Friday, July 18, 2008

Magnesium lowers obesity risk from dairy products

According to a June study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, revealed an association between consumption of dairy products and health outcomes of obesity and metabolic disorders.

The risks of these conditions were 20% lower with a 100 mg. increase in magnesium intake, while calcium had a weak effect. While many studies have focused on the calcium component of dairy, fewer have assessed the effect of magnesium.

Magnesium's biological pathway involves regulating insulin sensitivity, vascular tone, and blood pressure homeostasis. In addition, intracellular and serum magnesium deficiency is a common feature in both diabetic and hypertensive states, as well as other cardiovascular and metabolic processes, and aging. This result is in line with the study's finding of reductions in subjects with elevated blood pressure and glucose levels. Its positive association with reducing obesity risk may be attributable to dietary magnesium's ability to form soaps with fatty acids in the intestine and thus reduce the digestible energy content of the diet. Lastly, the researchers discuss magnesium's positive association with HDL cholesterol (the "good" kind) by its ability to increase lipoprotein lipase activity in the conversion of triacylglycerols to HDL cholesterol.

Steve - music to our ears!

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