Common Conditions That May Result from a Magnesium Deficiency

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Common Conditions That May Result from a Magnesium Deficiency Magnesium is a must. The diets of all Americans are likely to be deficient........Even a mild deficiency causes sensitiveness to noise, nervousness, irritability, mental depression, confusion, twitching, trembling, apprehension, insomnia, muscle weakness and cramps in the toes, feet, legs, or fingers. Adelle , writing in Let's Have Healthy Children Read my disclaimer and terms

of use. Magnesium (Mg) is a trace mineral that is known to be required for several hundred different functions in the body. A significant portion of the symptoms of many chronic disorders are identical to symptoms of magnesium deficiency. Studies show many people in the U.S. today do not consume the daily recommended amounts of Mg. A lack of this important nutrient may be a major factor in many common health problems in industrialized countries. Common conditions such as mitral valve prolapse, migraines, attention deficit disorder, fibromyalgia, asthma and allergies have all been linked to a Mg deficiency. Perhaps not coincidentally, these conditions also tend to occur

in clusters together within the same individual. A magnesium deficiency as a root cause would provide a logical explanation of why some people suffer from a constellation of these types of problems. Many of the following conditions commonly occur in conjunction with each other and all have been linked to a Mg deficiency. Contents: Allergies, Chemical Sensitivities Anxiety and Psychiatric Disorders Aorta

Strength Asthma Attention Deficit Disorder Calcification of Soft Tissue Including Heart Valve Diabetes Also see: Magnesium - Part Two - Covers the links between magnesium deficiency and diverse conditions such as

fibromyalgia, hearing loss, migraines, menstrual cramps (dysmenorrhea), mitral valve prolapse, muscle cramps, nystagmus, osteoporosis, pectus excavatum, TMJ and more. Allergies and Chemical Sensitivities In the book Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine, the authors note that food allergies are usually associated with low hydrochloric acid levels and poor digestion. The authors' rationale for this is that low stomach acid leaves food undigested and fermenting in the intestinal tract. This fermentation causes gas, bloating and stomach upset, the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome.

Undigested and fermented food causes the body to raise histamine levels, which produce allergic reactions. This is why people take antihistamines for allergies, to lower histamine levels. Interestingly, Mg is needed to reduce histamine levels. Low stomach acid levels reduce levels of beneficial intestinal bacteria which is needed for absorption of magnesium. When lab rats are deprived of magnesium, a wide variety of studies have noted that they develop allergy like symptoms. Their ears turn red and they develop skin problems. Rats with magnesium deficiencies have increases in histamine levels. They also have raised levels of white blood cell counts. Mg deficiency has been implicated in allergies and allergic skin reaction in many studies on humans, too. Variations of allergies, skin allergies, and raised white blood cells have all been noted as features of many chronic disorders. People with chemical sensitivities also commonly have other conditions linked to Mg deficits such as allergies, fibromyalgia, mitral valve prolapse and anxiety disorders. They also tend to have temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ), which

has been linked to abnormalities of hyaluronic acid. Perhaps not coincidentally, hyaluronic acid is dependent upon magnesium for its synthesis. Asthma is has been linked to Mg deficiencies in a wide variety of studies. Asthma and allergies not only frequently occur together, but they frequently occur together along with gastrointestinal upset in many chronic disorders including Mitral Valve Prolapse syndrome and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Gastrointestinal upset is often a sign of malabsorption problems, which can be a cause of nutritional deficiencies. See my related section on multiple chemical sensitivity. Anxiety and Psychiatric Disorders Magnesium deficiency causes increased levels of adrenaline, which can lead to a feeling of anxiety. Rats who become magnesium deficient have an increased level of urinary catecholamine excretion (a by-product of adrenaline). People who have mitral valve prolapse have also been found to have an increased state of anxiety and have an increased level of urinary catecholamine excretion, the exact same condition found in rats who are Mg deficient. It is not surprising then, to find that people with mitral valve prolapse are usually low in magnesium, and that magnesium supplementation alleviates the symptoms of mitral valve prolapse and reduces the level of urinary catecholamine excretion, i.e. it also reduces the anxiety symptoms. Researchers in Spain found a correlation between anxiety disorders and hypermobility. In fact, they found that patients with anxiety disorder were over 16 times more likely than control subjects to have joint laxity. If you put the study results together, then there's a link between anxiety and hypermobility, a link between anxiety and mitral valve prolapse, and a link between mitral valve prolapse and hypermobility. These studies tell us that anxiety disorders occur in many people who simply have mitral valve prolapse and/or joint hypermobility, meaning anxiety disorders are not specific to EDS or any particular connective tissue disorder. Marfans also have mitral valve prolapse and joint hypermobility which would lead one to conjecture that they, too, have anxiety related disorders. As it turns out, a connection between Marfans and anxiety related disorders has been noted. A study in Bulgaria also found magnesium abnormalities in patients

with schizophrenia and depression. The authors thought the schizophrenia and depression caused the magnesium deficiencies, but I disagree that that was necessarily the case. When you look at this study within the context of all the other studies mentioned in this section, it is more likely that the magnesium abnormalities caused the mental illness. (There are quite a few studies on magnesium and mental illness on Medline. I just included a few to highlight my points.) In a study from England, there was a strong association for more disturbed and excitable patients to have abnormal (either high or low) magnesium levels. The authors thought that the patients who seemed most disturbed may have some abnormality of magnesium metabolism.

To read up on the link between cholesterol levels and anxiety and depression, see my web page on low cholesterol levels. For more on this topic, see my section on Anxiety and Depression - overlooked nutritional causes. Aorta Strength In an experiment on lab rats, the animals had their thoracic aortas injured with balloons. They were then fed diets with low, normal or high magnesium concentrations. The rat aortas with the high magnesium diets healed better than the normal and low Mg diets. For more information on aortae, also see my section on Marfan Syndrome - The Similarities to Copper Deficiency.. Asthma Magnesium sulfate is used as a treatment for asthma. Mg is known to be important

for proper lung functioning. Mg is being increasingly looked at as a treatment for asthma. A study from Brown University showed "remarkable" improvement in children with asthma who were treated with intravenous magnesium. Low polymorphonuclear magnesium content has been observed in patients with bronchial asthma. The study authors believe that polymorphonuclear magnesium content may have an important role in causing asthma. A study reported on in the Lancet, notes that people who have diets lower in Mg have more asthmatic symptoms. People with diets higher in magnesium have less asthmatic symptoms. Mg prevents pre-asthmatic lung changes in animal studies. Asthma is a common finding in connective tissue disorders, as are keratoconus, mitral valve prolapse, rachitic skeletal defects and many other conditions associated with magnesium deficiency. Asthma occurs frequently along with allergies, seizures and many other disorders that can all be linked to a Mg deficiency. Multivitamin tablets and pills often do not contain magnesium because it is a bulky mineral that makes the pill or tablets very large, so manufacturers often just leave it out! Yet multivitamin they contain many Mg antagonists, i.e. vitamins and minerals that lower magnesium levels in your body. Perhaps this is why recent studies show that multivitamins usage is associated with asthma and allergies. Click here to go to my diet page for foods that have helped my breathing problems. Also see my cool links section for more information on asthma. Attention Deficit Disorder A medication containing magnesium has been used successfully to treat

attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. In a study from Poland, children with ADHD were been found to more deficient than controls in a selected number of bioelements. Magnesium deficiencies were the most pronounced difference. Magnesium supplementation in the ADHD children decreased their hyperactivity. In a study from Germany, boys with reactive behavior problems were treated with a medication containing magnesium with positive results. I don't know if this relates directly to ADD or ADHD or not, but I found the following study interesting. In a

study on guinea pigs, a group of the animals that had Mg deficiencies induced showed changes in their brain waves. In a study from England, there was a strong association for more disturbed and excitable patients to have abnormal (either high or low) Mg levels. The authors thought that the patients who seemed most disturbed may have some abnormality of Mg metabolism. Also see my cool links section for more information on ADD.

Calcification Of Soft Tissue Including Heart Valves Magnesium is a known treatment for a variety of types of calcification of soft tissues. Mg levels have been found to be greatly reduced in calcified mitral valves. In a study of rats, Mg deficiency has been shown to cause

aortic calcification. Vitamin K deficiency has also been linked to calcification of soft tissues. Also see my section on Calcium Deposits. Diabetes A 2005 landmark study by researchers from the Harvard School of Public found an inverse association between type 2 diabetes and magnesium intake. The major recommendation from this study was for people to consume more magnesium rich foods. For more on this topic see my sections on fibromyalgia and diabetes and diabetic frozen shoulder. Continued at Magnesium - Part Two http://www.ctds.info/5_13_magnesium.html

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