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Magnesium and Cognitive Health

Carolyn Dean, MD, ND.

One of the top eight nutrients for protecting aging brains suggested by the Institute of Food Technologists and highlighted in its magazine, Food Technology is “magnesium”.

Unfortunately, most of the U.S. population is magnesium deficient and is not getting their Recommended Daily Allowance of this important mineral. This leaves many Americans at a greater risk for a host of serious brain related health issues including cognitive impairment, stroke with severe post-stroke complications, neurotoxin damage from vast numbers of chemicals in our air, food and water, seizure disorders, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

These conditions are the neurological equivalent of heart disease and are preventable. After all, both the heart and brain are made up of excitable tissues that give off electrical energy, and both must have magnesium to stay healthy and function properly.
Cognitive Impairment

Cognitive impairment is the loss of brain function including varying degrees of memory loss as we age. But this does not have to be a foregone conclusion.

A French study1 noted the risk factors of cognitive impairment and dementia in both men and women with the research involving almost 7,000 people aged 65 and older. At the beginning of the study none had dementia, though 42% had mild cognitive impairment. Over a four-year period, 6.5% of those with mild cognitive impairment developed dementia while 37% of those with mild cognitive impairment returned to normal.

Dementia Risk Factors for Women – Depression

Women who were dependent on others for daily tasks, increased their risk of developing dementia 3.5 times more than those who were independent. Depression also was a factor that affected women more than men. Women experiencing depression were 2 times as likely to progress from cognitive impairment to dementia.

Magnesium and Depression

Magnesium deficiency can produce symptoms of anxiety or depression, including muscle weakness, fatigue, eye twitches, insomnia, anorexia, apathy, apprehension, poor memory, confusion, anger, nervousness and rapid pulse. Serotonin, the “feel-good” brain chemical that is boosted by some medications which have harmful side-effects, depends on magnesium for its production and function. The body needs magnesium in order to release and bind adequate amounts of serotonin in the brain for balanced mental functioning.
Dementia Risk Factors for Men – Diabetes and Stroke

The men in the study with mild cognitive impairment were more likely to be overweight, have diabetes and/or have had a stroke. The stroke was the most significant risk factor in men, increasing the chances of dementia 3 times. Independence, social network and depression did not come up as risk factors for men.

Magnesium and Diabetes

Magnesium plays a major role in insulin resistance and diabetes. Magnesium is necessary for insulin to open cell membranes for glucose.

One 2013 study involving pre-diabetics found that most had inadequate magnesium intake. Those with the highest magnesium intake reduced their risk for blood sugar and metabolic problems by a whopping 71 percent.2

An ADA study from October 2013 3 found that higher magnesium intake reduces risk of impaired glucose and insulin metabolism and slows progression from pre-diabetes to diabetes in middle-aged Americans. Researchers stated, “Magnesium intake may be particularly beneficial in offsetting your risk of developing diabetes, if you are high risk.”

In a large Japanese study (the Hisayama Study) published in Diabetic Medicine December 2013, researchers found magnesium intake was a significant protective factor against type 2 diabetes in the general Japanese population, especially among those “with insulin resistance, low-grade inflammation and a drinking habit.”4

And in the Framingham Offspring study (2006), higher magnesium intake improved insulin sensitivity and reduced type 2 diabetes risk.5
Magnesium and Stroke

A burst or clot-blocked blood vessel in the brain is all it takes to cause a stroke. The damage destroys critical brain functions. Stroke is said to be caused by hypertension, atheriosclerosis and diabetic complications all of which are associated with low magnesium.

In a study among Taiwanese residents (17,133 cases) from 1989 through 1993 were compared with deaths from other causes (17,133 controls). It was determined that the higher the magnesium levels in the drinking water used by Taiwan residents, the lower the incidence of stroke.

Decades of research show that withdrawal of magnesium from cerebral arteries causes them to spasm, whereas elevated magnesium produces relaxation.

Animal studies show that when there is normal or elevated magnesium in the brain, the damage caused by stroke is reduced and the neurological deficit is lessened. This is because magnesium blocks calcium from flooding the cells and causing injury and cell death.

Further research indicates that the area of the brain damaged by stroke contains injured neurons that remain hyperactive for several hours after the stroke occurred. These cells are frantically struggling to survive and need even more oxygen, glucose and magnesium than normal. When these vital nutrients are deficient more damage occurs.

A study of stroke patients in New York highlights the absolute requirement of magnesium intervention in the Emergency Room. Ninety-eight patients admitted to the emergency rooms of three hospitals with a diagnosis of stroke exhibited early and significant deficits in magnesium as measured with sensitive instrumentation. The stroke patients also had high calcium levels and low magnesium levels and were experiencing cerebral vessel spasm.

Cognitive deficits in general and diseases such as dementia are often associated with reduced cerebral blood flow. Magnesium improves the blood flow in the brain and is being used to rehab the brain after stroke.

How Flexible are Your Brain Structures – Magnesium and Synaptic Plasticity

A synapse is the place where a signal passes from one nerve cell to another. Synaptic plasticity is the biological process by which specific patterns of synaptic activity result in changes in synaptic strength and is thought to contribute to learning and memory.

A new study found that synaptic plasticity8 is a key characteristic of nerve architecture that allows your brain to tolerate stress, recover from trauma, and make changes. Synaptic plasticity is based on having your brain nourished with magnesium in order to properly energize brain cells and prevent them from being inflamed, damaged and functionally impaired. Magnesium is a natural anti-inflammatory.

The health of your nerve cell membranes is vital to their plasticity and in addition to aerobic exercise which stimulates brain plasticity, the study found that the intake of magnesium above the normal dietary amount or Recommended Daily Allowance has a dramatic effect on improving multiple aspects of memory and learning. These findings applied to both young and old alike. Magnesium was found to directly improve synaptic plasticity. Various regions in the brain associated with learning and memory experienced significant improvements in synaptic function as a result of magnesium dietary supplementation.

“Our findings suggest that elevating brain magnesium content via increasing magnesium intake might be a useful new strategy to enhance cognitive abilities,” explains lead author Guosong Liu, Director of the Center for Learning and Memory at Tsinghua University in Beijing. “Moreover, half the population of industrialized countries has a magnesium deficit, which increases with aging. This may very well contribute to age-dependent memory decline; increasing magnesium intake might prevent or reduce such decline.”

In my experience the Recommended Daily Allowance of 300 mg to 400 mg is inadequate for important functions of magnesium including optimal brain function. Keep in mind, magnesium is required for 700-800 enzyme functions in the body.  Over the years I have seen significant health improvement in individuals consuming an absorbable form of magnesium such as magnesium citrate powder in the 600 mg – 1,000 mg range.
Magnesium and Brain Health

Magnesium is a solution for brain health that has been widely studied and has proven remarkably effective in clinical settings.

Alzheimer’s disease: Magnesium blocks the neuro-inflammation caused by the inappropriate deposition of calcium and other heavy metals in brain cells. Magnesium is at work even before the inflammation appears, guarding cell ion channels and not allowing heavy metals to enter.

Magnesium protects the brain from the toxic effects of chemicals such as food additives.

Brain dysfunction: Download a free copy of Magnesium in the Central Nervous System (2011) for an extensive overview of the beneficial effects of magnesium on the brain. START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE

Depression: Serotonin, which elevates mood, is dependent on magnesium. A magnesium-deficient brain is also more susceptible to allergens and foreign substances, which in some instances can cause symptoms similar to mental illness.

Magnesium deficiency can produce symptoms of anxiety or depression, including muscle weakness, fatigue, eye twitches, insomnia, anorexia, apathy, apprehension, poor memory, confusion, anger, nervousness, and rapid pulse.

Serotonin, the “feel-good” brain chemical that is boosted by some psychiatric medications with their dangerously harmful side-effects, depends on magnesium for its production and function.

The body needs magnesium in order to release and bind adequate amounts of serotonin in the brain for balanced mental functioning.

Cognitive deficits in general and diseases such as dementia are often associated with reduced cerebral blood flow.  Magnesium improves the blood flow in the brain and is being used to rehab the brain after stroke.

References:

    Risk profiles for mild cognitive impairment and progression to dementia are gender specific. S Artero, M-L Ancelin, F Portet, A Dupuy, C Berr, J-F Dartigues, C Tzourio, O Rouaud, M Poncet, F Pasquier, S Auriacombe, J Touchon, K Ritchie. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry 2008;79:979-984

    Magnesium Boosts Memory and Learning  Neuron. Inna Slutsky, Nashat Abumaria, Long-Jun Wu, Chao Huang, Ling Zhang, Bo Li, Xiang Zhao, Arvind Govindarajan, Ming-Gao Zhao, Min Zhuo, Susumu Tonegawa, Guosong Liu.
    “Nutrients”,  September 27, 2013
    “ADA Diabetes Care”, October 2, 2013
    “Diabetic Medicine”, December 2013
    “J Am Coll Nutr”, December 2006
    J. Brent Kuzmiski, Quentin J. Pittman, Jaideep S.

    Bains Metaplasticity of Hypothalamic Synapses following In Vivo Challenge Neuron 2009 June, Hotchkiss Brain Institute and University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 4N1, Canada.

    Magnesium Boosts Memory and Learning  Neuron  Inna Slutsky, Nashat Abumaria, Long-Jun Wu, Chao Huang, Ling Zhang, Bo Li, Xiang Zhao, Arvind Govindarajan, Ming-Gao Zhao, Min Zhuo, Susumu Tonegawa, Guosong Liu.

Thanks for another greatly informative post Pete.
You're obviously taking plenty of Magnesium yourself

All the best

Batch,

Don't ever stop.

Peter.

Quote: "In my experience the Recommended Daily Allowance of 300 mg to 400 mg is inadequate for important functions of magnesium including optimal brain function. Keep in mind, magnesium is required for 700-800 enzyme functions in the body.  Over the years I have seen significant health improvement in individuals consuming an absorbable form of magnesium such as magnesium citrate powder in the 600 mg – 1,000 mg range."

Hey Pete, It sounds like we should be taking more than the 400mg Mag/day that form part of the regimen. Do you think we should be taking around 1000mg/day?
Also, do you think magnesium citrate is the best form of magnesium as regards bioavailability
Currently taking 400mg mag citrate/day.

All the best

Should have done my research before my post above.

Found this:

Best and worst forms of Magnsium

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Hi Thierry,  well you have bought up a subject that I have been researching and looking into in the last week or so. I have finally identified what was causing my "looseness" for so long, something that effected my stomach for as long as ive been on the regime.
Now, I stand to be corrected here, and for most people, this wont be an issue at all, its just I have a very sensitive stomach, or so ive found.
So, after reading the different aborbtion rates I was quite surprised. For instance if your taking a magnesium oxide, its absorption rate is as low as 4%, so taking 400mg, would give you only 15-20mg of magnesium and I would suspect a fair bit of toilet time to boot.
I decided to search for magnesium glycinate, the reason was, it has a well known calming amino acid, its rapidly absorbed and doesn't have a laxative effect since the glycine is actively transported through the intestinal wall. I was surprised to read and now I understand my situation, that while magnesium citrate has a good bioavaiability and absorption rate, it still contains laxative properties and is even recommended for constipation problems. Now as mentioned, the average person with a strong stomach, would not have an issue with magnesium citrate, but boy I did.
So off I went on my search for magnesium glycinate and I found countless bottles of it both on line and at out chemist and vitamin shops. But here's the thing, It costs a lot more to manufacture this form of magnesium, so pretty well all the product on offer, upon close inspection of the label, showed that the total content of Glycinate was minimal, and most were buffered with magnesium oxide ! probably the worst type if your having issues like I was.
For instance, one bottle, claimed 200mg magnesium Glycinate, however, the label revealed, only 50mg of mag. Glycinate, and 150mg of an unstated magnesium type. So I sent off an email to the manufacturer, not expecting a reply, to receive a reply stating that the 150mg was a combination of magnesiums, chelated, with the predominant form being Oxide !  So therefore it probably wont work for me, plus depending on the actual volume of oxide content, your not getting a true 200mg of absorbed magnesium at all.
I found a product locally, American made, of the pure brand, which I've paid over the top for, but I needed to get some ordered to start up on the regime again in the early new year. All the write ups and indeed the label,indicate that its only magnesium Glycinate, with no other buffers mixed in.
This probably is of know use to others that don't have an issue with magnesium tolerance. But I did learn that magnesium Citrate, if it doesn't upset your stomach, is a good brand with regard to bioavailability and absoption. But I would suggest if your not taking that type, spend a bit of time and check out what type of magnesium your taking and reference it for its absorption rate etc.
It seems there's more and more evidence that Magnesium is such an important mineral that most people lack or are deficient in and it plays such a major roll in other vitamin absorption rates as well, as per Batches first post covers.
I'm certainly no expert on all things Magnesium, but its been an interesting experience trying to get hold of a " non laxative " type of magnesium, that's for sure.....

regards
colin

Colin,

Here is a link to Swanson's Vitamins, folks I have had superb service from. Their prices are normally quite good, though I'm not sure how they will be with having to ship internationally. Others have found them to be competitive even with international shipping, so give them a look. I checked, and some of the magnesium glycinate is 100%.

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Jerry

I've been researching magnesium almost as long as D3, so I'll throw in my two cents.

I believe that magnesium supplementation is going to be the next big thing in nutrients for many health issues, including its connection to D3 absorption. D3 is getting tons of attention now. I'm seeing reports that low magnesium levels are becoming more common, and the whys can be up for debate.

At the moment, I have three types of magnesium sitting on my kitchen counter--oxide, citrate, and cheleated gycinate. I've been at this regimen for almost three years, and my own response to magnesium supplements requires me to rotate types. The oxide will work for a few weeks before it turns into a laxative. I haven't experienced problems with citrate, but it's suddenly more trouble to find, now that Costco has stopped carrying it. I don't want calcium/magnesium combos, because my diet has enough calcium already. Any cheleated form, like glycinate, is purported to have the best absorption, and that is also what I have personally found. I agree with Jerry about Swanson's website. They have consistently competitive pricing, and their store brand is very good.

Since I take stomach medication which is known to reduce magnesium absorption, I have been pretty diligent with my supplements. I just had a magnesium blood level test done, and I was at the high end of the range. So I'm doing something right.

Magnesium is not easy to absorb, which makes the whole process require a degree of dedication, patience, and willingness to tinker with dosages. It's a lot of work, and one size does not fit all. 

Hi guys,  an interesting read on your thoughts pattik and I agree regarding magnesium being super important regarding being an important nuitrient.
I guess it was a great learning curve for me, firstly understanding that the magnesium we take is not in its pure form, we simply couldn't handle that, so its mixed or infused with different substances to generate the different forms that we take. For instance citrate brands are magnesium infused with citric acid type substances etc. then there's all the talk of magnesium stearites, which some say is toxic, its used as a free flow and coating agent in the process of the actual manufacture of quite a few pills, as its the cheapest product to use the debate goes on about its toxicity.
Regarding the swanson magnesium Glycinate, this was one of the products I researched and found here. What I found out was that the actual Glycinate content levels in it, is actually a very small percentage of the stated magnesium content and if you read the labelling, is buffered with magnesium oxide, the cheapest form of magnesium available.  Now this actually brings up something quite interesting, from what I've been researching, and if you go into that site, check out the supplier of the raw material, who also supply a lot of the main brand raw material to a lot of retailers of magnesium supplements, well, apparently their has been a court action against them regarding this topic, due to the particular levels of magnesium types in the content of supplements. You see its cheaper to "buff" the product with the cheaper oxide than the more costly forms of magnesium, as per my post regarding a brand of magnesium Glycinate I found stating 200mg of Glycinate, which actually was only made up of 50mg, the rest was buffered with oxide. I suppose one could say its still magnesium, but what you actually absorb, is way lower than what the pill states as oxide is one of the lowest absorbed magnesiums on the market, so effectively your taking a 200 mg tablet and there's less than half the available or absorbable available magnesium on offer. The obvious advantage for the manufacturer is cost. I'll try and get a link to the actual court case where all this is explained and post it up, its an interesting read.
So for me, with issues of tolerance, I don't want magnesium with an oxide content for obvious reasons, and for those needing to monitor magnesium intake levels, they actually need to know what type of magnesium there consuming or they'll never know true absorption levels.
What I found was that magnesium glycinate is much more expensive to produce, so if its found on the shelf, with a very cheap price, then its pretty well definite that its been buffered with oxide in manufacture. All the mag. glycinate  supplements that I found with no buffering agents, just bound with glycine, are way way more expensive. I payed over the top for some here down under, just to get it ordered so I can re start the regime, but I can buy it cheaper ex U.S.A, (which I will do on my next order, as there's a big delay in delivery at this time of the year) the best price I can find over there is around $ 70 aus for 360 120 mg tablets. So you can see that un buffered forms a quite expensive.  I'm going to give it a try as per my reasons in my previous post,  but it definitely appears the cheaper forms content, is not what they appear to be.
But as I previously said, the cheap magnesium citrate, is not buffered, has great absorption and bioavailability and those that can tolerate its laxative effect wont have any issues,   its just the likes of me with a weak sensitive stomach, that needs to be cautious on what type and content I'm consuming. 
A great topic and one that probably is hugely debatable, but the consensus coming through about its importance is astonishing.    Batch is a " trend setter " on this topic, as he has been beating the magnesium drum loud and clear for quite some time,  we are lucky to have his input here on this forum.........

colin   

Colin,

The Pure brand is the one I was talking about. I should have mentioned the brand. It claims to be 100%.

Hi Jerry,  ok, sorry I'll search there properly and see if its better to buy there for my next order,  thanks
and yes, its the pure brand here down under that I ordered here as well, I'll check out there prices, thanks


colin

Well something's working for me.. 2 years 3 months and counting.. My neuro is doing a happy dance (my primary doesn't have a clue - but I just go to him for accidents anyhow). I just get the magnesium at Wal-mart and whatever  - it's working fine for me.

Magnesium used to be available in larger quantities in our soil, but with over-use of the same soil due to farming the same land over and over again, we've depleted the original supplies in most soils, and fertilizer rarely if ever contains any magnesium, so we've been getting less and less of it in our food. Makes perfect sense.

Going to see if increasing my magnesium intake based on the information in this thread allows me to reduce or even eliminate the requirement for Vimovo with my D3 regimen and still remain entirely CH-free.