THE POWER OF MAGNESIUM FOR ATHLETES @ MUSCLE & PERFORMANCE - CANADA
It’s one of the most underrated minerals, but magnesium is essential for optimum health and performance. Here’s how to make sure you’re getting enough. Minerals are critical to overall health because they are necessary for the proper activation of the body’s nerve and muscle cells. They also help regulate metabolism, maintain body pH and allow the transfer of nutrients across cell membranes. Clearly, ingesting the optimal amount of each mineral daily is vital to our well-being — but unfortunately, it’s easier said than done.
“The present state of our soil is not just deficient, it’s dead,” says Carolyn Dean, M.D., ND, Medical Advisory Board member of the Nutritional Magnesium Association and author of The Magnesium Miracle (Ballantine Books, 2017). “Most modern farming techniques use chemicals and pesticides, which bind up half the minerals that are remaining in the soil, making our foods severely mineral deficient. If there’s no magnesium in the soil, plants will have none. You simply cannot get all your nutrients in a good, balanced diet — you need to take supplements.”
Magnesium is Dean’s main area of expertise, and she estimates that our depleted soil results in more than 75 percent of Americans being unable to meet their Recommended Daily Allowance of this important building block.
Benefits of Magnesium
This miraculous mineral wears many hats in our daily lives, Dean says, including the following:
Energy Production. Magnesium’s most important function is the creation and transport of energy in the trillions of cells making up our body. Magnesium is a cofactor in the production of ATP (adenosine triphosphate), which transports chemical energy within cells for metabolism.
Protein Production. Research has found that magnesium is required for the structural integrity of numerous body proteins. To date, 3,751 magnesium receptor sites have been found on human proteins.
Protein Synthesis. Magnesium is used in synergy with dozens of other vitamins, minerals, nutrients and enzymes to modify food and create the structural components of the body.
Transmitting Nerve Signals and Regulating Calcium. Magnesium permits a small amount of calcium to enter a nerve cell, just enough to allow electrical transmission along the nerves to and from the brain. Even our thoughts, via brain neurons, are dependent on magnesium.
Magnesium Makes Muscles
Magnesium is intimately involved in efficient muscle function. The mechanisms include oxygen uptake, electrolyte balance and energy production. Dean explains that magnesium relaxes muscles and balances calcium, which contracts muscles, working together to make muscles work properly. “ATP, the main source of energy in cells, must be bound to a magnesium ion in order to be biologically active,” Dean says. “To make ATP in the Krebs cycle in mitochondria, you need magnesium in six of the eight steps of that cycle. ”Athletes take note: Magnesium is lost in sweat but not replenished by the normal electrolyte replacement drinks. Ensuring your magnesium levels stay sufficient will ultimately help eliminate muscle cramps, lactic-acid buildup, and aches and pains.
More Magnesium = Better Lung Function
Meet the mineral that may help calm your asthma. Mild to moderate sufferers may benefits from supplementing magnesium daily, according to a study in the February 2010 issue of the Journal of Asthma. Researchers from Bastyr University in Kenmore, Washington, recruited 55 mild-to-moderate asthmatics between the ages of 21 and 55 and randomly assigned them to receive either the daily dose of 340 milligrams of magnesium or a placebo for six and a half months. At the end of the study, those in the magnesium group experienced a 6 percent improvement in lung function, while the placebo group didn’t see any progress. Why? Researchers think that magnesium may influence the properties of cell membranes, thereby improving the lungs’ ability to expand. In addition, the mineral may also improve asthma control because it works as an anti-inflammatory.
Dangers of Deficiency
Because magnesium catalyzes most of the chemical reactions in the body, Dean says that insufficient levels can cause countless functions to suffer. This, in turn, causes or exacerbates more than two dozen common conditions, including acid reflux, adrenal fatigue, aging, angina, anxiety, atrial fibrillation, brain function, high blood pressure, calcium deposits in our arteries, high cholesterol, constipation, depression, Type 2 diabetes, fibromyalgia, headaches, heart attacks, irritable bowel syndrome, inflammation, insomnia, kidney stones, migraines, muscle spasms, nerve twitches, premenstrual syndrome, seizures and sports injuries. “With insufficient magnesium levels, too much calcium accumulates in the cell and triggers excessive contraction and disrupts cell function,” Dean says. “Too much calcium unregulated due to magnesium deficiency can deposit in soft tissues and may become toxic, causing painful conditions such as some forms of arthritis, kidney stones, osteoporosis and calcification of the arteries leading to heart attack and cardiovascular disease. Thus, magnesium is a natural calcium channel blocker without the harmful side effects of calcium channel-blocking medications.”
Getting Your Daily Dose
While magnesium is critical, it’s not easy to come by in food. “One hundred years ago, we could obtain 500 milligrams of magnesium in our diet, but today, we are lucky to get 200 milligrams,” Dean says. While that’s no reason to skimp on magnesium-rich foods — such as green leafy vegetables, seaweed, cacao, nuts, seeds and whole grains — it does mean you’ll need to pair it with supplementation. “ and I consider 600 milligrams a day of elemental magnesium to be necessary.” Dean Says.
MINERAL MATTERS : Canadian Chiropractor Magazine
CANADA ‘ NUTRITION CLUB: Never under estimate the Power Of Magnesium