Are You Getting Enough Magnesium in Your Diet?

Magnesium is one of the vital minerals the body needs in order to work as it should. Magnesium aids the body in many of its everyday processes, including nerve reactions and muscle movement. Furthermore, magnesium helps to keep your heart in a healthy condition, regulates blood sugars and keeps bones dense and strong. It also affects how much energy you have. Magnesium can be found in many drinks and foods or if you have a very low amount of magnesium, you can even purchase supplements.

How Much Magnesium Should We Be Consuming?

Depending on your age or gender, your body needs a different amount of magnesium. For adult women, it is suggested that you consume around 310 milligrams daily, while men need a little more at 400 milligrams a day. Men also need more once they reach the age of 31 and should be consuming 420 milligrams a day once they reach this age. If you are pregnant, you should be taking in an extra 40 milligrams, as you will be losing some to give to your baby. Children differ again depending on their gender and age, so if you are worried your child isn’t getting enough magnesium, speak to your pediatrician.

Benefits of Magnesium

Magnesium has a range of surprising benefits including relieving anxiety. It also helps the body to absorb calcium, which is essential to prevent loss of bone density which can lead to conditions such as osteoporosis. The element has a role in over 300 reactions within the body, meaning it really is an essential element for us.

Here are a range of benefits that magnesium gives us.

Signs of Low Magnesium Levels

The signs of low magnesium levels are often related to symptoms of many other conditions too, and therefore it is always advised to get a diagnosis from your doctor before taking any supplements or drastically changing your diet. This can easily be checked via a blood test, which will show how much of the element is present in your body. If you do have low levels of magnesium then you may suffer with migraines, elevated blood pressure,or develop type 2 diabetes. If you suffer with any digestive problems, you are an older adult, or you do have type 2 diabetes, you are more likely to have less magnesium due to your body being unable to digest it, or the body not producing enough to start with.

What Foods Are Best?

If you do need to incorporate more magnesium into your diet, you need to choose the right foods. Some of the best foods to eat when you do not have enough magnesium in your diet are spinach, quinoa, nuts, dark chocolate and avocados. If you have quite a large deficiency, you may be advised to take supplements. There are many magnesium supplements out there and VitaMonk have made a handy guide to the best ones out there this year. If you do need to begin taking supplements, read their guide here: 7 Types of Magnesium Supplements – The Definitive Guide (NEW 2019 Research). Some supplements are easier to absorb by the body than others and you do not want to be spending money on a tablet that may not work as intended. Note that it is possible to have too much magnesium, so you want to go with a reputable supplier and stick with the recommended dose.

Get checked by a doctor if you are having any symptoms related to low magnesium levels as taking too much can cause nausea or cramps. It is also possible to worsen certain conditions by taking magnesium supplements, so ensure that low magnesium levels are what you are suffering with before self-diagnosing.