When I first experienced the perils of a magnesium (Mg) deficiency in 1963, hardly anyone mentioned this mineral or understood its vital role in the human body. Over time, I learned from my research that my kidney stones at age 17 were from a Mg deficiency, exacerbated by a Mg-deficient liquid diet that I foolishly embarked upon for a short time. After the FDA connected 59 deaths between late 1977 and early 1978 to liquid protein products, it was pulled off the market.
In 1957, my mother also suffered from kidney stones because of a magnesium-deficient diet. Back then, the protocol was surgery to remove her kidney, which she did upon her specialist’s recommendation. Two years later, additional kidney stones formed in her remaining kidney because her Mg deficiency was never addressed or even brought to her attention. Again, the protocol was to cut her open and remove 15% of her remaining kidney. Then, her specialist gave her the drug streptomycin, which made her deaf at age 35!
Despite such brutal medical malpractice, she survived. However, with four small children, her Mg deficiency, surgeries, drugs, and the medical malpractice had a terrible, lifelong impact on our family.
This also taught me that medical protocol was not trustworthy, drugs had harmful side effects, and sufficient Mg was necessary to prevent calcium oxalate kidney stones. I also learned in my nutrition studies that a supplement of another mineral, manganese (Mn), could have prevented her inner ear nerve damage and subsequent hearing loss.
To prevent a repeat of what happened to my mother or me, I took Mg supplements and laboriously learned, over time, about Mg's many vital functions and the perils of a Mg imbalance or deficiency. Today, every health-conscious practitioner and most people know about the extraordinary benefits of magnesium - magnesium extraordinaire!
Not only does Mg, in balance with other minerals (e.g., calcium and phosphorus), prevent the formation of kidney stones, but it also plays a crucial role in hundreds of other vital functions.
CHEMISTRY OF MAGNESIUM
Magnesium/Mg is a silver-white metal among the five alkaline earth metals. Its atomic number is 12 in the periodic table. When used in pyrotechnics, it burns with a brilliant white flame that includes ultraviolet wavelengths. Mg is also used in fireworks, marine flares, and theatrical effects such as lightning and pistol flashes. This bright light of Mg is activated when it performs hundreds of vital tasks in the human body.
Mg is the eighth most abundant element in Earth’s crust and the fourth most abundant element in the Earth (after iron, oxygen, and silicon). It makes up 13.9% of the planet’s mass. Mg is the third most abundant element dissolved in seawater, after sodium and chlorine.
Naturally, Mg occurs only in combination with other elements, where it almost always has a +2 oxidation state. When produced in nature, it is highly reactive and burns with its characteristic brilliant-white light. But when in the atmosphere, it forms a thin oxide film that partially inhibits its reactivity. As above, so is below. The human body is a miniature Universe.