Nigari MgCl2 analysis - Hans & Jackie

I had previously posted about using "Nigari" which is magnesium chloride (MgCl2) that the Japanese use for coagulating tofu. I used it to make "magnesium oil" which is a supersaturated MgCl2 and water solution for topical or transdermal application. Since the source of my Nigari was from Japan (Mitoku Natural Nigari) Hans and Jackie encouraged me to make sure it did not have mercury or other heavy metals.

I send a sample off to the chem lab where a friend runs a mass spectrometer for doing just these sorts of analyses. The results came back very clean - in fact much better than the USP standard for heavy metals.

.......μg/L (ppb liquid)... μg/g (ppm solid)
Ca 7241 1810.25
K 3292 823
Na 7841 1960.25
Fe 44.57 11.1425
Ni 9.24 2.31
Zn 5 1.25
Sr 10.3 2.575
Hg 0 0
no other metals (including arsenic and lead) showed up at all.

The Hg analysis was done separately. She quoted me the μg/L values and gave me a conversion to μg/g.

George

George,

How much do you use a day - just roughly!

I've been using a bought magnesium oil and am sure apart from a virus blip that it is probably more effective than oral dosing.

I've also now got a packet of Epsom salts - would you use a similar amount of that - I don't have a bathtub so either a foot soak or skin 'oil' are the options.

Thanks
Joyce

George - That's very good news. I'm glad you went to the trouble of checking. Can you explain what the figures mean for the Hg done separately? esp. the symbols.

Jackie

Hello George,


Did the analyses also say something about the magnesium content of nigari? I do not see it listed in the results of your analysis.

By the way, I love tofu.

Take care,

Ritze

Sorry, the phorum software did an unusual conversion for the "micro" gram symbol (&#956. So, let me try again

.....μg/L (ppb liquid)... μg/g (ppm solid)
Ca 7241 1810.25
K 3292 823
Na 7841 1960.25
Fe 44.57 11.1425
Ni 9.24 2.31
Zn 5 1.25
Sr 10.3 2.575
Hg 0 0
no other metals (including arsenic and lead) showed up at all.

The Hg analysis was done separately.

She quoted me the μg/L values and gave me a conversion to μg/g, for both the mercury and the other analysis.

==================

What they do is take the solid MgCl2 sample and dilute it in very pure lab water to run on the mass spectrometer. The μg/L (ppb liquid) are the results of this analysis and are on the resulting diluted liquid solution. The second column is a conversion back to concentrations of the solid form, resulting in μg/g (ppm solid).

Jackie - The Hg was run separately - I forget why, but they need to do a mercury analysis separate from the rest of the test. The result was no mercury.

Joyce - I've just made up a supersaturated solution that I rub on - I'm not too scientific about it (when it is supersaturated, it feels oily). I'm sure you can do the same for the MgSO4 Epsom salts. There were some posts about using Epsom salts previously, including one that is several above Peggy's in this thread: <[www.afibbers.org]; I've not made any of the creams yet, just rub the water solution on.

Ritze - we didn't analyze for magnesium chloride since we already knew that is what it is, mostly - it would require another analysis with a lot more dilution. At one point, I had a general analysis of Nigari, but I can't find it right now. It is ~90% MgCl2, ~5% MgSO4 with the remaining 5%: Na, Ca & K as shown above. The Nigari has a bitter flavor "bitterns" that I understand comes from the MgSO4.

George

Thanks George.
Joyce

George,

You're right, MgCl2 will be present in abundance.

I thought that you had analyzed tofu (the stuff I love eating) as well.


Best wishes,

Ritze

Ritze,

Have you looked at the effect of phyto-estrogens on us? Soy/tofu has more of that than other veg. IIRC there are other reasons not to eat it.

William

Ritze,

Here is an analysis of tofu made by using nigari: [www.nutritiondata.com]

As you can see, there are 48.2 mg Mg per 91 grams tofu. The MgCl2 nigari is not always used as the coagulant. Sometimes calcium sulfate is used.

Here is a list of nutrition facts for other tofu products: [www.nutritiondata.com]

George