Type 2 diabetes places you at risk for a number of other dangerous and life-threatening health conditions, including kidney disease, heart disease, hypertension, stroke and blindness.17 Previous research has demonstrated higher intake of magnesium is associated with a lower risk of diabetes.18 According to a 2017 study, even those making poor dietary choices enjoyed protection against diabetes if they had a high intake of magnesium.19
To evaluate their assumption that higher intake of magnesium may be linked to lower incidence of diabetes, even when making poor carbohydrate choices, researchers looked at the diet habits of people enrolled in the Nurses' Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study.
They calculated the hazard ratios and adjusted for factors such as age, body mass index, history, processed meat intake and other physical factors that may have increased the risk of over 17,000 participants who developed Type 2 diabetes in 28 years.
They found those who consumed the highest amount of magnesium had a 15% lower risk of developing diabetes over those who consumed the least amount.
The researchers also found higher consumption of magnesium in people who consumed foods with a high glycemic index was even more strongly tied to a reduced risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.20
Magnesium Deficiency May Speed Aging
In an effort to understand the impact magnesium may have on the capacity of cells to replicate and the integral part this plays in the development of disease, researchers analyzed the cell division of cultured human fibroblasts in the presence of adequate and inadequate magnesium.21
They found that while cells would divide and survive under moderate magnesium depletion, the cells also aged faster than those grown under normal magnesium concentrations.22 David Killilea, Ph.D., lead author of the study, said:23
"Magnesium deficiency affects the way the cells age. Accelerated cellular ageing affects the way tissue functions. We are now thinking that cellular consequences of magnesium deficiency may be driving long-term chronic
disease. You could be moderately deficient for a long time and not know it."
Depression is another health condition affected by your magnesium levels that can shorten your life span. Looking at six decades of mental health and mortality data, researchers found an association between premature death and depression.24
Magnesium plays a key supporting role in healthy neurological function and mental health.25 Research demonstrates that magnesium insufficiency may be a causative factor in the development of depression, anxiety and stress-related conditions.
Co-author with Killilea, Bruce Ames, Ph.D., used the study of magnesium impact on fibroblast replication within a larger theory of how micronutrients affect your health over your lifetime.
His Triage Theory of Aging hypothesizes that moderate micronutrient deficiencies, often not enough to produce symptoms, may lead to accelerated aging and related diseases.26
During his presentation, Ames said:
"Triage theory predicts that the consequence of moderate shortages of even a single micronutrient, though insufficient to cause overt clinical symptoms, will impair functions essential for long-term health. This impairment will result in insidious damage (e.g., increased DNA damage) that, over time, leads to the acceleration of age-associated diseases (e.g. increased cancer).
As people with modest deficiencies have no overt clinical symptoms, there has been little incentive to correct these deficiencies, though this could change if it can be shown that they are resulting in biochemical changes (e.g., chromosome breaks that are markers of increased risk of age-related diseases, such as
cancer)."
Heart Health Affects Longevity
Magnesium may play a significant role in the aging process when you suffer from insufficiency in amounts that are not low enough to cause recognizable symptoms of magnesium deficiency. Initially interested in cancer prevention, Ames wrote nearly 500 research papers during his professional career as his attention turned to the aging process and mitochondrial health.27
An increased intake of magnesium has been associated with improved cardiovascular health and a 30% reduction in cardiovascular risk, including ischemic heart disease.28
Studies have demonstrated that magnesium also has a significant impact on arterial stiffness that may be a precursor to high blood pressure and heart disease.
Magnesium helps prevent vascular calcification through multiple mechanisms, and in end-stage kidney disease there is an association between adequate amounts of serum magnesium and survival.29
Acting through two distinct pathways, magnesium plays a vital role in supporting arterial smooth muscle function and promoting arterial flexibility.
Role of Magnesium Sulfate in Pain Management
Research shows magnesium sulfate also plays a role in postsurgical pain management.
Magnesium acts as a natural calcium channel blocker,30 which is important in pain processing.31 Research has demonstrated that magnesium administration during surgery reduced the need for intraoperative fentanyl.32
Another study concluded postoperative administration reduced pain and the need for opioids after a thoracotomy.33 Thoracotomy surgeries are painful and require planned pain management to improve patient outcomes. In an effort to determine if the administration of magnesium could also reduce the use of opioid drugs after surgery, researchers analyzed the result of using magnesium post-operatively.
In the second study, all patients received morphine in the recovery room, but the magnesium group also received an intravenous infusion of magnesium. A total number of 24 patients completed the study. Those who received magnesium infusion used significantly less morphine for pain control at four and eight hours after surgery, without any discernable difference in pain or sedation scores.34
The incidence of nausea and vomiting was similar in the two groups, but those who received magnesium stayed in the hospital an average of one day less than those who did not receive magnesium. The researchers also concluded that magnesium infusion did not cause any adverse side effects.
Another study found similar results in patients who had undergone a hysterectomy and received post-surgical intravenous magnesium sulfate.35 Forty women were assigned randomly to two groups; one received magnesium post-surgically and the second group received normal saline.
After receiving the same anesthesia, the group who received a single dose of magnesium had lower pain scores over the first 24 hours and lower use of pain medication.