IU of vitamin D3 maintained vitamin D stores during winter months, whereas levels decreased with the same dose of vitamin D2.

For the study they recruited 95 people between the ages of 18 and 50 and divided them into 3 groups. The first group received a placebo, and the second and third groups received 1,000 IU daily doses of vitamin D2 or D3 for 25 weeks starting at the end of summer.

Overall, total serum concentrations were 21 nmol/l lower in participants receiving vitamin D2 compared with those receiving D3, among whom total serum concentrations remained the same.

These findings contribute to mounting evidence that vitamin D3 and vitamin D2 have different effects on your body. As a result, it is important which form of vitamin D you choose to help maintain your health.

Source:

NutraIngredients

Many health and nutrition experts question the methodology for determining the minimum recommended daily allowance (RDA) for many nutrients. In most cases, the RDA is based on the minimum amount of a nutrient necessary to prevent disease—not an amount to promote optimal health. This is why it is not unusual to see supplements containing many times more than the RDA – like 1,000% of the RDA.

A case in point is the RDA for vitamin C. According to Professor Balz Frei, director of the Linus Pauling Institute, the RDA for Vitamin C should be doubled to 200 milligrams per day for adults from the current levels of 75 mgs per day for women and 90 mgs per day for men.

This increase will ensure cell and tissue saturation without posing any risk and may yield significant health benefits, says Frei.

Current levels are dictated by the levels required to prevent scurvy -- the vitamin C deficiency disease.

At the current low RDAs, studies in the U.S. and Canada have found that about a quarter to a third of people are marginally deficient in vitamin C and up to 20% are severely deficient. If, as Frei suggests, the current RDAs are too low, then the actual number of people considered deficient would be significantly higher.

Importance of Vitamin C

Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin that your body cannot create or store. Therefore, you must obtain it regularly from your diet. You need vitamin C for growth and repair of many tissues throughout your body, including skin, cartilage, tendons, ligaments, and blood vessels. It is also needed for healing wounds and repairing and maintaining bones and teeth.

Vitamin C along with Vitamin E and Beta Carotene are among the body’s primary antioxidants. Antioxidants help block some of the damage caused by free radicals, substances that damage

DNA. It is thought that the build-up of free radicals over time may contribute to the aging process and other body damage.

Sources:

NutraIngredients

Linus Pauling Institute