How magnesium offers protection from radiation.

One would not normally think that magnesium deficiency can increase the risk of cancer yet we will find that just as severe dehydration or asphyxiation can cause death, magnesium deficiency can lead directly to cancer. It is known that carcinogenesis induces magnesium distribution disturbances and magnesium depletion. Magnesium deficiency is carcinogenic, and in the case of solid tumors, a high level of supplemented magnesium inhibits carcinogenesis.

Researchers from Japan's National Cancer Center in Tokyo have found that an increased intake of magnesium reduces a man's risk of colon cancer by over 50 percent. Several studies have shown an increased cancer rate in regions with low magnesium levels in soil and drinking water. In Egypt the cancer rate was only about 10 percent of that in Europe and America. because of an extremely high magnesium intake of 2.5-3g in these cancer-free populations, ten times more than in most western countries.

Iodine is obviously not the only substance for radiation threats. Magnesium is a vital mineral whose lack leaves us open to not only radioactive damages but also those from heavy metals and thousands of chemicals that we are commonly exposed to. Without sufficient magnesium, the body accumulates toxins and acid residues, degenerates rapidly, and ages prematurely.

Magnesium is a crucial factor in the natural self-cleansing and detoxification responses of the body. Magnesium is also necessary for effective chelation. It stimulates the sodium potassium pump on the cell wall and this initiates the cleansing process in part because the sodium-potassium-ATPase pump regulates intracellular and extracellular potassium levels. The healthy cell wall favors intake of nutrients and elimination of waste products.

The involvement of free radicals in tissue injury induced by magnesium deficiency causes an accumulation of oxidative products in heart, liver, kidney, skeletal muscle tissues and in red blood cells, leaving them more vulnerable to oxidative stress caused by radiation exposure. According to Dr. Russell Blaylock, low magnesium is associated with dramatic increases in free radical generation as well as glutathione depletion and this is vital since glutathione is one of the few antioxidant molecules known to neutralize mercury.

Deficiencies in basic minerals like magnesium can make all the difference between health and disease, between being able to withstand chemical, heavy metal and radiation exposure. Magnesium expert Dr. Sherry Rogers has indicated that there is as much as a 500-fold difference in the ability of individuals to detoxify the same chemicals and much of that will be true for radiation as well. A key marker of this difference is each individual's magnesium level. Deficiencies in magnesium will wreak havoc with our body's ability to detoxify and chelate heavy radioactive particles and explains much of the difference between one person withstanding radiation exposures and another person falling to radiation sickness.

According to Austrian physician Dr. Leslie Fisher, who has conducted research within his own clinics and the Department of Psychiatry, Austin Hospital, Melbourne, magnesium protects cells from aluminum, mercury, lead, cadmium, beryllium and nickel, which explains why re-mineralization is so essential for heavy metal detoxification and chelation as well as radiation protection. Magnesium is essential for the survival of our cells but takes on further importance now where our bodies are being bombarded on a daily basis with heavy metals and radiation.