From the Desk of Carolyn Dean MD ND
There are approximately seventeen nutrients essential for healthy bones, including enough magnesium along with some calcium. That’s not common knowledge – certainly most doctors don’t understand the importance of magnesium for our basic skeletal structure.
Susan Brown, Ph.D., director of the Osteoporosis Education Project in Syracuse, New York, warns that “the use of calcium supplementation in the face of magnesium deficiency can lead to a deposition of calcium in the soft tissue such as the joints, promoting arthritis, or in the kidney, contributing to kidney stones.” Dr. Brown recommends a daily dose of 450 mg of magnesium for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. Actually 450 mg of a picometer-sized, stabilized ion of liquid magnesium is the amount I take every day. But I did have to take 1,200mg for over a year to completely saturate my body with magnesium and eliminate my heart palpitations.
Multitasking Nature of Magnesium
Women with osteoporosis have lower-than-average levels of magnesium in their diets, according to survey reports. Magnesium deficiency can compromise calcium metabolism and also hinder the body’s production of vitamin D, further weakening bones. I note this important fact below but it’s so important I’ll say it twice. Magnesium is necessary for the activation of Vitamin D!
I outline the multitasking nature of magnesium in the structure and function of healthy bone in The Magnesium Miracle(2017):
- Adequate levels of magnesium are essential for the absorption and metabolism of calcium.
- Magnesium stimulates a particular hormone, calcitonin, that helps to preserve bone structure and draws calcium out of the blood and soft tissues back into the bones, preventing some forms of arthritis and kidney stones.
- Magnesium suppresses another bone hormone called parathyroid hormone, preventing it from breaking down bone.
- Magnesium converts vitamin D into its active form so that it can help calcium absorption.
- Magnesium is required to activate an enzyme that is necessary to form new bone.
- Magnesium regulates active calcium transport.
It is also important to mention that vitamin K2, along with magnesium, plays an important role in helping direct calcium to the bones where it belongs.
With all these roles for magnesium to play, it is no wonder that even a mild deficiency can be a risk factor for osteoporosis. Furthermore, if there is too much calcium in the body, especially from calcium supplementation, magnesium absorption can be greatly impaired, resulting in worsening osteoporosis and the likelihood of kidney stones, arthritis, and heart disease as well as gallstones, heel spurs, and breast tissue calcification.
Most people, including M.D.’s, do not understand the importance of balancing calcium and magnesium at the cellular level. Calcium cannot build bones or prevent osteoporosis without adequate levels of magnesium. It’s as simple as that. If our bones were made entirely from calcium, they would become brittle and could shatter just like a stick of chalk exploding on the sidewalk. However, with the right percentage of magnesium, bone has the proper density and matrix that actually makes it flexible and more resistant to shattering. Consider this: many elderly people may be suffering bone fractures because they have too much calcium and not enough magnesium.
Also consider taking the best form of magnesium, one that doesn’t cause a laxative effect and one that is absorbed fully at the cellular level: a picometer-sized, stabilized ion of liquid magnesium.
What are the other nutrients?
Calcium, Phosphorous, Magnesium, Chromium, Silica, Zinc, Magnesium, Boron, Copper, Potassium, Vitamin D3, Vitamin K2, Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12, Folate, Fats, Protein
Carolyn Dean MD ND
The Doctor of the Future
