Originally published March 29 2005
Magnesium Deficiency Linked to Type 2 Diabetes
by Mark Sircus Ac., OMD
(NaturalNews) Is a lack of magnesium related to type 2 Diabetes in obese children? Dr. Huerta and colleagues say "yes" in their study titled Magnesium deficiency is associated with insulin resistance in obese children [ii][iv]. Insulin resistance occurs when the body does not use insulin, a protein made by the pancreas, to turn glucose into energy. Children who are obese (seriously overweight) are more likely to have insulin resistance. This might be because they have low magnesium levels in their blood. This study was done to see if obese children get enough magnesium in their diets and if a lack of magnesium can cause insulin resistance and eventually type 2 diabetes. This is the first study linking low magnesium levels to insulin resistance in obese children. Researchers found that 55% of obese children did not get enough magnesium from the foods they ate, compared with only 27% of lean children. Obese children had much lower magnesium levels in their blood than lean children. Children with lower magnesium levels had a higher insulin resistance.
Diabetes has risen by over 14 percent in the last two years. The CDC estimates that 20.8 million Americans -- 7 percent of the U.S. population -- have diabetes, up from 18.2 million in 2003 [i][iii]. - Centers for Disease Control
The results of the diet survey showed that obese children got 14.4% less magnesium from the foods they ate than lean children. An important finding was that even though obese and lean children ate about the same number of calories per day, obese children ate more calories from fatty foods than lean children. In addition to not eating enough foods that have a lot of magnesium, obese children might also have problems using magnesium from the foods they eat. Extra body fat can prevent the body's cells from using magnesium to break down carbohydrates.
When it comes to diabetes there is enough information pointing to magnesium deficiency and chemical poisoning converging on the young but the medical authorities would rather throw more money into diabetic agencies to do more research. It is just too difficult for them to simply address magnesium deficiencies. What would be of greater benefit to these kids, research or nutritional action? The United States government is involved in a huge cover up of medical and pharmaceutical wrong doings and will just keep on letting things slide as hundreds of thousands of kids each year get sick.
Average levels of bad cholesterol and blood fats called triglycerides were higher in youngsters who had the pre-diabetic condition, in the study done by Dr. Hillier. One of the extremely important things about this fact is what Dr. Carolyn Dean shares about statins, magnesium and heart disease. Most diabetics are put on statins, and this is one study which clearly states that magnesium acts as a statin [iii][v]. If these diabetic children were using magnesium, it would also prevent them using these pharmaceutical drugs besides decreasing their risk of CVD. Magnesium is what they need not the medical establishment conducting more studies and research.
Type 2 diabetes can be controlled or prevented through weight loss and by eating a healthier diet. Getting magnesium into the kids at medicinal doses though is not easily achieved. Spirulina and other super green foods like wheat grass juice are high in absorbable magnesium in the form of chlorophyll. IV and intramuscular injections are uncomfortable and expensive. Oral magnesium supplements are not easily absorbable and some are very high in lead. If we could get these magnesium levels in these young children up and prevent diabetes, and if we could raise the levels in the young who are already diagnosed diabetics we would be preventing heart disease, stroke and many other complications that all of these diabetics would eventually face. This we can easily do with magnesium chloride applied transdermally.
Magnesium is a wonder drug touted by pharmaceutical companies in the emergency room and a simple element, a mineral vital to life and health. Dr. Carolyn Dean said in her book The Miracle of Magnesium, "The more I have learned about magnesium, the more convinced I am that doctors are missing a huge opportunity by not making it one of their "drugs of choice." Because of the disaster happening with children all doctors need to become acutely aware of the great service they can do to prevent and treat diabetes with magnesium.
References:
i. American Diabetes Association (http://www.diabetes.org)
ii. Diabetes Care 28:1175�1181, 2005.
iii. Rosanoff, Andrea. Seelig, Mildred. Comparison of Mechanism and Functional Effects of Magnesium and Statin Pharmaceuticals. Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn (M.S.) Since Mg2+-ATP is the controlling factor for the rate-limiting enzyme in the cholesterol biosynthesis sequence that is targeted by the statin pharmaceutical drugs, comparison of the effects of Mg2+ on lipoproteins with those of the statin drugs is warranted. Formation of cholesterol in blood, as well as of cholesterol required in hormone synthesis, and membrane maintenance, is achieved in a series of enzymatic reactions that convert HMG-CoA to cholesterol. The rate-limiting reaction of this pathway is the enzymatic conversion of HMG CoA to mevalonate via HMG CoA. The statins and Mg inhibit that enzyme.
Large trials have consistently shown that statins, taken by subjects with high LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) values, lower its blood levels 35 to 65%. They also reduce the incidence of heart attacks, angina and other nonfatal cardiac events, as well as cardiac, stroke, and total mortality. These effects of statins derive less from their lowering of LDL-C than from their reduction of mevalonate formation which improves endothelial function, inhibits proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells and macrophages, promotes plaque stabilization and regression, and reduces inflammation, Mg has effects that parallel those of statins. For example, the enzyme that deactivates HMG-CoA Reductase requires Mg, making Mg a Reductase controller rather than inhibitor.
Mg is also necessary for the activity of lecithin cholesterol acyl transferase (LCAT), which lowers LDL-C and triglyceride levels and raises HDL-C levels. Desaturase is another Mg-dependent enzyme involved in lipid metabolism which statins do not directly affect. Desaturase catalyzes the first step in conversion of essential fatty acids (omega-3 linoleic acid and omega-6 linolenic acid) into prostaglandins, important in cardiovascular and overall health. Mg at optimal cellular concentration is well accepted as a natural calcium channel blocker. More recent work shows that Mg also acts as a statin.
About the author
Mark A. Sircus Ac., OMD, is director of the International Medical Veritas Association (IMVA)http://www.imva.info/. Dr. Sircus was trained in acupuncture and oriental medicine at the Institute of Traditional Medicine in Sante Fe, N.M., and in the School of Traditional Medicine of New England in Boston. He served at the Central Public Hospital of Pochutla, in M�xico, and was awarded the title of doctor of oriental medicine for his work. He was one of the first nationally certified acupuncturists in the United States. Dr. Sircus's IMVA is dedicated to unifying the various disciplines in medicine with the goal of creating a new dawn in healthcare.
He is particularly concerned about the effect vaccinations have on vulnerable infants and is identifying the common thread of many toxic agents that are dramatically threatening present and future generations of children. His book The Terror of Pediatric Medicine is a free e-book one can read. Dr. Sircus is a most prolific and courageous writer and one can read through hundreds of pages on his various web sites.
He has most recently released his Survival Medicine for the 21st Century compendium (2,200 page ebook) and just released the Winning the War Against Cancer book. Dr. Sircus is a pioneer in the area of natural detoxification and chelation of toxic chemicals and heavy metals. He is also a champion of the medicinal value of minerals and is fathering in a new medical approach that uses sea water and different concentrates taken from it for health and healing. Transdermal Magnesium Therapy, his first published work, offers a stunning breakthrough in medicine, an entirely new way to supplement magnesium that naturally increases DHEA levels, brings cellular magnesium levels up quickly, relieves pain, brings down blood pressure and pushes cell physiology in a positive direction. Magnesium chloride delivered transdermally brings a quick release from a broad range of conditions.
International Medical Veritas Association: http://www.imva.info/
Another study conducted in Mexico showed that patients suffering form metabolic syndrome (which is associated with insulin resistance that usually develops into type 2 diabetes over time), had significantly lower magnesium levels than subjects without metabolic syndrome.
This research evidence indicates that people who have low magnesium levels due to inadequate dietary intake or increased loss of magnesium through the kidneys are more likely to develop insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.
The results were encouraging: subjects who took magnesium supplements improved their fasting glucose levels and other symptoms of diabetes.
* Magnesium deficiency is also linked to high blood pressure, irregular heartbeats (when such irregular heart beats are serious in nature they are called cardiac arrhythmias) and other manifestations of heart disease.
The problem with such a magnesium deficiency is that diabetes will aggravate the deficiency, which will in turn aggravate the diabetic condition, thus creating a vicious cycle.
Food sources of magnesium Although most foods contain some magnesium and individuals eating a balanced, varied diet should in theory not easily develop a deficiency, data from America indicate that most adult Americans, especially older people, tend to have a so-called 'subclinical' magnesium deficiency.
If you take calcium or vitamin D supplements, or eat a lot of protein and drink a lot of alcohol, this will increase your requirement for magnesium.
Diets that contain a high percentage of highly refined foods, meat and dairy products are usually lower in magnesium than diets rich in vegetables and unsifted grains.
Recently Merck launched a product called 'Diabion' -- a special vitamin and mineral supplement for diabetics.
This product, which also contains antioxidants, can help to prevent metabolic disorders that are common in diabetic patients.
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