Monday, October 26, 2015

magnesium ... oy vey

I procured and read "The Magnesium Miracle" last week.

[sigh]

Having been undergoing a lot of extra stress for a WHOLE YEAR, and certain rather over-the-top symptoms that it was actually undermining my health -- not to mention the goddamned FDA's demand that my most important supplement be discontinued -- i went searching for SOMETHING that would take the strain off.  Magnesium WOULD seem to be "it," but i tell ya, some of the literature is really full of shit.

The "authorities" (the very word has been making me cringe for several years now) have awfully narrow vision.  Everything seems to be a nail requiring their particular hammer.

It's no secret that magnesium intake in the modern western world has taken a nose-dive.  The sources where we used to find it -- like nice clean ground- and well-water -- just aren't there anymore.  Farmland has been sucked dry.  The "best sources" are anathema to my system:  phytate-rich grains, seeds, legumes, and the kinds of green vegetables that are virtual toxins to me unless cooked ... which leaches out the mineral i seek.  Shellfish have a modest amount, and i am an avid eater of it, but not every damned day.  No, magnesium MUST be supplemented.  In quantity.  Which tends to be laxative.

Because it's a component of hundreds of crucial enzymatic processes, and also acts as a calcium-channel blocker, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant, many writers i respect give magnesium pride-of-place in micronutrition.  The doctors Eades and Emily Dean eulogize it, and deplore the lack of "real" studies about it;  because of the way magnesium works with other nutrients, it's very hard to tease out what it can take credit for, in epidemiological and observational work.  And as the book says, "As long as people are given false hope that there is some magic bullet in the pharmaceutical pipeline that will 'cure' osteoporosis, or any other chronic disease, they will ignore the underlying diet-and nutrient-related reasons for their health problems."  Nobody, anymore, cares to do research that doesn't have a potential cash windfall at the end of the rainbow.  Our universities are merely introductions to the world of pharmaceutical "research," not sources of work for the public good, as most citizens -- who are footing a lot of the bill -- would probably imagine.

And these are a few reasons why Dr. Carolyn Dean's book is so frustrating -- despite a bone tossed to the Weston Price people and a couple of mentions of "paleo" (which she doesn't seem to understand properly), she is firmly ensconced in the dietary paradigms of the '70s.  She repeatedly decries meat, protein and fat, especially the saturated kind, of course.  She insists we should be eating vast quantities of raw greens, soaked legumes, and untoasted seeds DESPITE THEIR CONTENT OF OTHER MINERALS WHICH BLOCK THE ABSORPTION OF THE ONE WE'RE ACTUALLY LOOKING FOR.  ...At least she has HEARD of phytates....  :-/  ...But as i said above, OY.

Most of the book's sources are VERY old, and in place of chemistry we get a lot of anecdotes.  Most of her chapters seem to be not much more than dumbed-down versions of a Dr. M. S. Seelig's decades-old book.  I'm in the process of reading the latter now, which is available online, but the major focus seems to be cardiological rather than metabolic ... which is of course the part i really want to know!

So although magnesium DOES seem to be a mineral i need to know better, i got far more solid info on its potential from Mike Eades in ONE blog-post, and from Emily Dean in two, than from the most-touted book i've found.  I WILL keep looking as well as continuing the extra supplementing i do (above what's already in my multi), but at least i can report that my mood HAS already improved.  It's far too early to report positive metabolic results.

8 comments:

  1. Can you post links to those helpful blog posts?

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    1. here are the ones i was referring to:

      https://proteinpower.com/drmike/2005/07/29/magnesium-and-inflammation/

      http://evolutionarypsychiatry.blogspot.com/2010/09/magnesium.html

      http://evolutionarypsychiatry.blogspot.com/2010/10/magnesium-and-brain.html

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  2. Dr. Dean had her medical license revoked.
    http://www.casewatch.org/foreign/dean/dean.shtml

    Dr. Briffa has several posts about magnesium here:
    https://www.google.com/#q=magnesium+site:www.drbriffa.com

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    1. tsk, tsk -- Carolyn really does have her hammer/nail issues....

      thanks for the Briffa links! he's been so quiet for so long, i'd almost forgotten about him! :-)

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  3. Hey Tess,

    What form of Mg are you taking? Not all of them have the laxative effect. Depending on what other symptoms you're experiencing (that are leading you to to supplement with Mg), certain forms might be more suitable than others. (For example, the Mg citrate -- like in the Natural Calm drink powder -- has a laxative effect when taken in high amounts -- but is typically intended as a "calming"/relaxing aid. Mg malate, on the other hand, helps some people with flagging energy levels. If you're taking a mag citrate powder and get the laxative effect (and don't want it), you can just break things up into smaller doses throughout the day. Shouldn't make you sleepy or give you the runs.

    As for magnesium leaching out when you cook, there are ways to cook (and eat) greens such that the minerals aren't lost. The only way they're "lost" is if you were to boil or steam them and then discard all the water. If you take, say, spinach, kale, or pretty much any other leafy green, you can sauté them in your fat of choice (I like adding lots of onion & garlic, too). You'll notice that a small amount of liquid might come out during cooking, but just serve that along with the greens and don't let it sit on the plate afterward -- lick it up! ;-) (I live alone; no table manners whatsoever, hehheh.) Roasted kale chips won't lose Mg. Minerals (as far as I know) are not heat-sensitive, the way some vitamins are. So it's not the cooking/heating that causes mineral losses -- only when the liquid comes out and you get rid of it.

    You can also use a metal steamer basket to steam greens, which will preserve most of the minerals. Just use a minimal amount of water in the pot underneath. (You'll notice that the steaming water turns a little bit green, so you can see a small amount of nutrients probably leached out, but you can just drink that water, no problem.)

    All that being said, I still think Mg is critically low in most of us, and we can benefit from supplementation. (I take it, myself.)

    Thanks for your quick synopsis of the Dean book. It's long been on my list of reading to get to, but it sounds like it might be a waste of my time.

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    1. you're welcome! :-) i think YOU particularly will get more benefit from the Seelig book than Dean's -- a link with several publications is here: http://www.mgwater.com/seelig.shtml

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  4. A cardiologist once prescribed Mag Aspartate to me when I had heart rhythm issues (which I now know was anxiety). Anyway it's a very difficult form of mag to find, only one company here sells it, quite cheaply. It's also recommended for chronic fatigue so I make sure to take that one during the dayand my NOW mag cit powder at night time. Funny how different mag forms have different functions.

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    1. when i run out of my magnesium citrate (NOW brand which includes glycinate and malate), i think the aspartate might be the next one i order. :-) i just finished skimming one of the Seelig papers on the link i provided Amy, and everything i read confirms me in my desire to increase magnesium!

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