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Introduction: What magnesium is best?
The best and worst forms of magnesium. Let's talk about that today. Now the question is, why is magnesium so important? Well, it's involved in 300 different parts of your biochemistry. No other mineral is involved with that many enzymes. Vitamin D is involved with 2,500 different genes, but genes are not enzymes.
The other big thing about magnesium is that it's almost impossible to test. That's right. If you do a blood test, you're not going to be able to know what's going on in the cell. You see, the majority of magnesium, like 99%, is inside the cell, and only 1% is in the blood. But it's very difficult and not easy to test. In fact, I don't know anyone who's ever had their magnesium tested correctly. An average person doesn't even come close to getting enough magnesium from their diet.
Magnesium benefits
Magnesium is at the heart of energy production. Deep down inside your cells you have this little rotary motor. It's the smallest motor in nature, and it's spinning between 100 to 400 times a second, and you need magnesium for that thing to rotate and make the energy.
Magnesium is very important for vitamin D. If you don't have enough magnesium, vitamin D won't work. You might have thought that vitamin K2 was the key vitamin to keep calcium out of the soft tissues, but what you might not know is that vitamin K2 is dependent on magnesium too. People also get these kidney stones. It's usually a calcium oxalate kidney stone, and magnesium can prevent that stone from forming because it controls the calcium. Magnesium is essential for the heart, to lower blood pressure, prevent muscle cramps, migraine headaches, and help you sleep at night.
So let's go through the different forms of magnesium, starting with the one that is the worst of the worst.
Magnesium oxide
This has a very poor absorption rate. This is called magnesium oxide. Usually you can cram 400 milligrams of magnesium oxide into one pill, but what you might not know is that magnesium oxide only has an absorption rate of 4%. That's like 96% of it goes right through you. Whereas other forms of magnesium, like the best form, which I'll get to, has an 80% absorption. You'd have to take 8,000 milligrams, that's 20 of these capsules, just to equal the dose of what you'd get from a high-quality magnesium supplement. There's no way you could take 20 of these pills all together, because it would create so much gastric stress and so much diarrhea. So never take magnesium oxide.
Now, the problem with that is that it's the most common one they sell over the counter. In fact, and this is interesting, magnesium oxide is the most common type of magnesium used in researching magnesium. And if you're only absorbing 4%, you can imagine the results from those studies are not going to show hardly any benefit. Thus the mixed reviews you get about magnesium. And then, of course, your doctor might say, "Oh yeah, based on the studies, magnesium doesn't work." But not all magnesium is the same. There are a lot of differences. The reason why you can't just take magnesium without anything is that it has to be transported. So when you see magnesium, it always comes with something else.
The last thing about magnesium oxide is that it's super expensive. You're probably paying $10 for it, but you can buy a kilogram of it in bulk for like $5. So when you're buying a bottle of magnesium oxide, the raw material cost of that is probably 10 cents. The bottle is more expensive than the magnesium itself.
So we're starting at the worst magnesium, magnesium oxide, and we're going to start to go up from there. Mainly this evaluation is based on absorption, but I'm going to go through each one and tell you the unique things about each one.
Magnesium sulfate
The next one is magnesium sulfate. You probably get an absorption rate of about 10%, so it's a little bit better. It also has a high laxative effect, so it can help relax your muscles superficially.
All right, let's go to the next one.
Magnesium orotate
This one has an absorption rate of roughly up to 15%. This one is unique because it can penetrate the cell wall, so it can go into the cell and help make energy. It's also good as an antioxidant and it can support your DNA.
Magnesium taurate
The next one is called magnesium taurate. For this one you get a moderate absorption, like 20%, so that's a little bit better. This one is also good for anything related to the heart, especially blood pressure, as well as supporting your nervous system.
Magnesium lactate
Let's go to the next one, magnesium lactate. This one has a little better absorption, about 25%, and it is more gentle on your GI system. It's not as much of a laxative. It too is good for the cardiovascular system and to improve energy.
Now, this is the one that they usually put in an oil to put on your body topically. But here's the problem: magnesium doesn't actually penetrate through all the different barriers of your skin deep into the blood supply. It's not going to go into your blood topically, but it may go into your muscles and help relax them. A lot of people get benefit by rubbing this magnesium into their muscles before they go to bed, so it's not a bad option.
Magnesium citrate
The next one is magnesium citrate. This has an absorption of about 30%. A lot of people take this one to prevent kidney stones, because citrate combines with the oxalates, and they can reduce the oxalates connecting to calcium. But it also can help detoxify you, and it's good for cardiovascular issues and blood pressure. This one can also come in a liquid.
Magnesium malate
The next one is magnesium malate. This one absorbs a little bit better, like 40%. Malate is good for chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia, overall increasing energy, and it helps your muscles.
Magnesium threonate
Then we get to another form of magnesium, and that is called magnesium threonate. This one absorbs pretty well, about 75%, but it doesn't have a really good systemic effect on everything else. It's mainly for your brain, because it can cross the blood-brain barrier. So this one is good for cognitive function and sleep, but this is not the type of magnesium you want for overall body benefits.
Magnesium glycinate
Now let's get to the one that I personally take. It is the most absorbable type of magnesium, and this is called magnesium glycinate. This one can be absorbed up to 80%, so that's a lot. This one is good because it doesn't give you a laxative problem. It's very gentle on the GI system. It's good for any muscle spasm in the body, good for sleep, relaxation, stress, and migraines, and it won't interfere with other minerals like calcium and iron.
One of the more important functions of magnesium, and I want to emphasize this, is to allow vitamin D to work. Vitamin D won't work without magnesium. So if a person takes vitamin D and says, "Oh yeah, that didn't work," it's probably because they're deficient in magnesium. Magnesium is a natural calcium channel blocker, so it's really good for the heart and really good for helping control calcium buildup anywhere in the body. Magnesium is also involved in insulin secretion and in allowing your insulin to be more sensitive. This is why diabetics are nearly always severely deficient in magnesium.
Magnesium dosage
I recommend taking magnesium at night as a maintenance dose. I would recommend taking 400 mg per day as a therapeutic dose, and I would double that. But the problem is, if you're taking magnesium glycinate all at night, that's a lot of pills, so I would recommend spreading those out through the day.
Magnesium follows a rhythm. It's going to be at its lowest point in your body in the early morning, maybe around 4 a.m., and in the evening it'll be at its highest point. So if you have a subclinical magnesium deficiency, you may notice more problems in the early morning. I'm talking about early morning insomnia, and the cramps, the foot or leg cramps that just get you out of bed in the early morning. Most of those cramps happen right about that time. Isn't that interesting? It correlates exactly with a magnesium deficiency.
If you want more fascinating information about magnesium, check out this video right here.