Happy Green Thursday!
Today I’d like to talk about a metal we all need daily. In fact, this metal is essential in more than 300 metabolic reactions in your body. It forms part of almost every aspect of life. And you’re not getting enough of it.
I’m talking about Magnesium.
Magnesium forms part of our bones, along with calcium, boron and some other minerals. That means we can measure Magnesium in the bones of our ancestors, to find out how much Magnesium was in their diet. Archaeologists compared the Magnesium content of ancient bones to modern bones and estimated that our distant forebears took about 600 mg Magnesium on board every day.
Compare this to the government recommended daily Magnesium intakes of 310 mg (adult women) or 400 mg (adult men). Or to the South African government’s limitation of NO MORE than 250 mg of elementary Magnesium per person per day by means of supplementation. As you can see, they are really, really concerned about your well-being.
It gets better. The estimates of required daily Magnesium intake were based on how much Magnesium adults lost in their urine daily. In other words, if you lose 400 mg in your urine daily, you need 400 mg in your food, right? That would have been a fair assumption, had we not had other routes of losing Magnesium. Sweat, for example, or stools. Both these routes are also major players in Magnesium excretion, but were never properly considered when daily intakes were calculated.
Before we go on, let me explain what I mean by “elementary Magnesium”. Magnesium in food is always bound to other substances. The weight of these substances must be deducted in order to figure out how much “Magnesium only” is in that nutrient or supplement.
For example, Magnesium glycinate contains only 14% elementary Magnesium. If you take 1,000 mg of Magnesium glycinate (a very big pill), this translates to a mere 140 mg of elementary Magnesium (a tiny amount).
Manufacturers of Magnesium supplements rely on this confusion to make their supplements look good. The label may say “Magnesium citrate 200 mg”, but that translates to a mere 22 mg of elementary Magnesium. In fact, the world’s top selling Magnesium supplement (whose name I may not mention here) contains a mere 135 mg of elementary Magnesium. And it is in a poorly absorbed form, too, so your body gets much less than that.
To add insult to injury, most Magnesium supplements are combined with Calcium, ostensibly to boost bone density. Study after study shows that Calcium supplementation does not boost bone density, but Magnesium supplementation does. In fact, studies show that if you take more than about 200 mg of elementary Calcium daily via supplements, your risk of dying early (from any cause) increases significantly. The more Calcium you take, the higher your risk of dying prematurely.
In the case of Magnesium, the curve climbs the other way. Study after study shows that, the more Magnesium you take daily, the longer your life expectancy. The highest dose studied in this regard was 500 mg elementary Magnesium daily. But the trend at that dose was still pointing strongly upward. Yet nobody bothered to study what happens to mortality when we supplement with even higher doses.
Let’s go back to our ancestors. If their bones show 600 mg daily elementary Magnesium intake, where did that Magnesium come from?
* Ten medium-sized avocadoes?
* One cup of cashews?
* 3.5 cups of black beans?
* Four cups of cooked spinach?
I think you get the picture. It is pretty impossible to get that much Magnesium out of food. So where did it come from?
The answer is: Well water.
Not “Well, water”, but “Well water”.
Until the fairly recent arrival of purified (ahem…) tap water, everyone got drinking water from wells. These wells provided many minerals, including (especially) Magnesium. In fact, all natural spas have water high in Magnesium. The more Magnesium, the more “miraculous” healing claims are made for that spa. Coincidence?
Measuring Magnesium deficiency is not so easy, and quite expensive. A study among US adults found that ~80% of them were Magnesium deficient. Considering that their definition of “sufficient” Magnesium is based on a population of tap-water drinking people, I suspect the actual levels of Magnesium deficiency are even higher.
A quick recap:
* Most adults are Magnesium deficient.
* The Recommended Daily Intakes for Magnesium are based on poor science.
* You have to take Magnesium daily, since your body excretes a lot of it.
* It is almost impossible to get enough Magnesium from food alone.
* Our water supplies are not helping us get Magnesium any more.
In other words, if I want to get enough Magnesium every day, my only option is to supplement.
That’s where it gets tricky and somewhat icky. Everyone will tell you THEIR Magnesium is the best. Of course.
So I trawled the research. Magnesium oxide (MgO), one of the cheapest forms of Magnesium, is generally reviled for its low bioavailability (about 8% of what you take ends up in your body). But… it dissolves fairly well in stomach acid, which increases the availability. A 1994 study explains what this means. Where MgO was presented in capsule form (instead of compacted, tablet form), availability rose to 22.8%.
In that same study, Magnesium glycinate, commonly regarded as the best absorbed form of Magnesium, scored an availability of 23.5%. In other words, for all practical purposes, MgO in capsule form is as good as the best absorbed form of Magnesium out there.
But I went a step further. I added D-Ribose to our MgO. D-Ribose is known to significantly boost the absorption of Magnesium from the gut. The result is that even one capsule of our MgO gives you a noticeable lift in energy within hours of taking the first dose.
What is Magnesium good for?
* Muscles: Improves strength, endurance, acceleration
* Bones: Anti-osteoporosis, faster fracture healing
* Brain: Sleep, calm, attention span, memory, happy mood
* Stress: Lowers cortisol (stress hormone), increases GABA (calming hormone)
* Immune system: Improved immune response, “balances” immune system
I’ve found Magnesium to be beneficial in many conditions, including cancer, auto-immune disease, asthma, depression, insomnia, ADHD, nerve injury, bone fractures, etc.
Our special today…
We dropped the price of our MgO from R129 for 30 capsules to R119 per unit. R10 off.
But… For the next few hours, you can get our MgO at an EXTRA 33% discount – if you buy 6 or more.
Click here to order.
Common questions
Who needs Magnesium?
* Everybody.
Can you take too much Magnesium?
I keep getting asked this question. We happen to have a nifty Magnesium regulating mechanism. It is called diarrhoea. If you take in too much Magnesium, you get the runs and the excess is excreted. This mechanism is so effective, it is virtually impossible to get a Magnesium overdose via oral intake.
How much do I need?
Each of our MgO capsules provides 240 mg elementary Magnesium. Taking one a day already makes a big difference to most people, but higher doses can safely be taken. Some high performance athletes take 5 of our MgO capsules daily, with no ill effects. In fact, they mostly end up finishing first in their events.
How long does it last?
If kept in a cool, dry place, our MgO will last a very long time – 2 years or more.
Terms and conditions
* No coupon code needed. Discounts applied automatically.
* Delivery within South Africa only
* Supplies are limited. If it runs out, it runs out.
* The store will tell you if / when we’ve run out of stock.
* First come, first served.
* The offer lapses at midnight on 28 November, SA Standard Time
To your amazing health!
Doc Frank and the Team at Integrow Health
Click here to order.
PS1: If you struggle placing your order, don’t panic. Just email sales@integrow.co.za , explain your problem, and a staff member will assist. We’re here to help you. You can also phone 087-135 1042 and leave a message.
PS2: None of the above should be regarded as medical advice. Always consult a qualified health practitioner before making decisions potentially affecting your health.
PS3: Every day’s special is unique to that day. You cannot combine different orders from different days. If you wish to order multiple products on special, with one shipping cost, rather wait until Green Friday and hope our across-the-board offer beats any of the other offers… It’s about having fun and taking a chance!
