I just accessed the NOW website – perhaps I will send them an email to clarify the dosage of elemental magnesium. Thanks for the suggestion, mrsD.

Will I ever "get it" on the copyright issues....here is a good link on a lot of what I had printed and then it was deleted, hope this is OK to post:

pure-healing.net/2015/03/26/why-we-are-all-deficient-in-magnesium/
Mar 26, 2015 - Hardly anyone, especially doctors, notice that the ailments we suffer ... Nearly EVERYONE has signs of magnesium deficiency but we don't ...

Mrs. D,
I thank you very much for sharing your experience some time ago about the Sorbitol (the day or two before, I had a similar issue with Russell Stover Chocolates; checked ingredients...Sorbitol), I have been very careful to avoid anything with Sorbitol.

Now I am finding out the awful time I have been having with so many items containing Soy Lecithin. It is not as bad as the Sorbitol; but can get pretty nasty especially when listed a few times in the ingredients of many items.

The last few days have had been having a lot of messy messy issues. I decided to check the ingredients of the frozen Cheese Pops I had been eating which I purchased from Market Day....Some of the Ingredients includes as follows.....Soy Lecithin twice, Soybean Oil, as well as Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, then add to that; Potassium Sorbate.

Because of removal of rectum due to cancer (had enough muscle left so I do not have a bag), I guess this has especially made me more vulnerable to the nasty side effects.

It is so unfortunate that many foods; especially sweets which I so enjoy, have a list of ingredients that we are totally unaware of the side effects.


Gerry

Oh, yes... Russell Stover and Whitman's (both the same company)
put sorbitol in all their chocolates! I wonder if this is the reason they are going out of business? Selling off the company?
http://www.forbes.com/sites/briansol...e-giant-lindt/
Maybe the recipes will change?

For a short time I was buying the fancy tins to use to store my special pencils and brushes in, and those only show up for Xmas and Mother's Day. I'd portion out the candy but I was getting sick on just one or 2 here and there! Yep it was the sorbitol in them!

Another culprit---Hersheys has added this new emulsifier...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygly...olyricinoleate

It comes from castor oil.... which is a laxative! Doesn't bother hubby, but it does me!

Carob bean gum is another...and it is in creamed cheese, and some cottage cheeses!
The other gums like xanthum gum and guar seem less offensive in small amounts.

Most processed foods have these now...they are termed "natural" and they help improve flow and movement and mixing all thru the manufacturing process. They are FOS and as a form of polysaccharides feed various GI bacteria. This is what causes the diarrhea and gas.

I think people with GI upsets from FOS...should consider a FODMAPS diet...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FODMAP

Normal gut bacteria get really messed up with antibiotics, and this is one big cause of FODMAP I think.

If you have problems with inulin (not insulin) (the pastas sold as low calorie) that would point to needing a FODMAP diet.

Speaking of these additives, I buy SO Coconut Milk creamer.. I use mostly all coconut milk/oil products and recently the new containers of SO creamer have an announcement on the carton: We Heard You! Titanium Dioxide Free, Carrageenan Free

Good to see these changes from companies.

Back to the topic of magnesium :)

I did contact NOW Foods and spoke with a very nice and polite young man in their nutrition department. The conversation went something like this:

Audrey: Hello, on the label for your Magnesium Citrate 180 Softgels, does the 400 mg dosage refer to the amount of elemental magnesium?

NOW: Yes, ma’am, it is all elemental.

Audrey: Is that also true for all of your magnesium products?

NOW: Yes, ma’am, they all refer to elemental values.

Audrey: With all due respect, then why doesn’t it say “elemental” on the product labels?

NOW: That’s assumed, ma’am.

Well, that clears it up.... A S S U ME.... That is a military and FBI type word.

But we now know the NOW makes assumptions about the consumer?

It can be very interesting calling or emailing these manufacturers. They do write down things, and some even record the calls. "Your call is being monitored for quality control purposes".

”But we now know the NOW makes assumptions about the consumer? “

Well, the man from NOW also said that what is listed on the label for all NOW minerals is elemental, not just magnesium. I suppose they’re assuming this should also be intuitively obvious to the consumer. :)

I found this article last night on my phone...

It is pretty good...explaining the clinical symptoms of low magnesium.

http://www.activebeat.com/diet-nutri...um-deficiency/

This info hits close to home with me. A very good friend who is very alternative in healing and taught me a lot in all the years I've known her...has been thru some drama in the hospital and the dx is arrhythmia aka afib. I don't know how much mag she took, but nothing like the amount I take now for years. Having a lot of recent anxiety seems to have led up to this condition she now deals with. The recent anxiety she tells me felt like a lot of pins and needles thru her body... She is on 4-5 heart meds now and laying real low. So this brings me to thinking, had she been taking optimal mag for her body would she be dealing with this now. ummm Thanks for this good info.