Attention Mothers! Watch out for Magnesium.

Motherhood: “All love begins and ends there” .

~Robert Browning.

Nobody can deny mother’s role to shape up the life of their children. Anything missing, call mother. Anything needed – clothes, books, accessories, good food, call mother. Fall sick? Nobody takes better care than the mother. But a mother often forgets to take care of herself. Today is Mother’s Day which compelled me to think and write something which can help all mothers out there, reading this.

We know the role of nutritious food in building our body. All of us have some idea about the food contents. But almost all of us have no idea about the role of magnesium as food nutrient and magnesium deficiency. When we give importance to calcium we ignore magnesium because we do not know the role of magnesium to regulate the amount of calcium in the body.

Magnesium acts as a cofactor in enzymes, functions as the regulator of electrolyte balance, metabolism and controls over 300 biochemical reactions in our body. You name any disease and it is related to magnesium deficiency. Here I am mentioning few:

• Hormonal imbalance
• Stroke
• Type 2 diabetes
• Osteoporosis
• Constipation
• Tension or migraine headaches
• Anxiety, depression, insomnia
• Blood pressure
• Nerve weakens
• Migraines and Pre-Menstrual Symptoms
• Attention Deficit disorder
• Muscle spasm and muscle cramps
• Fibromyalgia
• Asthma
• Fatigue

Also, magnesium is necessary for the correct adjustment of potassium and the correct and efficient functioning of enzymes, the most important of which is transport, store and utilise energy.  Many aspects of cell metabolism are regulated by magnesium such as DNA and RNA synthesis, cell growth and cell reproduction. Magnesium supports a healthy immune system, prevents inflammation associated with certain cancers. A Harvard University study found that high daily magnesium intake reduced the risk of developing diabetes by 33 percent, can reduce the risk of heart attack and depression.

The calcium: magnesium ratio (usually 2:1 but better to have 1:1) must be maintained as the absorption and metabolism of magnesium depends on calcium intake and vice versa. Magnesium regulates the entrance and utilisation of calcium in the cells.  Without magnesium, calcium remains in the body unused.  This will result in calcium deposits in the joints which aggravates arthritis, gallstones and kidney stones and in extreme cases, calcification of the brain and other body organs. Hence if calcium consumption is high, then magnesium intake also needs to be high.  Since calcium and magnesium depend on each other to be assimilated into the body, they should never be taken alone.   High calcification may cause memory loss as well as the loss of ability to reason and eventually, death.  All of these conditions have frequently been known to disappear after taking extra magnesium.

Why magnesium deficiency occurs?

Magnesium depletion in healthy individuals can be caused by:

• Low magnesium diets for example diets containing high fat, sugar, salt, proteins and supplemented calcium
• Processed foods
• Sodas
• Soft water
• Medications
• Alcohols and tobacco
• Mental and physical stress
• Ageing and illness
• Genetic disorders

Why food is so important?

• A high-saturated fat diet reduces magnesium absorption in the intestines.
• High sugar intake increases excretion of magnesium by the kidneys.
• Phosphates found in carbonated beverages such as dark-colored sodas bind magnesium, rendering it unusable by the body.

MAGNESIUM RICH FOOD

• Almonds
• Sesame seeds
• Sunflower, flax and pumpkin seeds
• Banana
• Oatmeal
• Cashewnuts
• Tofu
• Sweet corn
• Spinach, chard, kale and other green leafy vegetables
• Yoghurt prepared from skimmed milk
• Dark chocolate
• Figs
• Avocado
• Black Beans

Obtaining Magnesium and other minerals from food and water is the best way. If the food is organic then it’s the best because farmland soils are a deficit of magnesium due to cultivation style and added fertilisers. Pesticides and insecticides to damage soil. If required magnesium level is not boosted up through food than oral supplementation and magnesium oil can help.

Happy Mother’s Day! Take care of yourself and your loved ones!!

All the green in the planted world consists of these whole, rounded chloroplasts wending their ways in water. If you analyse a molecule of chlorophyll itself, what you get is one hundred thirty-six atoms of hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen arranged in an exact and complex relationship around a central ring. At the ring’s centre is a single atom of magnesium. Now: If you remove the atom of magnesium and in its exact place put an atom of iron, you get a molecule of haemoglobin. The iron atom combines with all the other atoms to make red blood, the streaming red dots in the goldfish’s tail

~Annie Dillard