I’m reading about magnesium and the role it plays in our body and I’m struggling to decide whether or not I should supplement with it.
There seems to be conflicting evidence on what to do. On one hand, I should take magnesium, especially with vitamin D supplementation. On the other, I’ve read that supplementing one mineral may have unintended consequences that could cause more harm than good.
Anyone have advice here?
My opinion is that magnesium is over-hyped (the sales, not the importance of it in nutrition) because people will buy 100grams of Epsom Salt for $5 when they could just buy a 20kg bag of magnesium sulfate for $20.
Someone out there is getting rich!
It’s the same in the permaculture world - I run a farm, and even after soil tests showed excess magnesium and calcium deficiency, all the “experts” kept trying to add epsom salt to everything literally every time I turned my back hahaha
You don’t have to eat it. There are a number of topical magnesium lotions out there. Just rub a bit on the back of your calf before bed.
Ancient Minerals is one brand I’ve tried. You can also search “transdermal magnesium” on your shopping website of choice.
Shawn Stephenson cites magnesium supplementation as a key aspect of good sleep in the book he wrote the topic. Fun fact, magnesium is critical to over 300 metabolic chemical reactions in our bodies. And something like 60% of adults are deficient; we consume produce grown on farm land that is steadily becoming more depleted.
Magnesium is ubiquitous in foods, though particularly high in shellfish & nuts. There’s never been shown to be adverse effects from too much magnesium in the diet so the UL (Upper Limit) for supplemental use is set at 350mg. No major side effects from higher doses, just possible nausea, diarrhoea etc.