The Magnesium Miracle
by Carolyn Dean
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Book Reviews of The Magnesium Miracle
Book Review: Absolutely informative and important book on magnesium
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a well-written, easily read and IMPORTANT book, magnesium being the most essential supplement needed.
In this comprehensive treatment of the various ailments/diseases caused by lack of this mineral, the author includes chapters on depression, migraines. strokes, hypertension, PMS, diabetes, chronic fatigue syndrome, etc. etc. In fact the author lists 68 common complaints caused by lack of magnesium and cites various medications also causing such lack. Magnesium regulates more than 325 enzymes in the body and since nowadays our farmlands are mineral-depleted, we cannot obtain enough magnesium even from an optimal diet rich in organic vegetables without supplementation.
We are provided with a wealth of facts about the mineral, for example, that fluoridated water banishes magnesium, that stomach acid is essential for magnesium absorption and that magnesium is blocked by certain foods, such as raw spinach. Also magnesium is required for adequate blood sugar control (can't remember reading that in any of the many diabetes books I've read and reviewed!), and treatment of stress.
In fact, this book is an absolute mine of essential little-known information about magnesium that can contribute to optimizing our health, should we choose to implement this knowledge. Not only can this simple mineral cure us of many serious complaints, but we can thereby avoid having to take the harmful drugs our doctors might otherwise persuade us were necessary to poison our systems with.
The best forms of magnesium in the author's opinion are magnesium taurate, magnesium glycinate, magnesium citrate, magnesium malate, magnesium orotate and magnesium oil. Your magnesium supplements should preferably be taken between meals since absorption requires stomach acid, and if magnesium is taken together with meals, the stomach acid will be busy digesting the meal, and this may impair magnesium absorption. Kelp is the foodstuff containing the highest amount of magnesium (760 mg per 100 g).
Moreover, Carolyn Dean endears herself to me since unlike many health authors I complain about in my reviews, she is well aware of the dangers of aspartame and statins and warns us against their use.
I have personally long been aware of the importance of magnesium, since if I don't take magnesium supplements, I suffer from psychomotor seizures characterized by 1) hearing of loud bangs or clicks that no-one else hears 2) experiencing my head being lit up inside perhaps together with a bang 3) seeing "fire" coming out of a wall. These symptoms can be accompanied by jerking of the legs and generally occur in the stage preceding sleep. Also I have had a period with acute and constant pains in the head. All these symptoms disappeared immediately on magnesium supplementation with two strong pills a day, and do not recur as long as I continue to take these pills. However, when I attempted also to supplement with calcium, the pains recurred, so I had to stop taking calcium supplements. These two minerals work together, and I assume I was getting too much calcium in relation to magnesium in my diet. Without magnesium I also suffer from leg cramps or tics.
The only thing I lacked in this book was a more comprehensive treatment of the importance of magnesium supplementation for sufferers of epilepsy (as mentioned above), there being only a small paragraph on this topic.
To sum up, I would strongly advise everyone to read this essential book.
Book Review: great information!
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this book to learn more about the role of magnesium in relation to my daughter's migranes. Instead, I have learned about the failing health of my entire family. My husband has type II diabetes, I have asthma, two daughters suffer with migraine, and another is ADHD. As I read this book, I began to identify with the causes for magnesium depletion and its subsequent symptoms, and have been wonderfully enlightened. It describes our family's circumstances and health issues in ways that connect all the dots, not just one or two. They all seem to be inflammation diseases, caused by an inadaquate magnesium intake and excess magnesium deleption due to stress, medications, and other factors. We do not smoke, drink, or consume caffine, and we do try to eat well, and yet, slowly over time, magnesium deficiency has gotten the better of all of us. I feel like this book finally answers the questions that I have and maps out the road back to better health.
It has only been a few weeks, so I cannot say for certain, so I can not give this 5 stars, yet. But already my asthma is improving by diet and putting my calcium and magnesium back in balance. As an asthmaic, one of my triggers is dairy. I avoid all dairy products as a general rule, and supplement with some calcium. But, as I have approached menopause, I have been concerned about possible bone loss, and decided to increase my calcium supplements to the full amount. About the same time, my asthma began to get worse, for no apparent reason other than I am aging. I was losing energy, experiencing brain fog (espeically in the morning when I first wake up), and despite being overly tired at night, awakening in the middle of the night with insomnia! I went to 4 doctors, most of whom support nutrition and supplements for better health, yet none of them suggested testing me for magnesium or the delicated magnsium/calcium balance that this book instructs about so well. Then I bought this book (to help my daughter!), and read one sentence: "Smooth muscles directed by too much calcium and insufficient magnesium can tighten the bronchial tract, causing asthma." After addtional study and reflection of my habits, I stoped taking the calcium supplements, and changed my diet for increased magnesium, and for the first time in months, my asthma is back under control. This is just one of several connections I have seen with my family and our health, in relation to magnesium deficiency. In time I hope to reintroduce calcium supplements, but in the proper balance with magnesium as this book suggests.
I also decided to buy and read "The Magnesium Factor": another excellent book about magnesium deficiency and it's effect on life-threatening diseases. It's focus is more on heart conditions, though, which are not an issue for our family at this time. But it is excellent as a second resource (I do not believe in taking the word of just one source-) This book has also lead me to buy the book "The Inflammation Syndrome": to learn more about these related health issues. I haven't recieved it yet, but I'm looking forward to, and seeing if it supports these theories.
Book Review: Magnesium is the great relaxer
Summary: 5 Stars
I knew magnesium was important from other books I had read, and other classes I had taken, but I didn't realize how many things reduce the amount in the body such as, exercise, sweating, stress, prescription drugs, fluoride, and calcium supplementation. Magnesium is necessary to properly metabolize calcium, and it keeps calcium in solution in the body, so it prevents calcifications, which are quite common.
Magnesium is therapeutic in treating the following:
1. Anxiety and panic attacks- because it helps keep adrenal stress hormones under control
2. Asthma - both histamine production and bronchial spasms increase with magnesium deficiency
3. Blood clots - magnesium prevents blood clots and thins blood without side effects.
4. Bowel disease - magnesium deficiency is one of the main causes of constipation.
5. Cystitis - bladder spasms are worsened by a magnesium deficiency.
6. Depression - serotonin (mood elevator) is dependent on magnesium for its production and function.
7. Heavy metals - magnesium is essential for the removal of heavy metals such as aluminum and lead.
8. Diabetes - magnesium facilitates the production of insulin and the transfer of glucose into the cells.
9. Fatigue - magnesium deficiency affects hundreds of enzymes, and fatigue is one of the first signs of a magnesium deficiency.
10. Heart disease - The heart requires magnesium as does all muscles.
11. Hypertension, hypoglycemia, insomnia, kidney disease, migraines, nerve problems, PMS, osteoporosis, Raynaud's syndrome, and tooth decay are all aggravated, and sometimes caused by a magnesium deficiency.
Calcium causes muscles to contract, while magnesium gives them the ability to relax. This is why it is so helpful in the treatment of heart disease, asthma, migraines, PMS and Raynaud's syndrome.
She told a very scary story where a Florida high school football coach gave his players a calcium supplement on a very hot day before a game. Eleven players became disoriented and had difficulty walking. Their speech was slurred, they complained of muscles spasms, and they were breathing very deeply. Within an hour eight of the boys collapsed into full-blown seizures. Thirteen of the players reported headaches, blurred vision, muscle twitching, nausea, and weakness. They all eventually recovered. The heat, exercise, and calcium supplementation had driven their magnesium levels dangerously low. Magnesium deficiency may play a role in sudden cardiac death syndrome as seen with athletes.
She generally recommends 600-1,000 mgs, and depending on your health condition will determine what type of magnesium to take. This is one of the better books I have read on natural health care. I'm currently working on a summary for myself, I'm about halfway through and already have four pages of notes. I would recommend it to anyone who is serious about natural healthcare.
Book Review: I AM a Believer in this Scientific "Miracle"
Summary: 5 Stars
Two short stories. A few years ago I would get cramps in the calf of my left leg upon awakening. This infrequent event morphed into a daily morning ritual. The cramping upon awakening was not just daily, but multiple and had spread to my right calf also and then to contorting my toes. I was literally "yelling" in pain; rubbing did no good. The final assult was in my hands: Due to some triggering movement my fingers would freeze into a weird, contorted shape; I had no control; I simply had to endure.
Knowing most GPs know little about nutrition and are prone to give some drug, I inquired at my health food store. It was recommended that I take 400mg capsules of calcium with 200 mg of magnesium just before bedtime. I did so. The next morning when I awoke I could not even induce the slightest cramp! That was a "miracle" to me. And so it has been for months now because I take a regimen of calcium with magnesium. (If I consumed much dairy, I would not take additional calcium.)
A final story. Although a senior citizen I am very physically active (tennis and the gym deplete magnesium, by the way) and around this time I was due for my yearly physical. It showed that I had a mild heart arrhythmia even though my large veins and arteries are "whistle clean" of occlusion. This book tells me that my body runs on electrical impulses and magnesium is essential for good heart health (among many functions), and that low magnesium--which I knew I had--is essential for good heart health. And that low magnesium can cause heart arrhythmia and even stroke no matter how clean ones arteries are. So, I was glad to have added magnesium to my supplement list, even upping it from 400 to 600 mg a day.
This small volume is an easy read and so reassuring with the scientifically-backed research. You will find it very enlightening how essential magnesium is. I hightly recommend this book to everyone currently suffering (or not) the ill effects of low magnesium.
Let me add that I also read another new book called THE MAGNESIUM FACTOR which is a very helpful source stocked full of research-backed data, but THE MIRACLE is smaller, the style is an easier read, and the information quite sufficient. Regardless, you won't go wrong with either or both books.
Book Review: Calcium without magnesium = major health problems
Summary: 5 Stars
If you're like me, you know to avoid "miracle" claims for any supplement. So, the title of this book may seem over the top.
But the fact is, magnesium is involved in hundreds of cellular reactions--to the point that if you don't have enough of it, you are breaking down all over. Sometimes in subtle ways and sometimes major ones. And magnesium can help such a wide variety of conditions that it does seem a bit too good to be true.
When I started researching magnesium a few years ago, I found the science so strong and the implications of mag deficiency so serious, I could not understand why more doctors didn't know about it.
Instead, our culture is getting pumped full of calcium, to the point that it is causing serious problems with sleeplessness, breast lumps, repetitive-use injuries, tendonitis, hypertension, anxiety, and even constipation.
A recent study showed that magnesium supplementation even at the point of infant delivery will reduce the risks of a child having cerebral palsy. And women who don't have enough magnesium have higher rates of hypertension during delivery.
I explain it to friends this way: Calcium gives rigidity to the cell, and magnesium gives flexibility. It's not exactly scientifically accurate, but it's close enough.
So, with any problem where you are lacking "flexibility," magnesium might help. Moreover, taken as the experts recommend, it won't hurt you--unlike the pharmaceutical alternatives your doctor might recommend instead.
As a nation, we are largely deficient in mag due to many factors, including high stress levels, consuming too many dairy products, and the quick-growing methods we've employed in our farming practices over the last 50 years. And the industry fixation on promoting calcium is CREATING many health problems.
Carolyn Dean explains everything you need to know about magnesium clearly, factually, and entertainingly. I recommend it to all who care about their health--and that of their loved ones.
Gina Pera