Subject: Re: Magnesium, how much to take?

From: [email-masked] (Paul Mason)
Date: 24 Jan 1995 22:45:50 GMT

In <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Once Dead) 
writes: 

>I've been reading the articles here in s.m.n about how magnesium can 
help 
>prevent heart disease. How much is the daily recommended dosage? What 
>foods are high in magnesium? And is it recommended that I take mag. 
pills?

The old RDA (recommended daily allowance) for magnesium is 350 mg/day,  
but the new RDI (recommended daily intake) is 400 mg/day.   Americans 
generally get only 300 mg/day, according to Dr. Mildred Seelig, a 
leading researcher.    The USDA says 75% of Americans don't even get the 
paltry 350 mg of the RDA, much less the RDI.  

Magnesium deficiency does indeed cause fatal heart attacks by causing 
these three ailments: atherosclerosis, high blood pressure, and 
arrythmia.  Magnesium deficiency can also cause a host of other minor 
ailments, ranging from zits and pasty skin to women's monthly mood 
changes.

Many researchers recommend that intake be adjusted according to body 
weight, with an intake of 6-10 mg/day per kilogram (2.2 lb) of body 
weight.   My wife takes 15 mg/day per kilogram, and believes it is 
benefiting her several ways, including alleviating the cramps she had 
for years.

I take 188 mg tablets each morning and night;  if I took it all at once 
I would sometimes experience a laxative effect.  

We like the Great Earth brand of Mg supplements, available at Great 
Earth health food stores (no conneciton to me) because it is a mixture 
of several Mg compounds and has a good effect, and a bottle of 100 
tablets of 188 mg. each is only $2.99, which seems like a reasonable 
price.

Magnesium is the principal ingredient in chlorophyll, so any  dark green 
vegetable is rich in magnesium, as are many beans and nuts.   Non-fat 
milk has 140 mg/L Mg, but the fat in whole milk may prevent the uptake 
of Mg, any fat would by mixing with the Mg to form useless soaps in the 
intestines.   It appears that one of the worst aspects of high fat 
intake is that it blocks the uptake of Mg, as I gathered from a recent 
lecture by Prof. Ragnar Rylander of Goteborg University, Sweden.

You can also get magnesium from some mineral waters, such as San 
Pellegrino from Italy at 57 mg/L Mg, or from Noah's Spring Water 
available in the little town of Modesto, Calif., which get its water 
>from  a spring by my cabin, and contains 96 mg/L magnesium.   The typical 
American bottled water contains only 3 mg/L magnesium, while the typical 
European bottled water contains 27 mg/L.   Typical American tap water 
contains 6 mg/L Mg, but parts of Texas and the Southwest have tap waters 
with over 50 mg/L.   I have located 80 licensed wells in Texas having 
over 90 mg/L, and have identified 54 municipal water systems in 
California having over 90 mg/L.

The effect on death rates can be measured by epidemiologists using the 
EPI-INFO program available from the National Center For Disease Control. 
My wife has started using it on the Texas well data, and may eventually 
publish her findings when she has completed her work.

I hope this helps answer your questions.

-- 
          More magnesium information can be downloaded from:
          ftp.execpc.com.  The file is in:
          /pub/magnesium/mgresrch.asc  Use "anonymous" as the user
          name, and set line length to 80.

          Paul Mason
          Researcher