More on Magnesium. Thought I had posted this here, but I had it on a forum I had been on for many years, so found it:

This is from a VERY interesting important article on mag deficiency:

Personally I take upwards of 1000mg Mag Citrate, Malate, Glycinate separate and often mix them them. Split up doses which gets me about 1000mg per day. If one deals with LOOSE bowels, take less or to bowel tolerance.

Nearly EVERYONE has signs of magnesium deficiency but we don’t realize it…

*edit*
*snip & link for copyrighted articles..*

remember.... there is elemental dosing and total dosing.

1000mg of magnesium malate has 150mg of elemental magnesium, and the rest is the malate portion. (this is on the label of Puritan's malate version.)

This is true for all the combos with slightly varying elemental values. A good supplement will state on its label what the elemental value is. But many do not.

I have seen on the net that citrate is 16% elemental with up to 90% of that absorbed.

So if you take 1000mg of magnesium citrate, about 160mg is magnesium. This is about 1/2 the RDA for adults.

mrsD, should one be concerned about stress to the internal organs (for example, kidneys and liver) when it comes to processing magnesium, particularly in high amounts?

Thanks!

One needs good kidney functions to use high dose magnesium safely. The liver, not so much.

When one uses oral magnesium supplements, they usually get loose stools before reaching any toxic levels.

Babies and elderly using Fleets enemas, or the PhosoSoda laxative (which was taken off the market) can get toxic faster than people in mid range ages. Most of the poisonings happen to very old and very young patients.

When I researched this toxicity years ago I found very few reports of deaths in fact... under 20 per year.

This is a good link: about hypermagnesemia
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/246489-overview
But I can't find actual statistics right now for further examples.

mrsD, thank you for your very quick reply! I’ve been thinking about using topicals, and I may try the Morton’s Epsom lotion. I’ve gotten some relief from muscle twitches in my leg from using Aspercreme. I know this is an old product, but it has been effective in helping me with muscle inflammation.

NOW has a product called “magnesium citrate softgels” On the label, it says that the amount per serving is 400 mg of “magnesium (from magnesium citrate, magnesium glycinate and magnesium malate.” I’m assuming this product actually contains 400 mg of elemental magnesium. Is this correct?

Hi Caroline, thanks for re-posting your magnesium summary here. In addition to it helping my muscle strength, taking magnesium also helped me to eliminate a sometimes irregular heartbeat problem. In fact that’s why I initially began supplementing with magnesium in the first place.

I don't think so..... how big are the softgels? About an inch?
or smaller. The 1000mg magnesium malate tablets are humongous... almost an inch long. And in all that room is only 150mg of elemental.

Some labels really have confusing wording. If the word elemental is not there, I don't assume what is listed is referring to the mag portion. I called a maker once who listed several forms of mag in their product... and they could not tell me how much of each. I don't trust those mixes therefore...they buy the cheapest they can get.

The main reason magnesium oxide remains common today in supplements is that the magnesium portion is 40%.... elemental.
This allows for smaller tablets, easy to swallow. But no one for decades tested absorption, and so they are relatively useless now we know. Phillips uses it in its laxative product however.
The oxide form does not ionize (come apart) in the GI water filled tract... it remains insoluble, so does not get into the blood at all.

So the SIZE of the product can be a hint as to what is in it.
There can be a lot of tiny details people need to know to successfully use supplements.

Hi mrsD, here is a link to the product label:

http://www.iherb.com/Now-Foods-Magne...2&sr=null&ic=2

One 400 mg serving is the sum of three magnesium citrate softgels, so each softgel is about 133 mgs each. According to my ruler, one softgel is exactly one inch in length. I suppose than means there is probably much less than 133mg of elemental magnesium in each softgel.

Sounds like this is an elemental value. It is logical for a large capsule.

You know NOW is a great company... send them an email. I see their address on the label. ;)

And you can then share with them that not putting "elemental" on the label is confusing when others do that more today.

It is interesting to call them too, I've done that a few times in the past. (various places) I called Jarrow once, NatureMade once, and Perrigo once. (Perrigo is merging with another company soon or has already I think.) I've also complained mightily to Hershey's regarding their adding sorbitol to some of their candies (not dietetic). They sent me $9.00 in coupons which hubby used up. (I don't eat Hershey's products anymore as a protest).

I am currently using Jigsaw Health Magnesium with SRT. It works well for me. Though it isn't cheap. 4tabs daily providing 500mg mag as dimagnesium malate.