Magnesium is an essential mineral your body uses for keeping your bones strong, your immune system healthy, your muscles and nerves functioning properly and your heart beating steadily. Magnesium is also involved in maintaining blood pressure and blood sugar levels, turning food into energy and creating protein. If your magnesium levels are too low it may increase your risk for kidney stones.
Kidney Stones
Kidney stones occur when mineral and acid salts in your kidneys form into small, hard deposits. These stones may stay in your kidneys or clear up on their own. However, in some cases they travel through your urinary tract, which can be painful. Symptoms of kidney stones include pain in the lower abdomen under your ribs, pain that spreads to your groin, pain when urinating, nausea, vomiting and a persistent urge to urinate.
Magnesium and Kidney Stones
Higher magnesium intake is associated with a lower risk for developing kidney stones, according to a study published in December 2004 in the "Journal of the American Society of Nephrology." Potassium magnesium citrate and magnesium citrate are forms of magnesium that are sometimes used to prevent a recurrence of calcium oxalate or uric acid kidney stones.
Magnesium Recommended Intake
Women between the ages of 19 and 30 should consume at least 310 mg of magnesium per day and women aged 31 or older should consume at least 320 mg of magnesium per day. Men between the ages of 19 and 30 should consume at least 400 mg of magnesium per day and men aged 31 or older should consume at least 420 mg of magnesium per day. You should consume foods containing magnesium to meet your recommended intake. However, if you take supplements you should keep your magnesium intake from supplements below the tolerable upper intake level, which is 350 mg per day for adults.
Considerations
Do not take magnesium supplements without first speaking with your doctor to make sure it would be safe for you, and do not self-treat your kidney stones with magnesium instead of following the treatment prescribed by your doctor. Magnesium may be more beneficial for some types of kidney stones than others, and it is possible to consume too much magnesium from supplements.
References
- Office of Dietary Supplements: Magnesium
- Linus Pauling Institute; Magnesium; Jane Higdon, Ph.D., et al.; August 2007
- National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse; What I Need to Know About Kidney Stones; September 2010
- MayoClinic.com; Kidney Stones; January 2010
- "The New York Times": Kidney Stones Medications
- "Journal of the American Society of Nephrology"; Dietary Factors and the Risk of Incident Kidney Stones in Men: New Insights After 14 Years of Follow-up; E.N. Taylor, et al.; December 2004
