Magnesium: Prevent Cramps, Poor Sleep, and Low Energy Ep89

Join Chris Newport, functional sports nutritionist, to discuss magnesium. It's a critical mineral involved in over 300 biochemical reactions, yet 50-60% of both the general population and endurance athletes fail to consume adequate amounts through diet alone.

Here's what we review:

• What percentage of people actually get the RDA for magnesium
• How endurance training decreases magnesium levels in red blood cells
• Why heavy sweaters may need to increase magnesium intake
• Common food sources
• Different types of magnesium supplements offer varying benefits, including oxide, citrate, glycinate, malate, l-threonate and more
• Benefits of magnesium, like improved sleep, reduced muscle cramps, decreased inflammation, better cardiovascular health, and mood enhancement
• Why starting with a certain dose is important

Learn more about magnesium and precision genetic nutrition in our Longevity Program at theenduranceedge.com/longevity or join our upcoming Fueling and Hydration Bootcamp by getting on the waitlist at theenduranceedge.com/fuelingbootcamp.

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Transcript

Magnesium Basics and Dietary Sources

Speaker 1 1:32

Hey y'all and welcome back to the Find your Edge podcast. I am your host, coach Chris Newport, and I am happy that you are listening today. Today's topic is all about magnesium, which is one of my favorite topics, and I definitely have to thank our dietetic intern. His name is Patrick. He is with us for the next couple of months. He is from the UNC program, which I won't hold that over his head because I went to NC State and Meredith but beyond that we've been doing a ton of different stuff, everything from gut health to zonulin to travel nutrition on airplanes, to travel nutrition in the car and, of course, magnesium. So he made this really fantastic handout for our longevity program that puts together and explains different types of magnesium, their bioavailability, their common uses and potential side effects and then recommended brands, products and pricing. So we break everything for you down in longevity program and this is also really relevant for certain genetic snips making sure that you get adequate amount of magnesium. So I wanted to dive into that a little bit and also know if you want to learn more about the longevity program you can join anytime. It involves the genetic tests. It involves live accountability calls a monthly genetics only. Call a private call with me to go over your genetics a protocol that includes lifestyle nutrition and supplement all kinds of great stuff. Check it out theenduranceedgecom forward slash longevity and in there you will find a magnesium module. All about this. It's pretty amazing. Similarly, the same module will be in our upcoming fueling and hydration bootcamp. So if you want to know how to sweat properly all of you guys are probably really good at that but hydrate and fuel according to your sweat and according to whatever activity that it is that you're doing and whatever intensity you're doing, because that changes then get on the wait list for our upcoming fueling and hydration bootcamp. At theenduranceedgecom forward slash bootcamp, you can get on the wait list for our upcoming fueling and hydration bootcamp. That's the endurance edgecom forward slash bootcamp. You can get on the wait list and be the first one to know when it opens.

Speaker 1 3:44

All right, and before we jump too deeply into this, just a quick reminder that this is for informational and educational purposes only and is not designed to replace information from your healthcare provider. All right, so magnesium, love it. It's one of the most important minerals for health and wellbeing. It's involved in well over 300 biochemical reactions in the body, so it's really critical. What I did is a quick search on how many people are actually getting appropriate magnesium levels in their diet, and it actually matches that of what endurance athletes are getting. So we all get somewhere around 50 to 60%. That's male and women, endurance athletes or not. We're all getting about that much of the recommended dietary amount in our diets, so we could be doing better. You know what I mean, right? So the recommended dietary allowances for men are 400 to 420 milligrams per day and for women it's 310 to 360 per day. So I feel like I'm pretty good about getting my leafy greens, my spinach and my almonds and black beans and peanut butter and whatnot, but still, if I actually did the data, I'm probably falling short too. Full disclosure I do take a supplement for magnesium and it is fantastic, but that's for me personally.

Endurance Training's Impact on Magnesium

Speaker 1 5:05

But just to give you a couple of ideas as to food sources of magnesium pumpkin seeds such a great one, easy to put into everything from your oatmeal to your cookies, to your smoothie. Even so, one ounce of pumpkin seeds have 168 milligrams. How about that? And pro tip keep your seeds and nuts, if you can, either in the fridge or the freezer, especially if you don't use them that often and make sure that you buy them from good quality sources, because nuts and seeds, because of their high fat content, can go rancid, especially if you are keeping them in light colored containers or out, like where they might be exposed to the heat. Other things that are good sources of magnesium are spinach half a cup of cooked spinach, 78 milligrams so that's great. Cashews, dry roasted. Serving size one ounce, 74 milligrams. Here's some other things you may not think of. Oh, dark chocolate. Everybody loves their dark chocolate. Okay, let me rephrase that I love my dark chocolate, but 60 to 69% cacao. A one ounce serving is 50 milligrams. So there's certainly good places where you can get it in your diet, but again, do you think you're getting more than 50 to 60%, which is what most people, and certainly what endurance athletes, are mostly getting? So that might be something interesting to explore in your own diet.

Health Benefits of Magnesium

Speaker 1 6:22

Another thing I ran across was the effect of endurance training on copper, zinc, iron and magnesium status. This is a 2021 research study that looked at how is endurance training actually affecting your magnesium status. Now, considering that you lose magnesium in your sweat, that's one thing, especially for all you heavy sweaters out there. I know who you are. Don't forget to get on the wait list for our fueling and hydration bootcamp, so that's going to be really important for you so that you can know exactly how to fuel yourself with the right amount of electrolytes and with the right strategies. Anyhow, they found in this particular research study that in erythrocytes so there's red blood cells a significant decrease was observed for magnesium and zinc, so we love those minerals. Endurance training takes a little bit of a toll on you. So if you want to do some quick back of the napkin math, if you're doing an endurance training and you're sweating a lot, add at least 10% on to that existing needs that we were already talking about with the recommended dietary allowance. Now those numbers kind of go up a little bit more.

Speaker 1 7:27

So other things that make magnesium helpful it supports healthy bones. So in the genetic test there is not only a section on bone health but also a section on vitamin D, and that's really critical to see how you need to care for yourself as it relates to your bones and as it relates to vitamin D status. Over your lifetime. Are there certain genetic SNPs that reduce your ability to absorb vitamin D and actually use it in its active form. So magnesium also assists in the activation of vitamin D, which helps regulate your calcium and phosphorus levels, critical to bone health which, of course, is bringing me back to my renal days from my dietetic internship. So if you are menopausal, this is something you need to be thinking about too.

Speaker 1 8:13

Okay, so have a discussion with your healthcare provider about your magnesium status. You can't actually get that tested just like in your regular physical. You can ask for it and just say, hey, I'm an endurance athlete and maybe you're also menopausal or whatever, and see if they'll test it for you. Generally speaking, within the blood it's pretty tightly regulated. But yes, you can get low magnesium or hypomagnesium. But yes, you can get low magnesium or hypomagnesium. That is generally pretty easy, easily fixed with a good quality magnesium supplement. We'll talk about that here in a moment.

Speaker 1 8:45

Another thing that magnesium helps with is reducing inflammation. I have seen so many people recently in our longevity program that have high levels of inflammation just in general high levels of inflammation just in general and their genetic propensity for inflammation is high and they most likely have low magnesium status or just aren't getting enough of it in their diet. So it can help, especially when it comes to reducing joint pain and muscle soreness, in fact. So, especially if you've got some of those hard workouts, we need magnesium, okay. So, and as you might imagine, with magnesium and vitamin D status anti-inflammatory effect it also supports your cardiovascular health, or your heart health. Pretty cool that. It helps maintain a healthy blood pressure by relaxing those arterial walls and improving your circulation. So pretty awesome there. Similarly, it helps to regulate your blood sugar levels, so that's really important. It's also suggested that it enhances your mood.

Types of Magnesium Supplements

Speaker 1 9:41

So recent research suggests that supplementing with a little bit of extra magnesium we'll get into the types here in a moment may be beneficial for those struggling with depression or anxiety disorders because of its important role in serotonin production, which is a neurotransmitter that's critical for feeling good and regulating your mood. Critical for feeling good and regulating your mood. The biggest thing that I see helpful in my practice is that it promotes sleep. So it helps regulate several neurotransmitters that impact sleep and may be part of better sleep quality. So that's typically the biggest things that I see anecdotally from folks is that their sleep is improved with additional magnesium and their digestion is improved, depending on what type they're taking or needing, and also that they cramp less. So, especially again for my heavy sweaters. If we add in those extra magnesium, we might just need a little bit of extra through the hotter months when you're sweating so much. You might just need a little bit of extra. Through the hotter months when you're sweating so much and when those red blood cells are really kind of seeping out of your magnesium, you might just need a little bit more.

Speaker 1 10:47

Some of the best supplements because we're thinking about bioavailability and we're also thinking about side effects. Whichever magnesium type you use that you consume, if you are going to consume some from a supplement, it is going to correct low magnesium. So just want to make sure that that's clear. Pretty much doesn't matter which kind you take, but it may matter to you which type you take based on what you may be experiencing and why you are taking it. So that's one of the things I just generally want to note about supplements is that you should have a solid reason for whatever you are taking. So if you pick up a bottle and you're like I'm taking this and you don't know why, then you shouldn't take it. So make sure you have a good reason for the amount and the type of supplement that you are taking, because we can do more harm than good depending on what it is. So that's just. Like you know, psa, make sure whatever supplement you're taking that it has a good reason for taking it. Otherwise, why are you taking it? Stop taking it, let's save some dough and also potentially doing something harmful to yourself.

Speaker 1 12:05

So first type of magnesium that I want to bring up is oxide. It is the lowest bioavailability, but this is what you're going to get in the hospital if you are constipated, which pain relievers will oftentimes constipate you. Helpful perhaps in treating some heartburn or indigestion. So it's not super well absorbed but again, if you have low magnesium, any of these types will correct that. Another common form that we see is citrate. That is another helpful one that is great in assisting with regular bowel movements, maybe a little bit of constipation and again improving that magnesium level.

Speaker 1 12:46

Some other types that we typically are using in our practice is glycinate. That is very bioavailable. Same thing with the citrate form. Glycinate because it's chelated. Magnesium is chelated to a molecule of glycine, which is a wonderfully relaxing amino acid. It can help facilitate a little bit more relaxation. Great, great option for more of the anxiety and depression or stress or insomnia. So, and if you have a tendency more towards faster bowels, you may want to lean more towards a glycinate versus a citrate. But again, have a conversation with your licensed healthcare provider and a knowledgeable supplement person. We are happy to help you in this. Again, we do this in our longevity program, theendurancenagecom forward slash longevity.

Speaker 1 13:38

Another common form that we like to use is malate. So in terms of the bioavailability still pretty bioavailable, definitely more so than oxide. This one is a common one that's used for more fibromyalgia, more muscle type of pain, chronic fatigue syndrome or anybody who struggles with more like muscle soreness, things like that. I take one personally that's a combination glycinate, malate. It's a great one.

Speaker 1 14:08

Other ones that are available there's chloride. I typically don't, in fact we don't even have one that you take orally. Chloride is magnesium attached to a molecule of chlorine, which I feel like we get enough of that. Friends between us, being in the pool, if you're a triathlete, and the little bit of chlorine in your water unless, hopefully, you're doing some great filtered water I mean, why do we need to put those things in our body? I you know, no thanks. But again, you make that decision and have that conversation with your knowledgeable supplement healthcare provider. Uh, but chloride is an option. What I more see, the chloride is with topical applications. So you might have issues with your calves cramping at night or you might be about to go into a particular race and you're worried about your adductors or your calves or your hamstrings cramping or whatever. You can literally pump a little bit into your hand and rub it directly on your muscles, so that's a great use for chloride.

Speaker 1 15:08

We like to suggest a product. It's from Designs for Health, it's Magna Gel, and if you guys go to the link that is provided in the show notes, you guys will be able to see all of these and you can order them directly from the site. You just have to create an account. We use Fullscript for our products that we suggest. And then also going back to the citrate one Pure Encapsulations has a great option. They have both a capsule option and just be forewarned also if you're somebody who's not great at taking pills magnesium is just it's big, it's very large, it's just a large mineral. So in turn, the pills are, or the capsules are also very big. So, for example, the pure encapsulations, magnesium citrate 90 capsules and there are 150 milligrams per capsule.

Speaker 1 15:55

Usually I like to start people on the lower end and then work their way up. I have heard of people who start off with, say, 400 milligrams or 600 milligrams and then go, oh man, I don't know why it was in the bathroom for the last three days, like, oh, magnesium is the worst. No, it's not. We just got to start a little smaller or we need to change the type you're on. So anyway, magnesium citrate from Pure Encapsulations Again, this will be on our website, but 90 capsules for about 22 cents per serving, which is pretty cool.

Magnesium in Longevity and Bootcamp Programs

Speaker 1 16:22

You can also get in a powder version if you don't like swallowing big pills. Citrate is a really easy and cheaper version of a powder that you can mix in a drink and that's about 52 cents per serving with 250 milligrams per scoop. So that's pretty cool. Oxide there is some Pure Encapsulation's Ultramag. Douglas Labs makes the magnesium oxide as well. These are pretty cheap. Douglas Labs version is 12 cents a serving. Pure Encapsulation has an Ultramag which is like a combination, and that's 40 cents per serving. So again, not as well absorbed, but cheaper certainly, and will correct low magnesium.

Speaker 1 16:57

And again, just keep an eye on some of those potential side effects nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or abdominal cramping Typically the one that I hear the most about is that it may just cause loose stools. All right, what else do we like to suggest? L3 and 8, of course I cannot forget that one that is highly bioavailable. It crosses the blood-brain barrier the easiest, so that's a really great one that they are doing some additional research on for anxiety and cognitive function and brain health. Be forewarned that on the package it looks like you are taking an excessive amount. I'll give you an example.

Speaker 1 17:35

I had a client once who was taking this particular type of magnesium for some elevated anxiety and goes in to get her blood work done. I think she went in, maybe for surgery, and the nurse said you know what supplements are you taking? She said magnesium. She said how much and she said like a thousand milligrams and that made the nurse's eyeballs pop out. So that's a lot, but the actual part that's absorbed is actually only like 145 milligrams or 144, no more than like 200. So very similar If anybody has ever taken iron. You get 325 milligrams, but it's only 65 milligrams of ferrous sulfate, so it can be a little confusing. I hate it for you guys. But anyway, l3 and 8, some of the ones that I like. There's a protocol for life balance. Magteen, that's a great one 90 capsules, that's $1.87 per serving. So keep that in mind compared to like the citrate, but again, l3 and 8 may be a really great option and it's really fantastic for a lot of people.

Speaker 1 18:33

Zymogen is another one of my favorites that I like to use. They've got a powder version and they have a capsule version Again, if you prefer, like getting yours, it's like a drink, might be a nice, like ritual at night kind of thing. Other products that we really like Glycinate. So Thorne has a good one that's NSF certified. That's a magnesium bisglycinate. It is another drink version. And then Pure Encapsulations and Designs for Sport is another really good one. Those are anywhere. The Pure Encapsulations one is 30 cents a serving, the Designs for Sport is 60 cents a serving. So other things that I want to make sure that you guys know about.

Speaker 1 19:08

In terms of types, there's also magnesium lactate, not quite as highly bioavailable but maybe might be great for those with some more sensitive tummies. I don't see that one commonly and in fact the one that we would recommend is from Standard Process Great company, it's $1.27 per serving. I feel like I would lean on other types a little bit more than that one. And the final one is Torate, so that's a good one for supporting cardiovascular health and blood sugar control. Pretty well bioavailable Not as much as glycinate, l3 and A or the citrate, for sure. So something to think about. Claire Labs has a good one. It's called Mad Complete and again those are oftentimes you're going to see some mixtures with different types of magnesium. At the end of the day, again, they're all going to raise a low magnesium. It's just what is easy for you to get down, what maybe is the most cost effective for you. Because if you can do the oxide or you can do the citrate, okay, knock yourself out, it's totally fine and you're not going to have any side effects from that. All right, if you want more to lean into some of those more muscle benefits or sleep benefits or anxiety benefits, you might think about a different brand for you. So that's all about magnesium. So much fun.

Speaker 1 20:21

Like I said, all of this information is in our longevity program as well as in our fueling and hydration bootcamp. So again, you can sign up anytime for a longevity program. It includes a genetic test, includes a private session with me to review your genetic tests and go over any supplements that will serve you best, as well as lifestyle, any functional foods. And then we get multiple weekly accountability calls per week, a monthly genetics only call where we dive deeply into some of your genetics and everybody gets to look at their different genetic snips and dive deeper into them. It's really fun. You get access to an entire program just on longevity.

Closing Thoughts and Program Information

Speaker 1 21:06

For nutrition, like I'm talking about with this magnesium, we talk about everything from meal planning to travel nutrition to oh my goodness, menopause. So much in that. I mean seriously, like it's insane how much content is in there. In fact, we were just talking with one of the people in the longevity program and he just discovered that there's a whole nother program in there that's called our genetic edge and that literally goes into category by category of the genetic test, goes into all of the different information about all these dietary snips, what supplements might be helpful to discuss with your healthcare provider and if there's any particular foods that you need to lean into, including literally thousands of recipes that help with everything from blood pressure to APOE4, cardiovascular health, mood and behavior all kinds of stuff. So all the related.

Speaker 1 21:57

Not only do you know what to eat and drink, but you also know what you need to perhaps lean into from a lifestyle perspective, instead of just being like, oh my gosh, I have to do it all. No, you don't. You just need to do the things that are very specific to you and what's showing up with you and what might show up in your blueprint. So, anyway, that's all about our longevity program, the enduranceedgecom forward slash longevity, and magnesium is also crucial for sweat. So, again, you can check that out at the enduranceedgecom forward slash bootcamp. We're going to be starting that in the next couple of weeks, so get on the wait list. And that is all about sweat testing and more. We go into all different ergogenic aids, from beta alanine to creatine to magnesium and caffeine, and when to time your fuel, how to time your fuel so great. Anyway, I look forward to seeing you guys there. As you can see, I like to nerd out on this stuff and I know that you do too, so check it out, theenduranceedgecom. Hope you.