The Miracle - Magnesium

Welcome to the next video of our channel Food Medicine and Life. Today I'm going to talk about a very, very important element, but which we have been ignoring for a long time— magnesium. You know, friends, we were never so deficient in magnesium than we are today, and let's look at why this is happening. The first thing which we need to know about magnesium is why are we getting deficient in magnesium? Because the biggest source of magnesium is fruits and vegetables, nuts, avocado, banana, legumes. And when we talk of fruits and vegetables, one thing which is happening is We are not taking 7 to 8 servings of fruits and vegetables as recommended in the RDA guidelines. 2, the magnesium content in these fruits and vegetables has decreased by 25 to 40%, and you know why? Multiple reasons. The soil is not that rich presently, the absorption is not that good, and when we have less magnesium in the plants the health of plants becomes bad, and therefore we need more chemicals and more pesticides to keep those plants healthy. And therefore we are getting in that vicious circle of low magnesium, more chemicals, bad soil, and of course the absorption in our body is getting affected because of bad gut health. Second fact which we need to know about magnesium is that magnesium is only active in our body in ionic form. If we look at the periodic table, the position of magnesium is at position 12. So if it is to become like a noble gas of that line, which is neon, it has to lose 2 electrons. We know that protons are inside the nucleus and we cannot remove them, but electrons are spursed outside and therefore they can be exchanged. So magnesium has to lose 2 electrons to become active and to act in our body. Third, magnesium actually gets impacted when there is electrolyte imbalance. Why? Because most of the levels of magnesium in our body depends on the reuptake of magnesium in the tubules, right? So If there is less potassium and more calcium in our body, it will impact magnesium. Fourth, blood levels— how effective and reliable are they? They are not reliable. Even RBC serum is not very reliable. We don't have exact tests to measure magnesium. And you know why this is so? 50% of magnesium in our body is stored in the bones. Almost 48 to 49% of the magnesium in our body is in the intracellular space, and only 1%, it is marginal magnesium, is available in the bloodstream. And that is the reason the testing is not accurate. But whenever our body needs more, it can get it from all these spaces which are the reservoir or the storage houses of magnesium in our body. Fourth thing which you have to know about magnesium is that low magnesium can lead to symptoms like muscle contractions, like drowsiness, foggy brain, and muscle weakness, fatigue. And if you look at them really seriously, you will see that all of them are related to our central nervous system. Wow! Magnesium is a brain vitamin. Yes, even if you look at muscle contractions, it is not only the muscles which are acting. Our brain or the central nervous system is responsible for that movement. And therefore, it is exceptionally important that we think of magnesium as the brain necessity. Next thing which you want and have to know about magnesium is— we all know energy is what? ATPs. But in our body, ATP alone cannot function. ATP-magnesium combination is what gives you energy. And this is so very vital. I promise you, friends, I had forgotten this despite being a doctor, because you know that biochemistry, physiology takes a back turn for doctors. But coming back to functional medicine and having treated thousands of patients, I have realized that magnesium is very, very core to our energy problems, and therefore it is important that we understand that ionic magnesium plus ATP is what defines your energy. Point 7 about magnesium: COMT, which is methyltransferase, is exceptionally important cofactor for our moods, for our sleep, for our mental health. And what happens is it is also a phase 2 enzyme important there, which results in good detoxification of our body. Imagine magnesium is an important cofactor for the functioning of COMT. That means that if magnesium is deficient in your body, you will be estrogen dominant. You can use DIM, I3C, and other stuff to take estrogen out. What will that do? That will change bad estrogen to good estrogen. But if you have to balance estrogen and get out of estrogen dominance and diseases because of estrogen dominance, like fibroids, like irregular periods, like cancer, you have to make sure that you have enough magnesium so that COMT works well in the phase 2 detoxification. And this is very, very, very important. Point 8 about magnesium. Glutathione, you know, that is the intracellular diamond of our body which helps in managing or balancing free radicals. You would say vitamin E is also a good free radical exchanger or balancer. Yes, but one vitamin E molecule balances one free radical, whereas glutathione balances hundreds to thousands of free radicals. And for the functioning of glutathione, you need magnesium. You need magnesium. And therefore, low magnesium means low glutathione activity, means more oxidative stress in your body, means more fatigue, more tendency to have cancer and metabolic diseases like diabetes, bad skin, and I can go on and on and on. But this is not, friends, I want us to understand, and that's the point 8 which we have to know about magnesium, is when we use magnesium as supplements or when we use from food, it is what is there with magnesium also is important. For example, magnesium citrate works differently, magnesium orotate works differently, magnesium threonate works differently because they are not only magnesium now. They are both magnesium plus, you know, glycinate, bisglycinate, threonate, orotate. And therefore, it is important that somebody tells you what magnesium you need for your symptoms and your blood levels and your tests. Now, you would think that, yes, food magnesium is the best way to take it. Yes, it is the best way to take it, And studies have proven that. But do you know, supposing you have high vitamin K or you have disease where vitamin K cannot be given in high quantities, then what? You will have to supplement with other than food sources, because majority of magnesium-rich food sources are what? They are rich in vitamin K. And this is not all. The time when you take it is exceptionally important in when you are wanting to supplement your body with magnesium. And last but not the least, we have to understand that low magnesium is almost 70% common in today's generation. So friends, be aware of symptoms of magnesium. Remember, it's a CNS mineral which we want, and it is the second most common mineral in our body. It works in 400+ processes in our body, and therefore, to be healthy, you have to have magnesium. Because, you know, a lot of times what we do, my patients come and say, I had low vitamin B12 and I supplemented myself with B12. I had low vitamin B6, I supplement myself with B6, but doc, my symptoms are not improving. Why? Because we are not supplementing with the cofactors. And if health would have been so easy that whatever we are deficient, we put it there and it would have, you know, worked on its own, we would have not had the requirement to actually look deeper. So what, friends, we have to look at is not the tip of the iceberg, which is what's low, what is more. No, we have to work on the pathways. At what time, which cofactor, which enzyme, which mineral, which vitamin is required? And we have to make sure that all those pathways are working right for the body to run like a well-greased, oiled machine or a car. Friends, if you have learned anything new in this video, and if you think this is worth sharing, your family, your friends can benefit and stay away from a lot of diseases like body fatigue, brain fog, loss of memory, muscle twitching, And all of that, do share this video, like it, subscribe to our channel so that we can make India a healthier country.