Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

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The Eades love magnesium as a supplement, they consider our low Mg intake to be a major deviation from the evolutionary milieu (our drinking water has the mineral removed.) They devote an entire chapter of Protein Power to it ("The Magnesium Miracle".) For example, Dr. Mike writes:

"Magnesium is just about our favorite supplement. In fact, if we just had one supplement to recommend, and no other, it would be magnesium."

Most other paleo bloggers haven't put much emphasis on magnesium. So, how important is magnesium? Should we be supplementing (to restore biological normality), or is there enough in food?

p.s. Stephan's recent post also promotes Mg.

flag	asked Feb 27 2010 at 5:03 Toban 560●5●11

Bread-Eating Beelzebub · Answer 1 · 2010-02-27 21:57:16Z UTC

As an agronomist, I am pretty concerned with the lack of minerals in our nation's depleted soil. Are supplements paleo? Probably not, but neither is water fluoridation and topsoil depletion. Unfortunately we can't change these as easily as our eating habits.

speno · Answer 2 · 2010-02-27 15:10:21Z UTC

I imagine a better world where magnesium was added to our drinking water supply instead of fluoride. That said, I've included magnesium in my paleo lifestyle for years on the Eades's recommendation. Since that time, I've only seen positive data associated with it.

P.s. I'm happy that my local water isn't fluoridated!

PrairieProf · Answer 3 · 2010-02-27 16:41:30Z UTC

I also take magnesium per the Eades's compelling discussion and recommendation -- that's in the Protein Power Lifeplan book if anyone wants to read it. (I have an R.O. filter on my water tap to remove the nasty fluoride). The great thing is that it also helps in, er, keeping things moving better than anything else I've tried, so there's a real practical benefit. :)

Rick Kiessig · Answer 4 · 2010-03-02 01:16:53Z UTC

IMO, most everyone should be supplementing Mg.

I also think water is a relatively poor source. Good food sources include dark green vegetables (Mg is at the center of the chlorophyll molecule in plants, in the same way iron is at the center of hemoglobin in animals).

For more details on the impact of Mg on health, see the info at my blog.

Quik77 · Answer 5 · 2010-03-11 07:16:43Z UTC

I believe I've heard it activates something like 300 enzymes in your body for starters, but yeah there's all kinds of interesting studies on us being deficient and what it can do for you. So far just taking ZMA (which includes more than a recommended dosage of MG in a form more easily used by your body than the MG ocide in most low quality multis) nightly is doing wonders for me in both sleep and everything affected by my sleep quality (which really is pretty much everything).

but yeah just check out pubmed.com

42 · Answer 6 · 2010-10-24 19:59:07Z UTC

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How much Mg do we need? I look at the supps and they don't seem to provide much, certainly not the (disputable) RDA.

answered Oct 24 2010 at 19:59

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the usual recommendations are 300-400mg/day elemental Mg a day. which can result in, like, 1-3g of magnesium-chelate, depending what chelate you chose (glycinate, citrate, etc). but some recommend to go up to 1000mg/day, depending on your needs, and if you're coming out of a deficiency. personally, i find magnesium-orotate the most effective (the orotate part drags the Mg atoms directly into the cells), but its also the most expensive. glycinate, citrate, chloride are also ok. some say to be cautious with aspartate, as aspartate acts as an excitatory neurotransmitter. – qualia Oct 24 2010 at 20:33

PrimalStyle · Answer 7 · 2010-10-24 06:38:26Z UTC

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Personally, I function so much better with extra magnesium. It helps keep my stress levels under control.

answered Oct 24 2010 at 6:38

PrimalStyle
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Fred B · Answer 8 · 2010-10-24 15:04:34Z UTC

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I've been taking a Mg/Ca/Zinc supplement at night but I'm not sure its the best. Not trying to hijack this thread but any recommendations on what kind/brand of Mg supp to take?

answered Oct 24 2010 at 15:04

Fred B
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I take a Magnesium citrate supplement called Natural Calm. It is recommended by Robb Wolf – Bryan Barksdale Oct 24 2010 at 15:13

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I use chelated magnesium from Albion labs. It's supposed to cause the least amount of intestinal upset. I don't get any intestinal side effects from this one, but i don't know if it would work for everyone. – Eva Oct 24 2010 at 15:51

Cool, thanks for the suggestions. – Fred B Oct 24 2010 at 21:45

Should we all be taking magnesium supplements (as the Eades’s argue)?

8 Answers