Magnesium is an essential mineral for a healthy body, but it also may play an important role in alleviating pain. Although research on magnesium's benefits for pain is mixed, magnesium could be worth considering for use in chronic pain disorders. Since side effects from overdoses can be potentially serious, check with your doctor if you decide to add magnesium to your diet.
Identification
Magnesium is the fourth most abundant mineral in your body, with about 50 percent found in your bones and the remainder inside cells and body tissues. Magnesium is used in over 300 biological processes that include supporting your immune system, a healthy heart and nerve functions and creating strong bones and muscles. Food sources include green vegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds and unrefined grains. Supplemental magnesium is generally in 250 to 500 mg tablets or capsules.
Benefits for Pain
A 2010 study in "The Journal of Physiology" suggested that a magnesium deficiency can be a major instigator of pain in cases of diabetic neuropathy affecting arms and legs. This effect is due to magnesium's ability to block receptors in the central nervous system involved in abnormal processing of sensory information. The researchers in the study found that in laboratory animals, magnesium reduced the stimulation of a pain-producing brain chemical called NMDA without the adverse side effects prescription medications frequently have.
Conflicting Evidence
However, a follow-up study published in June 2011 in "Magnesium Research" didn't produce the same results. The double-blind controlled study gave human patients experiencing neuropathic pain six capsules per day of 419 mg magnesium chloride for a month and found no difference between the group receiving the magnesium supplements and a placebo group.
Considerations
The Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences established a Recommended Dietary Allowance per day of 400 mg for men and 310 mg for women up to age 30 and doses increasing to 420 mg and 320 mg, respectively, from age 31 and older. Although magnesium overdoses are rare, they can occur more easily in patients with kidney disease. Symptoms of a milder case can include diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and a chalky taste in your mouth. A more severe overdose made lead to lethargy, confusion, blurred or double vision, breathing problems, low blood pressure, dizziness and a slow heart beat.
References
- National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements: Magnesium
- Linus Pauling Institute; Micronutrient Information Center; Jane Higdon and Victoria J. Drake; August 2007
- Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; Magnesium; December 2009
- Mayo Clinic; Magnesium Supplement; November 2010
- "The Journal of Physiology"; Magnesium Attenuates Chronic Hypersensitivity and Spinal Cord NMDA Receptor Phosphorylation in a Rat Model of Diabetic Neuropathic Pain; L.J. Rondon, et al.; September 2010
- "Magnesium Research"; Oral Magnesium Treatment in Patients With Neuropathic Pain: A Randomized Clinical Trial; G. Pickering; June 2011
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