Magnesium deficiency is probably the second most common nutritional deficiency in the industrialized world, right? Definitely in the us. Um, it, it kind of goes back and forth with vitamin D depending on who you talk to, but that's how it made its way onto our foundational five. We find magnesium deficiency in, I probably, I would say 50 or 60% of the patients in which we test magnesium. If they're not already supplementing with it, they end up being deficient in it. Um, vitamin D is probably a little bit higher than that. Um, and, and I don't know if that's just because more people are supplementing with magnesium, but it's an issue. So real quick testing for magnesium, uh, very specific test. You will get a magnesium test a lot of times in your regular lab work, but it is a serum magnesium test. The normal range will be somewhere between probably one and three, something like that.

(00:57)
Um, and, and that's not an appropriate test for magnesium. It's accurate for your serum levels. But if I were your financial planner and I'm looking at your, um, readiness to retire, I could look in your checking account and that's your money and I can accurately count it, but that's not really relevant to retirement. The retirement money lives somewhere else, hopefully. Um, and, and so it's, it's an accurate test, but it's not a relevant test for what we're asking. Um, magnesium, it's an intracellular mineral, so it does its job inside the cell. So the appropriate way to look for it on a blood test is to open up the red blood cell and see what levels of magnesium there are inside the red blood cell. Your body will generally rob everywhere it can find to keep the serum level of magnesium in a pretty narrow range.

(01:49)
So you could be fairly deficient in your cells, but the last place you are going to see that is in the serum of the blood. It would be a dire situation when the serum test gets low. The red blood cell test is where you're gonna see that on a more functional level, and you'll see it much earlier. Um, it's kind of like if you're, if the, if the gas gauge on your car just had full and empty and nothing in between, right? Once it says empty and the engine quits, yeah, you got a, you got a gas problem. But what we're looking at is, is it at a quarter tank? Is it at an eighth of a tank? Is it at a 16th of a tank? Like the car's still running, but we know it's about to quit, right? That's more of what we're looking for.

(02:30)
When we look at the red blood cell magnesium, it's called either an R B C magnesium for red blood cell or erythrocyte magnesium. That's just an another name for red blood cell. Um, if you'll call our office, we can set you up with the test or we can at least give you the C P T code or the insurance code for the test. We can also give you the order code for LabCorp request. We keep those pretty readily on hand, um, and we don't mind giving you that. Call us. We'll set you up with that. Now, um, once you've gotten the test for magnesium, the normal range for me is going to be somewhere between five and a half and seven on a red blood cell magnesium test. Uh, the lab will say you're normal. I think all the way down to like four or four and a half or something silly like that.

(03:14)
That's just a be bell curve of everybody that's had the test done over a period of time in a particular region. And then they run two standard deviations from the middle of that and they say that's normal. That's kind of like what's average for our population out there. If you were to go sit at your local mall and walk, watch everybody walk by, that's average. That's not what most of my patients are aiming for. They're not aiming for average. They wanna be optimal, right? So I'm giving you the optimal range, five and a half to seven on a red blood cell magnesium test. Don't aim for five and a half to seven on a serum test. That's not applicable to, it's a different number, but on a red blood cell magnesium test, that's what you're looking for. Five and a half to seven. We do that as part of our annual physical on people.

(03:57)
We have a, what we call a full panel, which is kind of our annual physical panel, um, and red blood cell magnesium is in there as is vitamin D, tons of other stuff, but it should be checked regularly. Now, types of magnesium, first of all, I, hold on, I should say this. Magnesium in our body. Why is it important? Why am I even talking about it, right? Why, why did it bother making the list? So, um, today you have probably spent money 50 different ways, a hundred different ways, but not always handing somebody money or handing somebody your debit card. When you drive your car, you're spending money, you paid insurance on the car, you pay fuel on the car, you pay maintenance on the car, you're making a monthly payment on the car. There's money involved in that. When you eat breakfast, you paid for that food.

(04:47)
When you drink a smoothie, when you drink your coffee, um, when you're taking a shower, you're using soaps and stuff. You're paying for the water that's coming out. Like you're money is involved in almost everything we do, even when it's not obvious. Well, that's kind of the way magnesium is in our body. We have lots of, I mean, thousands of different processes that happen in our body every second. And, and I would say probably half of those have magnesium involved either directly or indirectly. And that's, that's probably a conservative estimate. Um, some of what I'm seeing now says that they've identified over 600 enzymatic reactions that require magnesium in our body. And that's just what we know about. Believe me, we are in our infancy in what we know about how the human body works. Like we like to act like we know all this stuff. We know some, but there's a lot we don't understand yet. But magnesium is involved in so much that goes on in our bodies during the day. So anyway, that's partly why it becomes so important. Um, the symptoms of magnesium deficiency, some of the obvious ones. Constipation, poor sleep, muscle cramps, especially like calves and feet and stuff like that. Um, muscle twitches, heart

Palpitations or irregular heart rhythms, um, anxiety, uh, even all the way up to seizures and things like that. Those can all be related to magnesium deficiency. And then, um, high blood pressure a lot of times has a magnesium deficiency at its core. Um, we just can't control it well, without the right balance of potassium and magnesium and potassium's another one that can be, uh, a deficiency, but that's it. It doesn't get on the list of the foundational five. So anyway, um, magnesium is important for us and many of us just don't have enough. So check it in your blood test and, and, um, see how you're doing. Or it's safe enough to try. If you, if you heard my little list of symptoms, you're like, oh my gosh, every one of those is me. Um, it probably makes sense to try some magnesium and see if it makes a difference for you.

(06:44)
So types of magnesium, some of the ones we use in the office, we use magnesium lactate from standard process. Um, I use a magnesium glycinate. It just changed names from designs for health. Um, it was like a buffered magnesium chelate. Now it's a magnesium glycinate complex. I think it is. Um, magnesium bisk glycinate. It's a good form. Magnesium malate, magnesium citrate, malate, magnesium in hydroxyapatite, uh, complex. Those are all good forms of magnesium. Um, but magnesium lactates one of the ones I use the, um, magnesium glycinate complexes, one that I use regularly, uh, here at the office. Um, and then there are two others that are very specific. Um, sometimes we need to get magnesium into the central nervous system. We needed to cross the blood brain barrier for patients with anxiety, for patients with seizures, for patients with, um, essential tremors, some things like that.

(07:46)
Um, we need to get magnesium into the central nervous system. It's also a chelator for certain heavy metals. Um, so sometimes we need to get it in there for that purpose. Um, that's a much larger discussion for another day. Uh, but there are two forms of magnesium that are good at crossing the blood-brain barrier. Now, there are a little bit more expensive than other forms of magnesium, so we don't always use them in someone who has a need for magnesium, but when they need it in the central nervous system, there are only two ways to get it done, at least for now. One of them is called magnesium 3 0 8 t h r e o n a t e 3 0 8. It Designs for Health has it, um, under a product name of NeuroMag, N E U R O, like neurology, NeuroMag, n as in Nancy. Um, that does a good job of getting into the central nervous system. I think the research says, well, I I probably shouldn't quote it cause I don't have it in front of me, but like, you know, eight to 10% increase in the magnesium in the central nervous system. Um, when you take magnesium three and eight in a normal dose and that's meaningful, like that makes a difference cuz most of the other magnesiums

Just don't seem to do it. Um, they did a test where they took several different forms of magnesium that, uh, they, I think these were mice, but they'd give it to the mice. They did a, um, a spinal tap on the mice, which that's, that's an interesting skill, skill set, like if that's what you've decided to hit for your career niche. Like I do spinal taps on mice. Um, but anyway, so they do that. They check the, the level of magnesium and the cervical spinal fluid. They would give them a magnesium deficient diet and create a deficiency in there, and then they would give 'em various forms of magnesium and see what raised it the most. Um, most of the other forms of magnesium just didn't touch it. Like they didn't, the blood levels went up and the levels in the musculature and all that all went up, but it just didn't go up in the, in the central nervous system with three and eight, it did meaningfully like in that eight to 10, maybe 12% range.

(09:43)
And then there's another one called multiform magnesium and U L T I like multivitamin. This is multiform magnesium and that one is an extract of Swiss shard and buckwheat. So it's a whole food and it is, as the name would indicate multiple forms of magnesium kind of clustered together that I believe raised it closer to 20 or 22%, something like that. Um, again, I don't have the research in front of me, so those numbers are kind of fuzzy, but it raised it considerably more than the magnesium three and eight. It's just much harder to get. The only company that has it is standard process. Um, and the only reason it works, like if you were to just get Swiss ARD and buckwheat it, it probably wouldn't do the same thing. The only reason it works is because standard process grows their own. They have, um, either the first or second largest organic farm in Wisconsin and have for years.

(10:34)
Um, they have cultivated topsoil for decades. And if you, you wouldn't be able to, I've been to the farm, right? So when one goes to the farm that you do a farm tour, and, um, on certain occasions when they know they're doing a lot of farm tours, they have an event going on up there, they'll actually dig like a 12 foot deep, two foot wide kind of trench. And as part of the tour, you go out there and look in the trench, you're not finding bodies, don't worry. But what you get to see is that there is this six foot or eight foot layer of this deep warm, loose black, um, topsoil because every time they take vegetable material off the field, they juice it and then de dehydrate it and turn it into a powder and use it for whatever. But the water and the, the fiber material that comes off of that gets recycled as compost and put back out into the fields. And so over years and years and years and years of doing this, they've built up this massive depth of, of kind of the topsoil we probably used to have all over the United States right before we switched to chemical fertilizers and, and not growing cover crops in the off seasons and all that caused the dust bowl and we lost it all. It, you can read all about that, it's a

Well story, but they have rebuilt this. And if you talk to, um, or listen to the farm manager for standard process, her name is Christine Mason. Fascinating lady to talk to. Um, I've had the privilege of meeting her several times and, and listening to her speak and being able to ask her questions, she will tell you yes, she grows food, right? She grows the vegetables and stuff that are needed for, for a lot of the standard processed product line. However, her main job is to be a steward of the topsoil. She cultivates and protects and maintains the topsoil. It is probably the single greatest asset that standard process has is that topsoil. So that's why magnesium deficiency is so rampant. Now, all the foods that normally would have a decent amount of magnesium in them are grown and depleted soils, and they don't have the magnesium they're supposed to have anymore.

(12:48)
So when you're eating this thinking, oh, this is a good source of magnesium, it's not because the magnesium wasn't in the soil, the plant couldn't take it up and it's not gonna be able to concentrate it for you. When you grow Swiss chardan buckwheat in topsoil like they have, they can run it through their biotech lab that they have onsite at the farm and know right away how much magnesium and other minerals and whatnot is in that plant. And so over time, they have found the right varieties for their environment, for their topsoil to concentrate the magnesium and they get this multiform magnesium that does such a great job of getting into the central nervous system standard process commercials over. So, so that's a form that we use here. The product name on that is e z mag, the letter E, the letter Z, and then mag, it used to be available as a powder.

(13:37)
It came in little single dosed sticks and you'd tear it open and dump it in your water and drink it. I thought it was great, right? It got in very quickly. Everybody loved it, but it tasted like grass, which for my patients really isn't a big deal. They've had worse. Um, but apparently a lot of people complained about it. And so they switched it to tablets. They no longer have the powder. The downside is it takes six tablets to equal one stick pack that they used to have. Um, many of my patients are used to throwing down a handful of tablets at once. It's not a big deal for them. Um, but some people kind of freak out about taking six tablets once or twice a day. But if it gets rid of their anxiety, if it calms down their muscle cramps, if they don't have restless leg syndrome at night, if, if, you know, if the seizure levels start to normalize, it's worth it. Um, but you have to do some education so they understand why they have to take so much magnesium. Three and eight is a lesser dosage. Like you can take just one or two capsules a day, but you're, it's gonna take a little bit longer to build up those levels in the nervous system. All the other forms of magnesium, great for the rest of the body. They're not gonna get in the nervous system like these two. Um, we do not have a test that tells us

What your nervous system levels of magnesium are. We have a test that tells us what your blood levels are. Um, so there are some people who have decent blood levels, but we know that their central nervous system is deficient because of the symptoms that they have. So we'll supplement them anyway, um, and watch their symptoms over time. Magnesium's very safe. I don't know that anybody's ever overdosed on magnesium. Um, at least not orally. Um, I'm not even sure what that would look like if they did. Uh, some magnesium can give you loose stools. That's typically when you're taking a form that's not absorbed terribly well and it stays in the digestive tract. Milk of magnesium, for example. You don't absorb much of that in your body. You would not take milk and magnesia to try to bring your blood levels up, but it'll stay in the digestive tract.

(15:32)
It'll pull water in and it'll soften your stool and help you have a bowel movement. Um, magnesium citrate is a classic laxative form of magnesium. Um, but given in smaller amounts with other forms with it, you can use it as a general magnesium supplement, but if you take too much, you're gonna get a loose stool, which for some people is not bad at all. Like they need that. Um, and so some people use magnesium like that. There are also, um, other magnesium products that are geared around calming you down at night. Um, that's great and they work really well. Um, so, so magnesium is something I I just want people to get magnesium. I have the forms that I use here at the office. I'm, I'm kind of particular based on the patient's needs, which ones I use. Um, but I have patients that come in taking magnesium from other sources all the time.

(16:19)
And if they're supplementing well enough, their blood levels look good and I can 'em keep taking it, right? You're doing fine. Um, but most people would benefit from some amount of magnesium supplementation. So hopefully that helps you understand magnesium somewhat better. Um, there are other electrolytes that are also important. Um, sodium, potassium, fluoride, uh, magnesium that we just talked about. Those are all important. They need to be balanced. Your adrenal glands control most of that balance. So if you are someone who notoriously cannot control sodium levels or magnesium levels or potassium levels like you run into trouble, um, I have some patients that are in and out of the hospital because they can't control those. Um, or no matter what you take, you just can't seem to hang onto it. Uh, a lot of times you have to normalize adrenal function that involves the hypothalamus, the pituitary, the adrenals, um, certain inputs of stress.

(17:19)
Um, there are adaptogenic herbs you can use. There are nutrients you can use. There are, um, ways to normalize your circadian rhythms that help out with that. So there are things you can do to normalize that, but in the short run, get your levels up where they need to be and see if you need to go down that road. If you can get them in the right range, but you can't keep them there and you can't manage that and it's always a, you know, a retest and recalibrate process, then there's probably some sort of adrenal function that you

Need to deal with. Okay? Um, the other problem can be if you're taking a lot of acid blockers so you don't have a normal amount of stomach acid, it can be difficult for you to absorb these. Also, having low vitamin D can make it difficult to absorb some of these. Um, so just be aware that, that some of these, you know, interact with each other. So that rounds out the foundational five. We've talked about multivitamins, fish oil, probiotics, um, vitamin D, and now magnesium. If this is the first video you're seeing in the foundational five, go back and find the others. Uh, if this is the last one you're seeing, congratulations, you've made it through. Um, but consider getting yourself on some of these, or at least talking to your nutrition aware practitioner to find out if that's something you need. You are welcome to call our office, um, and we can set you up with some of these or an appointment to find out if you need them.

(18:40)
We can set you up with the right lab work to get these tested. Um, whatever that need may be. If you already know what you need and you just wanna order it, you can go to my [email protected]. In the upper right corner, you'll see a, a menu item for store and you can click on that and have access to standard process and designs for health, which is predominantly what we've talked about here. Okay? So if you have any questions, let us know. Um, feel free to strike up a conversation. I would love for you to share these videos with other family and friends who need this information, um, and let them know that there are practitioners out here that are trained in this, that understand this and that are willing and able to help them out. Okay? Hope you have a great afternoon.