Magnesium and Health

January 31, 2011

Magnesium and Health

Carolyn Dean, MD, ND, (Kihei, HA). Author of, "The Miracle of Magnesium."

Water, according to Dr. Carolyn Dean, is held in the body by minerals. People who are mineral deficient (including those who perspire a lot), tend to have problems with dehydration symptoms, in which the body, or a part of the body, lacks adequate water. This also applies to athletes who replace lost moisture with soda. Sugar is dehydrating and carbonation is even more dehydrating. You need salt when you perspire but you also need pure water and minerals.

Sharon calls the interconnection in the body between minerals and water, the "internal river" and it is closely linked to dehydration diseases. If you increase your water intake, you will go to the bathroom more at first but this should ease up after a while. Drinking water warm or at room temperature should mitigate the problem.

Magnesium aids in the electrical transmission between cells, as does calcium. You body contains 10,000 times more magnesium than calcium and when you take one as a supplement, you need to also take the other. Insufficient magnesium will give you heart palpitations, muscle cramps, brittle bones and atherosclerosis. Magnesium excites, calcium calms.

Magnesium tends to evaporate when cooked. Dr. Dean recommends fertilizers with magnesium for your garden to make sure it is in the food you eat. If the magnesium particles are too large, they will not absorb (need to be 4 to 15 angstroms in diameter). If the particles are in the plants, they are small enough for your body. Plants can also break down minerals from the soil.

The best foods are non-addictive and balanced. Avoid refined foods. Diabetes is 8% in the US, which is high, and 40% in Dubai, which only recently adopted a Western diet full of carbs and soda pop. Dr. Dean's advice: fix your diet before you get sick.

The best high magnesium foods: Sea kelp, wheat bran, wheat germ, almonds, cashews, molasses, brewer's yeast, peanuts. But magnesium needs to be in the soil before it will be in the food.

Regarding raw fresh greens: Dark green vegetables contain both calcium and magnesium. But don't cook them. You can add increase mineral content with sunflower seeds or sea salt. She also likes slushies with cacao (or chocolate), cocoanut milk and frozen bananas, possibly with a few nuts added.

Cocoanut oil is excellent - contains an anti-fungal so it does not go rancid. Contains saturated fat but they are "medium chain fatty acids" and very good for you. Cold pressed (with no heat) coconut oil is great for cooking or baking.

Regarding the "China Study," dr. Dean is not an advocate of a vegan diet for everyone because some people cannot tolerate it, depending on their personal metabolism. People with blood type O seem to need more animal protein.

Website: www.drcarolyndean.com.

(Categories: Alternative medicines and therapies; diet and nutrition; health and wellness; naturopathic medicine; 2011)