Magnesium – The Miracle Mineral?
Did you know that without magnesium the body could not digest, absorb, and utilize proteins, fats, and carbohydrates? And that magnesium is essential for insulin to open cell membranes for glucose? Without all that going on in the body, it is no surprise that many may be dealing with a lack of energy, hypoglycemia, anxiety and obesity.
The Weight Connection
Food cravings and overeating are often caused simply by the desire to continue eating past fullness because the body is lacking nutrients, especially if your diet consists of mostly processed foods. You continue to eat empty calories that pack on the pounds but get you no further ahead in your nutrient requirements.
The connection between stress and obesity cannot be overlooked. The stress chemical cortisol signals a metabolic shutdown that makes losing weight almost impossible. It’s as if the body feels it is under an attack such that it must hoard all its resources, including fat stores, and won’t let go of them under any inducement. Magnesium can effectively neutralize the effects of stress.
And make no mistake about the important genetic role magnesium plays when paired with the all-important B vitamins. The process of metabolizing B vitamins is called methylation, and magnesium is necessary to proper metabolic functions in the body, including weight loss. Many weight loss diets we subject ourselves to are often deficient in magnesium. This sets the stage for what is known as Metabolic Syndrome or Syndrome X, a chain of consequences due to long-standing nutritional deficiency, especially magnesium deficiency. The long list includes high cholesterol and hypertension and obesity. It also encompasses elevated triglycerides and elevated uric acid.
High triglycerides are usually found when cholesterol is elevated but most often when someone has a high-sugar diet, such as from drinking sodas daily and eating cakes and pastries.
High uric acid is due to incomplete breakdown of protein from lack of B vitamins and digestive enzymes. This complex collectively appears to be caused by disturbed insulin metabolism (initiated by magnesium deficiency), called insulin resistance, and eventually can lead to diabetes, angina, and heart attack.
Magnesium is required in the metabolic pathways that allow insulin to usher glucose into cells, where glucose participates in making energy for the body. If magnesium is deficient, the doorway into the cells does not open to glucose, resulting in the following cascade of events:
1. Glucose levels become elevated.
2. Glucose is stored as fat and leads to obesity.
3. Elevated glucose leads to diabetes.
4. Obesity puts a strain on the heart.
5. Excess glucose becomes attached to certain proteins (glycated), leading to kidney damage, neuropathy, blindness, and other diabetic complications.
6. Insulin-resistant cells don’t allow magnesium into the cells.
7. Further magnesium deficiency leads to hypertension.
8. Magnesium deficiency leads to cholesterol buildup, and both these conditions are implicated in heart disease.
At The Healthy Choice Compounding Pharmacy, we carry pharmaceutical grade natural magnesium supplements that can help you achieve optimal health! Stop by or call to speak with , our supplement manager.