Magnesium and Health

New Discovery Highlights Magnesium’s Importance to Human Health.

Scientists from Italy’s University of Bologna have recently found that magnesium deficiency has a profound effect on the promotion of health and the prevention of disease. Magnesium deficiency has become common, and dietary levels of magnesium from both food and water sources have gradually declined at an alarming rate in the United States.

Los Angeles, CA, January 9th, 2013 — A team of scientists from Italy’s University of Bologna have recently found that magnesium deficiency in our bodies can significantly change how proteins function in the body and whether or not health or disease is promoted.

The human “magnesome,” as the researchers are calling it, is a set of proteins discovered within the complete makeup of human protein that function as binding sites for magnesium. Using completely new and innovative technology, called the BAR-hMG, researchers found that 27 percent of the 13,689 protein sequences studied have the ability to bind magnesium. This discovery vastly magnifies our understanding of the important role that this mineral plays in human health.

Carolyn Dean, MD, ND, magnesium expert and medical advisory board member of the Nutritional Magnesium Association, at www.nutritionalmagnesium.org, says, “Proteins build, repair and maintain cells; they are the basic building blocks of our bodies. Magnesium helps synthesize protein, and without protein synthesis there would be no cell growth or maintenance, and without cells there would be no life.”

Dr. Dean further adds, “The discovery of the `magnesome’ truly puts magnesium on the map. The significance of magnesium binding to over a quarter of proteins tested is that it can turn these proteins on or off. For example, magnesium may turn on the production of heart muscle protein; but if you are magnesium deficient, then your heart muscle can become weak.”

Cellular magnesium deficiency has become common, and dietary levels of magnesium from both food and water sources have gradually declined in the United States from a high of 500 mg a day in 1900 to barely 175–225 mg a day today. The National Academy of Sciences has found that most American men consume only about 80 percent of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of magnesium and women average only 70 percent. Many researchers think the RDA is set far too low for optimum health.

According to Joseph Mercola, MD, author of Take Control of Your Health, “The discovery of the ‘magnesome,’ as it’s being called, adds additional complexity to the picture, indicating that the presence or absence of adequate levels of this basic mineral may alter the expression and behavior of the proteins in our body, thereby altering the course of both health and disease.”

The National Institutes of Health states, “Magnesium is needed for more than 300 biochemical reactions in the body. It helps maintain normal muscle and nerve function, keeps heart rhythm steady, supports a healthy immune system, and keeps bones strong. Magnesium also helps regulate blood sugar levels, promotes normal blood pressure, and is known to be involved in energy metabolism and protein synthesis. There is an increased interest in the role of magnesium in preventing and managing disorders such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.”

“Up until this point in time, the role of magnesium in human health has been vastly underestimated, particularly with the exaggerated importance that has been given to its sister mineral, calcium, over the past few decades,” says Dr. Dean. “With this new discovery, magnesium’s crucial role in the treatment and prevention of acute heart attacks, chronic cardiovascular disease, heart arrhythmias, diabetes, asthma, chronic fatigue syndrome, osteoporosis and many other disorders has been illuminated.”

A free 32-page guide to the health benefits of magnesium written by Carolyn Dean, MD, ND, is available as a free download at www.nutritionalmagnesium.org.

For media inquiries, please contact Boris Levitsky at info(at)nutritionalmagnesium(dot)org

About the Nutritional Magnesium Association

The nonprofit Nutritional Magnesium Association (NMA) is a trusted authority on the subject of magnesium and provides timely and useful information so as to improve the lives of all people affected by the widespread magnesium deficiency in our diets and the related health issues associated with this deficiency. Radio, TV, magazines and professional journals interview its members regularly.

For more information, go to www.nutritionalmagnesium.org.

References:

1.    Piovesan D, Profiti G, Martelli PL, Casadio R. (2012) The human “magnesome”: detecting magnesium binding sites on human proteins. BMC Bioinformatics. 2012:13 Suppl 14:S10. doi: 10.1186/1471-2105-13-S14-S10. Epub 2012, Sep 7.