What is Magnesium, why is it important to our body?

MAGNESIUM

What is the key mineral found in small to medium amounts in many of the World's Healthiest Foods. Found in green leafy vegetable, nuts, seeds, and legumes, Magnesium is found naturally in salt water like sea water. It is like a best supporting actor of the mineral kingdom. It doesn’t get the notoriety of other nutrients like calcium or sodium, but it quietly plays every bit as important a role in human health. What I’m talking about is, the magnesium, it is necessary for more than 300 chemical reactions in the human body.

What is magnesium - Magnesium is an abundant metallic chemical element, its atomic number is 12, and the symbol is Mg on the periodic table of elements. It is classified as an alkaline earth element, along with calcium and barium, with the discovery generally credited to Sir Humphry Davy in 1808.

Where it use?

In industrial, a number of companies extract the element from seawater for a range of industrial uses. This makes it highly suitable for alloys, in the aerospace industry. Some high end automotives also use these alloys.

In human body, it is the key mineral in human metabolism; magnesium is among the top five most abundant elements. Approximately half in the body is concentrated in the bone, and the element contributes to a number of vital biochemical reactions.

How magnesium work in human body?

Magnesium is a cofactor in more than 300 enzyme systems that regulate diverse biochemical reactions in the body, including protein synthesis, muscle and nerve function, blood glucose control, and blood pressure regulation

Magnesium is required for energy production, oxidative phosphorylation, and glycolysis. Create and Maintain Bone Integrity It contributes to the structural development of bone and is required for the synthesis of DNA, RNA, and the antioxidant glutathione.

Magnesium Enable Energy Production, Based on its role in energy production within our cells, low magnesium levels can be one of the potential contributory factors causing fatigue.

Magnesium also plays a role in the active transport of calcium and potassium ions across cell membranes, a process that is important to nerve impulse conduction, muscle contraction, and normal heart rhythm.

Magnesium is a Better Controller of Inflammation, some amount of inflammation is necessary to support normal immune function and tissue repair after injury, chronic and low-grade inflammation has increasingly been tied to increased risk of heart disease, obesity, and diabetes. Magnesium is a Better Controller of Blood Sugar. Magnesium is a co-factor for over 100 enzymes involved in the control of blood sugar and glucose metabolism. Although it work  good in our body it has also a bad effect, a Massive magnesium deficiencies in the general population have led to a tidal wave of sudden coronary deaths, diabetes, strokes and cancer. Even a mild deficiency of magnesium can cause increased sensitivity to noise, nervousness, irritability, mental depression, confusion, twitching, trembling, apprehension, and insomnia.

Other Circumstances that Might Contribute to Deficiency, high blood sugar, including diabetes. Obesity is related to magnesium deficiency, too, but this relationship is currently thought to be the result of blood sugar elevations.

The rate of magnesium deficiency goes up with age, with average intakes in the elderly dropping by 25% or more from middle-aged adults.

Signs of magnesium deficiency.

Loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and weakness. As magnesium deficiency worsens, numbness, tingling, muscle contractions and cramps, seizures, personality changes, abnormal heart rhythms, and coronary spasms can occur, severe magnesium deficiency can result in hypocalcemia or hypokalemia (low serum calcium or potassium levels, respectively) because mineral homeostasis is disrupted.

The DV for magnesium developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is 400 mg for adults and children aged 4 and older. However, the FDA does not require food labels to list magnesium content unless a food has been fortified with this nutrient. Foods providing 20% or more of the DV are considered to be high sources of a nutrient,

Toxicity.

The risk of dietary toxicity from magnesium for healthy adults is very low. Too much magnesium from supplements has been linked to loose stools, but this is unlikely to occur from foods alone.


Magnesium may play a role in the prevention and/or treatment of the following health conditions:

Coronary artery disease Arrhythmia Mitral valve prolapse Congestive heart failure Hypertension Diabetes Osteoporosis Muscle cramping Chronic fatigue Depression Anxiety Asthma COPD / Emphysema Fatty liver disease (NASH)

Some sources of magnesium there are few food sources that are strikingly high in magnesium content.

Excellent source of magnesium is spinach and Swiss chard. Collard greens, turnip greens, mustard greens, and green beans plus sea vegetables. Legumes, nuts, and seeds.  Pinto beans, lima beans, and kidney beans. Pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, cashews, and almonds.  Spelt, buckwheat, brown rice, quinoa, and millet soybean are higher in magnesium.Tap, mineral, and bottled waters can also be sources of magnesium.

Other sources of Magnesium.

Brussels Sprouts, Tomatoes, Summer Squash, Cantaloupe, Broccoli, Asparagus, Strawberries, Mushrooms, Shiitake Cauliflower Cumin, WatermelonFennel, Cucumber, Romaine Lettuce Basil Eggplant Celery, Cloves Bell Peppers. Several sources like nuts, seeds.  Pinto beans, lima beans, kidney beans. Pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, cashews, almonds. And millet soybean are not suitable for those who has arthritis so, we take it moderately or turn to other sources of magnesium.



References:
 Magnesium  wiseGeek  National Institute of health  Magnesium basic discription