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DIET AND FITNESS:
Magnesium --- The Importance of Magnesium in
Your Diet
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Last updated August 10, 2016 (originally published March 2, 2008)
By Susan M. Callahan, Associate Editor and Featured Columnist
Magnesium is the forgotten mineral. Unlike better known minerals
such as calcium and iron, most people do not appreciate the
importance of magnesium to our health.
How important is magnesium? Quite important. Our bodies use
magnesium for over 300 essential chemical reactions. And yet,
according to the Center for Magnesium Education & Research in
Hawaii, almost 48% of Americans have diets that are deficient in
magnesium. Magnesium helps our bodies in the following critical
ways:
- maintains normal nerve and muscle functions
- keeps heart rhythm steady,
- supports a healthy immune system,
-keeps bones healthy
-regulates blood sugar levels
-promotes normal blood pressure,
-helps in metabolizing energy, thus, aids in maintaining a healthy
weight
Some studies also suggest magnesium has a role in preventing
hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes and many more
diseases. In fact, the Center for Magnesium Education & Research
found that "Low magnesium intakes and blood levels have been
associated with type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, elevated
C-reactive protein, hypertension, atherosclerotic vascular disease,
sudden cardiac death, osteoporosis, migraine headache, asthma, and
colon cancer".
How Much Magnesium Should You Get?
Women over the age of 30 should get 320 mg of magnesium daily
and men over 30 should get 420 mg daily, according to the National
Institutes of Health magnesium guidelines.
Signs of Magnesium Deficiency
Some of the signs of magnesium deficiency include facial tics or
twitches, muscle cramps, muscle spasms, irregular heart rhythms,
seizures and anxiety.
Update:
If you suffer from heavy periods, magnesium may also help to
decrease heavy menstrual flow.
The Food and Drug Administration recommends that we try to eat
400 milligrams of magnesium daily. The list in the box to the right
contains foods with high concentrations of magnesium.
Magnesium-Rich Foods
1. Spinach and other dark green vegetables (the chlorophyll which
makes these vegetables green, is rich in magnesium). A medium
zucchini has 35 milligrams of magnesium. 4 cups would provide 20%
of your daily magnesium needs. A cup of spinach has 24 milligrams
of magnesium.
2. Beans, peas.
3. Nuts,in particular almonds. Almonds contain 80 mg of magnesium
per ounce, which is about 20 % of what you need.
4. Whole grains such as rye, barley and wheat.
In addition to the more familiar grains, researchers have discovered
that long-forgotten grains such as amaranth, which has been
cultivated for over 8000 years, are also high in magnesium.
As for desserts, chocolate --at least the dark variety --has about 41
milligrams of magnesium per ounce.
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| FOOD Milligrams of Magnesium (mg) %DV* Halibut, cooked, 3 ounces 90 90 Almonds, dry roasted, 1 ounce 80 20 Cashews, dry roasted, 1 ounce 75 20 Soybeans, mature, cooked, ½ cup 75 20 Spinach, frozen, cooked, ½ cup 75 20 Nuts, mixed, dry roasted, 1 ounce 65 15 shredded wheat, 2 rectangular biscuits 55 15 Oatmeal, instant, fortified, 1 cup 55 15 Potato, baked w/ skin, 1 medium 50 15 Peanuts, dry roasted, 1 ounce 50 15 Peanut butter, smooth, 2 Tablespoons 50 15 Wheat Bran, crude, 2 Tablespoons 45 10 Blackeyed Peas, cooked, ½ cup 45 10 Yogurt, plain, skim milk, 8 fluid ounces 45 10 Bran Flakes, ¾ cup 40 10 Vegetarian Baked Beans, ½ cup 40 10 Rice, brown, long-grained, cooked, ½ cup 40 10 Lentils, mature seeds, cooked, ½ cup 35 8 Avocado, California, ½ cup pureed 35 Kidney Beans, canned, ½ cup 35 Pinto Beans, cooked, ½ cup 35 Wheat Germ, crude, 2 Tablespoons 35 Chocolate milk, 1 cup 33 Banana, raw, 1 medium 30 Milk Chocolate candy bar, 1.5 ounce bar 28 Milk, reduced fat (2%) or fat free, 1 cup 27 Bread, whole wheat, commercially prepared, 1 slice 25 Raisins, seedless, ¼ cup packed 25 Whole Milk, 1 cup 24 Chocolate Pudding, 4 ounce ready-to-eat portion 24 |
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