The must-have supplement needed to “turn on” better health

There are a lot of supplements on the market—it can be overwhelming deciding on which ones to choose.

But when it comes to a daily regimen, there are a few supplement staples that are absolutely essential—no matter your age or health status.

Today, I’ll focus on one of those premier, standout supplements that’s resoundingly beneficial: magnesium.

This mineral isn’t only an indispensable player in blood sugar control, but also helps activate benefits from other vitamins that have been lying dormant.

Powering up the sunlight vitamin

If you wired a house with electricity, you wouldn’t want to forget to install a switch to turn the electricity on. That’s kind of what magnesium deficiency is like.

Especially if you take vitamin D (another essential superstar supplement and cancer preventative) without taking magnesium… You’re quite literally missing out on the switch that turns vitamin D on.

Last year, in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center reported their results of a placebo-controlled clinical trial to test this need for magnesium.

The study involved 250 people whose ages ranged from 40 to 85. Magnesium doses were customized based on each participant’s dietary intake of the mineral. (We’ll circle back to ideal supplement dosage in a moment.)

The results showed that participants who had a high magnesium intake—whether from supplements or dietary sources, were more likely to have adequate levels of vitamin D.

The Vanderbilt team also notes that magnesium is key in your body’s ability to absorb and use vitamin D—whether the D comes from the sun or your diet. So when you’re deficient in magnesium, your pathway for getting vitamin D is shut down.

Fortunately, magnesium is easy to get in our diet from sources such as:

  • Avocados
  • Beans
  • Dark chocolate
  • Dark leafy greens
  • Fatty fish (such as salmon and sardines)
  • Nuts
  • Whole grains

And yet, the researchers note that as many as 8 out of 10 people don’t consume enough magnesium in a day to meet the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of 300 mg per day for adult females and 350 mg per day for males.

That level of deficiency means that not only is the general public missing out on receiving vitamin D’s benefits, but they’re also at greater risk of high blood sugar, metabolic dysfunction, and type 2 diabetes.

The culprit behind diabetes—and the solution

Certified health coach Bill Gottlieb has written a number of best selling books, including “Defeat High Blood Sugar Naturally!” where he highlights magnesium as a vital player in blood sugar regulation (which I mentioned earlier).

In fact, in Bill’s Essential Age-Eraser Protocol, he refers to magnesium as the “miraculous mineral.”

Over the years, Bill has interviewed thousands of clinicians for health and healing insights, and the number one recommendation he’s heard the most—over and over again—is to supplement your diet with magnesium.

He explains, “The mineral is so important because it plays a role in more than three hundred enzyme systems, your biochemical sparkplugs that ignite cellular activity. For example, if magnesium levels are low, so is ATP, the fundamental fuel that powers every cell.”

And returning to the topic of metabolic health, he adds, “Magnesium is so important in balancing blood sugar, one researcher has theorized that magnesium deficiency is the direct cause of one out of every three cases of diabetes—and that by increasing your intake of the mineral, you can prevent or reverse the disease.”

Needless to say, there’s enough research on this topic to fill a library. Here are details on just two of several studies Bill cites:

  • In a study published in Clinical Nutrition, about 3 out of 4 diabetes patients proved to be magnesium deficient.
  • In a UCLA review of 80 studies on magnesium and diabetes, low magnesium levels were linked to higher risk of the harshest complications of the disease, including heart disease, stroke, vision problems and blindness, kidney disease, nerve pain, and foot ulcers.

But as Bill points out, there’s good news in the research too: “A study in the Journal of Internal Medicine analyzed health data from nearly 300,000 people—and showed that taking 500 mg of magnesium daily reduces the risk of developing diabetes by 75 percent.”

Not just any magnesium supplement will do

Of course, Bill strongly recommends eating plenty of magnesium-rich foods, which just happen to fit quite well into the famously healthy Mediterranean diet. In addition to the dietary sources I mentioned a moment ago, Bill also recommends:

  • Almonds
  • Brazil nuts
  • Brewer’s yeast
  • Buckwheat and millet
  • Cashews
  • Sea vegetables like dulse and kelp
  • Wheat germ

As for supplementation—which is instrumental in preventing, controlling, or reversing high blood sugar—Bill turns to Mary Block, DO, who is the medical director of the Block Center in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas.

Bill quotes Dr. Block from one of his interviews: “Magnesium is my favorite mineral. In my opinion, every single adult in the U.S. should take a daily supplement of at least 400 milligrams of magnesium—which would go a long way in preventing and controlling diabetes.”

In addition to dosage, it’s important to use the right form of magnesium. As Bill points out, magnesium forms include ascorbate, citrate, sulfate, oxide, chloride, glycinate, gluconate, orotate and malate—to name just a few!

So let’s make it simple. Bill says, “Dr. Block recommends magnesium citrate, glycinate, or gluconate, because some of the other forms are likely to cause diarrhea. Other experts I’ve talked with say to avoid magnesium oxide, which isn’t well-absorbed.”

You can learn much more about this mineral and other essential supplements in Bill’s Essential Age-Eraser Protocol, along with several tips on how to get the most out of them.

To learn more about the ways Bill’s age-eraser insights can help you feel younger than ever, or to get started on your wellness journey right away, simply click here.

SOURCES

“Magnesium status and supplementation influence vitamin D status and metabolism: results from a randomized trial” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2018; 108(6): 1249-1258. doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/nqy274

“Magnesium optimizes vitamin D status, study shows” Science Daily, 12/14/18. (sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/12/181214093837.htm)

“Does magnesium hold the key to vitamin D benefits?” Medical News Today, 12/30/18. (medicalnewstoday.com/articles/324022.php)