Magnesium is considered to be a nutrient that requires daily supply in the body, as the body lacks the ability to produce it naturally. This element is necessary for driving multiple reactions in the body and therefore plays a role in energy production, cell formation, oxygen utilization, and many more. What’s more, magnesium is required for energy metabolism, electrolyte balance, and bone health. It plays a role in the functioning of the heart, muscles, and nerves.
The adult body has around 20 to about 30 grams of the element magnesium. About 60% of the mineral is present in the skeleton, and about 30% of it is in the muscles of the body. However, only trace amounts of it are present in the blood. If we get a deficiency of magnesium, the body shows symptoms of headaches, tensions, muscle cramps, and body unrest. A leveled magnesium level is, that is why a necessary prerequisite for our energy production and body functions.
What Role Does Magnesium Play in the Body?
Magnesium is calcium’s natural antagonist and can help in the supporting of muscle relaxation. Generally talking, magnesium is important for the maximum functionality of the body muscles as, given the magnesium element goes missing, the overall permeability of the potassium, sodium, and calcium membranes increases. It, in turn, increases the overall excitability of the muscles and the nerves, which results in cramping. Magnesium helps in stabilizing the overall cell membranes and supports eh overall excitability of the body’s nerve cells.
Magnesium element is also highly indispensable for our bone health. As we can see, most of our magnesium gets stored in our bone; it starts acting as a reservoir in the case of a mineral deficiency. If there is too little absorption of the mineral, our body uses up these reserves present in the bones, which then significantly impacts our bone health in the long run. Therefore, enough magnesium supply is highly necessary for our bones and muscles.
Nerve Function
Magnesium helps in the regulation of the normal functionality of our central nervous system. We see that the hypothalamus and the pituitary glands are what secrete hormones that regulate our stress levels. Magnesium turns out to be a necessary mineral for exciting our nerve cell membranes like the neuron cells. A necessary intake of magnesium also has a positive effect on the nervousness, stress, and restlessness in the body. However, our resistance to stress gets reduced given the magnesium reservoir gets emptied because of permanent stress in the body.
Heart Health
Magnesium helps play an important role in our cardiovascular system and the heart. Along with potassium, it helps in stabilizing the heart cells and helps in forming electric impulses. If our body gets deficient in magnesium, it may lead to an increase in the excitability of our cell membrane, which leads to irregular heartbeats. Eventually, it leads to cardiac arrhythmia and also life-threatening V-Fib or ventricular fibrillation as a result of severe deficiency of the mineral.
What Causes Deficiency of Magnesium?
A diet that is not balanced or an increased magnesium excretion from the body, for example, due to illness, is just one of the major reasons behind magnesium deficiency. As the body is not able to synthesize magnesium by itself, we need to supply it from external sources as well. Especially if you have more than one risk factor involved, you need to keep a watchful eye on the magnesium balance. Generally talking, growing people, athletes, pregnant ladies, diabetics, lactating mothers, and older people have a high requirement for magnesium. A sufficient supply of magnesium in the body is especially important for such groups of individuals.
Decreased Intake of Magnesium
The overall daily requirement for magnesium is not adequately met through the diet of a person. In the stressful life of today, we see more people opting for junk foods, processed foods, and prepared foods, which lack mineral and vitamin content. However, fasting treatment, alcohol abuse, and diseases related to GI with long time periods might also result in the deficiency of magnesium because of decreased intake. What’s more, some drugs, including antibiotics or proton pump inhibitors, also work to decrease the magnesium absorption in our body. Estrogen might also decrease the overall magnesium levels in our blood.
Increased Excretion of Magnesium
The deficiency of magnesium might also be resulted due to excessive strong mineral excretion, for example, through urine or blood. For example, individuals who perform different sports have a heightened loss of magnesium from their bodies, which is exaggerated with endurance activities or high temperatures. On the contrary, taking different drugs like insulin, diuretics, cardiac glycosides, cortisone, or even laxatives might decrease magnesium levels in the blood and increase it in the urine. Diseases including celiac disease, intestinal inflammation, kidney disease, diabetes, thyroid problems, and heart diseases might result in the increased excretion of magnesium.
Dietary Sources
Magnesium is found in fiber-rich foods such as wholegrain cereals and nuts. Mineral water also contains a good amount of magnesium mineral in the body. The overall content of magnesium in the water varies greatly from one brand to another, with ranges from 1 mg per liter to 120 mg per liter. Trace amounts of the mineral are also found in seafood. If you are looking for more magnesium sources, you can opt for certain nutritional supplements which contain magnesium in high amounts. For example, magnesium glycinate from Worldclass Health Supplements contains 400mg of magnesium in two capsules.
Magnesium Glycinate
Magnesium glycinate from Worldclass Health Supplements is among the best nutritional supplements you can get for better energy production, nerve function, and muscle function in the body. It is commonly utilized as a natural sleeping aid as well because of its ability to calm down the brain, help the body in relaxation, and help in staying asleep. This product is synthesized in approved laboratories following the latest scientific research. For more info about the product, you can click on the link given here.