Watering Your Heart: How a Little Magnesium May Help

December 17, 2006

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High levels of magnesium in your drinking water may help to lower your your risk of death from a heart attack. That's the conclusion of a national survey from Sweden. Data suggested that participants living in areas with the highest levels of magnesium in the drinking water had a 19% lower risk of death from heart attack than those who lived in areas with magnesium-poor water.

How the Study was Done

The Swedish national survey examined the magnesium content in drinking water in all municipalities. Researchers focused on 17 communities in southern Sweden whose water quality, based on water hardness, pH, and water treatment procedures, had been basically unchanged over the last 10 years.

The authors reviewed the records of men in their 50s and 60s who lived in the study area and who died between 1982 and 1989. A total of 854 men had died of heart attacks. These men were compared to a control group of 989 men who had died of cancer.

The subjects were divided into four groups based on how much magnesium and calcium was present in their drinking water. The number of deaths in the group with the highest level of magnesium was significantly lower in the heart attack group than in the cancer group. Calcium levels had no significant impact on heart health.

The Power of Magnesium

Magnesium appears to lower blood pressure and has been found to aid recovery after a heart attack by inhibiting blood clots, widening arteries, and normalizing dangerous heart arrhythmias.

Most people get magnesium through foods such as whole grains, seafood, beans, and leafy greens. Drinking water also supplies magnesium, though to a lesser degree than foods.

Despite the ready availability of magnesium in food and water, however, dietary intake of the mineral is generally below recommended levels. The RDA for magnesium is 350 mg for men and 280 mg for women, though higher doses are generally required for diease prevention or treatment, as well as for women who take oral contraceptives. For heart disease prevention, for example, about 400 mg a day is recommended by some practitioners. For arrhythmias or congestive heart failure, twice that amount may be appropriate.

It may be especially important to get magnesium though your tap water for two reasons. First, the magnesium in water is easily absorbed by the body. Second, loss of the mineral from food is lower when it is cooked in magnesium-rich water.

The researchers believe that future studies should investigate whether magnesium in drinking water is important for people in general, or if certain groups at high risk for heart attacks will benefit from high magnesium levels in drinking water.

December 23, 2006

I take Calcium pill supplements, and with each calcium pill, I also take a magnesium pill. Health food or drug stores or Walmart stores sell magnesium in the Vitamin aisle.