To relax the vascular system and help the body rehydrate, restore electrolyte balance and flush its wastes better, we need enough magnesium and water.
Hypertention
In a recently published meta-analysis of several randomised controlled magnesium-hypertension trials, it was found:
“The weighted overall effects indicated that the magnesium-supplementation group had a significantly greater reduction in both SBP (SMD: -0.20; 95% CI: -0.37, -0.03) and DBP (SMD: -0.27; 95% CI: -0.52, -0.03) than did the control group.
Magnesium supplementation resulted in a mean reduction of 4.18 mm Hg in SBP and 2.27 mm Hg in DBP. Conclusion:
The pooled results suggest that magnesium supplementation significantly lowers BP in individuals with insulin resistance, prediabetes, or other noncommunicable chronic diseases.” [7]
Arterial Stiffness and Dyslipidemia
The inside lining of blood vessels exposed to blood flow is made up of endothelial cells (the endothelium). Low magnesium has been shown in several studies to upregulate proinflammatory, prothrombotic and proatherogenic conditions in endothelial cells. This inflammatory state leads to increased lipid peroxidation (degradation of cholesterol) and development of dyslipidemia [8] (ie. excessive fats in blood and fatty deposits on lining).
Merely removing the fatty deposits however does not address the problem of why the fatty deposits are accumulating.
Note that magnesium has been shown to work better than statin drugs to reduce the fatty plugs on arterial linings, and without the bad side effects. In addition, magnesium does even more to act as an antioxidant to stabilize lipid metabolism, reduce plaque and increase arterial contractibility and blood fluidity. [9]
Behind the endothelium is a secondary layer, called the media. It is comprised of smooth muscle cells, collagen and elastin, which form a kind of netting. Magnesium regulates collagen and elastin turnover in the vascular wall and the activity of important enzymes -matrix metalloproteinases (which contain zinc).