Magnesium Levels Again Found to Help Heart Health

by | Jun 5, 2009 | 2009, Cardiovascular Health, Magnesium, Stroke

Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. Study of 14,221 men and women revealed that daily intakes of 213, 271, and 362 grams of magnesium were significantly associated with a decreased risk of stroke by 22%, 25%, and 30% respectively.

In the United States alone, someone has a stroke every 45 seconds and someone dies of a stroke every 3 minutes. As the number three cause of death among Americans (cancer and heart disease are the leading causes), stroke costs our healthcare system $57 billion each year (1). The cost of stroke between 2005 and 2050 in the United States is estimated to exceed $2 trillion (2). Now a new study (3) has found that magnesium may help with heart health.

In the study, 14,221 men and women aged 45–64 years taking part in the first examination of the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study cohort (4) provided blood samples to measure their magnesium levels. They also completed a 61-item food questionnaire (5).

Over the course of 15 years of follow-up, the researchers found that blood levels of magnesium were significantly associated with decreased risks of stroke. Specifically, those with serum magnesium levels greater than1.6, 1.7, and 1.8 mEq/L had a 22%, 30%, and 25%, decreased risk of stroke, respectively. When looking at how this reduced risk related to magnesium intake per day, the reduced risks were found to be associated with daily magnesium intakes of greater than 213, greater than 271, and greater than 362 mg per day, respectively.

The researchers attributed magnesium’s effect on helping reduce stroke risk on its ability to help maintain healthy blood pressure and to help maintain blood sugar health. Magnesium deficiency may be associated with increased inflammation which increases circulating levels of inflammatory proteins called cytokines which trigger cell damage in blood vessel cells (6,7). For the researchers, “Low serum magnesium levels could be associated with increased risk of ischemic stroke, in part, via effects on hypertension and diabetes.”

Source: Ohira, Tetsuya, et al. “Serum and dietary magnesium and risk of ischemic stroke the atherosclerosis risk in communities study.” American journal of epidemiology 169.12 (2009): 1437-1444.

© The Author 2009.

Posted June 5, 2009.

References:

  1. “Impact of Stroke” posted on the American Stroke Association Website.
  2. Brown DL, Boden-Albala B, Langa KM, Lisabeth LD, Fair M, Smith MA, Sacco RL, Morgenstern LB. Projected costs of ischemic stroke in the United States. Neurology. 2006;67:1390 –1395.
  3. Ohira T.   Serum and Dietary Magnesium and Risk of Ischemic Stroke: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study/  American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access published on April 16, 2009.
  4. The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study: design and objectives. The ARIC Investigators. Am J Epidemiol (1989) 129(4):687–702.
  5. Willett WC, Sampson L, Stampfer MJ, et al. Reproducibility and validity of a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire. Am J Epidemiol (1985) 122(1):51–65.
  6. Ferrè S, Mazur A, Maier JA. Low-magnesium induces senescent features in cultured human endothelial cells. Magnes Res. (2007) 20(1):66–71.
  7. Wolf FI, Trapani V, Simonacci M, et al. Magnesium deficiency and endothelial dysfunction: is oxidative stress involved? Magnes Res. (2008) 21(1):58–64.