Does new heart health research suggest magnesium isn't as important for women's health overall?

With the year of 2009 coming to a close and 2010 on the horizon, you may be wondering what the latest and greatest supplement will be come January 1.  Answer?  Magnesium.

Now, if you’re even the least bit familiar with nutrition, you know that magnesium is nothing new.  It’s been existing from time immemorial.  And besides having the atomic number 12 on the periodic table and being the eighth most abundant element in the earth’s crust, it’s an abundant element in the human body.  But unlike the earth’s crust, where it’s naturally found, magnesium is not found naturally in the body.  In other words, the only way the body gets its “magnificent magnesium” is through the food we eat and the supplements we take.

For this and other reasons, The Freedonia Group estimates that magnesium will be the top-seller in supplement sales next year (a 6.4 percent increase over last year, bringing the global supplement sales tally to $12.6 billion).

As documented here, magnesium is great for the heart.  A phalanx of studies has found magnesium helps diminish the risk of various forms of heart disease, high blood pressure, and heart attack.

But a recent study from Brigham Young University suggests magnesium may be more heart effective for men than it is for women.

The Provo, Utah based researchers reviewed six studies that analyzed magnesium’s effect on heart health for both sexes.  And while they did indeed find evidence suggesting magnesium’s magnificence for men when it comes to preventing coronary heart disease, the evidence wasn’t as convincing for women.

Writing matter-of-factly in the Journal of the American Academy of Researchers, the researchers report “there was no noted decrease in the development of CHD in women who had high magnesium intake.”

Now, this may suggest that women simply don’t need magnesium as much as men do.  But as the researchers themselves note, magnesium plays multiple roles in the human body, not the least of which is the role it plays in buoying the strength of bone structure, relaxing nerves and muscles, and decreasing the risk and/or development of over two dozen conditions.  One of the conditions magnesium helps prevent that is exclusive to women is called pre-eclampsia.

Pre-eclampsia is diagnosed in pregnant women when their blood pressure is elevated for at least 20 weeks.  Of course, high blood pressure is serious for any person young or old, male or female, but it’s particularly dangerous for pregnant women, as it can affect the development (and life) of her baby.

Translation:  While magnesium is more important for men, it remains a super supplement for women.  Men are recommended to get at least 420 milligrams of magnesium every day, while recommendations for women are 320 milligrams.

So with the coming of the New Year, ladies, jump aboard the magnesium bandwagon and make 2010 the Year of the Smoothie (i.e., the nickname for magnesium as it naturally “soothes” the muscles).

Sources:
webelements.com
mayoclinic.com
whfoods.com
nutraingredients.com