Depression Treatment: A Cure for Depression using Magnesium?

        Some depressed people appear to need more calcium because laboratory tests show that they are in a negative calcium balance. That means they leak not just magnesium (hypomagnesemia), but calcium too. They may have accelerated bone loss perhaps from post menopausal osteoporosis or other diseases or disorders. They are in a bad predicament. If they increase calcium they often become more depressed. If they decrease calcium they believe that they risk breaking bones from osteoporosis or osteomalacia. Magnesium deficiency is usually associated with hypocalcemia (low blood calcium), hypophosphatemia (low phosphate), and/or hypokalemia (low potassium). Hypokalemia or hypocalcemia are important clinical complications of hypomagnesemia. When a person is unresponsive to treatment for hypokalemia or hypocalcemia, magnesium may have been depleted. What to do? The medical literature clearly supports taking more magnesium and taking boron supplements or eating foods high in boron to help prevent the loss of these critical minerals. Hypokalemia can also be treated by switching from plain table salt (sodium chloride) to Morton's Lite Salt [50/50 sodium chloride / potassium chloride - contains iodide (iodine)], or preferably by switching to Morton's Salt Substitute (nearly pure potassium chloride - does not contain iodide, which must be supplemented by other means to avoid cardiac issues identical to those produced by low magnesium / high calcium). Hypocalcemia has been treated with calcium supplements, but in depression and hyper emotionality, the doses needed are much lower and can be easily be obtained from lower calcium content food (non dairy).

       If Morton's Salt substitute is exclusively used, you must add iodide (iodine) to your diet to prevent iodine deficiency-induced cardiac problems identical to those found from a low magnesium / high calcium diet. The Japanese live to be 120 years old consuming a lot of kelp, which is rich in iodine, taurine and magnesium. Iodine is vital to cardiac health, and must not be ignored to live a long life. Here is a good discussion of kelp at this link. A chronic iodine deficiency can cause the same type of heart disease as is caused by deficiencies in magnesium. Iodine containing medication (amiodarone) is used to terminate certain deadly arrhythmias, but chronic overdose has caused thyroid problems. Hypothyroidism is common, particularly in elderly women, and dietary iodine deficiency remains an important cause. Hypothyroidism can present with nonspecific constitutional and neuropsychiatric complaints, or with hypercholesterolaemia, hyponatraemia, hyperprolactinaemia, or hyperhomocysteinaemia. Severe untreated hypothyroidism can lead to heart failure, psychosis, and coma. Further, iodine can improve digestion, increasing absorption of magnesium. For example, 10 mg/day of iodine, the average intake of iodine in the classical Japanese diet will eliminate the loose bowels found with excessive magnesium, perhaps by its well-known anti-helminic and anti-anaerobic bacteria activity. Sometimes primary hypothyroidism occurs due to too much iodine from kelp in the Japanese population, but it has been shown to be reversible in more than one-half of patients simply by dietary restriction of iodine for one to two months. On average, the Japanese ingest 0.1 to 20 mg of iodine from kelp daily, with an average of 10 mg/day, which is vastly more than the amount ingested by Americans (RDA is 150 micrograms/day). There are some interesting comments about peanuts and soybeans being harmful to thyroid function with coconut oil being beneficial to thyroid function here.

        How about CalMax, the heavily TV promoted calcium supplement with magnesium? NOT FOR US! NO! Why not? First, CalMax is very expensive, and second it has a highly absorbable compound of calcium (calcium gluconate) and a poorly absorbed magnesium compound (magnesium carbonate). Although CalMax is on the right track, the ratios of calcium (400 mg per dose) versus magnesium (200 mg) are biologically misleading because the calcium is so much better absorbed than magnesium. I estimate that CalMax is the biologically functional equivalent of 400 mg calcium and about 75 mg of magnesium. Consequently, to get 1000 mg (for example) of biologically available magnesium from CalMax daily, one would also get over 5000 mg of calcium, which is decidedly unhealthy. How about Coral Calcium? HA! How about Caltrate? HA! You figure these out for yourself!

       Calcium has been hyped as an anti-cancer agent recently on TV. However, these scientists reported in 1986 that large amounts of calcium supplements are promoters of cancer relative to the clear anti-cancer action of both zinc and magnesium supplements. These scientists reported in 2003 that large supplements of calcium increase the rate of prostate cancer. This is not to say that normal intake of calcium found in foods causes cancer, rather large amounts of supplemental calcium does nothing to help prevent it and appears to promote prostate cancer. Cadmium is a well-known cancer causative agent, which is inactivated in the body by both zinc and magnesium supplements but not by calcium supplements according to these scientists. Consequently protection against cancer is afforded by zinc and magnesium supplementation, but not large doses of calcium supplements; and very large intake of calcium supplements should be considered to be promotive of cancer. In fact, a comprehensive review of the evidence links the consumption of milk from cows treated with bovine growth hormone (IGF-1 or insulin-like growth factor 1) with an increased risk of breast, prostate and colon cancer. IGF-1 is known to stimulate the growth of both normal and cancerous cells. Can low magnesium actually cause cancer? Apparently yes; although finding information on this question has been somewhat difficult. In one article published in the Journal of American College of Nutrition, volume 1, number 1, in 1982, rats deprived of enough magnesium in their diets soon develop a 20 to 25 percent incidence of an acute, transmissible, non-spontaneous, lethal lymphoma-leukemia resembling human childhood leukemia. See this article here. See this patent on curing cancer with magnesium. See this patent on curing autoimmune diseases with magnesium.

       This figure from (The Magnesium Factor) by Mildred S. Seelig, MD, MPH and Andrea Rosanoff, PhD, shows that in 1977 Western countries having the highest dietary calcium to magnesium ratios (Finland, United States and Netherlands) had rampant ischemic heart disease. More data here. On the other hand, Japan with a one to one ratio of calcium to magnesium had about 1/10 the incidence of ischemic heart disease. Why do we keep pushing the idea that more and more calcium is healthy; when in fact, it is a principal cause, perhaps the main cause, of heart disease and deaths in the United States? Are there some vested commercial interest at work here? Why doesn't the National Institute of Health speak to this horrifying issue? Why doesn't the Food and Drug Administration act? Why do doctors, nutritionists and dietitians push this toxic drug? Are they stupid? If there is any good to come from taking away our rights to free choice of vitamins, minerals, herbs and amino acids through implementation of the treaty provisions of CODEX, one would hope that calcium supplements would be prohibited. Not likely! I suspect that vested interests will prevail and magnesium supplements will be restricted, but not harmful calcium, sodium or sugar. Dr. Seelig points out that immediately after this data was released in 1978, Finland took action and people started consuming much more magnesium and potassium and much less calcium and sodium, and that now Finland has a ischemic heart disease rate lower than Japan. Did the U.S. take similar action? Ha! You gotta be kidding!

       This figure is from Ben Best's Life Extension web site, which is really interesting reading. If you have a bit of time, visit it. Ben has compiled much information such as this figure. If we superimpose the 90% data from Dr. Seelig's work concerning incidence of lethal heart attacks ascribed to too much calcium and too little magnesium, we can see the impact on life by age and sex in this figure. Clearly, men are more impacted than women. Also note that about 90% of all suicides occur in depressed people. It is clear that low magnesium causes suicidal thoughts, and causes most (about 90%) of the suicides in this country. Concerning cancer, controlling hypercalcemia is a major part of cancer treatment. Oncology nurses are responsible for the ongoing assessment of hypercalcemia, including reviewing laboratory findings as well as evaluating patient symptomatology. Abnormal serum creatinine, calcium, electrolytes, magnesium, and phosphate levels and symptoms such as constipation, lethargy, and weakness may alert clinicians to problems with this oncologic emergency. Resolution of hypercalcemia is highly successful when appropriately monitored and treated and leads to a better quality of life and improved patient outcomes. Magnesium deficiency is not exactly carcinogenic, but certain concentrations of magnesium are needed to prevent cancer. Do you think that low magnesium could be causing much of our high incidence of cancer? I do. Yet, there is virtually no call for alarm by our health agencies, or our politicians, or our doctors, or our press; and no champions for magnesium having a national voice exist. Notice that the death rate from heart attacks in men greatly increases after age 40, which is consistent with the age most men learn what life is really all about, have wife, children about to go to college, heavy personal and professional responsibilities, and find themselves under more stress than they can handle. Consequently, the impact of low magnesium on human life span in the United States is overwhelming, and is a major drag on our economy. Think we have been misled about the quality of our food supply?

       This figure from page 5 of "The Magnesium Factor" (taken from the American Heart Association) shows clearly that lethal heart attacks were rare in the early part of the 20th century, and that there was sufficient magnesium in the diet to prevent them. As our need for calories increased and our grain refining techniques improved, more and more people ate larger and larger amounts of refined grains (minus their magnesium) and refined sugar cane (sugar), and heart attacks greatly increased. The United States population more than tripled from 76 million people in 1900 to 281 million people in 2000 according to page 14 of this census report, yet in the same time, heart attacks increased ~800-fold. Why participate in your early demise? Boycott all refined wheat products and sugar! Actually, people live longer now and don't die of other things early in live, like tuberculosis. Yet, low magnesium and high calcium contributes strongly to heart attacks.

       I have a bit of skill in mathematics, so I integrated the data in Figure 1.1 to find the total number of Americans that have died from heart attacks. The figure is a staggering 40,000,000 since 1900. That is the same number of people that live in Spain! That is also slightly less than the total killed in World War II.

       Like calcium and magnesium, phosphate is essential to every cell in humans, plants, animals - every living thing. It is necessary for many of the biochemical molecules and processes that define life itself. Phosphate is a charged group of atoms, or ion. It is made up of a phosphorus atom and four oxygen atoms (PO₄) and carries three negative charges. The phosphate ion combines with various atoms and molecules within living organisms to form many different compounds essential to life. Some examples of phosphate's role in living matter include: (1) Giving shape to DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid), which is a blueprint of genetic contained in every living cell. A sugar-phosphate backbone forms the helical structure of every DNA molecule, playing a vital role in the way living matter provides energy for biochemical reactions in cells. The compound adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is extremely dependent upon adequate magnesium for its function) stores energy living matter gets from food (and sunlight in plants) and releases it when it is required for cellular activity. After the energy, in the form of a high-energy phosphate bond, is released the ATP becomes a lower-energy adenosine diphosphate (ADP)or a still lower-energy adenosine monophosphate (AMP) molecule. These will be replenished to the higher-energy ATP (or ADP) state with the addition of phosphate by various mechanisms in living cells. The forming and strengthening of bones and teeth. We get phosphate from the foods we eat.

       These examples show the phosphorus content of some foods (mg/100 grams of various foods).

       Do we get too much phosphate? For some people eating too much cheese, yes, they are getting too much calcium and phosphate, contributing significantly to magnesium deficiency. High phosphate (phosphoric acid) content sodas (Coca Colas and Pepsi Colas, to name a few) probably should be avoided, if for no other reason they are also high in glucose. Am I greatly worried about too much phosphate in our diets? Not yet, but only if we avoid cheese and its dual phosphate and calcium load.

       In summary, we can do much with our diet. We can ingest enormous amounts of magnesium (and fight off diarrhea), or we can save money by using less magnesium, ingest few or no high carbohydrate foods (especially sugar, corn syrup, soft drinks, alcoholic beverages, bread, rice, cakes, pancakes, waffles and potatoes), terminate our fascination with dairy and calcium (along with cheese's excessive phosphate), and supplement with probiotics to regain our mental health and defeat depression. Also, we will not need those nasty antidepressants!

       Should your food be magnetic? If you were to put your iron-fortified breakfast cereal in a bowl of water, could you attract a flake of it with a magnet? If your food is fortified with iron, does that automatically mean that the manufacturer used a high quality iron source like heme iron? Probably not. Perhaps you should see if your cereal is magnetic! If it is magnetic, then the manufacturer could just as well have ground up some old horseshoes and tossed it in the batch. Think about it. If it is iron-fortified, what does that really mean? This is a simple illustration of my overall concern with manufactured food. How do we really know what goes in it?

High Fat Dairy and Whole Grains Cause Brain Lesions

       High fat dairy and whole grains cause brain lesions in depressed people and in people who have recovered from depression. What? Wait a minute, I can understand how calcium from milk could cause depression, but high fat milk causes brain lesions, little holes in my brain? Never heard of such a thing! Whole grains are good for us! Everyone knows that, so how can they cause holes in my brain? Beats me, but that is the startling conclusion of a group of Duke University scientists led by Martha E. Payne, PhD writing in 2007 in the journal International Phychogeriatrics. Here is excactly what their abstract says: "Studies indicate that diet may be related to the occurrence of brain lesions. The cross-sectional association between food intake and brain lesion volumes in late-life depression was examined in a cohort of elderly individuals with current or prior depression. Food intake was assessed in 54 elderly vascular depression subjects (vascular depression defined by presence of hyperintensities on brain MRI)using a Block 1998 food frequency questionnaire. Food and kilocalorie intake were determined. Brain lesion volumes were calculated from MRI. Subjects were aged 60 or over and were participants in a longitudinal study of major depression. All subjects received psychiatric assessment and treatment, and medical comorbidity assessments. High-fat dairy and whole grains were significantly positively correlated with brain lesion volume, while other food groups were not significantly associated with lesion volume. In multivariable analyses, controlling for age, sex, hypertension, diabetes and total kilocalories, the positive association with lesion volume remained significant for both high-fat dairy and whole grains. High fat dairy and whole grain consumption may be associated with brain lesions in elderly subjects with depression." Read their entire article here. In a later unpublished article, these writers showed that excessive calcium and vitamin D caused brain lesions too, apparently from calcification of brain arteries.

       What can we conclude from the totality of the evidence on grains as foods? I say they are poison for depressives, and we should not eat any grains, either refined grains or whole grains. That has been my objective now for about 5 years. It works well for me, and really keeps the weight down.

What's Left To Eat?

        After reading what not to eat (mainly calcium, grains and sugar), you are probably wondering what is left to eat. The natural food pyramid on the right shows what I eat every day. It is different from the USDA fodder pyramid in that no man-made refined carbohydrates are eaten, as per the strictest version of the Atkins diet (without the "eat all you want of meat and fat attitude"). I hardly ever (about once or twice a year - when trapped at someone's party) eat refined wheat products (white flour), breakfast cereals, waffles, pancakes, bread, cake, candy, French fries, pasta, rice or other starchy foods of any kind. These highly refined carbohydrate foods are heavy in the bottom row of the USDA fodder pyramid and are the main cause of obesity and ill health in America. Even though fats have twice the calories of carbohydrates, fat people have eaten vastly more carbohydrates than fats, often in an ill advised attempt to prevent or control depression. The entire bottom row of the antiquated USDA fodder pyramid is essentially "processed (man-made) foods", and many are also high in neurotoxic glutamates and very low in magnesium, manganese, potassium and vitamins found in the raw grains from which they were made. Incidentally, refined wheat leaves in the toxic cadmium while ridding the product of essential nutrients. I avoided them entirely for a few months and lost ten pounds per month during the first 5 months. I now feel much better about my weight. Then, my weight stabilized at a very fit 165 pounds for my 5 foot 10 inch frame. Now, I have the flat belly of an 25-year-olds! Here is a web site that shows what the body of a really fit nutrition teacher looks like following these guidelines. He interests me when he equates "white flour" with insecticide. Turns out that white flour is so low in nutrition that insects and rodents cannot survive in it. This was the original reason to "refine" wheat into white flour. In the early 1900s, they did not have a way of storing grain without it becoming infested with insects and rodents. We now are living with "depleted wheat" made by refining, which is an effective insecticide and rodenticide. How come we can survive on depleted grains when the insects and rodents can not?

       The benefits of the natural food pyramid include weight loss, high vitamin and mineral content, lower food cost, low insulin requirements, very few heart attacks and absolutely no food craving. Better yet, my blood pressure fell to 100/60 and my blood sugar fell to 84 mg/dL. Why no craving? Because the carbohydrate foods that I no longer eat have an addictive property due to insulin production. Once a person stops eating them, the cravings disappear. Fish? Absolutely yes! Popcorn? Tacos? Yes! Anytime! Cheese? Not for me, except for cottage cheese, which is low in calcium and wonderfully high in taurine (1700 mg per cup). Meat? Yes, bring it on buddy! Fish? Of course! Salmon? Yes, this is to die for! Fresh beans, tomatoes, pears, apples, dates, raisins, grapefruit, eggs, nuts, peanuts, cashews, vegetables of all kinds (except potatoes), yes! WARNING: An alternate sources of potassium, which is high in potatoes, is needed if potatoes are eliminated from the diet to avoid serious health problems. Foods high in potassium include fresh tomatoes, bananas, beet greens, dates, raisins, grapefruit, soybeans, Lima beans and other foods shown on this USDA list of foods (by their potassium content), or on this easy to read table. When you think "bananas are high in potassium", remember that it would take about ten of them a day to give the RDA for potassium. Processed foods like cakes, Twinkies, doughnuts, puddings, Jell-O, beer, chocolate or candy? No. Once my carbohydrate intake dropped, my craving for them disappeared too, and I now look at them like other people look at globs of fat! Yuck! Vitamins, minerals and balanced sodium and potassium (Morton's Lite-Salt) salt? Yes, of course! One would need be an idiot not to consume an adequate supply of repair parts for one's mind and body!

       I have mentioned the notion that excessive monosodium glutamate stimulates appetite and is a principal cause of obesity and short stature (got short kids mom?). There is now clinical evidence that this is correct, and governmental policies need to be changed to prohibit MSG and its cousins from being added into human foods. Here is the abstract from Hermanussen et al in an article entitled: "Obesity, voracity, and short stature: the impact of glutamate on the regulation of appetite. "World-wide obesity has risen to alarming levels. We present experimental support for a new and very challenging hypothesis linking obesity, voracity, and growth hormone (GH) deficiency, to the consumption of elevated amounts of the amino-acid glutamate (GLU). Supraphysiological doses of GLU are toxic for neuronal cells. METHODS: Human data were obtained from 807,592 German conscripts born between 1974 and 1978, and from 1,432,368 women of the German birth statistics (deutsche Perinatalerhebung) 1995-1997. The effects of orally administered monosodium glutamate (MSG) were investigated in 30 pregnant Wistar rats and their offspring. Pregnant animals either received no extra MSG, or 2.5 g MSG, or 5 g MSG per day, up to the end of the weaning period. In all, 2.5 g, respectively 5 g, MSG accounted for some 10%, respectively 20%, of dry weight of the average daily food ration. After weaning, MSG feeding was continued in the offspring. FINDINGS: Morbid obesity associates with short stature. Average stature of conscripts progressively declines when body mass index increases above 38 kg/m2. Also morbidly obese young women are shorter than average though to a lesser extent than conscripts. Oral administration of MSG to pregnant rats affects birth weight of the offspring. Maternal feeding with 5 g MSG per day results in severe birth weight reduction (P<0.01). Weight increments remain subnormal when MSG feeding to the mothers is maintained during weaning (P < 0.01). GH serum levels are affected in animals that received MSG during prenatal life via maternal feeding. Animals that are kept on high MSG diet (5 g MSG per day) continue to show serum GH levels that are as low or even lower than those of MSG injected animals (P < 0.05), both at day 30 and at day 90 of life. Animals that were kept on medium MSG diet (2.5 g MSG per day) showed low serum GH levels at day 30 of life (P < 0.01), but seemed to partially recover before day 90. Almost identical results were observed in IGF-1 serum levels. Oral MSG resulted in dose dependent voracity. The animals fed 5 g MSG per day increased water uptake by threefold (P < 0.01), and food uptake by almost two-fold (P < 0.01). The influence of MSG is in general more marked in males than in females. Interpretation: GLU is a widely used nutritional substance that potentially exhibits significant neuronal toxicity. Voracity, and impaired GH secretion are the two major characteristics of parenterally administered GLU-induced neuronal damage. GLU maintains its toxicity in animals even when administered orally. Males appear to be more sensitive than females. The present study for the first time demonstrates, that a widely used nutritional monosubstance--the flavoring agent MSG--at concentrations that only slightly surpass those found in everyday human food, exhibits significant potential for damaging the hypothalamic regulation of appetite, and thereby determines the propensity of world-wide obesity. We suggest to reconsider the recommended daily allowances of amino acids and nutritional protein, and to abstain from the popular protein-rich diets, and particularly from adding the flavoring agents MSG.

       NOTE: The Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion of the U.S. USDA has taken note of the problem of obesity and low magnesium in our diets and is considering changes to the "food pyramid". Watch for changes here. There will be emphasis on "whole grains" only, and refined wheat products and sugar will likely take a very substantial hit. Will they do the right thing and get MSG out of human food?

       We are what we eat, and I am built mainly of protein, not carbohydrate. Why would anyone build their body with excess carbohydrates (or fat) to become fat? Sure, we need some carbohydrate for fuel and amino acid production, but an excess will always be stored as fat. If you want carbohydrates as well as wonderfully balanced minerals, try cashew nuts. Interestingly, significant avoidance of dangerous trans fatty acids (trans fats) occurs on this diet. These are the man-made fats (shortening, partially hydrogenated vegetable oils and hydrogenated vegetable oils). Eat butter and use olive oil and coconut instead! They won't hurt you! Remember that the USDA's main role is to promote agriculture, not necessarily human health. Read Marion Nestle's eye-opener book Food Politics. Did Atkins discover something new? No. Apparently, the high carbohydrate diet was first found to cause obesity in 1863 by William Banting, and a diet very similar to this diet was found effective in weight loss and appetite suppression.

       According to Carol Hoernlein of the msgtruth.org site, we all must be very careful when restricting carbohydrates, because an imbalance of certain amino acids is possible with unintended, adverse consequences. Tyramine is an amino acid that can be deadly to some taking certain medications like MAOI inhibitors. The blood pressure can raise dangerously high. It is usually a medicine - food interaction when it is deadly. In cases of folks who are sensitive to MSG, tyramine usually just gives them a headache, but it is quite upsetting. The other problem with tyramine is that amino acids like it and tyrosine compete for uptake into the brain with tryptophane. Foods that were found to have high (possibly dangerous) concentrations of tyramine included chicken liver, air-dried sausage, soy sauce, draft beer, aged-cheese, tofu, sauerkraut and others. When you don't eat enough carbohydrates (complex carbs are best) - and eat just protein (a perversion of the Atkins diet), tyrosine wins the battle and gets to the brain first where it acts as an "upper". Tryptophane is the loser in the race, but the brain needs tryptophane to make serotonin - the feel good calming stuff the brain needs to keep us from getting depressed. Too much protein and tyramine and not enough carbs = depression and agitation. Also, too much protein depletes magnesium. These reasons are probably why famed psychiatrists Judith Wurtman and her husband Richard Wurtman of MIT recommend carbohydrates for depression, and in particular, PMS related depression. Unfortunately, abuse of this technique causes enormous illness in the U.S. and Western culture. Please do not accept what I have written above to mean "no carbohydrates"; rather, please accept it as meaning one should eat foods that are not refined. Body fat develops because the body does not have sufficient minerals to burn the carbohydrates. That is why, IMHO, people can best loose weight consuming diets low in refined carbohydrates, supplemented with large amounts of magnesium and other minerals like manganese and zinc. Tyrosine imbalance is the reason people - who have misinterpreted Atkins to mean "eat all the steaks you want, but cut out all carbohydrates" - become acutely ill.

       After preparing the above natural food pyramid, I realized that the bottom level foods (vegetables, meats and fruits) were the first foods eaten by primitive humans millions of years ago, at the time our digestive systems were designed. Only recently (relatively) were dairy products added to the human diet. Even more recently people learned how to bake bread, prepare high carbohydrate fancy-foods, and separate out fats and oils from foods. Clearly vitamins and mineral supplements are a twentieth century invention. Consequently, this is a reasonably "natural" food pyramid. What can be learned here?

       Warning! Following the dietary and supplement recommendations outlined here will have the effect of preventing or correcting hyperinsulinemia, which will result in life extension of between 30 and 50 years, and much better health. These effects may ruin your personal relationship with your physicians and nurses, reduce profits of major drug companies, reduce the profits of processed food manufacturers, reduce hospital admissions, reduce employment opportunities in those industries and otherwise adversely affect our national Economy. Worse yet, you will be purposefully contributing to the failure of Social Security. Prevention of hyperinsulinemia by following these dietary suggestions will consequently prevent most cases of atherosclerosis, vascular disease, diabetes type 2, impotence, kidney failure, heart failure, liver damage, stroke, obesity, neuropathy, retinopathy, gangrene and other illnesses. Proceed with these dietary recommendations only if you agree that these "economic" side effects and Social Security health are irrelevant to you and that you accept the risk of longevity attendant with eating right. Be warned that if you accept these guidelines you will be out of step with national health care policy, that policy being that you should die before you injure Social Security. Read more about these horrific economic side effects and prospects for longevity at the Healing Matters site.

       CHICAGO -- U.S. life expectancy will fall dramatically in coming years because of obesity, a major shift in a long-running trend toward longer lives. Obesity likely will shorten the average life span of 77.6 years by at least five years. That's more than the impact of cancer or heart disease, said lead author Jay Olshansky, a longevity researcher at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "We think today's younger generation will have shorter and less healthy lives than their parents for the first time in modern history unless we intervene," he said. With obesity affecting at least 15 per cent of American school-age children, "it's not pie in the sky," Dr. Olshansky said. "The children who are extremely obese are already here." If the projections proved true, they would reverse the mostly steady increase in U.S. life expectancy that has occurred over the past two centuries and would have tremendous social and economic consequences that could even inadvertently help "save" the national Social Security program, Dr. Olshansky and colleagues contend.

       Everyone knows that primary hypertension (high blood pressure) and high cholesterol cause heart attacks (myocardial infarctions). Incidentally, "primary" hypertension means "high blood pressure from unknown causes". We have been taught that we must use diet and expensive statin drugs to lower our bad cholesterol if we don't want a heart attack. We have been taught that we must get our blood pressure down by diet (reduce our salt and fat intake and to exercise more) and to take a variety of expensive drugs including diuretics (lowers blood volume), beta-blockers (inhibits adrenaline), alpha-blockers (makes heart beat with less force and relaxes blood vessels), ACE - angiotensin-converting enzymes (spares magnesium and potassium, but looses sodium, and relaxes arteries), vasodilators (relaxes arteries), central adrenergic inhibitors (blocks certain signals from brain), calcium-channel-blockers (relaxes arteries). As hard as we try, improvements to our diets by reducing salt and cholesterol and fats have not worked. Also, these drugs are marketed almost exclusively to benefit cardiac risk factors, not extend life. Do they also prevent death from these cardiac-risk factors?

       Magnesium deficiency is the real disease I believe, and heart disease is a symptom of years and years and years and years of magnesium deficiency. We do know what causes "primary" hypertension, and it is often magnesium deficiency. This may seem wrong and certainly different from what we have been told, but it is a fact either well hidden by pharmaceutical drug pushers or just not known by them - who knows. Yet, scientists say magnesium deficiency must be corrected to save patients. It is vital to your heart health that you verify this claim by reading The Magnesium Factor . Briefly stated, all of the above medicines are poor substitutes for magnesium, because magnesium naturally does each of these "drug" functions better than the drugs themselves. How much magnesium? That is the catch. We must take enough magnesium each and every day to combat the effects of stress in its action in depleting magnesium, and this amount is higher than has been historically true. Our "modern" way of life is very stressful, and we all leak magnesium because of stress, some more than others. I can't personally see how we can get our blood pressure down to 100/60 (like it was when we were teenagers) with less than about 500 to 750 mg of supplemental magnesium per day. Wouldn't that be expensive? NO! Certainly not compared to the cost of these drugs, and certainly not when compared to the life-extending properties of magnesium compared with these drugs. Expensive to Social Security? Maybe. Expensive to Medicare? NO. Your health care expenses will plummet downward, and you may forget the name of your doctor!

              I was not particularly satisfied with the Figure above by Seelig and Rosanoff, because it does not consider changes in population. Therefore, I used the United States Census data for the decennial years from 1900 to 2000, plus their 2003 population estimate and recent death rate data for 2003 from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention as reported by Maureen Rouhi in Chemical and Engineering News to modify their figure. Notice again that the death rate per million Americans is ten times what it was in 1900, before grain refining got going. I wonder if Al Qaeda had a hand in "refining grain" to make nutrient depleted foods for us to starve on so slowly and painfully? Nah! We did this to ourselves! We are just really, really stupid. As time went on, the deaths from low magnesium/high calcium increased from nearly zero in 1900 to what they are today. Notice that after 1970 the death rate started downward, but the data for 2003 shows progress has recently been lost. I wonder why the cardiac drugs are not working as well as before? Drs. Seelig and Rosanoff suggest that the statins are depleting magnesium, and coupled with our increased intake of calcium in the last 5 to 10 years to "prevent osteoporosis", we see the effect in an great increase in deaths by heart attack. "Modern" science is failing us, and killing us, all for the want of magnesium. Remember that the government has laws and regulations that prohibit nutrients from being marketed to treat, cure and prevent diseases. The pharmaceutical drug pushers can not patent magnesium (or other nutrients), so they will not mess with it. Wow! What a way to run a country! Actually, companies can market nutrients to treat, cure, prevent disease, but only after they have had a New Drug Application approved by the Food and Drug Administration at the cost of a half billion dollars. No company will spend that kind of money on a non-patentable substance. Consequently, the impasse remains, and the law stands - until a more reasoned Congress figures out what is going on and puts a stop to the murder. What is likely to happen is that Congress will approve the CODEX treaty and allow the pharmaceutical drug pushers to have a total monopoly on nutrients like magnesium so that they can mark up the price 10 to 100-fold and bill Medicare. I say why do that? All we need is for the government to pass realistic laws that promote the fortification of "depleted flour" with nutrients including magnesium to the amount naturally found in grains, make calcium supplements without an equal amount of magnesium ILLEGAL, and add magnesium back into drinking water and soft drinks. That would be a much cheaper means of restoring health to America than to impose a heavy-handed treaty like CODEX which will mainly benefit the big pharmaceutical drug pushers and not the American people.

       Take a look at the American Heart Association statistics (6 mb file) here. You will recognize Drs. Seelig's and Rosanoff's figure on page 4. Perhaps the most startling finding in this data is the reduction in death rate for men in the last 20 years while the death rate for women has increased. I say the reason for this difference is because women supplement their diets with calcium to ward off osteoporosis, and men do not.

       Look at what Dr. Mildred S. Seelig, MD, and Andrea Rosanoff PhD say about magnesium and statins in their 2004 article in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition article titled Comparison of mechanism and functional effects of magnesium and statin pharmaceuticals..

       Here is the abstract: "Since Mg(2+)-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 Mg(2+) 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." Why bother taking the pharmaceutical company junk when magnesium works better?

       I am reminded of the story of the boiling frogs. In biology, there is a famous experiment using frogs. A frog suddenly dropped into hot water will jump out instantly! Saving his life. On the other hand, a frog placed in warm water will enjoy the warmth and not jump out. If the heat is slowly increased to higher and higher temperatures, the frog will unknowingly cook to death. In this respect, we are like boiling frogs, slowly dying of an unknown and unrecognized threat. We responded as a nation instantly to the Al Qaeda attack on America. We are very good at this, but we are dying at the rate of a 9/11 every day from high calcium/low magnesium and can't see it. Do you enjoy the warmth?

       More. I am 68 years old and my blood pressure is 100/60. Who cares what the other cardiac risk are when one has this "teenager" blood pressure! I do keep my salt, carbohydrate and fat intake low and never smoke or drink. I do take 500 mg of magnesium as magnesium citrate (or glycinate) every day and I am not overweight, but can't stand to sweat, so I don't work out, although I regularly do manual labor on my central Texas ranch. Enough said?

       If you are on cardiac drugs and decide to do nature's magnesium plan, then you need the help of a willing-physician (good luck) to do it carefully. However, the best thing to do first is read "The Magnesium Factor" by Mildred S. Seelig, MD, MPH and Andrea Rosanoff, PhD. On pages 77 through 84, they state the following (much abbreviated) plan:

• Read Dr. Seelig's book before taking any major action.
• Make certain that you have primary hypertension.
• Trust your doctor on the immediate need for drugs, but start with magnesium for the long term.
• Consider metabolic syndrome X (other low magnesium deficiency symptoms). They will likely vanish too.
• Be careful if you are using potassium sparing diuretics or beta-blockers, because potassium can go dangerously high (or low if on thiazide or some of the stronger loop diuretics).
• Determine your potassium and magnesium levels using red blood cell testing.
• Replenish your potassium and magnesium levels gradually.
• Over the following few weeks, gradually lower your medication.
• Consider a good multi-vitamin, multi-mineral supplement, and increase magnesium and potassium intake to high doses gradually.
• If this works, but insufficiently, try alternate methods of magnesium administration.
• If diarrhea develops, control it immediately using these tips.
• Again, read Dr. Seelig's book before taking any major action.

       Add to that the following lesser known facts. Inflammation is a silent killer. One of the most significant markers, or indicators, predictive of who will get a heart attack is a substance known as C-reactive protein. C-reactive protein is a marker of chronic inflammation, which is a primary indicator of heart attack and diabetes risk. C-reactive protein management is a major goal of pharmaceutical drug pushers. It is a marker of "inflammation", not a cause of heart attacks. Clearly, inflammation and fibrosis are involved. That high magnesium blood levels is associated with low C-reactive protein and reduced cardiac inflammation is one of the most carefully guarded secrets of health. The effect of magnesium on reducing C-reactive protein and inflammation could only have been reported by researchers having a vested interest in improving peoples' health, and not improving corporate income. This is exactly what happened, and this critically important work was first published in 2002 by the team of F. Guerrero-Romero and M. Rodriguez-Moran working at the Medical Research Unit in Clinical Epidemiology, General Hospital of the Mexican Social Security Institute, Durango, Mexico. Do you really believe that Pfizer would support and publish such research? Not me! The abstract for the Guerrero-Romero and M. Rodriguez-Moran article reads: "OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between serum magnesium levels and C-reactive protein (CRP) in non-diabetic, non-hypertensive obese subjects. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SUBJECTS: A total of 371 subjects, 101 men and 270 women. Of them 138 lean (37.2%), 133 (35.9%) overweight, and 100 (26.9%) were obese, matched by age. MEASUREMENTS: Fasting and 2 h serum glucose following a 75 g oral glucose load. Fasting serum total cholesterol, HDL- and LDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, C-reactive protein (CRP), albumin; and magnesium levels; urinary protein excretion; body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and blood pressure. RESULTS: The presence of CRP was documented in four (2.9%) lean, 13 (9.8%) overweight, and 20 (20.0%) obese subjects, and decreased magnesium levels (equal or less than 1.8 mg/dl), in 2 (1.45%) lean, 7 (5.2%) overweight, and 19 (19%) obese subjects. The lowest serum magnesium levels and the highest CRP concentrations were documented in the obese subjects. Twenty-three (82.1%) of the subjects with low serum magnesium (five overweight and 18 obese) showed CRP concentration equal or more than 10 mg/l. There was a graded significant decrease between CRP concentration and serum magnesium levels (r = -0.39, P = 0.002). The odds ratio (CI95%) between magnesium and CRP adjusted by age, sex, BMI and glucose tolerance status for the subjects within the low quartile of magnesium distribution was 2.11 (1.23-3.84). CONCLUSION: The results of this study show that low serum magnesium levels are independently related to elevated CRP concentration, in non-diabetic, non-hypertensive obese subjects."

       More. You know what mitochondria are? They are the energy source of the cell. Without functional cellular mitochondria, the cell cools to room temperature and dies. If too many cells die, the organ dies. Consider the human heart. We need to do everything possible to keep our heart cells' mitochondria healthy. Certainly we shouldn't purposefully spear them with tiny daggers to kill them. Right? Low magnesium and high calcium creates tiny spears that kill the mitochondria from within. Dr. Burt Silver showed in 1975 in this original report that this exact situation occurred. Too much calcium in the presence of too little magnesium forms crystals that are mitochondria-killing spears. In the 3,000 reference 1980 book "Magnesium in Health and Disease" by Dr. Mildred S. Seelig, MD, (soon to be featured at the Magnesium Water site by Paul mason), Bert Silver and L. A. Sordahl shows microphotographs of these tiny calcium "spears", and that article is here. How about a tasty double cheese pizza for supper? Served hot with hundreds of billions of tiny heart-killing mitochondria-killing calcium spears! Sounds delicious to me!

       More on what causes a lethal heart attack, at least the calcification of heart and arterial tissues that leads to most lethal heart attacks. Fibrosis is another factor. In 1997, Emile Mohler MD, et al. at the University of Pennsylvania, published an article concerning a "bone building" protein found in calcified aortic valves. Mohler and colleagues found "osteopontin", a protein that makes up the molecular scaffolding to which calcium sticks in the formation of bone, in calcified hearts. "We're the first group, to my knowledge, to directly isolate osteopontin in calcified valves," notes Mohler. "Identifying the molecular mechanisms underlying ossification of valves could lead to novel therapies to prevent or treat valve disease." In addition, the work may help to determine how calcium deposits form in the arteries of people with atherosclerosis and other vascular diseases. Cardiac valve calcification often results in obstruction of blood flow, which eventually leads to valve replacement. Collagen and specific bone matrix proteins are thought to provide the framework for ectopic tissue calcification. Osteopontin was present in both heavily and minimally calcified aortic valves and absent in noncalcified aortic valves. Osteopontin also localized with valvular calcific deposits, and macrophages were identified in the vicinity of osteopontin. These results, in addition to showing that osteopontin is present in calcified human aortic valves, suggest that osteopontin is a regulatory protein in pathological calcification. OK. Sounds interesting. George says, I wonder if magnesium... So, I searched PubMed. If we go to this Japanese group's work on osteopontin formation in kidneys, we find that osteopontin is eliminated when magnesium supplements are given. This should not be too difficult to understand and interpret in terms of cardiology too. Although osteopontin is absolutely necessary for bone formation, osteopontin formation in soft tissues, like in the heart and arteries as well as the kidneys, leads to deposition of calcium, which leads to narrowing of arteries, heart attacks, kidney disease and a wide variety of calcification health issues. A very popular book is The Calcium Bomb which proposes nanobacteria as cause of calcium buildup in cardiac tissue. Perhaps this is true, but is osteopontin buildup the mechanism by which nanobacteria construct their calcium shells? If yes, then magnesium may likely prevent their buildup.

       The only other agent that I know of that inhibits osteopontin formation in soft tissue (but annihilates hypercalcemia, restores bone and generally heals tissue injuries) is gallium, an element that is normally found in the human to the extent of less than 0.2 milligrams. Gallium has clinical use in treating some serious bone loss diseases. I use a lot of gallium nitrate in the treatment of a bone/joint condition in horses called "navicular disease" with great effect. I have also postulated that gallium is an essential nutrient for survival of the 21st century. Gallium nitrate is effective in treating an otherwise incurable horse disease. I also give my horses large amounts of magnesium dietary supplements. My old horses run around like spring chickens! Magnesium and gallium really make them act young. Late in 2006, I published a veterinary journal article on gallium and the cure for navicular disease, which is located on the web here.

       Getting back on track, we remember that mitral valve prolapse can be totally reversed in about one year with daily supplements of 1,000 mg of magnesium as magnesium orotate (probably any other form of biologically available magnesium too). Also, look at these graphics of "calcified hearts" on Google. To me, if your physician has told you that you have calcium deposits in your arteries and/or heart, you would be totally insane not to take about 1,000 mg of magnesium every day, twice what I must take, in hope that in about a year you might become free of this silent killer. The benefits are believed to start immediately, but complete clearance will take a while, perhaps a long while. If you must take that much supplemental magnesium, be prepared for gut problems, and study tips on this page on how to deal with magnesium-induced diarrhea.

       Here is an example of a mouse poison made by Tomcat, which uses Vitamin D3 as a mouse poison. Still think lots of vitamin D3 is good for you? Dr. Mercola adds, "This is a major point: excess vitamin D will cause, not prevent, osteoporosis and hardening of your arteries. Please be very careful with cod liver oil. If you are unable to obtain vitamin D testing, then please do not exceed one to two teaspoons of cod liver oil or switch to plain fish oil (no vitamin D) immediately." According to this Wikipedia article, the exact long-term safe dose of bottled (supplemental) vitamin D is not entirely known, but dosages up to 250 micrograms (10,000 IU) /day in healthy adults are believed to be safe, and all known cases of bottled vitamin D toxicity with hypercalcemia have involved intake of or over 1,000 micrograms (40,000 IU)/day[37] of bottled Vitamin D. The U.S. Dietary Reference Intake Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) of vitamin D for children and adults is 50 micrograms/day (2,000 IU/day), with evidence that this value is too low by a factor of 5. In adults, sustained intake of 2500 micrograms/day (100,000 IU) can produce toxicity within a few months. For infants (birth to 12 months) the tolerable UL is set at 25 micrograms/day (1000 IU/day), and vitamin D concentrations of 1000 micrograms/day (40,000 IU) in infants has been shown to produce toxicity within 1 to 4 months. In the United States, overdose exposure of vitamin D was reported by 284 individuals in 2004, leading to 1 death.[39] The Nutrition Desk Reference states "The threshold for toxicity is 500 to 600 micrograms [vitamin D] per kilogram body weight per day." One point universally agreed, is that sunlight-derived vitamin D is harmless since the body shuts off production before it can become toxic. This is why sunlight is the best source of vitamin D.

       Even snake keepers know too much calcium and bottled vitamin D will cause heart failure. Here is Fred's story. He was a python that died of a calcified heart. Apparently, some snakes are extremely sensitive to even small amounts of supplemental calcium, and bottled vitamin D.

The Lethal Hypothyroid - Low Magnesium Axis

        Near the beginning of this essay, I reported that hypothyroidism can cause depression and that it must be treated and/or ruled out as cause of depression. Now there is clear evidence as shown in this figure that one of the thyroid hormones (T4) is directly related to magnesium serum levels in major depression, particularly in women. For more information see this clinical report. Levels below 0.9 mMol magnesium are considered low. We can extend this observation to say that hypothyroidism causes low serum magnesium, which appears to be the actual mechanism by which hypothyroidism causes depression. Interestingly, hypothyroidism does not affect calcium blood levels. Low magnesium caused by hypothyroidism also contributes heavily to cardiovascular disease and it must be corrected for longevity.

       The simplest of all clinical tests, the use of a glass (not digital) thermometer held in the mouth far back under the tongue remains the gold standard for detecting hypothyroidism. The temperature should be taken over a full ten minute time and repeated for about a week each morning before warming up. An oral temperature below 97.5 degrees should be considered an 80% probability of hypothyroidism. While men can check their temperature any day of the month, women have a menstrual cycle that must be considered. The only accurate time of the month for determining true body temperature (as it relates to hypothyroidism) in women is while they are not menstruating. Some of the signs of hypothyroidism include: Fatigue, depression, difficulty concentrating, difficulty getting up in the morning, cold hands and feet or intolerance to cold, constipation, loss of hair, fluid retention, dry skin, poor resistance to infection, high cholesterol, psoriasis, eczema, acne, premenstrual syndrome, loss of menstrual periods, painful or irregular menstrual periods, excessive menstrual bleeding, infertility, fibrocystic breast disease, and ovarian cysts. There are many good web pages on thyroid disease, and I encourage you to examine them. The Father of thyroid disease research is Broda O. Barnes, MD and his web site is at http://www.brodabarnes.org/. His book "Hypothyroidism: The Unsuspected Illness" is both a standard and a classic, and it reports that untreated hypothyroidism is the cause of enormous amount of morbidity and mortality, often through heart attacks.

       In fact, Dr. Barnes' research suggested that many heart attacks have a hypothyroid component, apparently via lowering magnesium serum levels, strongly suggesting that the American Heart Association figure cited by Seelig and Rosanoff is, while accurate, it and its many derivatives are misleading. The point that Dr. Barnes made in his Chapter 11 is that although few people died of heart attacks pre-1900 (as is clearly shown by the misleading American Heart Association figure), they died of infectious diseases, usually tuberculosis, before they had a chance to die of heart failure. His review of 70,000 autopsy records of Graz, Austria showed that a very large number of people dying early of non-cardiac deaths also had the same cardiovascular lesions and cholesterol buildup that are known to cause heart attacks and death. They simply died of something else earlier, and theoretically would have died of heart failure later.

       Since Dr. Barnes' practice primarily addressed thyroid issues, he was baffled as to why his patients did not develop heart disease. He looked into his patients records and discovered the cause of many heart attacks! On his page 180, he showed that it was easy to prevent heart attacks in his patients - if and only if - hypothyroid issues were solved. His Table 1 shows the number of heart attacks in two different but essentially equivalent populations. The groups showed sex and age of patients, number of his patients treated with thyroid, total man-years patients were treated with thyroid, the resultant expected coronary cases (heart attacks) according to the Framingham study (not treated with thyroid) and coronary cases in the thyroid-treated patients of Dr. Barnes. He also showed that if hypothyroidism were corrected, high cholesterol issues would also go down. Further, he showed that hyperthyroidism would even further lower cholesterol! He strongly emphasized that only whole thyroid (Armour thyroid) was of value in this regard, suggesting that not everything is known about "thyroid". Any doubt that hypothyroidism does not have a major role to play in heart attack?

       According to Barnes, if T4 thyroid hormone is low and you have a low magnesium concentration, you are in deep trouble and you must resolve your thyroid issues first and keep them corrected for the rest of your life, or it will be shortened, and perhaps greatly shortened. Why? Here is how I see it. Thyroid T4 governs the blood levels of magnesium, which in turn governs cholesterol levels, which in turn governs the incidence of heart attacks. I knew an elderly woman that took large amounts of magnesium for her heart for many years, and she very greatly limited her intake of sodium chloride by only using potassium chloride. Sounds like a good idea, but in the United States Morton's Salt Substitute (potassium chloride) does not contain iodine like other salts, which in the United States is a primary source of dietary iodine. She died of a massive heart attack, as one would predict for low iodine-induced hypothyroidism, resulting in low serum magnesium. Remember that hypothyroidism can be essentially symptom-less, other than for the low body temperature. Interestingly enough, the thyroid researchers indicate that this is a typical death-pattern for elderly women. Elderly women are often hypothyroid and never know it, and they die of cardiovascular disease disproportionately to men as can be seen here. Only upon correcting thyroid issues will one see efforts in raising magnesium concentrations and eliminating depression succeed and cardiovascular disease related death prevented. I know of no research to show that low magnesium would cause hypothyroidism, but anything is possible.

       What causes hypothyroidism? Many things including some psychiatric drugs such as lithium and tricyclic antidepressants. I encourage you to avoid these drugs for obvious reasons. In the United States, our consumption of iodine and magnesium are both low and, if iodine is very low (considerably under 150 micrograms per day - the RDA), then hypothyroidism is likely caused by low iodine intake. Thus, one could extend the argument to say that low iodine causes low magnesium, which causes... . This single cause of low magnesium may very well explain some failed clinical trials, wherein magnesium supplementation failed to prevent heart attacks. For example, if hypothyroid patients were equally represented in both the placebo- and active-treated groups, then hypothyroidism would have prevented magnesium supplementation from having the desired and predicted beneficial effects.

       In the United States, high iodine (over 1 milligram per day by many reports), may also cause hypothyroidism, and may also cause hyperthyroidism. Too much iodine can raise body temperature, and may either mask hypothyroidism or cure it. In Okinawa, Japan, hypothyroidism from too much iodine doesn't occur until intake is in the 10 to 20 milligrams or higher per day range. Okinawans commonly have an intake of iodine in this range from their custom of ingesting large amounts of kelp, which is the best food source of iodine. They also have much higher intake of magnesium and taurine (also from kelp), and live to be 120 years of age with vastly greater frequency than short-lived Americans. They eat a lot of conch which is a major source of taurine.

       Clearly, we have much to learn about the optimal intake of iodine to prevent hypothyroidism, and much to learn about how to prevent hyperthyroidism from too much iodine. In my humble opinion, I believe that the principal cause of heart attacks is an inadequate supply of both iodine and magnesium. What we must understand in this instance is that in the United States, physicians tend to treat symptoms without much consideration of underlying causative factors, like hypothyroidism. Yes, low magnesium / high calcium remains the principal cause of lethal heart attacks, but we must dig deeper and find out what is causing the low magnesium issue. There is much more about the thyroid and the rationale for using Armour thyroid extract at the http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/ site.

       Ho Hum George, you are really getting a little on the hysterical side. What you are saying has been known, more or less, for a hundred years in homeopathy. In homeopathy, magnesium is suitable for a large number of CHEST symptoms, especially pain, palpitations and heart pain. Just go to this page and see what homeopaths have known about magnesium and chest illnesses since they discovered Epsom Salts in England over a hundred years ago. Ho Hum. This "magnesium for hearts" stuff is boring it is so old. But! It has become hidden and has fallen into disuse, while it should have been made into national and international health policy by our leaders. Our only solace is that they die of heart attacks too.

Other Cardiac Risk Factors

       There are some other dietary factors which can contribute to lethal heart attacks. Too little synthesis of Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) in the liver (or too little consumption of supplements of CoQ10), and too little fish oil (Omega-3 Essential Fatty Acids), and especially too little copper contribute to death from heart failure as shown in this review of the copper/heart literature. Like magnesium, these three nutrients are vital in aging, and are particularly necessary in aging/stressed hearts. Salmon is high in both copper and omega-3 EFAs, and it is difficult for me to see which of these two nutrients is the more important in preventing heart attacks (more on this below). Perhaps it is both together that makes salmon such a wonderful heart food. According to Charles Weber's review, women may have greater resistance to heart attacks due to estrogen's ability to keep copper levels from falling. Copper works to keep connective tissues pliable and properly functioning. Some food sources of copper are also listed here, but my favorite is liver. Some scientists have devised a regimen of "metabolic therapy" to protect the senescent (aging) heart against stress. Their metabolic therapy involves treatment with CoQ10, alpha lipoic acid, magnesium orotate, and omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids with physical exercise and mental stress reduction. They found that damage to mitochondrial DNA from aging was less predictive of impaired response to stress (death) than age alone. They concluded that the aging heart has a diminished capacity to recover from stress that is not readily predictable by cardiac content of intact/damaged mitochondrial DNA, and that this recovery can be improved by metabolic therapy combined with physical exercise and mental stress reduction. Realize that low magnesium is THE major contributor to inability to withstand stress, and that low magnesium must be corrected to survive with an aging heart.

       Magnesium is vitally important to prevent aging of heart muscle for genetic reasons too. No other than world-famous scientist Bruce N. Ames of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California, Berkeley found that magnesium deficiency accelerates cellular senescence (aging) in cultured human fibroblasts, by noting that magnesium deficiency caused telomere attrition. Thus, the long-term consequence of inadequate magnesium availability was accelerated cellular senescence (aging), which may be a mechanism through which chronic magnesium inadequacy could promote or exacerbate age-related disease. Consequently, if we are deprived of magneisum for a long period of time, we will age much faster than had we sufficient magnesium. Ever wonder why people taking magnesium look younger and act younger than their age? Fountain of youth anyone???

       Lest I trick you into believing that magnesium is the cure-all for cardiovascular disease, take a look at this figure from William S. Harris writing in Pharmacological Research 55 (2007) 217-223. What does it tell you? It tells me that the risk of sudden cardiac death by low blood omega-3 essential fatty acids is vastly more important compared to other, more traditional blood-borne risk factors that your physician has harped about for years. The quartiles at highest risk (black bars) are set at a relative risk of 1.0 for each risk marker. Each subsequent lighter bar represents the risk at each decreasing (or, for HDL and omega-3 FA, increasing) quartile. Code: CRP=C reactive protein; Hcy = homocysteine; TC = total cholesterol; LDL = low density lipoprotein cholesterol; HDL = high density lipoprotein cholesterol; Tg = triglycerides. Notice that only the CRP and Omega-3 ratios are statistically significant, yet we are told to spend a lot of time and effort in getting our cholesterol right. Consequently, not only has magnesium status been ignored, the omega-3 to omega 6 ratio has been ignored too, with grave conseqences.

       Does omega-3 EFA from fish oil cure depression? The jury is still out on that, and it seems that it may be effective in young people but perhaps not in old people according to the opinion of William S. Harris in his interesting and authoritive opinion piece. However, it has been hyped as if it were the "cure for depression", although others more respectful of the medical data again report that the jury is still out.

       If you want a fuller report on the benefits of Omega-3 EFA and heart health, please see my new page on this subject here.

       Here is a non-magnesium cardiovascular effect that I re-discovered in 1981 while doing my zinc lozenge and common cold research. Dr. William W. Halcomb and myself discovered that zinc could be used to stop, prevent and effectively treat angina pectoris, even when severe. Although we discovered this effect in 1981, we never published it except on the web at http://george-eby-research.com/html/angina.html. In 1985, serum zinc was shown to be low in unstable angina. An old man (seemed old to me at the time) came into our clinical trial with a bad cold and he received zinc gluconate lozenges for his cold. He was taking 23 mg of zinc each two wakeful hours. His cold did not benefit from zinc treatment, but his angina pectoris went away for the first time in over 15 years. He had been on a railroad disability and was considered totally disabled. He had been unable to walk across a room without major chest pain for many years. He had previously used nitroglycerin like candy all day long with some benefit. While taking zinc, he required zero nitroglycerin. He had no cardiac pain for the first time in 15 years and was ecstatic. He had always wanted to go snow skiing in the Rockies, and he did and brought us back home movies! We had a big beer bust. Life for him was good. We lost track of him because he moved to Chicago where I last heard he had a new job working for a railroad. I have several other friends that took zinc effectively for angina, and Dr. Halcomb immediately made it part of his clinical practice with success, finding that on average 160 mg of zinc a day would prevent over 50% of cases of angina pectoris. Now, with people weighing so much more, a better dosage would be 2.2 mg of zinc per kilogram of body weight (1 mg zinc per pound of body weight). One man, the father of a racing car friend of mine, was a large man aged 76 with horrible angina. He took 160 mg zinc a day for a week, and it did not help him, so he took 300 mg. (Old race car driver trick - if something won't work, use a bigger hammer.) In 30 days of zinc treatment at 300 mg per day, his angina suddenly subsided and he was pain free for the first time in many years. He became active again and started riding his son's horse. He took the horse on a cattle drive and rounded up cows for several days. He was a happy man like that for about a year. Then, he had a cardiologist appointment, and although he was in vastly better health than ever, his cardiologist forced him to stop the zinc since it was known to "slightly raise bad cholesterol" in young healthy students. About a month latter he developed congestive heart failure and died. We know little about the biochemistry of zinc and cholesterol in older, unhealthy people such as those with angina pectoris. However, it is clear that there is more depression and cardiac failure in elderly people with low zinc. Seems to me that we probably need to look at zinc much more closely for cardiovascular health. How can zinc work? Who knows, but zinc in these doses over extended periods of time would antagonize iron, a buildup of which is well known to be injurious to the heart. People believe that loss of iron in menses protects menstruating women from heart disease, and that once they become menopausal, that benefit is lost. Supplements of zinc to counter iron in the aging heart seem reasonable. I think a daily dose of 2.2 mg per kilogram body weight would work very well to demonstrate the effect of zinc in treating angina pectoris, if given for a minimum of 7 to 30 days. We used zinc gluconate in our clinical trial, which usually upsets the stomach if doses are greater than 20 to 50 mg per dose. However, if a person is zinc deficient, the upset stomach probably will not develop. I certainly would have periodic zinc blood levels done to insure that increases beyond the normal upper range do not occur because they can be immunosuppressive if taken out of the normal range over a one month period. Zinc. A wonderful element, which is also removed from whole grain during the refining process to make "depleted" wheat. Look at this data. The grain refiners were / are really looking out for the pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Halcomb and I decided to publish our thoughts about high dose zinc to cure angina pectoris (and by implication arteriosclerosis caused by cholesterol buildup in arteries) in Medical Hypotheses, a medical journal dedicated to new ideas that have sound theoretical support. We submitted our article and it was approved the same day we submitted it. Perhaps you don't see the significance of that timely acceptance, but it is close to miraculous to me. Our accepted article is here.

Stupidity Runneth Over

       In the United States, Uncle Sam has officially (and stupidly) proclaimed that 1200 mg of calcium and 400 mg of magnesium to be necessary daily intakes (RDA). I say, yes that is true only for doctors and hospitals that benefit from you and me having heart problems! (Remember that this is a multi-trillion dollar industry.) Seems to me that if you don't want your heart and arteries to calcify and turn to stone, take 400 to 600 mg of magnesium a day, never take calcium supplements, and carefully watch your dairy consumption (particularly cheese). Leave it to Uncle Sam to kill us all before we start drawing Social Security checks! Additionally, this screw up causes most of the chronic ill health in America today, creating vast wealth for pharmaceutical drug pushers. Take a look at this list of low magnesium symptoms (doctors call them diseases). Yes, folks, just keep spearing your mitochondria with calcium crystals! For more information on chronic illnesses treatable by magnesium, read the book by Dr. Norman Shealy, MD, PhD titled "HOLY WATER, SACRED OIL; THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH". Here is his index to diseases that are magnesium deficiency symptoms, or are responsive to magnesium treatment (on pages) of his book.

       Clearly the response to solving most of America's health problems with an inexpensive, readily available nutrient will be the banning of all sources of supplemental magnesium by the U.S. FDA in the interest of "protecting our health", unless we take action and influence the Congress. Clearly the pharmaceutical drug pushers have much to loose. They are responsible only to their shareholders (see the movie The Corporation for the low down on this pathological pursuit of profit and power), and the combination of the FDA wishing to protect its regulatory turf, and protect pharmaceutical company income (regardless of the human and animal consequences - because the pharmaceutical drug companies offer really great salaries for ex-FDA officials) is really overwhelming. Don't believe me? Here comes CODEX! Read it and weep. Sorry.

       Also, listen to this: "The FDA, through its abandonment of public health and its collusion with profit-prioritized drug companies, has achieved the dubious distinction of proving itself far more dangerous to the health and safety of everyday Americans than any terrorist group. Terrorist-related deaths in the USA: < 4,000, while FDA-related deaths since 2001 are over 750,000" - Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, July 2008.

       Physicians and researchers will want to review some of Drs. Seelig's and Rosanoff's 1,512 references in their book, The Magnesium Factor bearing witness to their findings.

       I have been puzzling over the relationship of Omega-3 Essential Fatty Acids to magnesium in the cardiac risk issue. Here is an interesting link - I think. We know that glutathione is important to increasing or maintaining or enhancing intracellular magnesium, but it is an expensive supplement. We also know that Omega-3 Essential Fatty Acids (from fish oil) are important to cardiac health, they relax cells like magnesium does. Now, there is a link between Omega-3s and glutathione, which translates into a need for Omega-3 Essential Fatty Acids to maintain intracellular magnesium. See this Russian article . I do know that my bronchitis and arrhythmias are much relieved with supplements of Omega-3s, and now I can see why. Also, in 1985 Galland showed that in latent tetany (a magnesium deficiency disorder), Omega-3 EFA was also low.

Exercise

       Perhaps every person that has seen a psychiatrist for depression is told to exercise. I wonder how many follow the doctor's advice. Exercise is good for you, but not too much or it will stimulate appetite. Why? The fact is that exercise changes the way our cells react with insulin. Exercise makes our cells less resistant to insulin, and therefore more able to hold magnesium. Exercise is mandatory for diabetics for the same reason. How much exercise? Well, the doctors suggest brisk walking, and we all know that we feel better after a walk. But the good feeling doesn't last. Why? Quite a number of papers show that resistance training for insulin resistance is better than aerobic training. Resistance training is referring to muscular exercises, body building and heavy, but not exhausting exercise. If you just do a bicep curl, you immediately increase the insulin sensitivity of your bicep. Walk briskly, and you immediately increase the sensitivity of your legs to insulin. Just by exercising you are increasing the blood flow to that muscle and decreasing insulin resistance, and improving retention of intracellular magnesium. It has been shown conclusively that resistance training, I.E. muscle building, will increase insulin sensitivity. If we are so depressed that we can't exercise, then we need to have someone exercise us, perhaps with an electric cattle prod to get us up off our butts! Get a menial job stacking boxes in a hardware store, stack lumber in a lumberyard, walk goats up a mountain, walk to the top of every hill and mountain in your state, one per day. Go to the gym and lift weights all day. Swim upstream in a fast moving creek. Think about the astronauts with their enormous loss of muscle mass (30% per flight) and vicious loss of magnesium. What do they do? They body-build with a vengeance, and so must we. They will sometimes exercise while on TV being interviewed. What kind of exercise? Depends on the person. Exercise enough that you sleep well at night. Exercise enough so that you are truly tired at the end of a day. Do fifteen minutes of exercise? OK, but do it each 30 minutes that you are awake! See what I mean? EXERCISE as if your life depended on it! I recently hired a laborer that very much impressed me. I had a large gully on a terrace behind my house and I needed to have the gully up that terrace slope filled in with soil. I hired a Mexican laborer, and with a shovel and wheelbarrow, that middle-aged man filled in that gully with an entire 12-ton dump truck of soil in 8 hours. How did he do it? One wheel barrow at a time walking up the hill. Can you imagine being nearly fifty years old and pushing a wheel barrow full of dirt up a hill all day long and then saying, "Para nada. Ése no es ningún problema. Gracias por el trabajo." He went home to a beer. Me? I was exhausted from watching him work! Remember what you are trying to do, which is restore your body's cells' sensitivity to insulin, which restores their ability to absorb and retain magnesium. How long will it take? Maybe six months, but such is a short time for such an enormous benefit. Dr. Mildred S. Seelig, the magnesium guru, points out the too much exercise will cause a loss of magnesium, but I think the benefits of exercise outweigh this problem because we can simply take more magnesium to compensate.

       Salt is a subject of some controversy right now, particularly as it applies to exercise. There is one vocal school that says too much salt (sodium chloride) causes hypertension, and another that disagrees. Some say that our high ratio of sodium relative to potassium intake is causing hypertension, a point of view which has support at the NIH, and is my opinion too. The NIH's point being that increasing fresh vegetable intake (naturally high in potassium) and lowering salt (sodium chloride) ingestion reduces hypertension. For data comparing the sodium and other electrolyte ratio changes from the year 1900 and 2000 see this link in this page. Others say that our potassium to sodium relative intake is dangerously low, and suggest increasing our intake of potassium chloride. I prefer to leave this debate in the hands of your physician, who after examining you can make an intelligent recommendation. Why? Too little dietary sodium intake will cause death in climates where the temperature is very high due to loss of salt in the sweat from excessive exercise or hard labor. Anyone that has tasted sweat will notice that it has a salty taste, clear evidence that one is loosing sodium and, to a lesser extent, potassium through the sweat. On the other hand, people with kidney disease may not be able to excrete sufficient sodium to clear excess dietary sodium, and will need a low sodium diet (a natural food diet and not a processed foods diet). The RDA for sodium is 2,400 mg per day (approximately 6,000 mg salt or 1 teaspoon of salt), while the estimated RDA for potassium is believed to be about 4,000 mg. In 1900 it was 6,000 mg, a time of very low incidence of heart problems. Nutritionists and physicians that proclaim a ZERO additive salt intake to be generally good advise actually provide deadly advise for people who sweat excessively due to exercise or labor in high heat conditions. Also, the main cause of death from protracted diarrhea is loss of salt (sodium chloride). Perhaps part of the confusion arises in our culture due to our addition of iodide to table salt but not to potassium chloride. Consequently, the benefits of iodide (iodine) in table salt sometimes (nearly always in elderly women) causes people consuming lots of table salt to be better off cardiac-wise than people not consuming iodide (iodine) through avoiding table salt and using a salt substitute (potassium chloride) instead. The answer? For me it is to avoid sodium chloride (table salt) like the plague, and supplement with iodine.

       Are you a pig? My father had more than 1000 white Yorkshire pigs in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas when I was growing up. We were looking for cheap foods for them and he found a shrimp packing plant that harvested fresh Gulf of Mexico shrimp and breaded them and packaged them for retail sale. The plant gave us truckloads of fresh breaded shrimp that had become contaminated, usually by it having fallen off of the conveyor belt. By all accounts that was still a suitable source of fresh protein for pigs. The pigs loved it and ate is with great glee. A few months after starting that "protein supplementation" program, they started to die. First just a few, then as the days went on, more died, a week later many died, then most of them died. At some point we involved the County Agriculture Extension Agent and he was terrified that our pigs had a terrible disease. He called for help and eventually we had Food and Drug Administration people, USDA people, Texas Department of Animal Health and a bunch of other County State and Federal regulatory and investigative people on our property trying to figure out if a county-wide quarantine was merited. The newspaper and radio and TV people were all there announcing the mystery death of thousands of pigs. What was killing the pigs? Scientists from the USDA reported that sodium chloride in the breading on the shrimp killed our pigs. Remember, we are very similar to pigs internally. This should make us consider whether or not salt is good for us.

       On the other, other hand, injected potassium chloride instantly kills by stopping the heart; and in fact, IV potassium chloride is used to execute criminals. A friend of mine on Martha's Vineyard felt that if a little bit of potassium chloride was good, then a bunch would be better. She took an entire teaspoon of pure potassium chloride salt and it "melted a hole through her stomach". She immediately caused herself to throw up and probably saved her life in the process, at least she saved herself a trip to the emergency room. Enough said? I repeat! Potassium chloride must never be consumed straight! It must always be diluted in water or used as a seasoning in food and judiciously used.

       I have experimented with judicious amounts of potassium chloride (1/4 teaspoon) dissolved in an 8-oz glass of water to lower my pulse rate. Good idea? Actually, yes, it is a very good idea! If our pulse rates can easily be lowered by reasonable intake of potassium chloride (in a glass of water or by simply substituting it for regular table salt), then such seems to indicate a deficiency situation that has been corrected. The RDA for potassium is 4700 mg per day, and it would take 1-1/2 teaspoons of potassium chloride to meet our daily requirements. Therefore, simply taking 1/4 teaspoon of Morton's Salt Substitute disolved in a glass of water with each meal remains less than the RDA, suggesting why many people have pulses that are too rapid. They are potassium deficient. However, remember that metabolic shock is hyperkalemia! Morton's Salt Company makes a mixture of sodium and potassium chloride salt that is increasingly popular. Is it safe? Yes, I think so because it is an equal 50/50 mixture of sodium and potassium salts and it has iodide (iodine) in it for heart and thyroid protection. However, many people eat processed foods which are already high in sodium chloride salt, and their intake may be so high that use of Morton's Salt Substitute (nearly pure potassium chloride) is absolutely necessary (but only when iodide or iodine (150 mcg or more/daily ) is otherwise supplemented). The healthiest ratio of sodium to potassium is about 1:30 (the ratio found in Americans in 1900), not the 2.5:1 ratio of today. Notice that Morton's Salt Substitute label asks the user to consult with a physician before using, because it has no iodide or iodine which is vital to preventing heart disease and thyroid issues, and must be supplemented otherwise. Limiting salt intake is only one of several steps necessary to reduce total sodium intake. Nearly all processed foods contain additive sodium, either as sodium chloride, or as some other food additive such as monosodium glutamate (MSG), or drugs such as OTC antacids and headache remedies. More on reducing hidden sources of dietary sodium here. I think the best idea for most of us is to consider additive dietary potassium chloride to be necessary, with preference given to eating high potassium content natural foods, not processed foods (very high in sodium chloride). Also, anyone that has developed muscle cramps from working in high temperatures and sought medical advise is certain to have been told that increasing potassium intake will help prevent muscle cramps. Consequently, both sodium and potassium are needed in extra amounts in high heat, sweat conditions. However, potassium chloride must never be consumed straight! It must always be diluted in water or used as a seasoning in food. In your decision making on potassium and sodium intake, remember that sodium drives down magnesium and potassium drives it up, and that iodine deficiency will cause the exact same cardiac injury that is caused by low magnesium and high calcium. For a really good report on potassium and health, similar in nature to this one, take a look at Joe Vialls's archived report, "POTASSIUM DEFICIENCY SCAM KILLS AND MAIMS MILLIONS".

       I was recently asked how much potassium chloride is needed to meet the U.S. RDA for potassium. Duh, how would I know? OK, I was a mathematician for NASA (LTA-8 thermodynamics project) in the '60s, so I really ought to be able to figure that out. I looked at the Morton's Salt Substitute label to see if there was enough data there to compute it using 4 grams of potassium per day as the value for the RDA of potassium. Note that the range recommended varies a bit (3500 to 4100 m/day). Here is data from the "Nutrition Facts" panel on the label. "Serving size: 1/4 teaspoon = 1.2 grams of Morton's Salt substitute (estimated to be nearly all potssium chloride)" "Amount per serving, Potassium = 610 mg (17% of the Daily Value for Potassium" (computed to be 3588 mg)). Using that data, potassium = 610 mg / 1200 mg = 51% potassium chloride. To take the RDA of potasium (4 grams per day) obviously would require right at 8 grams of potassium chloride. If 1200 mg potassium chloride = 1/4 teaspoon, then, 8000 / 1200 x 4 = 1.65 teaspoons a day of potassium chloride. Can you imagine your doctor's reaction to you eating all that poison? Well... Numbers do not lie, but physicans do since their income depends upon you being a bit sick, but just well enough to get to the office since they don't make house calls anymore. READ "POTASSIUM DEFICIENCY SCAM KILLS AND MAIMS MILLIONS".         Succeed!    Depression is not a psychosis!

Diagnosis Of Magnesium Deficiency

• "Oral Dosing" is nothing more than giving magnesium at proper dosages and observing improvement as described in my section on Dosage". Never give toxic forms of magnesium. This test does not require a physician or laboratory tests and is considered definitive.
• "Magnesium Loading" is considered the standard by the few physicians who at least recognize the possibility of magnesium deficiency. The test is somewhat tedious and frustrating to patients. First one has to collect every drop of urine for exactly 24 hours. The urine is then analyzed for total magnesium and creatinine output in a clinical laboratory. Then the patient is given intravenously a specific "load" of magnesium and a second 24 hour urine is collected and tested for magnesium and creatinine. If less than 50% of the administered magnesium is excreted, this is "proof" of magnesium deficiency. In fact, if less than 20% is excreted, "borderline" magnesium deficiency is suspected.
• Red blood cell testing (not whole blood or serum tests) can be performed in most medical laboratories and is reasonably accurate.
• Perhaps the most sophisticated test of all is the ionic magnesium test developed by Drs. Burton and Bella Altura of SUNY-Brooklyn Downstate Medical School, School of Graduate Studies. Search this page for more on their research. This test measures ionized magnesium. Here is an important point from this article: "The research in Dr. Bella Altura's laboratory is focusing in the roles of cytosolic free magnesium ([Mg2+]i) and serum ionized Mg2+ in cardiovascular homeostasis and disease. Much of our recent research centers on the role of this action in women's health and disease. We have found that estrogens and progesterone play dominant roles in regulating blood and vascular smooth muscle cell levels of free Mg2+ ions. Disturbances in the menstrual cycle and menopause lead to perturbation of the normal hormonal regulation of Mg2+ in women. Certain disease processes in women, particularly those associated with cardiovascular disease, demonstrate abnormalities in Mg2+ metabolism. Much of these advances have been obtained through the use of Mg2+ ion-selective electrodes which our laboratory helped to pioneer." More... "We have found that Mg2+ regulates the state of oxidation of vascular smooth muscle membranes and generation of a variety of sphingolipids which exert vasomotor actions on numerous blood vessels in the brain and peripheral circulation. Recent findings, in our laboratory, suggest that nitric oxide generation or its inhibition plays an important role in the cardiovascular and molecular-cellular action of Mg2+. Mg2+ appears to modulate atherogenesis and blood pressure regulation via its actions on PKC isoforms and nuclear transcription via NF-kB activation or inhibition."
• The most sophisticated test for brain magnesium is the phosphorous nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy test, which has been used mainly in research animals until recently. It is still a research tool but shows promise for future human research.

       More on magnesium testing at the HeadachePainFree site.         Succeed!    Depression is not a psychosis!

The Essentiality of Boron

        Boron is well known for its role in preventing urinary losses of both calcium and magnesium. Apparently, it can raise both calcium and magnesium by about 1/3. Consequently, boron is important in recovery from depression; and it has the potential to reduce the amount of magnesium required to alleviate depression, and increases resistance to diarrhea. Boron has recently been found to be important in brain and psychological function. Published studies consistently show that the administration of small amounts of boron (2-3 mg/day) reduce the amount of calcium and magnesium urinary excretion. The effect of boron in preserving critical minerals is more apparent when dietary intake of magnesium is low. In response to boron supplementation, estrogen and testosterone levels increase in postmenopausal women, which may restart menses. Boron's function in bone formation appears to be related to magnesium metabolism. Boron also appears helpful in treating and preventing autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis. In human deficiency studies, supplementation with boron improved several parameters including mental alertness, memory, mineral metabolism, and blood hemoglobin. Recently, the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine has set the tolerable upper intake levels for boron at 20 milligrams per day, but did not establish a RDA. Along with a diet high in boron, I also took 6 to 12 milligrams of boron (Twin Labs Tri-Boron) in the morning. Many years ago, when boric acid was used as a food preservative, 500 mg were found to have adverse effects in humans causing severe gastrointestinal distress and problems with appetite. Some important food sources of boron are shown in the following table.

       Notice that almonds are high in boron. Tracy R. from Vermont called me yesterday (July 12, 2005) and told me a story about her autistic 10-year old daughter. She had all the problems one would expect from an autistic child. She found that she had some magnesium deficiency symptoms and some food intolerance symptoms as well as many other problems. The child could not tolerate magnesium supplements and they gave her a rash. The removal of casein, gluten, corn, chocolate, soy and citrus greatly reduced her autism symptoms. However, food preparation was a difficult task. As a substitute for wheat flour, she recently started using almond flour. She noticed that child's autism symptoms, particularly the child's problems with food sensitivities, regressed substantially. When she gave 3-mg of boron daily, boron enabled the child to eat all foods that previously exacerbated autism symptoms.. When she stopped giving boron, the digestive problems returned. She could modulate her digestive problems simply by giving boron dietary food supplements. She now sees considerable progress in her child, and the child is now diagnosed as having "Pervasive Developmental Disorder, not otherwise specified" rather than autism. She sees some very positive cognitive results as well. She is improving verbally and physically and she feels she's made a slight gain in comprehension due to boron supplementation. I checked Pubmed.gov for the search terms "autism" and "boron" and found zero papers. Is boron the cure for autism? Will boron cure autism? Maybe! If you test this hypothesis, please let me know what you find.

       Dr. James G. Penland of the Grand Forks, North Dakota United States Department of Agriculture wrote an article entitled: Dietary boron, brain function, and cognitive performance. His article was published in Environ Health Perspect 102(suppl 7):65-72, 1994. His abstract reads: "Although the trace element boron has yet to be recognized as an essential nutrient for humans, recent findings from animal and human studies suggest that boron may be important for mineral metabolism and membrane function. To further investigate the functional role of boron in humans, measures of brain function (the electroencephalogram or EEG) and performance on several mental and motor tasks were collected from healthy older men and women fed ~0.25 and ~3.50 mg boron/2000 kcal/day. When compared to high boron intake, low dietary boron resulted in changes in the EEG similar to those found in cases of general malnutrition and heavy metal toxicity. Performance measures (e.g., response time) also showed an effect of dietary boron. When compared to high boron intake, low dietary boron resulted in poorer performance on tasks emphasizing manual dexterity, eye-hand coordination, attention, encoding and short-term memory. Collectively, the results of these three studies indicate that boron may play a role in human brain function and mental and motor performance, and provide additional evidence that boron is an essential nutrient for humans."

       Dr. Penland followed up with a second report, the abstract of which reads: "Boron (B) nutriture has been related to bone, mineral and lipid metabolism, energy utilization, and immune function. As evidence accumulates that B is essential for humans, it is important to consider possible relationships between B nutriture and brain and psychological function. Five studies conducted in our laboratory are reviewed. Assessments of brain electrical activity in both animals and humans found that B deprivation results in decreased brain electrical activity similar to that observed in nonspecific malnutrition. Assessments of cognitive and psychomotor function in humans found that B deprivation results in poorer performance on tasks of motor speed and dexterity, attention, and short-term memory. However, little support was found for anecdotal reports that supplementation with physiologic amounts of B helps alleviate the somatic and psychological symptoms of menopause. Parallels between nutritional and toxicological effects of B on brain and psychological function are presented, and possible biological mechanisms for dietary effects are reviewed. Findings support the hypothesis that B nutriture is important for brain and psychological function in humans."

       He also showed: "Severe magnesium deficiency is frequently accompanied by excessive electrical activity in the brain, including seizure-like activity. This controlled, double-blind study investigated whether marginal intakes of dietary magnesium, similar to those consumed by many Americans, would also result in increased brain electrical activity. Because previous studies have shown that the mineral boron may affect biological response to magnesium, dietary intakes of boron were also examined. Compared to when they ate more than 300 mg magnesium daily, postmenopausal women eating approximately 115 mg magnesium daily for six weeks showed increases in brain electrical activity very similar to but not as extreme as those found with severe magnesium deficiency. Some changes in brain electrical activity were also found when these women ate less than 1 mg of boron daily, compared to when they ate more than 3 mg of boron daily. The effect of low dietary boron was to decrease the type of electrical activity associated with alertness. In very few instances did the amount of boron eaten affect the response to the amount of magnesium eaten. These findings are important to gaining a better understanding of the functional consequences of marginal as well as severe deficiencies of magnesium and boron in the diet."

       Maybe Tracy's observations were right on the money! Stay tuned!

       Remember that this page is about magnesium and mental health. What about magnesium and autism? Tracy noted that her daughter had some problems with magnesium. What does the medical literature say about magnesium and autism. Will magnesium cure autism? Is magnesium the cure for autism? In 2006, Italian researchers showed that autistic children given magnesium and vitamin B-6 had strong improvement in autism symptoms including improvements in social interactions, communication stereotyped restricted behavior, abnormal/delayed functioning. Most importantly, when the magnesium and vitamin B-6 were stopped the autism symptoms returned within a few weeks. The dosage of magnesium given was 6 milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day and the vitamin B-6 dosage was 0.6 milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day. Since one kilogram equals 2.2 pounds, magnesium dosage was about 3 mg per pound of body weight. For a 60 pound child, that works out to 180 mg magnesium per day. See this link for details. I find the idea that a combination of low magnesium, low B-6 and low boron to be the most appealing theoretical cause of autism. Boron used to be very common in the diet, but it was removed due to some theoretical hazards. B-6 and magnesium are greatly reduced in our diets due to the grain refining process.

       I am also worried about toxic overloads of heavy minerals (lead, cadmium, mercury, etc.), and the critical role of other nutrients in mental health, which have only recently become of interest to physicians. A major problem with refined wheat is that the toxic mineral cadmium is found inside the endosperm, the white stuff we eat, and it is not removed by refining although the nutrients are removed. This sets up an imbalance between cadmium and zinc and since there is not enough zinc to compete with cadmium, cadmium often gains access to cells and causes toxicity through its substitution for zinc in intracellular zinc-binding sites.

       The brain is a chemical factory that produces serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, and other organic brain chemicals 24 hours a day. The only raw materials for their syntheses are nutrients, namely, amino acids, cholesterol, essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals. If the brain receives improper amounts of these nutrient building blocks or receives toxic heavy metals, which take the place of essential nutrients (particularly minerals) in the brain, we must expect serious problems with our organic neurotransmitters. For example, some depression patients have a genetic pyrrole disorder which renders them grossly depleted in vitamin B-6. A pyrrole is a basic chemical structure that is used in the formation of heme, which makes blood red. Pyrroles bind with B6 and then with zinc, thus depleting these nutrients. These individuals cannot efficiently create serotonin (a neurotransmitter) since B-6 is an important factor in the last step of its synthesis. Some people report 500 mg B6 to be needed daily to stabilize their mood. Many of these persons appear to benefit from prescription drugs like Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, or other serotonin-enhancing medications. However, as with all non-nutritive mind-altering drugs, side effects occur and the true cause of the mental difficulties remains uncorrected. Similar - and more healthful - benefits can be achieved by simply taking sufficient amounts of B-6 along with supporting nutrients such as magnesium, boron, taurine and essential fatty acids. If you want to test your brain neurotransmitters, you can get them tested by using a neuroscience test kit supplied by local physicians. To find a local physician that tests neurotransmitters, contact NeuroScience, Inc.

       What about mercury and cadmium? They have been consistently implicated as causative of autism. Thimerosal (a mercury containing preservative found in children's vaccines) has really been given major blame. Has removal of Thimerosal reduced the incidence of autism? YES! See this report. Why? I suspect the reason is that both toxic mercury and toxic cadmium are replacing biologically essential zinc in biological systems. Zinc is also being removed from the American diet by food manufacturers at a steady rate. For example, the RDA for zinc has recently been reduced from 15 mg a day to about one half that amount to reflect the amount of zinc actually in the American diet. Is this harmful? I say yes, absolutely yes since mercury and cadmium are increasing in our environment and they have the absolute capability of replacing zinc in all biological systems including neurons due to their extremely close proximity on the Periodic Table of Elements. When cadmium contaminates our food, it is often found in the center of grain, while zinc is found mainly in the grain covering. Eating whole grains, which have a higher amount of zinc than of cadmium, will reduce any possible absorption of cadmium. With refining of grains into flour, the zinc-cadmium ratio is decreased, and cadmium is more likely to be absorbed and cause problems. Yes Mothers! Just keep on feeding your children white bread! It helps the medical-pharmaceutical complex enormously. Your government is helping! Helping? Sure! We have the best government corporations can buy. By the way, did you know that zinc prevents menstrual cramps? See this article and make up your own mind if you suffer from cramps.         Succeed!    Depression is not a psychosis!

Foods That Contain 100 mg or More of Either Calcium or Magnesium per 100 Grams (3-1/2 oz)

       The following figure shows the amount of magnesium and calcium in foods wherein the amount of either magnesium or calcium exceeds 100 milligrams (1/4 the RDA for magnesium) per one hundred grams of that same food. A complete list of hundreds of foods (fresh foods and processed foods by brand name) arranged by their magnesium content is in this USDA report, which is a document that you should print out and tape to your refrigerator. Here is the USDA index for all nutrients alphabetically and by weight. The following foods shown in bold and brown have more magnesium than calcium, while all other foods shown have more calcium than magnesium.