Hi Dino,Many people in the US are deficient in magnesium - probably because of diet
and the over refining of foods. Magnesium is a potent vasodilator as it helps the cardiovascular muscles relax on the low portion of the heart beat cycle.
Magnesium deficits build up very slowly over time until your body hits the tipping point and you go hypertensive. There is a blood test for detecting the deficiency - most MDs look at calcium and sometimes at potassium but magnesium is just as important - and most blood chemistry tests don’t examine it so it gets overlooked unless you know to ask.That said, most magnesium supplements you can find are almost worthless because they are nearly insoluble especially in older folks because the amount of stomach acid necessary for digestion drops over time. That is particulary true for oxides and carbonates. Same is true for calcium.
The answer is to supplement with a chelate of magnesium and there is a fairly new product out called Magnesium Malate that is very effective because of its high solubility and bio-availability. I take the Source Naturals brand and I get mine at the Vitamin Shoppe but many places carry it. Another fairly effective product is “Calm”, a magnesium citrate powder that comes as an effervescent when dissolved in water.
Be advised that this is no magic bullet - it takes time to become magnesium deficient and it takes time to overcome that deficiency. Be patient. Take the magnesium malate and the fish oil (a great combination) - in time it can do wonders for blood pressure. That’s what I take and do and before, based on blood tests, I had been chronic borderline low in magnesium even though we ate/eat organic and no junk food and have done so for years.
Hope this helps,
MrTIPS
Yes. Good post. I take both fish oil and magnesium. I’m not so sure that Magnesium Malate is necessary. I get results without taking that version. I take plain ole magnesium and it’s even of the oxide version, but maybe I’m just better at absorbing it than most other people. I actually tried Magnesium Malate (I think it costed much more), and it would give me the shits bad if I took just one tablet a day (they were much bigger than the oxide tablets). I really couldn’t tell that it gave me more benefit, and it even seemed to me that I may not have been getting as much from it, but I’m not sure because I never monitored it. I mainly take magnesium to lower my pulse rate, which it does. I sometimes think that the fish oil could help with the absorption, and might explain why oxide works well for me. I can’t remember for sure if I’ve read that, but think I may have.