From the Desk of Carolyn Dean MD ND
As part of my commitment to make magnesium a household name and have everyone in those households optimizing their magnesium levels, I’ve researched and written thousands of pages about this miraculous mineral over the last two decades. For my recent book, Magnesium the Missing Link to Total Health (Revised), I reviewed over 600 references to verify and validate the crucial role magnesium plays in 80% of the body’s metabolic functions.
What this means is simply being deficient in magnesium can result in the poor performance of 80% of the body – Period. Metabolic functions are the automatic processes that run the body, from breathing to breaking down food, cellular repair to circulation. And with about 80% of the population being magnesium deficient, most of humanity is operating their bodies without the proper fuel, and basically flying at half-mast 100% of the time.
Can you see why I’m so focused on getting the word out about magnesium?
In addition to being essential to these metabolic functions, I’ve repeatedly said that magnesium is likely essential for up to 1,000 biochemical reactions in the body. Most other researchers put forward 300-325 reactions and a handful say 600 biochemical reactions rely on magnesium to function properly.
Finally, a December 2023 Brazilian Review Paper in the peer reviewed journal, Nutrients, on the “critical importance” of optimizing magnesium levels in the aging population described magnesium as having “a central role in approximately 800 biochemical reactions within the human body.”¹ Imagine my delight at seeing this deeper validation of my own research.
At the heart of this article, the authors described the concept of “intrinsic capacity” in the aging population as introduced by the World Health Organization (WHO). According to this model, healthy aging relies on a combination of five physical and mental factors: locomotion, sensory, vitality, cognitive, and psychological.
Based on their review of decades of literature, the authors have shown evidence that magnesium is essential to the intrinsic capacity of aging humans who are simultaneously suffering from a continual depletion of this vital mineral which cannot be substituted by any other substance (and certainly not by any drug).
The authors created a diagram, featuring magnesium in the center of the five areas of intrinsic capacity that they’ve used as a model to illustrate the importance of magnesium in the aging population.
To my eyes, it actually illustrates how vital magnesium is in all ages and populations. I’ve already indicated that 80 percent of the population has magnesium deficiency. And while I agree that optimizing magnesium levels in elderly patients will contribute to their intrinsic capacity, their physical and mental wellbeing, do not wait for your senior years to treat your magnesium deficiency with a supplement of picometer, stabilized ions of magnesium!
In my book, Magnesium the Missing Link to Total Health (Revised), I detail how magnesium deficiency may be at the root of 68 health conditions which I broke down into areas musculoskeletal, neurological, Ob/Gyn, pediatric, and general health.
I’ve ripped apart their lovely diagram to give you the goods on current magnesium research. Please go to the reference below so you can see the magnesium map for yourself in the Nutrients article!
Psychological
Mental Health
- Acts as a GABA receptor agonist [affecting mood, anxiety]
- Exhibits antioxidant potential
- Regulates cortisol via ACTH neurotransmission [neither too much or too little]
- Antagonizes NMDA activation [lowering excitotoxicity]
- Enhances serotonin synthesis [the feel good neurotransmitter]
Sleep
- Acts as a GABA receptor agonist [to assist sleep]
- Regulates cortisol via ACTH neurotransmission
- Cofactor in serotonin synthesis
Cognitive
Learning
- Essential for ATP utilization and synthesis as a cofactor
- Antagonizes NMDA activation
Neuronal activity
- Essential for ATP utilization and synthesis as a cofactor
- Supports core mitochondrial functions
- Streamlines activity at the gap junction between neurons
- Acts as a GABA receptor agonist
- Noncompetitively antagonizes NMDA activation
Memory
- Noncompetitively antagonizes NMDA activation
Locomotion
Bone Health
- Enhances solubility of calcium
- Stimulates bone formation
- Inhibits oxidative stress and inflammation
Muscle Health
- Essential for proteins synthesis
- Participates in muscle contraction
- Essential for ATP utilization and synthesis as a cofactor
- Supports core mitochondrial functions
- Inhibits oxidative stress and inflammation
- Regulates electrolyte balance
Joint Health
- Contributes to joint flexibility
- Plays a role in cartilage metabolism
- Inhibits oxidative stress and inflammation
- Influences collagen formation
Vitality
Energy metabolism
- Supports core mitochondrial functions
- Essential for ATP utilization and synthesis as a cofactor
Immune response
- Regulates lymphocyte growth, proliferation and function
- Synthesizes and releases immune cells
- Modulates anti-inflammatory mediators
Respiratory health
- Inhibits oxidative stress and inflammation
- Inhibits voltage-gated calcium channels (opened by EMFs)
- Prevents release of substance P (transmits pain signals)
Insulin-glucose metabolism
- Regulates insulin secretion
- Activates insulin receptors
- Inhibits oxidative stress and inflammation
- Cofactor for carbohydrate enzyme metabolism
Cardiovascular health
- Inhibits calcium channels
- Cofactor for pyrophosphatase, lipoprotein, lipase, etc. [enzymes]
- Inhibits oxidative stress and inflammation
- Inhibits platelet aggregation
- Increases prostacyclin and nitric oxide
- Stabilizes and raise membrane threshold
- Reduces vasoconstrictor angiotensin II and catecholamine
- Downregulates endothelin (constricts blood vessels)
- Decreases aldosterone (affects blood pressure)
Metabolic health
- Normalizes enzymatic reactions in liver
- Inhibits oxidative stress and inflammation
Sensory
Vision
- Regulator in the oxidative stress pathway
- Component of photoreceptor in retina and lens
- Maintains intracellular ionic balance
- Inhibits elevated inducible nitric oxide synthase activity
- Supports core mitochondrial functions
- Blocks the calcium channels and NMDA
- Reduced endothelin production
- Essential for ATP utilization and synthesis as a cofactor
Hearing
- Antagonizes calcium channels
- Decreases glutamate release [neurotransmitter]
- Noncompetitively antagonizes NMDA activation
- Exhibits antioxidant potential
There you have it, in voices other than mine, a grand overview of all the available magnesium research! This should give you an Ah Ha moment where the magnitude of magnesium hits you in the noggin and you want to take it all day and every day and also slather it on your body. Stabilized ions of liquid magnesium and stabilized ions of magnesium in lotion form will from now on be your constant companions.
Carolyn Dean MD ND
The Doctor of the Future