Sunday, January 02, 2011

Brag About Mag

Dietary magnesium intake has been favorably associated with reduced risk of metabolic outcomes in observational studies. However, few randomized trials have introduced a systems-biology approach to explore molecular mechanisms of pleiotropic metabolic actions of magnesium supplementation.

Researchers published an American Journal of Clinical Nutrition study that examined the effects of oral magnesium supplementation on metabolic biomarkers and global genomic and proteomic profiling in overweight individuals. Subjects were randomly assigned to receive magnesium (500 mg) or a placebo for 4 wk with a 1-mo washout period.

Researchers observed that magnesium treatment significantly decreased fasting C-peptide concentrations and appeared to decrease fasting insulin concentrations. Gene expression profiling revealed up-regulation of 24 genes and down-regulation of 36 genes including genes related to metabolic and inflammatory pathways. Urine proteomic profiling showed significant differences in the expression amounts of several peptides and proteins after treatment.

In conclusion, magnesium supplementation for 4 weeks in overweight individuals led to distinct changes in gene expression and proteomic profiling consistent with favorable effects on several metabolic pathways.

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