Magnesium is an important mineral that your body needs to perform more than 300 chemical reactions. You can get magnesium from your diet, but you may need supplements if your magnesium levels are low. Women are at a greater risk of low magnesium levels, but your doctor can tell you if you have need supplements. Magnesium oxide and magnesium chelate are two forms of magnesium supplements. Do not use alternative medicine without your doctor's approval.
Structure
Magnesium oxide is a naturally occurring mineral. It has a structure of a magnesium atom bonded to an oxygen atom. Magnesium chelate is an altered form of magnesium. To chelate minerals, manufacturers combine the organic molecule with a metal. This forms a ring-like structure called a chelate. This process of combining the mineral with a metal may make it easier or more difficult to absorb.
Absorption
Magnesium oxide and magnesium chelate may both help you overcome a magnesium deficiency. Your body can absorb and use both of these supplements, but it may benefit more from magnesium chelate. Magnesium oxide is generally cheaper than the other forms of magnesium such as magnesium chelate, but the body usually cannot absorb it as well. Your body may absorb magnesium chelate, magnesium gylcinate and magnesium asparate better than magnesium oxide, according to the Schachter Center for Complementary Medicine in New York.
Study
The difference in absorption between the two magnesium supplements was the subject of a study published in September 1994 in "The Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition." The study observed how patients who had undergone a procedure that removed part of the ileum in their small intestines were able to use magnesium oxide and magnesium chelate. The study found that most of the patients absorbed magnesium chelate slightly better than magnesium oxide, but the patients with the greatest difficulty absorbing magnesium were able to use the magnesium chelate significantly better than the magnesium oxide.
Considerations
Magnesium oxide and magnesium chelate have similar warnings of possible drug interactions and side effects. But there are some variants. Magnesium supplements can react with digoxin and certain fluoroquinolone antibiotics, such as penicillamine, ciprofloxacin and ofloxacin. Medline Plus, a division of the National Institutes of Health, states that magnesium oxide specifically can react with tetracycline-based antibiotics and nitrofurantoin. Magnesium chelate, however, can react with diuretics, or water pills, and medicine for osteoporosis or Paget's disease, such as ibandronate, etidronate and risedronate. Both types of magnesium may cause an allergic reaction, diarrhea or upset stomach. Magnesium chelate may also cause depression, fatigue, irritability and muscle cramps.
References
- The Schachter Center for Complementary Medicine: The Importance of Magnesium to Human Nutrition
- Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition: Bioavailability of Magnesium Diglycinate vs Magnesium Oxide in Patients with Ileal Resection
- Drugs.com: Chelated Magnesium
- Drugs.com: Magnesium Oxide
- Medline Plus: Magnesium Oxide
- Linus Pauling Institute: Glossary: A
- Chemguide.co.uk: Physical Properties of the Period 3 Oxides
- Medline Plus: Magnesium
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