Why are healthy, thirty-something's dropping dead?

You have heard me talk about magnesium countless times. It is the most important nutrient I recommend. I am creating awareness yet again, because recently, I have heard about too many healthy thirty-somethings, be it family friends, or friends/acquaintances of clients, who have died suddenly engaging in rigorous exercise (basketball and marathons, for example). All of the deaths had a similar theme: cardiac related...reason for death, inconclusive.

February happens to be Heart Health Month, so there is no better time to reiterate the importance of magnesium.

Very few people are aware of the enormous role magnesium plays in our bodies. After oxygen, water, and basic food, magnesium may be the most important element. So vitally important, yet hardly known. Magnesium activates over 300 different biochemical reactions, all necessary for your body to function properly.

Magnesium is more important than calcium, potassium, or sodium and regulates all three. When we get too low on oxygen, water or food, the consequences are serious. Yet, we do not realize the severity of magnesium deficiency.

Melvin Werbach, MD, nutrition expert and former professor of medicine at UCLA has stated that because 72% or more Americans (according to a recent NHANES study) are magnesium deficient, this mineral is the greatest reason for unexplained deaths in the United States. This should come as no surprise because magnesium is most importantly needed in heart muscle cells.

As far back as 1980, in Magnesium Deficiency in the Pathogenesis of Disease, Professor Seelig of University of North Carolina stated: "The most alarming trend in the past half-century has been the sharp increase in sudden deaths from ischemic heart disease, particularly in middle age men, and the increasing number of younger men who suddenly develop catastrophic heart attacks. It is proposed that magnesium deficiency or loss may be a common etiologic factor."

The data suggesting an association between magnesium and sudden death is long. However, the call for magnesium fortification and supplementation from a few public health experts have fallen on deaf ears. It has been suggested that if every American regularly took oral magnesium supplements, deaths from CVD would fall by 150,000 per year.

Silent Killer
Why is nobody paying attention to this as a cause of death for healthy young persons when we know that it affects energy, heart rhythm, and electrolyte balance?

• Magnesium is not a money maker. It is one of the most abundant minerals on the earth. Pharmaceutical giants are not going to promote magnesium unless they can chemicalize it into a patentable substance.

• Magnesium in most sources can cause loose stools, not an ideal side effect. However, amino acid chelate sources (such as bis-glycinate, the source I recommend) do not cause loose stools.

• Magnesium deficiency is often misunderstood, misdiagnosed, often overlooked. Testing magnesium levels by serum blood is poorly reflective of one's magnesium stores. A 24-hour urine after intravenous magnesium loading is the most accurate, but not the most convenient testing method.
  

• Severe magnesium deficiency may not manifest any visible symptoms or signs until there is a catastrophic event. One study noticed that a spike in long chain free fatty acids in a group of patients with acute myocardial infarction (heart attack), but detecting magnesium deficiency at this stage is often too late.
  

• Many food additives, such as artificial sweeteners, medications such as diuretics, stress, and depression deplete magnesium. Most health professionals do not know this.
  
  
• Magnesium is not prevalent in the Standard American Diet. Additionally, food refining and processing contributes to large magnesium losses. Unfortunately, tap water is not a great source for magnesium any longer. Except in foods such as dark chocolate, nuts, seeds, beans, fish, avocados, and leafy greens, magnesium is not a common nutrient. I fondly call it "nature's valium" because of its many biochemical calming effects, including reducing stress. This makes magnesium supplementation a necessity for many. Magnesium is very safe from a toxicology standpoint in the presence of normal renal function.
  

Conclusion
For those healthy thirty-something's who engage in rigorous exercise once to several times weekly, we suggest supplementing with 200-300 milligrams daily of well-tolerated magnesium. If in amino acid form (such as bis-glycinate), take away from meals. If taking oxide, aspartate, or gluconate, take with meals to reduce potential for loose stools.

Research Snipits:

• According to research published by the UK Food Commission, food mineral content studied in 1940 compared to 2002 shows a stark change for the worse. Mineral loss was seen across the board, including crucial nutrients like magnesium, zinc, calcium, and copper. One would need to eat 4 carrots now to get the same magnesium content as one carrot in 1940.
  
  
• Subjects with the lowest intake of fiber and magnesium were three to four times as likely to have Type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and inflammation (via C-reactive protein blood test). Am J Clin Nutr 11/06
  
  
• A daily magnesium supplement could reduce the levels of inflammation that leads to heart disease in people with low dietary intake of the mineral. “The key finding is that magnesium intake from supplements has an impact on the likelihood of having elevated C-reactive protein, separate from and in addition to dietary magnesium intake,” wrote lead author Dana King in the latest issue of Nutrition Research 7/06.
  
  
• According to a recent study in the journal Epidemiology, of more than 4,000 men aged 30-60, those with the highest blood level of magnesium were associated with a reduced risk of all-cause mortality, death from cancer, and cardiovascular disease by 40, 50, and 40 percent, respectively.
  
  
• A magnesium-rich diet may help reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome and, perhaps, a heart attack or diabetes, Northwestern University researchers report in Circulation: JAMA 6/02
  
  
• Summary. Magnesium is an often overlooked electrolyte that is essential to life. Deficiency of magnesium is becoming more common in the U.S. population. Conditions that may be associated with magnesium deficiency include hypertension, congestive heart failure, arrhythmia, myocardial infarction, diabetes mellitus, and preeclampsia; in many of these, magnesium supplementation has been found beneficial in clinical studies. Supplementation should be considered for patients with risk factors for deficiency and should be instituted for patients showing symptoms of deficiency. In addition to instituting supplementation when appropriate, the clinician should identify and correct the underlying cause of the deficiency. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy 8/04
  
  
• The objective was to determine the effects of acute and chronic oral magnesium supplementation on endothelial function in patients with symptomatic heart failure. Patients who received magnesium had improved small arterial compliance at 3 months from baseline compared with placebo. This study suggests that chronic supplementation with oral magnesium is well tolerated and could improve endothelial function in symptomatic heart failure patients. Congest-Heart-Fail 2/06
  
  
• Our findings suggest a salutary effect for magnesium supplementation in the treatment of AngII-induced myocardial complications from high blood pressure. J Hypertension 2/05
  
  
• Most Americans consume magnesium at levels below the RDA. Individuals with intakes below the RDA are more likely to have elevated C-reactive protein, which may contribute to cardiovascular disease risk. Am J Clin Nutr 6/05
  
  
• Oral magnesium therapy in Coronary Artery Disease patients is associated with significant improvement in brachial artery endothelial function and exercise tolerance, suggesting a potential mechanism by which magnesium could beneficially alter outcomes in CAD patients. Circulation 2000
  
  
• Other applicable references:
  

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