Magnesium, The Spark of Life

The Miracle of Magnesium
by Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D.

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In a poetic reference to magnesium's crucial role in evolution, Dr. Jerry Aikawa of the University of Colorado calls magnesium the ur-mineral, the most important mineral to man and all living organisms.10 It is critical to the metabolic processes of lowly one-celled living organisms and is the second most abundant element in all cells involved in basically metabolic pathway. Magnesium existed at the beginning of life and was involved with all aspects of cell production and growth. When plants evolved to use the sun as their energy source, magnesium played a pivotal role in the development of chlorophyll. So in both plants and animals, magnesium became an essential mineral involved in hundreds of enzyme processes affecting every aspect of life.

Presently, seventeen minerals are considered essential for human life, and it is quite possible that more minerals will be found to be indispensable as we take more time to study life's mineral connection. Ninety-nine percent of the body's mineral content is made up of seven macrominerals: sodium, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, chlorine, sulfur, and magnesium. The other 1 percent comprises ten trace minerals. As with most minerals, the element magnesium occurs in nature combined with other elements. It joins naturally with sulfur to make Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate), with carbon to make magnesium carbonate, and with calcium to make dolomite. Magnesium is also found in partnership with silica in talc and asbestos. Like calcium, it is an alkaline mineral, which neutralizes acid, and some magnesium compounds are antacids used to treat heartburn.

My first encounter with magnesium was in high school chemistry. Each student was given a thin strip of magnesium and told to light one end carefully. The previous week we had learned that magnesium is the eighth most abundant element, constituting approximately 2 percent of the earth's crust and 1.14 percent of seawater. By comparison, calcium makes up 3 percent of the earth's crust but only 0.05 percent of seawater. There are 4-6 tsp (20-28 g or 2 oz) of magnesium in the body, comprising about 0.05 percent of the body's weight. This information in no way prepared us for the dynamic effect of lighting the magnesium strip. It flared up like an electric sparkler and disappeared in a flash. This effervescent property serves as an important reminder of magnesium's versatility as the spark of life, constantly igniting metabolic reactions throughout the body.

The Body Is Electric

The impulses for any and all movement in the body arise from electrical transmission. These microcurrents of electricity that pass along the nerves were first measured in 1966. Scientists soon discovered that the conductor for these bodily electrical currents was calcium and that magnesium was necessary to maintain the proper level of calcium in the blood.11 More recent research indicates that calcium enters the cells by way of calcium channels that are jealously guarded by magnesium. Magnesium allows a certain amount of calcium to enter a cell to create the necessary electrical transmission, and then immediately ejects the calcium once the work is done. Why? If calcium accumulates in the cell, it causes toxicity and disrupts cell function. Too much calcium entering cells can cause symptoms of heart disease (such as angina, high blood pressure, and arrhythmia), asthma, or headaches. Magnesium is nature's calcium channel blocker.12,13,14

About 60-65 percent of all our magnesium is housed in our bones and teeth. The remaining 35-40 percent is found in the rest of the body, including muscle and tissue cells and body fluids. The highest concentrations are in the heart and brain cells, so it is no wonder that the major symptoms of magnesium deficiency affect the heart and brain. These are also the two organs that have considerable electrical activity measured by EKG (electrocardiogram) and EEG (electroencephalogram). Our blood contains only 1 percent of the body's total magnesium.

Magnesium mostly works inside our tissue cells, producing ATP energy packets for our body's vital force and triggering production all the body's protein structures by revving up messenger RNA. It is also a requirement for the production of DNA, our genetic code. Both of the basic building blocks of life, RNA and DNA, are dependent on magnesium to maintain stable genes.15 In addition to its stabilizing effect on DNA and the structure of chromosomes, magnesium is an essential cofactor in almost all enzyme systems involved in the processing of DNA. Research shows that without sufficient magnesium, DNA synthesis becomes sluggish.

What Does Magnesium Do?

Magnesium's hundreds of activities in the human body can be divided into five essential categories:16

1. Magnesium is a cofactor assisting enzymes in cata- lyzing most chemical reactions in the body, including temperature regulation.

2. Magnesium produces and transports energy.

3. Magnesium is necessary for the synthesis of protein.

4. Magnesium helps to transmit nerve signals.

5. Magnesium helps to relax muscles.

1. Cofactor In Chemical Reactions

Enzymes are protein molecules that stimulate every chemical reaction in the body. Magnesium is required to make these enzymes work.

2. Producing and Transporting Energy

Magnesium and the B-complex vitamins are excellent examples of energy nutrients, because they activate enzymes that control digestion, absorption, and the utilization of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. Because magnesium is involved with hundreds of enzymatic reactions throughout the body, deficiency can affect every aspect of life and cause a score of symptoms. Of the 325 magnesium-dependent enzymes, the most important enzyme reaction involves the creation of energy by activating adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the fundamental energy storage molecule of the body. ATP may be what the Chinese refer to as qi or life force. Magnesium is required for the body to produce and store energy. Without magnesium there is no energy, no movement, no life. It is that simple.

3. Synthesizing Protein

Magnesium is used in synergy with dozens of other vitamins and minerals to create structural components of the body. Under the direction of magnesium, enzymes and nutrients modify the building blocks from food to create the body. Without magnesium, there is no body. RNA and DNA, which contain the genetic blueprints for the formation of all the protein molecules in the body, are also dependent on magnesium.

Copyright © 2003 by Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D.. Excerpted by permission of Ballantine Books, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

About the Author

Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D., is a medical doctor, naturopath, acupuncturist, homeopath, herbalist, and certified clinical nutritionist, and a regular guest on radio and television programs. She has written three other health books and is contributing editor to Natural Health magazine.