Maximize Health with Magnesium: Key Benefits & Sources

Chelated magnesium glycinate is best absorbed and most gentle on the tummy.

I have made some observations about magnesium that I thought I would share.

I have been taking magnesium powder (Natural Calm) at night for a long time. I take about 500 mg this way and it helps me to sleep and keeps my digestion regular. One night recently, I had had a snack and didn't want to drink the amount of water I would need to take my magnesium powder. I have some Nature's Way Magnesium capsules so I took two of those instead, which was a total of 800 mg of magnesium. I wondered if this would cause diarrhea because if I took that much Natural Calm, it surely would have. Well, it did not; in fact, the next day my digestion was noticeably slow. Whether it is because Natural Calm is a more absorbable form of magnesium (magnesium citrate) than the other, which was magnesium oxide, or something else, I do not know. But what that means is that not all magnesium supplements are equal. If one form of magnesium isn't working for you as you might hope, try another.

Secondly, I got lazy this week and skipped a few days of magnesium oil on my back at bedtime. Even with an oral magnesium supplement, if I skip the topical magnesium oil I wake up with stiffness. I made sure to use my magnesium oil last night and can really tell a difference - I was much less stiff when I woke up today. Some people find that topical magnesium affects the bowels, but it doesn't in my case, at least in the amount I use. But what is interesting to note is that internal use of magnesium does not have nearly the same benefit to me to reduce pain and stiffness that topical magnesium does.

What does this mean? If you want to use magnesium for a health problem, you may need to experiment with amounts you use as well as the brand you use, as well as the way you deliver it to your body (orally or through the skin.) And it seems there is no one size fits all. I guess this is where healing takes on its art form. There is a science to healing, but it isn't a once size fits all deal. Each individual is complex and unique in his needs, thus the art aspect of healing.

So, that is my two cents worth of musing on magnesium today...

~Mama to Many~

MtoM,

No internal magnesium that I have ever used, and I have used a few, can provide the muscle relaxing effects of topically applied mag oil, so I am with you on that topic.

Art

Liquid Chlorophyll is a much safer way to supplement with magnesium. Too much magnesium in tablet form will deplete essential trace minerals from your body. This happened to my husband he now only uses liquid chlorophyll for a magnesium supplement 1/4 to 1/2 tsp a day and hasnt had any problems since.

Malate is the easiest capsule form to assimilate. As Carolyn Dean says, if you don't get diarrhea, then it's working. No need to purchase expensive liquid ones when Malate works for Pennies a month.

After many hours of reading I bought the Borax and just started using it. I have had osteoarthritis in my thumbs for some time and it is slowly getting worse. Let's see what happens. However, my purpose here is to tell you about Magnesium. I have been using it for a long time but it didn't do me any good until I came upon a different form that has not been mentioned here. It is very hard to assimilate it in pill form. What I am using with success is Ionic magnesium citrate which is a powder that gets dissolved in a bit of hot water. It fizzles and the magnesium disappears into the water. This way it gets completely absorbed. Very effective. I get it in the USA, I don't know about its availability in other countries. I guess I am not supposed to mention brands, but I only know the one I am using. So, its not a tablet or a capsule or an oil, it is a drink. Hope this helps.

Hi Karen... I prefer to take Magnesium Chloride (as Magnesium Oil) for Magnesium and Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) for malates. ACV contains both acetic acid and malic acid so when, as Ted from Bangkok advises, you add baking soda and water to two tablespoons of ACV this converts to acetates and malates which are then easily absorbed into the body from the intestines.

In my opinion, Magnesium Chloride is also the best form of magnesium to take and taking Magnesium chloride and ACV in this fashion will also be much cheaper for you. ACV is also high in potassium and other minerals so you also get that extra benefit too. The acetates and malates from ACV both also help to increase energy in the body. Also, malates in pill form are normally derived from a standardized chemical process. I don't like standardize chemical processes (think Codex Alimentarius). That's why I much prefer always using the natural forms or the bare mineral form as a simple powder only(no tablets).

Right now, because of the hot season in the Philippines, I also take 1/4 teaspoon of Vitamin C and two squirts of magnesium oil(large dose) every morning with my juice because of the searing heat. This somehow works magically to keep your body cool even in searing hot weather. I really don't know why or how it works -- you'll have to ask Ted -- but work it does!! I also take lugols iodine every day (6 to 8 drops a day) and this must also help to regulate body skin temperature more efficiently as well via the thyroid.

There are certainly other forms of Magnesium such as the malate, citrate and threonate salt forms which all have specific beneficial uses in the body. But the best all round form of magnesium to supplement is, without question, the magnesium chloride form because of its more widespread beneficial effects on the immune system, heart, increasing energy, nervous system, relaxing the muscles, regulating calcium in the body, relaxing the mind, antibiotic action, digestion etc.

In responce to Maleny from Canberra, I found a link to the same article now at

http://www.health-science-spirit.com/magnesiumchloride.html

Hi Leenot... Magnesium Hydroxide and Magnesium Oxide are both not very soluble in water. Being so insoluble -- these forms of magnesium are not good sources of supplemental magnesium for the body.

Magnesium Oil is a mixture of Magnesium Chloride crystals(60%) and water(40%). Magnesium Chloride is probably the best form of magnesium to supplement. Magnesium bicarbonate is another useful form of magnesium with a myriad uses, but this form is very hard to find. Mag Chloride can also be taken into the body and directly into the blood transdermally, when the magnesium oil is simply rubbed onto the skin. Here is some research evidence as to why magnesium chloride is so good and so necessary for the body:

Magnesium Chloride Use in Acute and Chronic Disease

Magnesium Chloride Product Analysis

I'm currently reading a book by Mark Sircus called Transdermal Magnesium: A New Modality for the Maintenance of Health and it is full of very useful and informative facts about magnesium chloride. The links above will tell you all about the history and usefulness of magnesium chloride.

Other forms of magnesium that you can supplement are mag citrate and mag gluconate -- but for me the mag chloride transdermal form(as magnesium oil) is still the best one to take.

Response on what sort of magnesium to take. Hi, I have always gone with Walter Last, the Queensland naturopath's advice and taken magnesium chloride as per his article at
http://www.liferesearchuniversal.com/magnesiumchloride.html. ( His own original website seems harder to find now on Google than it once was but if this link doesn't work just type in Walter Last and magnesium and several 3rd party sites appear citing him) He believes we need more calcium in youth and more magnesium in age.

I take it to beat off infections and find it, despite loose bowels if I take a lot, to be more effective than Vitamin C. Magnesium chloride is also used to make tofu and some tofu maker suppliers sell it fairly cheaply - called Nigari. I sometimes make up a little spray of it for the kitchen and spray a bit onto foods like tasteless tomatoes. I keep a pump bottle in the bedroom for transdermal use with some essential oils in it too and just smear some on the soles of my feet before bed, when I remember. No real health problems so can't really say what it is done but I seem calmer I think when I do it regularly.

I once read an Internet article as well of a man who swore plain Epsom salts had done wonders for his health. He just started with a tiny amount of Epsoms salts like an eigth of a teaspoon and built up the amount slowly to a much larger amount like a daily desert spoon and had no diarrhea that way.

Calcium and Magnesium balance is fairly critical so it's probably best to go cautiously before self medicating with very high oral dosages of any form of magnesium.

Use 100% dead sea salts or combined with the pure magnesium chloride flakes in a soaking bath. Dead sea salts are cheaper and have other trace supplemental minerals including potassium with the magnesium chloride. Also buy in bulk and look for periodic sales with free shipping. I soak about 1 to 2 times weekly using 3 - 4 cups dead sea salts in a full warm bath for 30 minutes or so. Many benefits including control of athlete's foot, rapid healing of cuts and scratches from my cat, rapid recovery from muscle soreness, relief of minor pains and aches and the main heath benefits of better heart function, general good health, etc. Also enforced downtime to catch up on reading! One caution - don't use cheaper industrial mag chloride.

I am ever puzzled by why absorbing trace minerals through the skin is universally ignored in favor of oral supplementation or eating mountains of salads even when the need for supplements is recognized. If you have low magnesium you can't easily absorb ingested supplements anyhow, creating a vicious cycle. In my case I developed a serious magnesium and potassium deficiency running marathons and then supplemented orally for years with 500 mg. magnesium chelates without much effect. After I started soaking, heart palpitations disappeared and the other benefits made themselves felt over a couple of months of frequent soaking. If I miss a week I can tell the difference and it's always a pleasure to restore the soaking routine.

Response to Charlotte's post about magnesium aspartate being one of the best types of magnesium to take. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think any product with the word aspartate is an excitotoxin and should be avoided. Also to be avoided: aspartic acid, aspartame, etc.