Low Magnesium A Key Factor of Cardiovascular Disease

PAHOA, HawaiiA new peer-reviewed study suggests low magnesium levels may be the real culprit of cardiovascular disease, contrary to the traditional belief that high-saturated fat diets and high cholesterol were the main factors.

Andrea Rosanoff, Ph.D., director of the Research and Science Information Outreach Center for Magnesium Education & Research, and her colleagues conducted a detailed review of cardiovascular disease research, using studies dating back to 1937. The current review is based on work started by Midred Seelig, M.D., who studied the link between magnesium and cardiovascular disease for more than 40 years.

These numerous studies have found low magnesium to be associated with all known cardiovascular risk factors, such as cholesterol and high blood pressure, arterial plaque buildup (atherogenesis), hardening of the arteries and the calcification of soft tissues. This means we have been chasing our tails all of these years going after cholesterol and the high saturated-fat diet, when the true culprit was and still is low magnesium," Rosanoff said.

She said by 1957 low magnesium was shown to be, strongly, convincingly, a cause of atherogenesis and the calcification of soft tissues. But this research was widely and immediately ignored as cholesterol and the high saturated-fat diet became the culprits to fight.

"Ever since this early 'wrong turn, more and more peer-reviewed research has shown that low magnesium is associated with all known cardiovascular risk factors, such as cholesterol and high blood pressure," she said. After decades of rising dietary calcium intake not balanced with rising dietary magnesium intake, and a population wherein a majority of U.S. adults are not getting their daily magnesium requirement, dietary calcium-to-magnesium ratios are on the rise, and studies are showing that calcium supplements not balanced with magnesium increase the risk of heart disease."

Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D., and medical advisory board member of the Nutritional Magnesium Association, said, "That cholesterol is not the cause must be obvious, since heart disease is still the number one killer in America in spite of over two decades of statin use. The fact that low levels of magnesium are associated with all the risk factors and symptoms of heart diseasehypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, heart arrhythmia, angina and heart attackcan no longer be ignored; the evidence is much too compelling."

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends 400-500 mg of calcium. Dean recommends a 1:1 balance of calcium with magnesium, while also taking into account the amount of calcium people get in their daily diets.

"Add low doses of vitamin D and incorporate vitamin K2, and all of these measures combined will protect your bones as well as your heart," she said.