Re: beyondhom Re: rubric help & thoughts needed

Shannon I agree with what yo said re Mg needs and how it varies with stress.
Jane,

I happen to need more magnesium than most due to a kidney switch-gene defect, and that has led me to study in depth (and experience, due to my kidneys pumping it out all the time) just what forms or magnesium do which.
I'd never dream of using aspartate....

Always also remember that it takes Vit B6 to absorb magnesium and it takes Magnesium to absorb it B6 - and both are nerve nutrients - and nerves make muscles work. The other member of the trio is Potassium - as if potassium is low, it will not "hold" the magnesium and vice versa.

>  Anyone care to 
> comment? Or recommend an alternative?

Part of my Mg knowledge is passed on from a Doctor now deceased, who also had inherited Mg loss, and who studied what forms work how. I've aded more from my correspondence with an Italian doctor who has researched Magnesium chloride in particular with some fascinating findings. So to summarize the two doctors and my personal findings:

If  you are very low on magnesium and need a fast pick-up due to say cramps and pain or impending heart attack
then Magnesium gluconate is your go-to item, as it absorbs in about one hour. It comes in tablets with only 27 or 30 mg of elemental magnesium in each, depending on the brand. (It's because 500mg of magnesium gluconate w contains 30mg of magnesium). SO if you take 6 of those (only 180mg of Mg) at once, it will stop the cramps of heart muscle strain in an hour or so. 
Also if you plan to do a lot of physical exercise, like run a marathon - it is smart to take 6 before  you start.

In cases where there is steady magnesium loss as I have, it takes 6 of these an hour before any active hour such as shopping etc, to  keep levels okay.

For chronic diseases where magnesium is part of it, (anything with muscle pain or nerve pain or stress like fibromyalgia or cushings syndrome for example), there is only one form that can get into the muscles really well, and that is Magnesium chloride.  It helps in al the chronic case situations, including mine which involves fast loss of magnesium. No other form helps me regain lost magnesium enough to make my system function. The Italian doctor proved this in research - that it is the best form for all forms of chronic need for magnesium - but last we spoke, he had not yet figured out WHY it worked where other forms did not.
In USA, Magnesium chloride is hard to find, though all pharmacies have access to it. You do not find it in HF stores, nor do  you find it alone as a Mg supplement. It comes one way only and that is in slow release tablets with a coating to pass the stomach undigested (which otherwise halves its absorption) and with calcium also in the tablet whether you want it there or not.   Again there is not that much Mg in a tablet - 64mg, with two considered a "dose" per the label. The only way to get it is to ask a pharmacist to get it for you from their warehouse.  

Advantages of MgCl include that it does not mess about with your stomach acid, and digestive system.
It does get absorbed in ways that the metabolism can use in deep muscles. Other forms will give superficial benefits only.
However the chloride part is quite laxative so you can not take more than "bowel tolerance". Usually that is actually the best guide to need however as constipation IS a symptom of magnesium deficiency.

Both Magnesium gluconate and Magnesium chloride are only available (to my knowledge) via a pharmacist as OTC items that they tend not to stock, but can get overnight from a warehouse.

HF stores have many forms of Mg, and they do no do half as much good as the above two.
Citrate is probably the least harmful of these.
Oxide is horrible (but dirt cheap junk) - it will mess up digestion, and other metabolism.

By the way, Constipation as a magnesium deficiency, is why Milk of Magnesia is  magnesium,. BUT that is either magnesium hydroxide or magnesium sulphate and  you do NOT want that to mess up your gut lining, nor to take out your protein digestion as an antacid! (It's not a reflux inhibitor.) 

I'd never heard of aspartate but  Magnesium reacts with most things so you can make almost any compound with it that your heart desires - or in this case that your heart does not want.

I suggest stick to Magnesium chloride (which takes at least 8 hrs to absorb as do almost all magnesium forms except gluconate) as a regular supplement. Trade names include Magdelay, Mag 64, Slowmag.
Plus Magnesium gluconate for fast results needs. Trade names include Rugby, Magonate.
Just remember they have little magnesium per tablet so you do need them in quantity per dose .... not the "convenient" 300mg of Mg types at the HF store that do not really get to the heart of the problem.

(It feels weird sending anyone to a pharmacy rather than a HF store - this has to be the exception to prove the rule!)

Namaste,
    Irene
-- 
Irene de Villiers, B.Sc AASCA MCSSA D.I.Hom/D.Vet.Hom.
P.O. Box 4703 Spokane WA 99220.
www.angelfire.com/fl/furryboots/clickhere.html (Veterinary Homeopath.)
"Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt one doing it."