Magnesium is something our bodies need to stay strong. It helps our muscles, nerves, bones, and keeps our blood sugar levels in check. If we don’t get enough magnesium in our food for a long time, we might have health issues like heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, or brittle bones (osteoporosis).
What does Magnesium do?
Magnesium is like a helper for many things happening inside our body. It’s important for muscles and nerves to do their jobs right, and it helps keep our blood sugar and blood pressure in the right balance. Magnesium also helps in making things like protein, bones, and DNA.
If we don’t have enough magnesium for a long time, it can mess up the levels of calcium and potassium in our body. When we’re low on magnesium, we might feel things like headaches, not wanting to eat, feeling sick, throwing up, getting really tired, and feeling weak. If we don’t have enough magnesium for a really long time, things can get even worse – we might have numbness, tingling, muscles cramps, even seizures, and our personality might change. Our heart could also start beating in a strange way.
People who don’t have enough magnesium are more likely to have:
- High blood pressure
- Heart problems
- Strokes
- Type 2 diabetes
- Weak bones (osteoporosis)
- Bad headaches (migraines)
Magnesium is important for many chemical reasons in your body:
Magnesium is present throughout your body.. It’s actually present in every single cell and is essential for their proper functioning.
Around 60% of the magnesium in your body is stored in your bones, while the remaining amount is spread throughout your muscles, soft tissues, and fluids like blood.
One of the important jobs of magnesium is to act as a helper molecule, known as a co-factor, in the countless biochemical reactions that enzymes carry out in your body. It’s involved in over 600 different reactions, including the following:
Magnesium plays a vital role in various functions within your body. Here are some of its major jobs:
- Energy production: It helps convert the food you eat into energy that your body can use.
- Protein synthesis: Magnesium is involved in the creation of new proteins from amino acid, which are the building blocks of protein.
- DNA and RNA support: It assists in the maintenance and repair of DNA and RNA; the genetic material is in your body.
- Muscle function: Magnesium aid in the contraction and relaxation of muscles, allowing them to move properly.
- Nervous system regulation: It helps regulate neurotransmitters, which are chemicals responsible for transmitting messages throughout your brain and nervous system.
So, you can see that magnesium is involved in these important processes better keep your body functioning smoothly.
However, research indicates that around half of adults in the United states do not meet the recommended daily intake of magnesium.(1)
Benefits of Magnesium:
1. Magnesium Can Make Exercise Better:
When you’re active and moving around, your body needs more magnesium. How much you need depends on how hard you’re working out.
Magnesium does an important job. It helps your muscles take sugar from your blood, and it also gets rid of something called lactate. This lactate can build up when you’re exercising and make you feel tired.
Research shows that taking magnesium pills can really help older folks and people who don’t have enough magnesium do better when they exercise.
2. Magnesium Keeps Your Bones Strong:
Having the right amount of magnesium is super important for keeping your bones healthy. People who get more magnesium usually have stronger bones. This is a big deal because strong bones mean you’re less likely to break them or get a problem like osteoporosis, which makes your bones weak.
If you’re an older lady who wants to make your bones even stronger, it might be a good idea to eat more magnesium-rich foods or take magnesium pills.
3. Keeps Your Heart Strong:
Your heart is a really important part of your body, and magnesium can help it stay healthy. Studies have shown that magnesium helps control your blood pressure, which is important to avoid problems like high blood pressure and heart disease. When magnesium helps your heart work well, it keeps your heart in good condition.
4. Makes You Feel Happier and Fights Feeling Sad:
If you want to be in a better mood and avoid feeling really sad, magnesium can be like a good friend to help you out. This thing called magnesium helps your brain make and control chemicals that affect how you feel, like serotonin. Researchers have found that taking magnesium pills can make you feel better by reducing feelings of being very sad or anxious. So, magnesium can make you feel more positive and hopeful.
5. Promotes Restful Sleep:
If you’re struggling to fall asleep and counting sheep isn’t doing the trick, magnesium could be your secret weapon. This mighty mineral helps control the chemicals in your brain that bring relaxation and improve the quality of your sleep. By making sure you have enough magnesium, you can enjoy sleep patterns and wake up feeling revitalized and ready to take on the day.
6. Supports Muscle Function and Recovery:
Magnesium is like a superhero for your muscles, especially if you’re into sports or staying active. It does a lot of important things, Like helping your muscles relax, preventing pesky cramps, and getting rid of lactic acid that makes your muscles tired. So whether you are hitting the gym or playing sports, having enough magnesium in your body can keep your muscles healthy and ready for action.
7. Regulates blood sugar levels:
If you have diabetes or worry about controlling your blood sugar, magnesium can be really helpful. It helps your body handle insulin better and plays a part in how your body you use glucose. By making sure you have enough magnesium, you can improve how your body manages your blood sugar levels and keep them in check.
How much Magnesium do I need?
Well, how much magnesium you need depends on how old you are and whether you’re a boy or a girl. Here’s the scoop:
- Guys under 30 should aim for 400 milligrams (mg) of magnesium every day. But once they’re over 31, they need 420mg daily.
- Gals under 30 should try to get 310mg of magnesium each day. When they reach 31 and older, it’s better to have 320mg daily.
- Now, if you’re a mom-to-be or breastfeeding, you need a bit more – around 350 to 360mg per day.
And for the young ones:
- Kids who are 1 to 3 years old should have about 80mg.
- Those who are 4 to 8 years old need 130mg.
- If you’re 9 to 13 years old, you should aim for 240mg.
- Boys between 14 and 18 years old should get around 410mg.
- And girls who are 14 to 18 years old should aim for 360mg.
But here’s a tip: Don’t go overboard with magnesium. Having too much can lead to tummy troubles like diarrhea, feeling sick, or having belly cramps. If things get really extreme, it might even mess up your heart rhythm or cause a serious problem with your heart. So, stick to the right amount!
Food Sources:
The following foods are rich in magnesium.
Here are some foods that are good sources of magnesium and the percentage of the Daily Value (DV) they provide.
- Pumpkin seeds: 37% DV in 1 ounce (8 grams)
- Chia seeds: 26% DV in 1 ounce (28 grams)
- Boiled Spanish: 19% DV in 1/2 cup (90 grams)
- Almonds: 19% DV in 1 ounce (28 grams)
- Cashews: 18% DV in 1 ounce (28 grams)
- Cooked black beans: 14% DV ½ cup (86 grams)
- Cooked edamame: 12% DB in ½ cup (78 grams)
- Peanut butter: 12% DV in 2 tablespoons (32 grams)
- Cooked brown rice: 10% DV ½ cup (100 grams)
- Cooked salmon: 6% DV in 3 ounces (85 grams)
- Cooked halibut: 6% DV in 3 ounces (85 grams)
- Avocado: 5% DV in ½ cup (75 grams)
While these foods can provide a good amount of magnesium, if you find it challenging to meet your magnesium needs through diet alone, you can consider magnesium supplements.
Foods with Magnesium:
Lots of grown-ups in the United States don’t get enough magnesium from their food. So, one way to get enough is by taking a special pill with magnesium in it. But guess what? You can actually get the right amount of magnesium by eating certain foods every day!
Our bodies usually get all the magnesium they need if we eat different kinds of healthy foods. Many foods have enough magnesium to keep us healthy. Here are some good foods that have magnesium:
- Fortified foods:
These are foods like bread and cereal that have extra magnesium added to them. Look for bread that says “fortified” on the label. Choose whole grain or multigrain bread and cereal, not sugary ones.
- Dark chocolate:
Yep, even yummy chocolate has magnesium! The more cocoa in it, the more magnesium it has. So, darker chocolate is better.
- Nuts and seeds:
Almonds, peanuts, cashews, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, and flaxseeds are really good sources of magnesium. Just a small bunch of almonds gives you a lot of magnesium. Peanut butter is good for magnesium too.
- Green leafy veggies:
Veggies like spinach, Swiss chard, and collard greens are full of magnesium. You can add them to many different foods and get all the magnesium you need in a day.
- Other veggies:
Corn, peas, broccoli, and potatoes with the skin on have magnesium too. They’re great in recipes, just like the leafy greens.
- Dairy:
Milk and yogurt have magnesium too.
- Grains:
Brown rice, quinoa, and shredded wheat are healthy grains with magnesium.
- Fruits:
Bananas are famous for having lots of magnesium and potassium. They’re good
if your legs cramp often. Other fruits like blackberries, papaya, and avocados also have magnesium.
Beans and legumes:
Black beans, edamame beans, and kidney beans give you magnesium.
It’s better to focus on eating foods with magnesium rather than taking pills. Most people get enough magnesium from their food. So, try to eat these foods to stay healthy!
