Hi everyone.... I was fixing my profile today, and decided to look in here.

Looks like a very valuable thread! jcc sent me that abstracted article before
my vacation. It parallels a study done in Poland, that I found a few years ago.

The difference here is that SERUM values are very misleading when it comes to magnesium...and this is the first paper I've seen (except for pediatric migraine papers on PubMed) that discuss other testing types!

Basically magnesium in the serum is not in the cells where it counts.

When you have multiple listings for magnesium in a product like
oxide/glycinate/citrate mentioned here, usually the oxide is predominate because it is cheap--- the others are listed to make you think you are getting more than you may be!

The most bioavailable is the lactate (newest research)... but any of the chelates will work for most people. The citrate can be very laxative..and it is actually citrate of magnesia which is a colonic irrigator used before many x-rays like kidney, some GI (lower). Used carefully in lower doses it may not be so devastating(or if one is prone to constipation).

I use SlowMag generic (MagDelay)--extended release-- or magnesium malate (but that upsets me sometimes). My preferred supplement is almonds in a snack. 3 ounces have about 270mg, with no upset.

Some drugs deplete magnesium, diarrhea does, and so do caffeine and RX diuretics.

If this board remains, I will request a Vitamin Deficiency forum. And then move my data over slowly to there. I am not sure where we are going here, or if the other board is going to become history. Only time will tell.

Until then, here is the updated version from Linus Pauling Institute
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocente...ium/index.html