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SYMPTOMS OF MAGNESIUM DEFICIENCY

The common symptoms are constipation, loss of appetite, generally not feeling well, tiredness, tiring quickly, muscle cramps, pins and needles, irritability, disturbed sleeping patterns, headaches, bad concentration and psychological changes.

What can cause magnesium deficiency?

Our diet today contains less magnesium than it once did. The biggest cause of this deficiency, apart from ill-health, is our bad eating habits. On a daily basis, people usually consume too few of the foodstuffs which contain sufficient magnesium, such as almonds, beans, cocoa, hazelnuts, walnuts etc. Also, these items tend to be intentionally avoided while people are on a slimming diet. The shortage of magnesium begins with modern day methods of harvesting food from the land, whereby crops are artificially fertilised with potassium and nitrogenous fertiliser, which in turn drains the earth of its natural goodness. This deficiency is then carried on into various foodstuffs, which consequently contain less magnesium than they should. Besides this, more than 80% of magnesium and other oligoelements are removed from foodstuffs on account of modern day processing methods of sugar, grain and salt. 38-67% of magnesium is lost through cooking, up to 38% through freezing and up to 99% through refining processes.

A deficiency can also generally be traced to areas in which the soil composition already has a poor magnesium content and consequently less of it is found in the drinking water and food. Australia has the lowest magnesium content in the soil in the world.

Reasons for magnesium deficiency

• Slimming where the emphasis is on only one type of nutrition.
• Eating food which is too greasy or fatty.
• Incorrect food intake, ie too much sugar, too many foodstuffs made with white flour, over-cooked or roasted food.
• Food which has a very rich calcium content, or which is lacking in vitamins B₁, B₂ and B₆.
• Alcoholism, smoking, being fed through a tube or a drip (over a long period of time).
• Insufficient reabsorption of magnesium, or excessive loss of magnesium through bowel resection, use of purgatives and inflammatory bowel disease resulting in diarrhoea (Crohn's disease) and ulcerative colitis.
• Endocrine causes are diabetes, some thyroid and parathyroid conditions, disease of the kidneys and adrenal glands.
• The taking of diuretics and some antibiotics.
• Extreme sports, pregnancy, breast-feeding.
• Stressful situations.

Scientific experts are naming magnesium as an anti-stress mineral and a nerve and muscle palliative

• Magnesium is as an important part in the chlorophyll molecule as iron is in the haemoglobin molecule. The daily magnesium intake required by the body amounts to 12.3 to 20.6 mmol (300-500 mg). 24-75% of magnesium is absorbed by the body from foodstuffs, depending on the amount of magnesium already in the body and the types of food eaten. With a magnesium deficiency, more magnesium is pumped out. After potassium, magnesium is the most important mineral among the intracellular minerals. The body of a grown adult contains around 864-1152 mmol (21-28 g) of magnesium, and around 60% of all magnesium in the body is deposited in the bones. Magnesium is a component part of blood plasma. It can be found in the skeletal muscles, heart muscles, nervous system and in large quantities in the liver. Around 80% of magnesium serum is ionised and dispersible, the remainder being tied to proteins.
• Magnesium makes possible more than 300 different vitally important functions in our bodies. It regulates the entire nervous and muscle system and also enables normal transmission of impulses between the nerve fibres.
• It is a very important catalyst for a great many enzyme systems.
• Without magnesium, the metabolism of carbon hydrates, proteins and fats is not possible.
• It stabilises thrombocytes (by preventing them gluing together) and is a protective element against thrombosis.
• It works as a preventive measure against cardiac infarct (in that it lowers the amount of fat in the blood). It also prevents disturbance of the heart rhythm and strengthens the heart muscles.
• It prevents the formation of kidney stones.
• It reduces the toxicity of various substances in the liver and accelerates the liver's regeneration.
• It has a beneficial effect on the pancreas and the secretion of pancreatic juices.
• It works as a means for the natural regulation of digestion, and consequently proves beneficial if you are suffering from constipation.
• It plays an important role in both gynaecology and obstetrics, as it can happen that premature childbirth can arise on account of a magnesium deficiency. It is used as a medical treatment for some complications which can occur during pregnancy and childbirth.
• It has an effect on male fertility, as it is one of the most important elements to be found in sperm heads. The swimming drive of the sperm stops whenever there is a disturbance with regard to the metabolism of magnesium or there is too little magnesium - the consequence of which is simply that the sperm are immobilised.

At this point, it is necessary to mention the antioxidant activity of magnesium, which protects the cells from harm. In today's modern life we are constantly being threatened by dangerous emissions, ozones, tobacco smoke plus preserved and refined nutrients. Numerous substances can metamorphose in the body into dangerous free radicals - small molecules which damage the cells. A healthy body has at its disposal copious safety mechanisms, but the prevalence of the early onset of cancer, heart and vein diseases and other degenerative illnesses prevent it from always working as one would wish.