Magnesium absorption dilemma

I understand now, first hand, that what works for one person may not work for another. I am hoping to get some suggestions. Background: I had been taking a liquid MgCl supplement for almost a year. It brought my RBC Mg level up from 4.9 to 5.7. Then I learned it contained lead. My heavy metal test showed that my lead level increased as well during the time period I was taking that liquid supplement.

I then switched to another brand which Consumer Labs test showed was clear of lead. It is timed release caplets of MgMalate. Their website shows a clinical study that showed that after takinig the product for 3 months that participants' RBC levels reached optimum amounts, like over 6. I took it for 3 months and my RBC Mg went DOWN to 5.5. I am heartbroken. I thought I'd found the answer. The bottle says take 4 per day. I took 8 to start. Stool got a little loose, so I backed down to 7 per day (divided doses) and was perfectly normal from then on. That was the perfect amount for me I thought, to build up my Mg stores.

I also use transdermal Mg twice a day, same as I did when taking the liquid Mg supplement. I had a successful ablation 5 months ago, but I'm afraid my AF will return if I don't get my Mg up to optimal.

I have some Doctor's Best High Absorption Magnesium Stearate tablets , 100% chelated with TRAACS. I may try substituting that for another 3 months and get another RBC Mg test, unless anyone has any other suggestions. Funny, today in the e mail I just received an ad for another Mg formula that has 7 different types of Mg in it. Chelate, Malate, Citrate, Bisglycinate, Aspartate, Orotate, and Taurate. Anyone know if this one is good?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/15/2020 04:55PM by LaniB.

Lani, I have the most depressing list of magnesium purchases over the last year at Amazon - carbonate, citrate, taurate, hydroxide, glycinate and malate. None of them prevented an ablation. I now take magnesium malate.

Mg oxide is a waste of money since it has such a pathetically low absorption rate (4%). The product with 7 different types is a silly gimmick. The other choices are all kind of a tossup and will provide similar results. Choose based on product quality, price, and how well you tolerate it. What nobody should expect is dramatic results or quick results. It won't cure your AF and it takes many months of supplementation to correct an actual Mg deficiency.

Citrate has been the one that has impact for me. Chloride, too, if I can stand the yuck taste of the solution.

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Carey
Mg oxide is a waste of money since it has such a pathetically low absorption rate (4%). The product with 7 different types is a silly gimmick. The other choices are all kind of a tossup and will provide similar results. Choose based on product quality, price, and how well you tolerate it. What nobody should expect is dramatic results or quick results. It won't cure your AF and it takes many months of supplementation to correct an actual Mg deficiency.

"The other choices are all kind of a tossup and will provide similar results. Choose based on product quality, price, and how well you tolerate it." I agree with this. However Mg oxide has also worked for me. Magnesium researcher, the late Herbert Mansmann, MD, took up to 20g elemental mag a day to put his diabetic neuropathy in remission. Oxide was a material part of that. I posted about him back in 2011. Any magnesium form works for me in sufficient quantity and I've taken almost all and some that are much more esoteric.

"It won't cure your AF and it takes many months of supplementation to correct an actual Mg deficiency." In my case, it has put my afib in remission. The effects are rapid for me, though I'm not sure I've ever corrected the Mg deficiency. Prior to a 2.5 month episode, at the beginning of my afib "career" 16 years ago, I was having episodes every 10-14 days lasting 6-9 hours. Subsequent to converting the 2 1/2 month episode with PIP flec, I started magnesium and episode frequency immediately went to multiple months apart and then years. On the other side of the equation, today if I don't take magnesium for two days, afib is almost a certain visitor (and this has been true for almost all of the 16 years of supplementation).

During the 2 1/2 month episode, I experienced eyelid fasciculations (twitches), as sign of Mg deficiency. These subsided about 3 months after converting to NSR and starting to supplement with Mg.

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GeorgeN
However Mg oxide has also worked for me.

Could be you simply don't need much to set you straight, but you have to agree that a 4% absorption rate means 96% of your money is going down the toilet.

I recommend the EXA test. Their final report will print out a magnesium dosage recommendation based on your results.

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Carey
Could be you simply don't need much to set you straight, but you have to agree that a 4% absorption rate means 96% of your money is going down the toilet.

No matter what I do, most of what I take is going down the toilet - either urine or feces. Been a long time since I looked at this, but there is about 30g of mag in the body, of which all but 5g are in the bones. If I'm consuming 3.5g elemental daily and my stools aren't loose, then most of that has to be urinated out. My RBC (red blood cell) magnesium tests in the high 7's. According to Dr. Carolyn Dean MD, who writes about this, optimal is between 6.0 - 6.5. In the past, reducing my intake to drop the RBC mag to that range leads to afib. Since my stools aren't loose, I am "absorbing" what I'm consuming, at least out of the gut. Why I need to do this for my afib to be in remission, I have no idea. I don't recommend oxide to most people who ask, I usually recommend glycinate (or the Albion TRAACs Mg glycinate as Jackie suggests, which is in a lot of products) as this is reported to be the most bioavailable. A lot of people think they need to get the "right" form of magnesium for it to be effective with their afib. My point is, at least in my experience, if magnesium is part of the solution, any form may work. Your point "Choose based on product quality, price, and how well you tolerate it.' is a good one. I currently have about 5 pounds of the equine di-magnesium malate powder as made by Albion, which is what I mostly take because it is quality, relatively inexpensive and easy and it reasonably palatable (I never mix the powders, just throw them back and swallow). I take about 1 tablespoon a day, which is more than they suggest for horses and it weighs about 19g. Since 20% of the product is elemental mag, this is about 3.6g of mag. I also have about 1.5 pounds of mag citrate powder, a couple of pounds of mag hydroxide (active ingredient in milk of magnesia) powder (that I can mix with apple cider vinegar to make mag acetate, or chilled CO2 water to make mag bicarbonate), 0.5 pounds of mag bisglycinate powder (which is the Albion TRAACs product), and 30Kg of magnesium chloride flakes (Nigari from Japan) that I had tested in a mass spectrometer for heavy metals. The later is in case I can't get any other forms and is meant to last me a long time. I originally got 40Kg and have consumed 10Kg over the years. I also use the chloride to make "magnesium oil" to use topically, on occasion. Someplace is a bottle mag oxide pills that I've gotten when I forget other forms on a trip and is all that is available at the local Wally World.

But for someone who is deficient, that low absorption rate just means it's going to take all that much longer to restore normal levels, or possibly even make it impossible if they have a source of loss they have to overcome before they can begin making an improvement. I just don't see any benefit to taking a supplement with such a trivial absorption rate when forms with much better absorption rates are available.

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Carey
But for someone who is deficient, that low absorption rate just means it's going to take all that much longer to restore normal levels, or possibly even make it impossible if they have a source of loss they have to overcome before they can begin making an improvement. I just don't see any benefit to taking a supplement with such a trivial absorption rate when forms with much better absorption rates are available.

As I mentioned above, I typically advise folks start with mag glycinate. Not everybody lives where that is readily available and don't want them to think that other options won't work.

Per absorption, I've read comments about people taking tablets (perhaps oxide?) and observing them show up in their stools. That would be really low bioavailability and one reason I favor powders, crystals (as in chloride) or liquids (as in bicarbonate, acetate or making a liquid from chloride crystals).