Vitamins and minerals are called “essential” because they are needed to sustain life and health, and almost all must be obtained from your diet. The most common source is fruit and vegetables, but only 14% of U.S. adults and 9.5% of U.S. teens are eating the recommended servings.
Because magnesium is the fourth most abundant mineral in your body, a deficiency can wreak havoc on your health. The fact that researchers have detected more than 3,750 magnesium-binding sites on human proteins should give you a sense of how important this mineral is for your body’s optimal functioning. Your body needs magnesium for:
- Activating muscles and nerves
- Creating energy in your body by activating adenosine triphosphate (ATP)
- Helping digest proteins, carbohydrates and fats
- Serving as a building block for RNA and DNA synthesis
- Acting as a precursor for neurotransmitters like serotonin
The human body is not capable of storing most vitamins and minerals, so optimal health relies on nourishing the body with ideal amounts throughout the day. Dietary sources of magnesium include avocados, Brazil nuts, brown rice, cashews, dark leafy greens like spinach and Swiss chard, oily fish, raw cacao, seaweed and seeds.
You may be suffering from magnesium insufficiency if you experience:
- Constipation
- Eye twitches, muscle spasms — especially “charley horses” or spasms in your calf muscle that
occur when you stretch your legs, numbness or tingling in your extremities and seizures
- Headaches and/or migraines
- High blood pressure, heart arrhythmias and/or coronary spasms
- Low energy, fatigue and/or loss of appetite
Since the body’s ability to utilize some minerals diminishes with age, I supplement my diet with additional calcium, magnesium, and chromium with a Multivitamin & the Mineral supplement of that provides 100% or more of the daily recommended dose I need. How about you?
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