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"Mineral of the Year--Magnesium"
Despite the promising autopsy and ecologic - meaning, population data that I just covered - supporting a
specific association between low magnesium levels and sudden cardiac death, there’s only been two
studies prospectively examining the association: this one, from the Harvard Nurse's Study, published in
2011, and this one from 2010, the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study, covering a multi-ethnic
population of thousands of men and women. High blood levels of magnesium were associated “with an
almost 40% reduced risk of sudden cardiac death” and women in the highest compared with the lowest
quarter of dietary and blood magnesium had a 34% and 77% lower risk of sudden cardiac death, respectively.
Another 2011 study noted magnesium is an essential mineral in whole grains, leafy green vegetables,
legumes - meaning beans, peas, lentils and soy - and nuts, as well as seeds, that acts as a cofactor in
hundreds of enzymatic reactions in the human body. A considerable body of evidence indicates that a
higher intake of dietary magnesium may favorably affect a cluster of metabolic and inflammatory
disorders including many of our top killers like diabetes and heart disease.
So, did they put a whole bunch of people on whole grains, beans, greens, and nuts? No, they gave them a pill.
A randomized, double-blind, controlled, crossover trial - and indeed, magnesium pills did improve
some biomarkers in the bodies of the overweight individuals studied...but come on. In fact, even the Harvard
Nurses' study threw up their hands in defeat. Since most Americans do not meet the RDA, even taking
pills, therefore, we need…more pills! And...put it in the water supply and start fortifying foods. I mean there’s
no way, apparently, that Americans are going to start eating spinach or something.
It’s true, though, that most Americans eat so poorly that they don’t even get the measly recommended
daily intake. This is the daily value for magnesium: 400. This is how much the average American gets. How much do you
think the average American vegetarian gets? Well... recently published in the Journal of the American Dietetics
Association: A Vegetarian Dietary Pattern as a Nutrient-Dense Approach to Weight Management.
They measured vegetarian magnesium intake and... they’re not eating their greens, either.
Nonvegetarians ate an average of 0.1 cups of dark green vegetables a day;
the vegetarians ate 0.15 cups.
They did better, but still not enough greens, beans, whole grains, nuts and seeds.
It's not enough to eat a plant-based diet. We need to eat a healthy plant-based diet.