With magnesium deficiencies on the rise, a common question is, “How do you get enough magnesium in your diet?”
Yet — while it’s always important to seek out magnesium rich foods — many are unaware of the
drastic declines in food-based nutrient sources that have occurred over the last century. These factors, coupled with poor food choices, now cause many health professionals to question the ability to get sufficient magnesium exclusively from food.
Magnesium content in vegetables has seen
declines from 25-80% since pre-1950 figures, and typical grain refining processes for bread and pasta
remove 80-95% of total magnesium.
What is happening to our food sources, and how is it shaping the rise of chronic diseases such as hypertension and metabolic disorder?
Magnesium food sources were once commonly consumed, but have diminished in the last century due to industrialized agriculture and changing diets.
The average American diet contains barely over 50% of the conservative US recommended daily allowance (RDA) for magnesium1 2 , and roughly three quarters of the population consumes a magnesium insufficient diet.1 3 4 5
{Note that RDAs generally are set at the level just above disease inducing deficiency and in no way reflect optimal levels!}
The foods magnesium is found in include:
Beans and nuts
Whole grains such as brown rice and whole wheat bread
Green leafy vegetables
{Considering the fact that man evolved as homo sapiens due to eating cooked meats, one wonders where and how he got his magnesium before turning to agricultural products? Perhaps it was mostly absorbed through the skin via swimming as in The Aquatic Ape Theory?}
Given current food preferences, however, it’s easy to see how it’s hard to achieve 100% of RDAs for magnesium.
% Daily Value in Magnesium Containing Foods
{In other words, try as you will via food, your levels are probably still below disease inducing deficiency.}
The majority of good magnesium sources contain only about 10% or less of recommended daily amounts, as seen in a list of the magnesium content in common food sources of magnesium. Those that do contain more, such as certain nuts,
fish and whole grains, are often eaten in too small quantities by the average person.
{Ah, finally a mention of a meat/type source: fish!}
But, in fact, percent daily value figures are just averages. For every individual:
Absorption rates can vary, and according to studies can sometimes be as low as 20%.6 7
Factors can interfere with magnesium absorption, including phytic and oxalic acid found in certain foods, prescription drugs, age, and genetic factors.
{In other words, getting magnesium from plants which contain phytic and oxalic acid simply doesn't work.}
Why is a high magnesium diet harder to achieve today? What is changing our vitamin and mineral food sources?
There three basic reasons we can’t get enough magnesium in the diet:
Reduced levels due to processing.
Reduced levels due to soil conditions.
Changes in eating habits.
{Skip discussion of decline in soils, processing etc, all of which have to do with agricultural sources. Then we come to this:}
These declines are
not limited to vegetable crops. A study by David Thomas published in Nutrition and Health examined average nutritional content of foods across food categories using the UK government’s Composition of Food tables.
Thomas found consistent declines in magnesium content:
Vegetables declined by 24% between 1940 and 1991.
Fruit declined by 17%.
Meat declined by 15%.
Cheeses declined by 26%.17
{Obviously, if the soil levels decline, the levels of magnesium in animals grown for meat are also low, a deficiency that gets passed up the food chain.}
{Snip more discussion about agricultural sources.}
Noted magnesium researchers Burton and Bella Altura have linked ongoing declines in magnesium intake with increased incidence of life-threatening disease. In their 2006 report to the International Magnesium Symposium held in Osaka Japan, they state:
The data accumulated so far indicate that magnesium deficiency caused either by a poor diet or errors in magnesium metabolism may be a missing link between diverse cardiovascular risk factors and atherogenesis.”2
The body is equipped to absorb dietary magnesium sources, and even in cases of mild or severe deficiencies it is always recommended that you include magnesium-rich foods in your diet. Yet with the state of modern agri-business today and the increasing risks to health and longevity, relying upon magnesium food sources alone can be a risky proposition.
Chart of Magnesium Rich Foods {See link above}
