Lack of Magnesium Can Cause Heart Disease

Lack of Magnesium Can Cause Heart Disease


Did you know…that a mineral imbalance in your body can cause heart disease?

Are your minerals out of balance? If you aren’t already conscious of your daily intake of certain minerals, the answer to that question is almost certainly “yes.”

While any kind of imbalance in the body will have detrimental effects, a lack of magnesium can be particularly dangerous. Stress-induced magnesium loss, according to the most recent research, is the precursor to a number of chronic diseasesincluding heart disease, the number one cause of death in the United States.
The Hardest Working Muscle in Your Body

Contrary to popular belief, the heart is not an organit’s a muscle. In the course of just one day, your heart beats more than 103,000 times and pushes approximately 20,000 pounds of blood through your body.

To fuel your muscles including your heart your body depends on a substance called magnesium-adenosine triphosphate (Mg2-ATP). To create and metabolize ATP, your cells need plentiful amounts of magnesium. Without a sufficient quantity of magnesium to generate energy, a cell will become diseased and die.

Because of their especially high work rate, heart muscle cells require the highest concentration of magnesium found anywhere in the body. A lack of magnesium, whether caused by an inadequate supply of magnesium or chronic loss of magnesium due to stress, will lead to cellular death.

A shortage of magnesium can even be a precursor to sudden cardiac death, which seemingly has no warning signs. It is an indisputable and scientifically established fact that all forms of cardiac disease stem from a failure of heart muscle to be properly fueled. Dr. Stephen Sinatra, a cardiologist, summed it up like this: “We in the medical profession have not been trained to look at heart disease in terms of individual cardiac cells lacking the energy to sustain them.”
The Importance of Calcium

In order to maintain optimal magnesium levels, experts advise that you must also monitor your levels of another key metabolic mineral calcium.

Studies have shown that in Paleolithic times, the ratio of calcium to magnesium from dietary sources was 1:1. Now that ratio ranges on average from 5:1 to 15:1! This shocking imbalance causes serious problems.

Dr. Carolyn Dean, a medical and naturopathic doctor and author of The Magnesium Miracle and other books, has worked on the front lines of the natural medicine revolution since 1979. She believes the skewed ratio of calcium to magnesium is to blame not only for heart disease, but also for other modern-day killers including Alzheimer’s disease and cancer.

“I find that people thrive on a 1:1 balance of calcium to magnesium,” said Dean. “I support the calcium RDA from the UK of 700 mg and the WHO of 500-600 mg.” When balancing your calcium and magnesium intake, be sure you are considering your dietary sources of calcium as well as any supplements you might be taking.