Dr Malcolm Kendrick, een kritische Schotse arts en schrijver (hij schreef o.a. Doctoring Data en The Great Cholestrol Con) schreef in zijn blog van 29 januari 2018 over het grote belang van magnesium, in zijn (zeer lezenswaardige) serie “What causes heart disease“. In Stille Slopers heb ik er een heel hoofdstuk aan gewijd: Magnesium, een onmisbaar maar onderschat mineraal. Want magnesium is een van de belangrijkste nutriënten in ons lichaam. Het is bij zóveel functies betrokken dat als je een tekort ervan hebt – zoals bij de meeste mensen het geval is – er allerlei functies gaan haperen.
Dr Kendrick is overduidelijk nog zoekende qua optimale magnesium-waarden, dus ik mailde Dr Carolyn Dean (schrijver van The Magnesium Miracle), dé specialist op het gebied van magnesium. In Stille Slopers verwijs ik ook naar haar website. Ik vroeg Dr Dean aan Kendrick – en daarmee alle lezers van z’n blog – duidelijkheid te verschaffen inzake magnesium. Binnen enkele dagen reageerde ze met een bericht op haar site; hieronder de volledige reactie van Dr Dean.
Today’s Wellness Tip From the Future…with Dr. Carolyn Dean
Make Heart Month Magnesium Month!
I think there’s a possibility that Magnesium will have it’s own designated month in the not too distant future! Look at the evidence of its widespread acceptance. Life Extension Magazine’s Dec 2017 issue has the following cover story “Will Magnesium Be the Next Vitamin D?” The magnesium topics listed sound like quotes from my Magnesium Miracle book. However, Vitamin D only works when you have enough magnesium, so magnesium is the more important nutrient.
The number of magnesium products is overwhelming. Vitacost.com has 571 products listed and Amazon.com claims to have anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 depending on the category selected. Magnesium sales have topped those of calcium in recent years.
And one of my favorite authors, Dr. Malcolm Kendrick has come out of the closet for magnesium. In his book, The Great Cholesterol Con, he doesn’t mention magnesium, even though it’s a cholesterol regulator.
But what a difference an article makes! In a recent blog called “What Causes Heart Disease,” Kendrick cites a recent pro magnesium study as his turning point. “Subclinical Magnesium Deficiency: A Principle Drive of Cardiovascular Disease and a Public Health Crisis” is a joy to read.
Kendrick began his atonement with the quote “When the facts change, I change my mind.” In a previous blog he said that unless you are taking a stomach acid-lowering drug you are extremely unlikely to be magnesium deficient. Now he’s read the paper, he’s repented and says “Well, as it turns out I was wrong.”
Quoting from the paper:
“Subclinical magnesium deficiency is a common and under-recognised problem throughout the world. Importantly, subclinical magnesium deficiency does not manifest as clinically apparent symptoms and thus is not easily recognised by the clinician. Despite this fact, subclinical magnesium deficiency likely leads to hypertension, arrhythmias, arterial calcifications, atherosclerosis, heart failure and an increased risk for thrombosis…A greater public health effort is needed to inform both the patient and clinician about the prevalence, harms and diagnosis of subclinical magnesium deficiency.”
AMEN to that!
Kendrick also contradicts his previous blog where he told people he didn’t want them to rush out to get their magnesium levels checked. Now he says he does want them to get tested but with the caveat that “I suspect you will not get very far with your local GP.”
Kendrick mentions testing for serum magnesium and gives the “normal” range. Unfortunately, he shows that he didn’t read the first sentence in the paper that warns “Because serum magnesium does not reflect intracellular magnesium, the latter making up more than 99% of total body magnesium, most cases of magnesium deficiency are undiagnosed.” Also, there is no such thing as “normal” magnesium levels. The so-called normal range is based on the average levels in the people who get tested at the lab. If, as we are told, 80% of the population is magnesium deficient not even getting the RDA of magnesium, the blood levels will reflect that deficiency that everyone has.
Kendrick then comments that serum magnesium testing is useless. He says “Because the vast majority of magnesium is not in the blood, it is stored in cells/tissues/organs, you can be down to virtually your last drop, without the blood level being affected.” Even so, he does not mention Magnesium RBC testing or the highly sophisticated Ionized Magnesium testing. His only other option is the magnesium loading test. He says “To find out how your magnesium stores are looking, you can give a magnesium infusion, and see how much is then excreted.” Of course he immediately shoots down the test when he says “I have never heard of anyone having this test, ever. Most doctors will never have heard of it either. I only know about it, because I just read this article.”
The article mentions Ionized Magnesium testing but not Magnesium RBC testing, so the reader in both cases is left with the question of how do they know they are magnesium-deficient. I do advise the Magnesium RBC test and you can read more about that test in my books or by Googling my name and the test. However, I also say that clinical magnesium deficiency symptoms are the better way of following your magnesium stores – until we have better access to Ionized Magnesium testing.
I also say that since 80% of the population is magnesium-deficient, it makes sense that we should all supplement with magnesium – but make it ReMag since is so well absorbed.
Read my Magnesium Miracle book and become educated about the nutrient that everyone is talking about.
Carolyn Dean MD ND
The Doctor of the Future®
RESOURCES: Along the borders and in the links of my web site you can find my books, writings, and my call-in radio show. Email your questions to: questions@drcarolyndeanlive.com