Fall 2017 | Vol. 3 No. 2 ND NOTES A Practical Resource for Naturopathic & Integrative Practice Magnesium & Me Mg Mg Mg Mg In this issue What is magnesium’s fundamental role? P3 Magnesium absorption: what you need to know P7 Anxiety, depression & magnesium’s role P15 ND Notes | Vol. 3 No. 2 Message from the editor ND Notes We debated whether to release an entire edition of ND Notes featuring a single micronutrient. However, of all the micronutrients, magnesium and its versatile role in human Fall 2017 | Vol. 3 No. 2 nutrition and medicine, certainly warrants such discussion. Editor Norman Goh Magnesium cofactors over 600 human enzymes, and is needed to activate 200 more. For many Canadians trained to think of health products as a tight coupling of cause and effect, Copy Editor comprehending the broad scope of magnesium’s role as it pertains to the human body can Heidi Hoff be hard to wrap their minds around. Conversely, the scope of health issues a magnesium Contributors deficiency can wreak is large, long-lasting, and also difficult to wrap the mind around. Nadia Lamanna, ND Jenna Mangan CNP Truly, studying the correlations between magnesium levels and clinically observable symptoms is an exercise in systems biology. This issue provides a little context for that, incorporating Art Direction & Design Tina Amouzgar magnesium status as part of your regular differential diagnoses for certain ailments, as well Dorvan Davoudi as instigating more holistic thinking when it comes to supplementation of magnesium. General Manager Norman Goh Yours naturally, Norman Goh Published by Editor CanPrev & Orange Naturals We believe naturopathic medicine should be safe, effective and accessible to all Canadians. Q & A Privacy Policy CanPrev & Orange Naturals respect your privacy. We do not rent, trade or sell our mailing lists. If you do not wish to receive Is there such a thing as a “best” have just one effect. Since magnesium this publication or wish to change your form of magnesium to take? works on such a fundamental level, the mailing address, please contact health benefits are hard to isolate. And [email protected] You would think so, but there actually isn’t. because we can’t identify just one effect, it’s or 905.881.6800 Like other areas of alternative medicine, easy to overlook its importance. choosing the ideal form for your clients Just as the body utilises sugars, proteins We welcome your letters, submissions, to take will depend on their particular and fats to stay healthy, vital organs like the news and comments. Please contact circumstances, needs and biological heart and brain use all forms of magnesium [email protected] individuality. Magnesium is a supplement, for the same reason. Hundreds of the body’s not a drug. While your patients might chemical processes fall apart without this All material is copyright © 2017 take an antacid to reduce heartburn or very important mineral. So when you tell your ND Notes is intended for educational purposes an antibiotic to fight infection, taking clients that their bodies need magnesium in only and is not intended to serve as medical magnesium when they are deficient doesn’t order to stay alive, you’re not exaggerating! advice. The information provided is intended for the use of healthcare practitioners and should not be used for diagnosing or treatment of a health problem, or as a substitute for professional care. Magnesium oxide Magnesium glycinate ISSN 2368-7908 Magnesium citrate Magnesium malate 1 ND Notes | Vol. 3 No. 2 Do all types of magnesium increases the osmotic pressure that causes couple (magnesium+glycinate) can easily provide a laxative effect? water to be drawn into the intestine to dilute cross the intestinal membrane as an intact the ions and lower their concentration. The pair through gates designed specifically No, not at all. increased flow of water into the gut is what for their passing called dipeptide It all depends on the type of magnesium creates the laxative effect and can lead to channels. As a result, no magnesium you supplement with and if it needs to loose stools, bloating and diarrhea. ions are left behind to disrupt osmotic pressure, and therefore a laxative be broken down into its ionic form in the Magnesium chelates like magnesium effect is avoided. body before it can be absorbed. A high glycinate do not need to be broken down concentration of mineral ions in the gut into ionic form for absorption. The happy Magnesium forms like citrate and oxide can cause a laxative effect in large doses and be driven straight out of the body through the colon. Other forms like glycine and malate have higher absorptive properties that can travel happily to the small intestine where they are absorbed. Magnesium citrate Magnesium oxide Magnesium glycinate Magnesium malate Osmotic diarrhea Why does magnesium sometimes cause diarrhea and digestive upset? It’s all about osmosis. When there are more mineral ions unabsorbed in the intestinal tract than there are mineral ions in the surrounding intestinal cell wall, osmosis tries to equalize the concentration of ions. This means water flows out of the mucosa cells into the intestine. Too much water in the intestinal tract could mean loose stools, bloating and diarrhea. That’s why having too much unabsorbed magnesium in your gut can have this laxative effect! Yuck! 2 ND Notes | Vol. 3 No. 2 What is magnesium’s fundamental role? Hint: There isn’t just one There is a host of scientific studies linking magnesium to many different health conditions, but reviewing these effects one by one is overwhelming and confusing. Instead, it’s more helpful to look at magnesium’s underlying physiological mechanisms. Understanding what magnesium does fundamentally will let us better understand how insufficient magnesium levels might affect our bodies and our daily lives. Magnesium’s hundreds of roles can be roughly categorized into four basic functions. 1. Magnesium activates furnace to speed up these reactions, not without causing a lot of damage anyway. enzymes That’s where enzymes come in. We are kept alive by trillions of chemical Enzymes are bits of protein that catalyze reactions that occur inside the body. and regulate almost all metabolic reactions. Carbohydrates are broken up and harvested As catalysts, they reduce the energy needed Without enzymes to catalyze for energy. New tissue is created. Cellular to spark a chemical reaction and speed up reactions, hemoglobin synthesis waste products are removed. New strands reactions. Without enzymes, reactions that would be 30 times slower with a of DNA are synthesized. This collection of would normally take milliseconds to occur half-life of 2.3 billion years. That's chemical processes is called metabolism. might take hours or days. Some enzymes half the age of the earth! The speed a reaction occurs will depend on require additional ions or molecules called factors like temperature, pressure, solubility cofactors to function. Without a cofactor was a required cofactor for 300 enzymatic and concentration of molecules. We use bound to its structure, an enzyme may reactions. This figure is found in many these factors every day. You might notice float dormant and be unable to catalyze medical texts and quoted in many scientific that sugar dissolves in hot water faster, or any reactions. Magnesium is a cofactor for papers. Since then, many more enzymes that refrigerating food will slow the rate of decay. several important enzymes in the body, like rely on magnesium have been identified. When you make a campfire, a hotter flame DNA/RNA polymerases used to transcribe A search of today’s enzymatic databases will burn wood faster. new DNA/RNA strands, and guanylate reveals over 600 enzymes that magnesium is Our metabolism needs to occur at a certain cyclase, used to regulate the movement a cofactor for and another 200 enzymes that rate to keep us alive. But we don’t have the of minerals across cell membranes. need magnesium to be activated. liberty of turning the body into a raging A 1968 estimate suggested that magnesium A brief refresher: DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is a long, twisting, double-stranded molecule found in the nucleus of every cell. These nucleic acids contain the sum of genetic information that makes us unique organisms. They’re also the blueprints for making all proteins in the body. DNA strands are made of sequences of nucleotide bases: adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine. Because of the way these nucleotides are attracted to one another, the opposite strand in a DNA molecule will have a mirror sequence of nucleotide bases. Adenine is always paired across thymine, and cytosine is always paired across guanine. 3 ND Notes | Vol. 3 No. 2 Enzyme pathways Mg2+ Glycolysis Krebs cycle Phosphorylation (breaking down) Magnesium is involved in the enzymatic pathways (glycolysis, the Krebs cycle and oxidative phosphorylation) that are responsible for making adenosine triphosphate (ATP). 2. Magnesium creates 3. Magnesium helps to synthesis is impaired. And since protein is used for most of the structural components cellular energy create, repair and protect and nearly all metabolic functions in the body, a lack of proteins can have Arguably the most important enzymes DNA and proteins widespread consequences. that magnesium is a cofactor for are the ones that produce cellular energy. Making proteins These enzymes form a series of pathways Creating DNA (glycolysis, Kreb’s cycle, phosphorylation) When a protein needs to be created, We mentioned earlier that magnesium is an that convert organic compounds like specific DNA nucleotide sequences are essential cofactor for an enzyme called DNA glucose sugars into smaller molecules read and copied (transcribed) onto another polymerase which repairs and replicates called adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP molecule called RNA.