Magnesium is used in the production of insulin and plays a central role in supporting and regulating carbohydrate metabolism.

In short, the more refined carbohydrates you consume, the more magnesium you need to take in. A magnesium deficiency will increase insulin resistance and that can in turn dramatically increase our diabetes risk.

When lab rats were given diets that contained all the essential nutrients except magnesium, they quickly developed insulin resistance. Since we’re on a quest to reduce our level of insulin resistance, for us magnesium is of special interest.

Magnesium is an essential mineral that’s the fourth most common element in the human body. It’s called essential because we can’t create it ourselves but instead must depend on our dietary consumption to provide our cells with the magnesium they so badly need. 

Magnesium is active in cells located in every area of the human body, including of course the brain. In fact, it’s involved in over 300 different biochemical reactions. With that in mind it’s easy to see why magnesium is so critical to the maintenance of health. If you don’t take in enough, systems throughout the body will suffer and your health will be damaged in various and unpredictable ways.   

Here’s a partial list of the health problems a magnesium deficiency can cause:

 

twitches                                  cramps                       muscle tension
muscle soreness                   back aches                 neck pain      
tension headaches                 jaw pain                      chest tightness
constipation                            urinary spasms          menstrual cramps
difficulty swallowing                photophobia               noise sensitivity
insomnia                                 anxiety                        hyperactivity
panic attacks                          agoraphobia,              irritability
numbness                              tingling                        heart arrhythmias
angina                                    high blood pressure    salt cravings
mitral valve prolapse              breast tenderness      leg pain
chronic fatigue syndrome      asthma                        type 2 Diabetes
attention deficit disorder        Fibromyalgia                heart failure
high blood pressure              Migraine Headache      Osteoporosis
restless leg syndrome         

As you can see, getting enough magnesium is fundamental to good health. Unfortunately as is so often the case, our modern diet contains few magnesium rich foods. This wasn’t true in the past, but sadly it’s true now.  

Why is our food so deficient in magnesium? First many highly processed, packaged foods contain very little useful magnesium. That’s because a good deal of the magnesium these foods contained while in their natural state is removed during food processing. 

Another factor is soil depletion. Though they may look exactly like the fruits and vegetables we ate as children, today’s versions contain far less magnesium simply because the soil they grew is being systematically stripped of it’s magnesium content. 

Modern farming methods which employ chemical fertilizers, pesticides and fungicides have been steadily depleting our farmland of critical nutrients like magnesium. In the distant past farmers let land sit idle and planted non-commercial plants such as clover in soil in an effort to replenish the traditional balance of nutrients.

But in today’s rushed, profit-hungry world there’s no time for such unproductive and unprofitable land use. Every inch of arable land must today produce as much food as possible if the farmers are to have any shot at making a profit.

The result is – the apple you hand your child today contains much less nutrition then the apple your mother handed you. And that lack is playing havoc with our national health.

And then there is the water. The “hard” water we used to drink in the past is no more. Because most people find the mineral taste of hard water unappealing, our water processing industry which is under the control of our city and state governments has started “softening” our water supply by adding of all things – salt.

People enjoy the less metallic, sweeter taste of soft water and also enjoy how readily it forms a thick, luxurious foam when combined with soap. If you’ve ever taken a shower in a home that has a water softener installed you know what I mean.

But there’s another problem with hard water. It tends to clog pipes with mineral deposits. To keep the pipes running clear, reduce maintenance costs and extend the lifespan of the pipes cities are forced to soften the water. The cost of all this water softening is that a major source of healthy minerals has been taken from us.

Commercial water softeners do the same. Most of these systems include a large plastic tank that’s installed in your garage or under your floorboards. From time to time you load the tank with large, white salt crystals.

Unfortunately salt is far from a safe and healthy substance. On the contrary, most cardiac patients are advised to cut back their salt consumption as it can dangerously boost blood pressure and set you up for a heart attack or stroke. (If you choose to use a commercial water softener be sure that it’s only installed on the water line that feeds your bathroom and laundry. You should carefully avoid having your kitchen water doped with unhealthy salt.)

Filtering water will of course remove some or all of the magnesium it naturally contains. Well water is often mineral rich but in most cases local governments are running city water lines out into the rural areas and requiring that residents abandon their wells and plug into the city water system. Commercial bottled waters and distilled waters are also notoriously low in magnesium content. ■