Are You Taking Magnesium?
Dr. Michael Eades writes in The Protein Power Lifeplan (with his wife, Dr. Mary Dan Eades) that if he could only take one vitamin, it would be magnesium. He blogs about it here:

The lipid hypothesis of heart disease is rapidly being supplanted by the inflammatory hypothesis, which, for my money, is much more on the mark. The researchers who have spent their careers doing cholesterol research are not going down without a fight, however. Whereas most of the speakers at medical conferences always used to show graphs demonstrating that as cholesterol levels went up, so did the risk for heart disease. Now most speakers are showing graphs demonstrating that elevated cholesterol in combination with an elevated C-reactive protein (a measure of inflammation) is a better gauge of heart disease risk. I predict that over the next few years, the cholesterol part of these graphs will slowly disappear.

As the inflammatory hypothesis becomes more accepted, more and more physicians will be checking C-reactive protein levels along with a few other inflammatory yardsticks to determine the inflammatory status of their patients. If the C-reactive protein level is found to be elevated, then steps can be taken, not just to reduce the C-reactive protein, but to treat the underlying inflammation so that the C-reactive protein a marker of this underlying inflammation will normalize.

One easy step in the inflammation reduction process is to make sure magnesium intake is high.

Eades writes in his blog comments:

I use magnesium citrimate, and I take 300 mg per day at bedtime. Any good chelated magnesium will do. Just look for one with 'ate' on the end of it, as in magnesium aspartate or magnesium citrate. And be careful in checking the doses because chelated magnesium isn't all labeled the same. Some list the actual magnesium on the label and will say that each pill contains, say, 150 mg of magnesium. Others add the weight of the chelating agent (the substance that ends in 'ate') in with the magnesium, so you might find a brand where the label says each pill is 1000 mg. This means the magnesium plus the chelating agent adds up to 1000 mg. The best way is to look for the RDI on the back of the bottle. Take enough pills to get the RDI each day, and take them at bedtime.

More on the RDI here, but look at other sources as well. I haven't read this woman's book, The Magnesium Miracle (by Carolyn Dean), so I don't know whether I'd trust her as a source of dietary information.

UPDATE: A note about Dr. Eades from Purple Pen, who gave me permission to post her e-mail to me from the other day:

Hi Amy,

I decided to buy Protein Power after your recommendation to Dr. Eades site. I am amazed at the results of a no-carb diet! I used to think that my stomach always felt sick because I ate meat, boy was I wrong! Once I stopped eating bread, rice, fruits and sugar I can tell you my stomach has never been soo normal and plain wonderful. Also I dont have any gas,not any at all just like you said on your blog. I have a lot of energy. And the most important thing is.....I've lost weight. After taking my anti-depressants I went from 100 lbs (underweight) to 155. Of course everyone recommended I go on a low fat high carb diet and do nothing but exercise. The thing about one of my anti-depressants is it is known to cause diabetes, so Im assuming that I am very sensitive to sugar and thats what caused the weight gain. Eating meat causes you not to overeat and Im seeing the results, feeling great and loosing a ton of weight.

Thanks so much for your advice!

"The lipid hypothesis of heart disease is rapidly being supplanted by the inflammatory hypothesis"

I am noting the use of "hypothesis" here. So if the first hypothesis is now being shown to be incorrect, then how can we have faith in the next one? These "scientists" think a lot of things but know nothing.

Karen at January 9, 2010 6:55 AM

Amy Alkon

http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2010/01/09/are_you_taking.html#comment-1687559">comment from Karen

Karen, science is about testing to find the truth. This link from Eades' blog should help you understand this better, with this response from Gary Taubes that he links to:

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/lipid-hypothesis/more-on-tierney-taubes-and-saturated-fat/

Taubes:

What we have to keep in mind here is that nutrition is a science (or at least should be) and science is about generating hypotheses, making predictions from our hypotheses, and then seeing if they hold true. The relevant hypothesis here — i.e., what we’ve believed for the past 30-odd years — is that saturated fat causes heart disease by elevating either total cholesterol or LDL cholesterol, specifically. So our prediction is that the diet with the higher saturated fat content will have a relatively deleterious effect on cholesterol. We do the test; we repeat it a half dozen times in different populations. Each time it fails to confirm our prediction. So maybe the hypothesis is wrong. That seems like a reasonable conclusion. No one is proving anything here — as some of your respondents like to decry — we’re just looking at the evidence and trying to decide which hypotheses it supports and which it tends to refute.

Amy Alkon at January 9, 2010 7:32 AM

These "scientists" think a lot of things but know nothing.

Everyone thinks a lot of things but knows nothing. You just have to admit this as scientists do.

CFS at January 9, 2010 9:32 AM

Do check out Dr. Carolyn Dean. She is a recognised "trusted source" regarding Magnesium.

Tim at January 9, 2010 9:42 AM

What about Linus Pauling's hypothesis that Heart Disease is simply chronic scurvy?

steven at January 9, 2010 9:49 PM

Amy and Tim in post#4-Thanks for the info regarding Magnesium. I faintly remember hearing something about Magnesium in the past but it didn't stick. I have put it on my grocery list to add Magnesium as a supplement. Thanks again.

David M. at January 10, 2010 5:34 AM

Careful with the magnesium. It can be hard on the stomach.

kishke at January 10, 2010 6:07 AM

Amy Alkon

http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2010/01/09/are_you_taking.html#comment-1687766">comment from kishke

Thanks, but it isn't hard on mine. For those who find it hard on theirs, I've read that there are more gentle forms.

Amy Alkon at January 10, 2010 7:54 AM

Wow, great reminder. I just ran out of magnesium. It has had a lot of health benefits for me- Although It would be tough to part with my Omegas, B's and D if I had to choice just one.....

Feebie at January 10, 2010 10:04 AM

Doesn't it give you crazy awesome dreams?

Amy K at January 10, 2010 8:39 PM

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