Magnesium Deficiency & Diabetes

A friend of mine asked me why I recommend magnesium supplementation on my diet.  (she's training for a half marathon in March and the diet would benefit her greatly if she could drop 10-15 lbs prior.)

I looked back from my previous research (and some extra) to give her a good explanation.  To my surprise, I discovered that it may be one of the variables that causes Type I Diabetes!  This is the gist of what i wrote her....

1)  A typical multi-vit contains around 100mg of magnesium which is largely under what our body needs (300-400mg) if we don't the rest from our diet.
http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/magnesium-000313.htm
http://www.algaecal.com/magnesium/magnesium-rich-foods.html

2) Exercise: Since you're very active (long distance cardio 3x a week around 20miles in total volume), your serum magnesium are lost DRASTICALLY.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3453693?dopt=Abstract
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3558215?dopt=Abstract
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3600291?dopt=Abstract
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9794089?dopt=Abstract

Even when you're eating a well balance modern diet (not being on my program), you're already magnesium deficient due to our agricultural farming methods and food processing.
http://drumlib.com/dp/000014.htm

"For example, white bread contains about 40% less magnesium than whole wheat bread.  In addition, since World War II, the amount of magnesium in our food has steadily declined due to use of fertilizers that only replenish nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium."

4) So imagine if you're already magnesium deficient eating a standard American diet, on top of that, being on a low kcal restrictive diet to lose body fat, (almost half the nutrients you're used to get), on top of that, eliminating mostly carbs/calories that contains high magnesium like beans, nuts, peanuts, tofu, cereal, bread, seeds, pumpkin and squash.  500mg is seriously a minimum. 

even though I personally take more magnesium than 500mg, i want to use that number as a minimum and it shows a host of  benefits greater than just weight loss alone. 
http://www.ajcn.org/content/early/2010/12/15/ajcn.110.002949.abstract
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9056694?dopt=Abstract
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1728927?dopt=Abstract

Joborn H, Akerstrom G, Ljunghall S "Effects of exogenous catecholamines and exercise on plasma magnesium concentrations" Clin Endocrinol (Oxf) 1985, Vol 23 (3), Pg 219-26. PMID: 0004075536.

Altura BM and Altura BT "New perspectives on the role of magnesium in the pathophysiology of the cardiovascular system. I. Clinical aspects" Magnesium 1985, Vol 4 (5-6), Pg 226-44. PMID: 0003914580.

Ma J, Folsom AR, Melnick SL, Eckfeldt JH, Sharrett AR, Nabulsi AA, Hutchinson RG, Metcalf PA "Associations of serum and dietary magnesium with cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, insulin, and carotid arterial wall thickness: the ARIC study. Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study" J Clin Epidemiol 1995, Vol 48 (7), Pg 927-40. PMID: 0007782801.

Paolisso G and Barbagallo M "Hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and insulin resistance: the role of intracellular magnesium" Am J Hypertens 1997, Vol 10 (3), Pg 346-55. PMID: 0009056694.

Altura BM and Altura BT "Cardiovascular risk factors and magnesium: relationships to atherosclerosis, ischemic heart disease and hypertension" Magnes Trace Elem 1991-1992, Vol 10 (2-4), Pg 182-92. PMID: 0001844551.

Touyz RM "Magnesium supplementation as an adjuvant to synthetic calcium channel antagonists in the treatment of hypertension" Med Hypotheses 1991, Vol 36 (2), Pg 140-1. PMID: 0001664038.

Haenni A, Berglund L, Reneland R, Anderssson PE, Lind L, Lithell H "The alterations in insulin sensitivity during angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor treatment are related to changes in the calcium/magnesium balance" Am J Hypertens 1997, Vol 10 (2), Pg 145-51. PMID: 0009037321.

5) This is also why I have you drink tons of water for the mag.
Marier JR and Neri LC "Quantifying the role of magnesium in the interrelationship between human mortality/morbidity and water hardness" Magnesium 1985, Vol 4 (2-3), Pg 53-9. PMID: 0004046646.

Marx A and Neutra RR "Magnesium in drinking water and ischemic heart disease" Epidemiol Rev 1997, Vol 19 (2), Pg 258-72. PMID: 0009494787.

Rubenowitz E, Axelsson G, Rylander R "Magnesium in drinking water and death from acute myocardial infarction" Am J Epidemiol 1996, Vol 143 (5), Pg 456-62. PMID: 0008610660.

Yang CY "Calcium and magnesium in drinking water and risk of death from cerebrovascular disease" Stroke 1998, Vol 29 (2), Pg 411-4. PMID: 0009472882.

Yang CY and Chiu HF "Calcium and magnesium in drinking water and the risk of death from hypertension" Am J Hypertens 1999, Vol 12 (9 Pt 1), Pg 894-9. PMID: 0010509547.

Yang CY, Chiu HF, Cheng MF, Tsai SS, Hung CF, Tseng YT "Magnesium in drinking water and the risk of death from diabetes mellitus" Magnes Res 1999, Vol 12 (2), Pg 131-7. PMID: 0010423708.

6) Also why calcium and potassium supplements are essential.  magnesium deficiency can make you lose those 2 as well, so does exercise.
Whang R, Whang DD, Ryan MP "Refractory potassium repletion. A consequence of magnesium deficiency" Arch Intern Med 1992, Vol 152 (1), Pg 40-5. PMID: 0001728927.

Abraham AS "Potassium and magnesium status in ischaemic heart disease" Magnes Res 1988, Vol 1 (1-2), Pg 53-7. PMID: 0003079203.

You need more magnesium than your current diet already.  Since you're doing chronic cardio and eating less than half of what you used to, magnesium supplementation is necessary. 
I would actually recommend once you finish my program, keep up with your magnesium intake from magnesium rich food or from suppls.

Another friend of mine thinks Type I Diabetes is a chronic disease that only modern medicine can mediate it.  He argued that it can't be cured, prevented, or improved/suppress through diet, rest, fast, exercise, and meditation.  I decided to look into it myself and show him why the drug industry and our health care system may not have our best interest.

First of all, before I go any further, i just like to say that the ADA's recommendation on diabetes nutrition is completely screwed.  50-60% carbohydrates?!?!?  I thought the problem is sugar and insulin?  why are patients eating so much glucose-containing food?!  This is completely backward.

The one macronutrient that's insulin/glucose neutral is fat, then a small % of  non dairy protein/amino acids trigger/convert to glucose ... those should be on the bottomof the pyramid.

Even if a meal full of fiber, how much curving of glucose release are we achieving when you eat a typical American meal with 100g of carbs in it, whole grain pasta, brown rice, or oatmeal?

and are there such things as "essential carbohydrates"?  no. Why are we told to eat so much non-essential carbs?  spiking our insulin all day and causing us inflammations? 

These article explains the relationship b/w insulin Biosynthesis and Type I Diabetes. 

Basically, C-peptide is a bioactive peptide that regulate 2 enzymes that are deficient in T1D patients (Na+, K+-ATPase and endothelial nitric oxide (NO) synthase).

http://www.springerlink.com/content/v0n23h2m02026465/
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ben/iemamc/2007/00000007/00000001/art00008
http://ndt.oxfordjournals.org/content/19/9/2170.full.pdf+html
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ana.20295/abstract
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1475-097X.2004.00558.x/abstract
http://www.springerlink.com/content/50625885g075g682/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15367890
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1464-5491.2000.00274.x/abstract
http://www.cebix.com/index.php/about_us/

These article link magnesium deficiency with down regulation of C-petitde/T1Diabetes. particularly the first one.
http://www.ajcn.org/content/early/2010/12/15/ajcn.110.002949.abstract
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9056694?dopt=Abstract
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7782801?dopt=Abstract

Durlach J, Bara M, Guiet-Bara A "Magnesium level in drinking water and cardiovascular risk factor: a hypothesis" Magnesium 1985, Vol 4 (1), Pg 5-15. PMID: 0004033205.   "In developed countries, the Mg intake [from food] is often marginal and the Mg intake coming from drinking water represents the critical factor through which the Mg intake is deficient or satisfactory."

More specifically how the agriculture industry (farming methods/food processing) made food not only deficient in these vitamins/minerals compare to 40 years ago, our USDA are recommending these same 'nutrient-void' food to be eaten in large amount (particularly grain) that contain large amount of 'anti-nutrient' enzymes (phytic acid/lactin/gluten) that further bind with minerals like calcium/iron/mag/zinc/potassium/vitD which led us to chronic disorders unknown to mankind up til the 20th century.


Food/water supply are magnesium deficient in modern societies.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10423708?dopt=Abstract
Durlach J, Bara M, Guiet-Bara A "Magnesium level in drinking water and cardiovascular risk factor: a hypothesis" Magnesium 1985, Vol 4 (1), Pg 5-15. PMID: 0004033205.

Diuretics also depletes serum magnesium.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7836625?dopt=Abstract

So basically, these are the cumulative factors that leads to magnesium deficiency which may cause Type I Diabetes.

1. water supply
2. processed food.
3. farming methods.
4. diuretics.
5. high volume cardio/strenuous exercise.
6. under-supplementation
7. anti-nutrient enzymes found in grain based food (push by our USDA).

In my opinion, it's not so much that we're not eating a balanced diet, it's just that we have no idea how nutrient-deficient the foods are today and we're probably consuming too much "anti-nutrient" food than eating too little "nutrient-rich" food that are depleting our bodily stored minerals/vitamins.
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update:
24-2011
The Importance of Magnesium to Human Nutrition
http://www.mbschachter.com/importance_of_magnesium_to_human.htm

"Virtually, all chemical reactions in the body require an enzyme system to help the biochemical reaction take place. Magnesium is a critical co-factor in more than 300 enzymatic reactions in the human body.

In the USA, magnesium supplementation is dramatically under utilized by conventional physicians and is more important in patient therapy than most physicians realize. There are over 200 published clinical studies documenting the need for magnesium.

recently conventional physicians have become interested in treating patients with acute heart attacks, chronic cardiovascular disease, heart arrhythmias, diabetes, asthma, chronic fatigue syndrome and many other disorders.

Symptoms of Magnesium Deficiency?
With regard to skeletal muscle, one may experience twitches, cramps, muscle tension, muscle soreness, including back aches, neck pain, tension headaches and jaw joint (or TMJ) dysfunction. Also, one may experience chest tightness or a peculiar sensation that he can't take a deep breath. Sometimes a person may sigh a lot.
 
Symptoms involving impaired contraction of smooth muscles include constipation; urinary spasms; menstrual cramps; difficulty swallowing or a lump in the throat-especially provoked by eating sugar; photophobia, especially difficulty adjusting to oncoming bright headlights in the absence of eye disease; and loud noise sensitivity from stapedius muscle tension in the ear.
 
Other symptoms of magnesium deficiency, the central nervous system is markedly affected. Symptoms include insomnia, anxiety, hyperactivity and restlessness with constant movement, panic attacks, agoraphobia, and premenstrual irritability."
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How to Have a Magnesium (Mg) Rich Diet
http://www.ctds.info/magdiet.html

eat more vegetables. esp. Okra, pumpkin and squash, Spinach. eat tons of Halibut.

stay away from grain/legume/seed food (follow the cavement diet) that impair mineral absorption.  (soy, rice, oats, corn, barley, millet... and nightshades)

always have some fat in the diet for better absorption. essential fat like olive oil, coconut oil, lard/butter.

"Calcium is a magnesium antagonist. As such, drinking too much milk or eating too many other calcium rich foods in relation to Mg containing foods may lower magnesium levels

Alcohol may cause a loss of Mg. Many of the symptoms of hangovers (headache, noise sensitivity, light sensitivity) are identical to the symptoms of Mg deficiency.
Caffeine can cause a magnesium loss

Be aware that many multivitamin pills do not contain any appreciable levels of magnesium, yet may contain many magnesium antagonists"

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