Magnesium - Zinc - Calcium - Vitamin C
- Thread starter xxplosive
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SoonerClint72
Member
- Mar 9, 2016
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Those you listed are what I mega dose during the summer...working in the back of a brown truck delivering all day used to have me cramping all the time. Not now.
01dragonslayer
Veteran
- Aug 25, 2016
- 7,386
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Just how important is magnesium to athletes? Well new research suggests that even small shortfalls in magnesium intake can inhibit athletic performance. Continue reading here to learn more about this mineral.
Ask most athletes to name some key minerals for human performance nutrition and you'll probably find calcium, iron, zinc and even chromium popping up in their lists. But they are unlikely to mention magnesium. Despite magnesium's pivotal role in energy production, many coaches and athletes remain unaware of its critical importance in maintaining health and performance.
Indeed, dietary intakes of magnesium in the West have declined to less than half of those recorded 100 years ago, and are still falling.
Yet many scientists believe that the amount of magnesium required for optimum health has been underestimated in the past, and now new research suggests that even small shortfalls in magnesium intake can seriously impair athletic performance.
Clearly, magnesium nutrition is an area that no serious athlete can afford to overlook!
Some Basics Of Magnesium
Pure magnesium is a silvery-white metal, which burns with a dazzling brilliance - something you've probably seen demonstrated by your science teacher at school!
It is the second most abundant mineral in cells after potassium, but the two ounces or so found in the typical human body is present not as metal but as magnesium ions (positively-charged magnesium atoms found either in solution or complexed with other tissues, such as bone).
Roughly one quarter of this magnesium is found in muscle tissue and three-fifths in bone; but less than 1% of it is found in blood serum, although that is used as the commonest indicator of magnesium status.
Magnesium
Magnesium is the eighth most abundant element in the earth's crust although not found in it's elemental form.
Magnesium tarnishes slightly in air, and finely divided magnesium readily ignites upon heating in air and burns with a dazzling white flame. Normally magnesium is coated with a layer of oxide, MgO, that protects magnesium from air and water.
This blood serum magnesium can be further subdivided into free ionic, complex-bound and protein-bound portions, but it's the ionic portion that's considered most important in measuring magnesium status, because it is physiologically active.
Magnesium is well supplied in unrefined whole grain cereals, such as wholemeal bread, and also in green leafy vegetables, nuts and seeds, peas, beans and lentils (see table below). Fruit, meat and fish supply poor levels, as do refined foods.
Contrary to common belief, milk and dairy products are not particularly rich sources of magnesium. The magnesium content of plant foods tends to reflect soil magnesium concentrations and growing conditions, especially as magnesium is not routinely added to soils by farmers during intensive fertilization(1).
Magnesium is a fairly soluble mineral, which is why boiling vegetables can result in significant losses; in cereals and grains, it tends to be concentrated in the germ and bran, which explains why white refined grains contain relatively little magnesium by comparison with their unrefined counterparts.
The Role Of Magnesium In The Body
Magnesium plays a number of roles in the body, being required for more than 325 enzymatic reactions, including those involved in the synthesis of fat, protein and nucleic acids, neurological activity, muscular contraction and relaxation, cardiac activity and bone metabolism.
ATP Metabolism
Even more important is magnesium's pivotal role in both anaerobic and aerobic energy production, particularly in the metabolism of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the 'energy currency' of the body.
Magnesium Deficiencies
In normal adults, a magnesium deficiency results in altered cardiovascular function, including electrocardiographic abnormalities(2,3), impaired carbohydrate metabolism, with insulin resistance and decreased insulin secretion(2,4), and high blood pressure (5).
Disease states that have been associated with magnesium imbalances and deficiencies include coronary heart disease, neuromuscular disorders, kidney diseases, asthma(6), migraines, premenstrual syndrome, pre-eclampsia and eclampsia (both potentially serious complications of pregnancy), menopausal bone problems (3) and even obesity!
What Is Eclampsia?
Term applied to toxic complications that can occur late in pregnancy. Toxemia of pregnancy occurs in 10% to 20% of pregnant women; symptoms include headache, vertigo, visual disturbances, vomiting, hypertension, and edema.
The four categories of hypertension during pregnancy are pre-eclampsia, eclampsia, chronic hypertension, and transient hypertension. Pre-eclampsia, which occurs late in pregnancy, is characterized by decreased cardiac output and increased blood vessel resistance.
It may be prevented with calcium supplements and low-dose aspirin, and a cesarian section is often safer than natural childbirth. Only 5% of of women with pre-eclampsia progress to eclampsia, which is accompanied by convulsions and coma.
To avoid renal and cardiovascular damage of the mother and to prevent fetal damage, the condition is treated by termination of pregnancy.
The UK recommended intake for magnesium (the daily amount deemed adequate to prevent deficiencies in 97.5% of the UK population) is set at 300mgs for men and 270mgs for women (7). The US has recently revised its figures upwards and now recommends an intake of 400mgs per day for men aged 19-30 and 420 for those over 30; the figures for women under and over 30 are 300 and 310mgs per day respectively(8). However, some investigators believe these should be set even higher at 450-500mg/day (9).
Many People Go Short Of Magnesium
Dietary intakes of magnesium in the United States have been declining over the last 100 years from about 500mg/day to 175-225mg/day and a recent national survey suggested that the average magnesium intake for women is as low as 228mgs per day . But since this figure is derived using a one-day diet recall method, it may actually be an overestimate of actual magnesium intakes.
Meanwhile, the UK's Food Standards Agency estimates that the average daily intake of magnesium in Britain for both men and women is just 227mgs - only two thirds of the US recommended daily amount (RDA).
The figures above suggest that many people fall short of optimum magnesium intakes, and this has been confirmed in a number of studies. For example, American researchers found that more than 60% of US adults were failing to meet even the previous (lower) RDA for magnesium(13).
Magnesium Deficiencies In Athletes
Even athletes, who might be expected to take greater care with their diets, are not immune from magnesium deficiency; for example, studies carried out in 1986/87 revealed that gymnasts, footballers and basketball players were consuming only around 70% of the RDA, while female runners fared even worse, with reported intakes as low as 59% of the RDA.
Given magnesium's vital role in energy production, two key questions emerge:
Can these all-too-common sub-optimum dietary magnesium intakes impair athletic performance?
Could extra magnesium intake, over and above RDA levels, enhance performance?
While there is plenty of evidence that oral magnesium therapy improves cardiac function and exercise tolerance in coronary heart disease patients(16, 17), until recently, there has been little hard evidence about the effects of sub-optimum magnesium intakes in healthy exercising adults.
3-Month Magnesium Study
However, in a very tightly controlled three-month US study carried out last year, the effects of magnesium depletion on exercise performance in 10 women were observed - and the results make fascinating reading.
. In the first month, the women received a magnesium-deficient diet (112mgs per day), which was supplemented with 200mgs per day of magnesium to bring the total magnesium content up to the RDA of 310mgs per day. In the second month, the supplement was withdrawn to make the diet magnesium-deficient, but in the third month it was reintroduced to replenish magnesium levels.
At the end of each month, the women were asked to cycle at increasing intensities until they reached 80% of their maximum heart rate, at which time a large number of measurements were taken, including blood tests, ECG and respiratory gas analysis.
The researchers found that, for a given workload, peak oxygen uptake, total and cumulative net oxygen utilization and heart rate all increased significantly during the period of magnesium restriction, with the amount of the increase directly related to the extent of magnesium depletion. In plain English, a magnesium deficiency reduced metabolic efficiency, increasing the oxygen consumption and heart rate required to perform work - exactly what an athlete doesn't want!
Conclusion
The researchers concluded: 'This report provides the first evidence that low dietary magnesium, in amounts consumed by some groups of physically active individuals, impairs function during exercise.' The mechanisms behind this effect are unclear, but it seems likely that a magnesium shortfall can cause a partial uncoupling of the respiratory chain, increasing the amount of oxygen required to maintain ATP production.
There is also evidence that a magnesium shortfall boosts the energy cost, and hence oxygen use, of exercise because it reduces the efficiency during exercise of muscle relaxation, which accounts for an important fraction of total energy needs during an activity like cycling.
While many studies on magnesium supplementation and exercise have been carried out, the results have been inconsistent and may indicate that there is nothing to be gained by supplementing an already magnesium-sufficient diet.
Other Studies
One study of male athletes supplemented with 390mgs of magnesium per day for 25 days resulted in an increased peak oxygen uptake and total work output during work capacity tests ; in another, on sub-maximal work, supplemental magnesium elicited reductions in heart rate, ventilation, oxygen uptake and carbon dioxide; in a third, physically active students, supplemented with 8mgs of magnesium per kilo of body weight per day, experienced significant increases in endurance performance and decreased oxygen consumption during standardize sub-maximal exercise.
However, other studies carried out on physically active people with 'normal' serum magnesium and muscle magnes ium concentrations have found no functional or performance improvements associated with supplementation (23, 24).
On the evidence available so far, the scientific consensus is that extra magnesium can enhance performance when (as is all too often the case) magnesium intakes fall below optimum levels. But in subjects already consuming magnesium at or above this optimum level, there is little hard evidence to suggest that taking more confers extra benefits.
Given the growing body of evidence pointing to the need for optimum magnesium nutrition in athletes, what tests are available to coaches for determining magnesium status? Muscle magnesium (obtained through a needle biopsy) is one of the most accurate methods of assessment, but it is time-consuming, very invasive and can cause discomfort.
Magnesium status can also be measured by means of a 'magnesium load' test, followed up with measurement of urinary excretion. However research suggests that urinary magnesium is too variable to accurately evaluate magnesium status (6).
Testing For Magnesium Status
Total blood magnesium (TMg) is the most widely used assay, but this has the disadvantage of including complex and protein-bound magnesium, whereas it's the ionic portion that's physiologically active. This test is also insensitive to the movements of magnesium that occur within the body as a result of exercise.
However, the recent introduction of ion-selective electrode (ISE) technology now enables scientists to measure ionic magnesium directly, and this is considered one of the best methods. But even then it's not all plain-sailing, since ionic magnesium levels tend to fluctuate significantly according to the time of day, with higher values recorded in the morning and lower values in the evening.
What Are Ion-Selective Electrode?
Ion-selective electrodes are used in a wide variety of applications for determining the concentrations of various ions in aqueous solutions.
Some of the main areas in which ISEs have been used include: pollution monitoring, food processing, detergent manufacture, paper manufacture and good old fashioned explosives.
This 'circadian magnesium rhythm' is believed to be linked to changes in physical activity levels through the day, but the whole subject of 'intra-body' magnesium fluctuations remains poorly understood. Nevertheless, the best results seem to be obtained when ionic magnesium is sampled from fasting, non-exercised subjects first thing in the morning (25).
So What's The Take-Home Message For Athletes?
First, it's all too easy to go short of magnesium, especially if your diet is light on foods like whole grains and cereals, green leafy vegetables, pulses (peas/beans/lentils), nuts and seeds. To make matters worse, excessive sugar intake, alcohol consumption and diets high in fats, protein and calcium have all been shown to impair magnesium absorption and/or increase excretion.
Even when the quality of food is good and the diet carefully balanced, diets containing fewer than 2,000 calories per day often struggle to meet magnesium needs, placing those on weight loss or maintenance regimes at added risk.
The box below summarizes the kinds of dietary habits that can lead to low magnesium intakes and also some of the sub-clinical symptoms that can be signs of a sub-optimum intake (although clinical tests such as muscle magnesium or ionic magnesium are better at establishing actual magnesium status).
Risk Factors & Signs Of Low Magnesium Intake
Eating Habits Associated With Low Magnesium Intake
You tend to eat white flour products instead of wholemeal
You have a low intake of green leafy vegetables
You don't eat much in the way of nuts and seeds or beans and lentils
You regularly consume sugar or sugary products
You drink alcohol regularly
You follow a calorie-restricted or high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet
Possible Symptoms Of Sub-Optimal Magnesium Intake
Muscle cramps, twitches or tremors
Regular or excessive fatigue
Feelings of irritability and/or lethargy
Frequent mood swings, including depression
Pre-menstrual bloating
Restless legs at night
Given the potential for impaired performance on a sub-optimum magnesium intake, any athlete not already doing so should make a conscious effort to increase the proportion of magnesium-rich foods in his or her diet.
Even a simple change like eating more whole grain products and boosting your intake of vegetables, nuts and seeds can make a big impact.
Magnesium intakes above the RDA are unlikely to boost performance further, but supplements are cheap and non-toxic, so can safely be used as an insurance policy. Most forms of supplemental magnesium are well-tolerated but it is inadvisable to supplement more than 400mgs per day.
Some forms, such as magnesium oxide, are quite alkaline forming and can have the side effect of neutralizing stomach acid and interfering with digestion. These should not be taken with meals.
Finally, magnesium is best absorbed in small, frequent doses; so, for example, it is better to take 100mgs three times a day than 300mgs in one go!
Ask most athletes to name some key minerals for human performance nutrition and you'll probably find calcium, iron, zinc and even chromium popping up in their lists. But they are unlikely to mention magnesium. Despite magnesium's pivotal role in energy production, many coaches and athletes remain unaware of its critical importance in maintaining health and performance.
Indeed, dietary intakes of magnesium in the West have declined to less than half of those recorded 100 years ago, and are still falling.
Yet many scientists believe that the amount of magnesium required for optimum health has been underestimated in the past, and now new research suggests that even small shortfalls in magnesium intake can seriously impair athletic performance.
Clearly, magnesium nutrition is an area that no serious athlete can afford to overlook!
Some Basics Of Magnesium
Pure magnesium is a silvery-white metal, which burns with a dazzling brilliance - something you've probably seen demonstrated by your science teacher at school!
It is the second most abundant mineral in cells after potassium, but the two ounces or so found in the typical human body is present not as metal but as magnesium ions (positively-charged magnesium atoms found either in solution or complexed with other tissues, such as bone).
Roughly one quarter of this magnesium is found in muscle tissue and three-fifths in bone; but less than 1% of it is found in blood serum, although that is used as the commonest indicator of magnesium status.
Magnesium
Magnesium is the eighth most abundant element in the earth's crust although not found in it's elemental form.
Magnesium tarnishes slightly in air, and finely divided magnesium readily ignites upon heating in air and burns with a dazzling white flame. Normally magnesium is coated with a layer of oxide, MgO, that protects magnesium from air and water.
This blood serum magnesium can be further subdivided into free ionic, complex-bound and protein-bound portions, but it's the ionic portion that's considered most important in measuring magnesium status, because it is physiologically active.
Magnesium is well supplied in unrefined whole grain cereals, such as wholemeal bread, and also in green leafy vegetables, nuts and seeds, peas, beans and lentils (see table below). Fruit, meat and fish supply poor levels, as do refined foods.
Contrary to common belief, milk and dairy products are not particularly rich sources of magnesium. The magnesium content of plant foods tends to reflect soil magnesium concentrations and growing conditions, especially as magnesium is not routinely added to soils by farmers during intensive fertilization(1).
Magnesium is a fairly soluble mineral, which is why boiling vegetables can result in significant losses; in cereals and grains, it tends to be concentrated in the germ and bran, which explains why white refined grains contain relatively little magnesium by comparison with their unrefined counterparts.
The Role Of Magnesium In The Body
Magnesium plays a number of roles in the body, being required for more than 325 enzymatic reactions, including those involved in the synthesis of fat, protein and nucleic acids, neurological activity, muscular contraction and relaxation, cardiac activity and bone metabolism.
ATP Metabolism
Even more important is magnesium's pivotal role in both anaerobic and aerobic energy production, particularly in the metabolism of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the 'energy currency' of the body.
Magnesium Deficiencies
In normal adults, a magnesium deficiency results in altered cardiovascular function, including electrocardiographic abnormalities(2,3), impaired carbohydrate metabolism, with insulin resistance and decreased insulin secretion(2,4), and high blood pressure (5).
Disease states that have been associated with magnesium imbalances and deficiencies include coronary heart disease, neuromuscular disorders, kidney diseases, asthma(6), migraines, premenstrual syndrome, pre-eclampsia and eclampsia (both potentially serious complications of pregnancy), menopausal bone problems (3) and even obesity!
What Is Eclampsia?
Term applied to toxic complications that can occur late in pregnancy. Toxemia of pregnancy occurs in 10% to 20% of pregnant women; symptoms include headache, vertigo, visual disturbances, vomiting, hypertension, and edema.
The four categories of hypertension during pregnancy are pre-eclampsia, eclampsia, chronic hypertension, and transient hypertension. Pre-eclampsia, which occurs late in pregnancy, is characterized by decreased cardiac output and increased blood vessel resistance.
It may be prevented with calcium supplements and low-dose aspirin, and a cesarian section is often safer than natural childbirth. Only 5% of of women with pre-eclampsia progress to eclampsia, which is accompanied by convulsions and coma.
To avoid renal and cardiovascular damage of the mother and to prevent fetal damage, the condition is treated by termination of pregnancy.
The UK recommended intake for magnesium (the daily amount deemed adequate to prevent deficiencies in 97.5% of the UK population) is set at 300mgs for men and 270mgs for women (7). The US has recently revised its figures upwards and now recommends an intake of 400mgs per day for men aged 19-30 and 420 for those over 30; the figures for women under and over 30 are 300 and 310mgs per day respectively(8). However, some investigators believe these should be set even higher at 450-500mg/day (9).
Many People Go Short Of Magnesium
Dietary intakes of magnesium in the United States have been declining over the last 100 years from about 500mg/day to 175-225mg/day and a recent national survey suggested that the average magnesium intake for women is as low as 228mgs per day . But since this figure is derived using a one-day diet recall method, it may actually be an overestimate of actual magnesium intakes.
Meanwhile, the UK's Food Standards Agency estimates that the average daily intake of magnesium in Britain for both men and women is just 227mgs - only two thirds of the US recommended daily amount (RDA).
The figures above suggest that many people fall short of optimum magnesium intakes, and this has been confirmed in a number of studies. For example, American researchers found that more than 60% of US adults were failing to meet even the previous (lower) RDA for magnesium(13).
Magnesium Deficiencies In Athletes
Even athletes, who might be expected to take greater care with their diets, are not immune from magnesium deficiency; for example, studies carried out in 1986/87 revealed that gymnasts, footballers and basketball players were consuming only around 70% of the RDA, while female runners fared even worse, with reported intakes as low as 59% of the RDA.
Given magnesium's vital role in energy production, two key questions emerge:
Can these all-too-common sub-optimum dietary magnesium intakes impair athletic performance?
Could extra magnesium intake, over and above RDA levels, enhance performance?
While there is plenty of evidence that oral magnesium therapy improves cardiac function and exercise tolerance in coronary heart disease patients(16, 17), until recently, there has been little hard evidence about the effects of sub-optimum magnesium intakes in healthy exercising adults.
3-Month Magnesium Study
However, in a very tightly controlled three-month US study carried out last year, the effects of magnesium depletion on exercise performance in 10 women were observed - and the results make fascinating reading.
. In the first month, the women received a magnesium-deficient diet (112mgs per day), which was supplemented with 200mgs per day of magnesium to bring the total magnesium content up to the RDA of 310mgs per day. In the second month, the supplement was withdrawn to make the diet magnesium-deficient, but in the third month it was reintroduced to replenish magnesium levels.
At the end of each month, the women were asked to cycle at increasing intensities until they reached 80% of their maximum heart rate, at which time a large number of measurements were taken, including blood tests, ECG and respiratory gas analysis.
The researchers found that, for a given workload, peak oxygen uptake, total and cumulative net oxygen utilization and heart rate all increased significantly during the period of magnesium restriction, with the amount of the increase directly related to the extent of magnesium depletion. In plain English, a magnesium deficiency reduced metabolic efficiency, increasing the oxygen consumption and heart rate required to perform work - exactly what an athlete doesn't want!
Conclusion
The researchers concluded: 'This report provides the first evidence that low dietary magnesium, in amounts consumed by some groups of physically active individuals, impairs function during exercise.' The mechanisms behind this effect are unclear, but it seems likely that a magnesium shortfall can cause a partial uncoupling of the respiratory chain, increasing the amount of oxygen required to maintain ATP production.
There is also evidence that a magnesium shortfall boosts the energy cost, and hence oxygen use, of exercise because it reduces the efficiency during exercise of muscle relaxation, which accounts for an important fraction of total energy needs during an activity like cycling.
While many studies on magnesium supplementation and exercise have been carried out, the results have been inconsistent and may indicate that there is nothing to be gained by supplementing an already magnesium-sufficient diet.
Other Studies
One study of male athletes supplemented with 390mgs of magnesium per day for 25 days resulted in an increased peak oxygen uptake and total work output during work capacity tests ; in another, on sub-maximal work, supplemental magnesium elicited reductions in heart rate, ventilation, oxygen uptake and carbon dioxide; in a third, physically active students, supplemented with 8mgs of magnesium per kilo of body weight per day, experienced significant increases in endurance performance and decreased oxygen consumption during standardize sub-maximal exercise.
However, other studies carried out on physically active people with 'normal' serum magnesium and muscle magnes ium concentrations have found no functional or performance improvements associated with supplementation (23, 24).
On the evidence available so far, the scientific consensus is that extra magnesium can enhance performance when (as is all too often the case) magnesium intakes fall below optimum levels. But in subjects already consuming magnesium at or above this optimum level, there is little hard evidence to suggest that taking more confers extra benefits.
Given the growing body of evidence pointing to the need for optimum magnesium nutrition in athletes, what tests are available to coaches for determining magnesium status? Muscle magnesium (obtained through a needle biopsy) is one of the most accurate methods of assessment, but it is time-consuming, very invasive and can cause discomfort.
Magnesium status can also be measured by means of a 'magnesium load' test, followed up with measurement of urinary excretion. However research suggests that urinary magnesium is too variable to accurately evaluate magnesium status (6).
Testing For Magnesium Status
Total blood magnesium (TMg) is the most widely used assay, but this has the disadvantage of including complex and protein-bound magnesium, whereas it's the ionic portion that's physiologically active. This test is also insensitive to the movements of magnesium that occur within the body as a result of exercise.
However, the recent introduction of ion-selective electrode (ISE) technology now enables scientists to measure ionic magnesium directly, and this is considered one of the best methods. But even then it's not all plain-sailing, since ionic magnesium levels tend to fluctuate significantly according to the time of day, with higher values recorded in the morning and lower values in the evening.
What Are Ion-Selective Electrode?
Ion-selective electrodes are used in a wide variety of applications for determining the concentrations of various ions in aqueous solutions.
Some of the main areas in which ISEs have been used include: pollution monitoring, food processing, detergent manufacture, paper manufacture and good old fashioned explosives.
This 'circadian magnesium rhythm' is believed to be linked to changes in physical activity levels through the day, but the whole subject of 'intra-body' magnesium fluctuations remains poorly understood. Nevertheless, the best results seem to be obtained when ionic magnesium is sampled from fasting, non-exercised subjects first thing in the morning (25).
So What's The Take-Home Message For Athletes?
First, it's all too easy to go short of magnesium, especially if your diet is light on foods like whole grains and cereals, green leafy vegetables, pulses (peas/beans/lentils), nuts and seeds. To make matters worse, excessive sugar intake, alcohol consumption and diets high in fats, protein and calcium have all been shown to impair magnesium absorption and/or increase excretion.
Even when the quality of food is good and the diet carefully balanced, diets containing fewer than 2,000 calories per day often struggle to meet magnesium needs, placing those on weight loss or maintenance regimes at added risk.
The box below summarizes the kinds of dietary habits that can lead to low magnesium intakes and also some of the sub-clinical symptoms that can be signs of a sub-optimum intake (although clinical tests such as muscle magnesium or ionic magnesium are better at establishing actual magnesium status).
Risk Factors & Signs Of Low Magnesium Intake
Eating Habits Associated With Low Magnesium Intake
You tend to eat white flour products instead of wholemeal
You have a low intake of green leafy vegetables
You don't eat much in the way of nuts and seeds or beans and lentils
You regularly consume sugar or sugary products
You drink alcohol regularly
You follow a calorie-restricted or high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet
Possible Symptoms Of Sub-Optimal Magnesium Intake
Muscle cramps, twitches or tremors
Regular or excessive fatigue
Feelings of irritability and/or lethargy
Frequent mood swings, including depression
Pre-menstrual bloating
Restless legs at night
Given the potential for impaired performance on a sub-optimum magnesium intake, any athlete not already doing so should make a conscious effort to increase the proportion of magnesium-rich foods in his or her diet.
Even a simple change like eating more whole grain products and boosting your intake of vegetables, nuts and seeds can make a big impact.
Magnesium intakes above the RDA are unlikely to boost performance further, but supplements are cheap and non-toxic, so can safely be used as an insurance policy. Most forms of supplemental magnesium are well-tolerated but it is inadvisable to supplement more than 400mgs per day.
Some forms, such as magnesium oxide, are quite alkaline forming and can have the side effect of neutralizing stomach acid and interfering with digestion. These should not be taken with meals.
Finally, magnesium is best absorbed in small, frequent doses; so, for example, it is better to take 100mgs three times a day than 300mgs in one go!
Last edited:
01dragonslayer
Veteran
- Aug 25, 2016
- 7,386
- 529
Calcium & Weight Loss
Calcium has also been shown to modulate the inflammatory response and to increase weight loss. A recent study found that an increase in dietary calcium intake, together with a normal protein intake, increased fecal fat and energy excretion by about 350 calories per day.
This observation may help explain why a high-calcium diet produces weight loss, and it suggests that an interaction with dietary protein level may be important.
Several studies have shown that calcium plays a key role in body weight regulation and especially on fat metabolism (with possible effects on lipolysis, fat oxidation, lipogenesis, energy expenditure and appetite suppression) and thus is a useful supplement for those looking to decrease weight and body fat.
For example, Zemel et al. (2002) looked at the effects of calcium supplements on obese adults who were dieting. They found that a high-calcium diet (1200-1300 mg/day) resulted in greater weight and fat loss in humans compared to a low-calcium diet (400-500 mg/day).
Another study published in November, 2004 found that a high intake of calcium may hinder weight and fat regain. The study found that after putting mice on a low calorie diet and producing weight and body fat loss, that those on a low calcium diet regained their weight after 6 weeks.
However, for those on a high calcium diet it was a different story. They found that the high calcium diets produced significant increases in lipolysis, decreases in fatty acid synthase expression and activity, and reduced fat regain. They also found that increasing calcium through the use of dairy products had significantly greater effects on fat regain.
The bottom line is that increasing calcium intake is a boon to those who want to not only lose weight, but to lose fat, improve body composition, and keep that fat and weight from coming back.
Magnesium, besides complementing the effects of calcium on obesity and other functions, also has important effects on its own. Low levels of magnesium promote inflammation and impact on the body's ability to handle stress. These functions are useful in alleviating the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, and decreasing both insulin resistance and inappropriate cortisol secretion.
Calcium has also been shown to modulate the inflammatory response and to increase weight loss. A recent study found that an increase in dietary calcium intake, together with a normal protein intake, increased fecal fat and energy excretion by about 350 calories per day.
This observation may help explain why a high-calcium diet produces weight loss, and it suggests that an interaction with dietary protein level may be important.
Several studies have shown that calcium plays a key role in body weight regulation and especially on fat metabolism (with possible effects on lipolysis, fat oxidation, lipogenesis, energy expenditure and appetite suppression) and thus is a useful supplement for those looking to decrease weight and body fat.
For example, Zemel et al. (2002) looked at the effects of calcium supplements on obese adults who were dieting. They found that a high-calcium diet (1200-1300 mg/day) resulted in greater weight and fat loss in humans compared to a low-calcium diet (400-500 mg/day).
Another study published in November, 2004 found that a high intake of calcium may hinder weight and fat regain. The study found that after putting mice on a low calorie diet and producing weight and body fat loss, that those on a low calcium diet regained their weight after 6 weeks.
However, for those on a high calcium diet it was a different story. They found that the high calcium diets produced significant increases in lipolysis, decreases in fatty acid synthase expression and activity, and reduced fat regain. They also found that increasing calcium through the use of dairy products had significantly greater effects on fat regain.
The bottom line is that increasing calcium intake is a boon to those who want to not only lose weight, but to lose fat, improve body composition, and keep that fat and weight from coming back.
Magnesium, besides complementing the effects of calcium on obesity and other functions, also has important effects on its own. Low levels of magnesium promote inflammation and impact on the body's ability to handle stress. These functions are useful in alleviating the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, and decreasing both insulin resistance and inappropriate cortisol secretion.
01dragonslayer
Veteran
- Aug 25, 2016
- 7,386
- 529
Zinc is a trace mineral that is common in many foods and plays many critical roles in your body. Zinc contributes to normal cell function and is helpful in the muscle growth process. If you have a zinc deficiency, taking a zinc supplement can help balance your nutrient levels and improve your overall ability to build muscle from a resistance training program.
Functional Roles
According to the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University, a leader in nutrient research, zinc plays three main roles in your body, all of which are crucial to muscle growth and development. Zinc speeds up muscle-building chemical reactions in your body, stabilizes protein structures and helps regulate the hormone levels in your body. These functions help assist the muscle protein synthesis process that accelerates after you perform a resistance training workout.
Cellular Preservation
Maintaining your current muscle size is critical to building new muscle. Zinc acts as an antioxidant in your body to prevent the breakdown of cells due to free radicals. By neutralizing the effects of free radicals, zinc can help slow the aging process and associated muscle loss. Additionally, zinc may help regulate your immune system so you are less likely to lose muscle due to illness.
Growth in Children
Zinc may play a significant role in growth for children. In 2007, the “British Journal of Nutrition” published a study that examined the relationship between serum zinc levels and the growth rate of children ages 6 to 13 in northeast Thailand. The researchers found that stunted males had the lowest serum zinc levels. A lack of zinc is more likely to occur among impoverished children due to a lack of nutritional quality. In these cases, zinc supplementation may enable better muscle and height growth.
Zinc Needs
Though zinc is an important mineral for muscle growth, supplementation is not always necessary. The recommended daily intake ranges from 8 mcg to 13 mcg for adults. The American Dietetic Association advises athletes against taking zinc supplements for muscle growth because they often contain more than 40 mcg, which is the tolerable upper intake level for the mineral. Consuming excessive zinc can lower your high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level and affect your absorption of other essential nutrients — such as copper and iron. Consume zinc from whole foods like seafood, red meat and poultry. Ask your doctor if it is safe for you to consume a zinc supplement before beginning such a program.
Functional Roles
According to the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University, a leader in nutrient research, zinc plays three main roles in your body, all of which are crucial to muscle growth and development. Zinc speeds up muscle-building chemical reactions in your body, stabilizes protein structures and helps regulate the hormone levels in your body. These functions help assist the muscle protein synthesis process that accelerates after you perform a resistance training workout.
Cellular Preservation
Maintaining your current muscle size is critical to building new muscle. Zinc acts as an antioxidant in your body to prevent the breakdown of cells due to free radicals. By neutralizing the effects of free radicals, zinc can help slow the aging process and associated muscle loss. Additionally, zinc may help regulate your immune system so you are less likely to lose muscle due to illness.
Growth in Children
Zinc may play a significant role in growth for children. In 2007, the “British Journal of Nutrition” published a study that examined the relationship between serum zinc levels and the growth rate of children ages 6 to 13 in northeast Thailand. The researchers found that stunted males had the lowest serum zinc levels. A lack of zinc is more likely to occur among impoverished children due to a lack of nutritional quality. In these cases, zinc supplementation may enable better muscle and height growth.
Zinc Needs
Though zinc is an important mineral for muscle growth, supplementation is not always necessary. The recommended daily intake ranges from 8 mcg to 13 mcg for adults. The American Dietetic Association advises athletes against taking zinc supplements for muscle growth because they often contain more than 40 mcg, which is the tolerable upper intake level for the mineral. Consuming excessive zinc can lower your high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level and affect your absorption of other essential nutrients — such as copper and iron. Consume zinc from whole foods like seafood, red meat and poultry. Ask your doctor if it is safe for you to consume a zinc supplement before beginning such a program.
01dragonslayer
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- Aug 25, 2016
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Getting a daily dose of vitamin C not only helps your body function properly, but it could aid in effective weight loss. In fact, people who are deficient in vitamin C may have a harder time losing fat mass, according to a review published in 2005 in the “Journal of the American College of Nutrition.” Taking high doses of vitamin C, however, could cause unpleasant side effects -- and isn’t a guarantee you’ll shed pounds.
Effects on Weight Loss
Although vitamin C doesn’t necessarily cause weight loss, it seems to be related to body weight. According to the review published in 2005 in the “Journal of the American College of Nutrition,” higher vitamin C intakes are associated with lower body-mass indexes. The authors of this review also point out that getting sufficient amounts of vitamin C increases body fat oxidation during moderate-intensity exercise. Therefore, vitamin C deficiency may hinder weight and body fat loss.
The recommended dietary allowance for vitamin C is 90 milligrams daily for men and 75 milligrams per day for women, according to the Institute of Medicine. These amounts should be treated as minimum daily requirements. Vitamin C-rich foods include red peppers containing 95 milligrams in 1/2 cup, orange juice providing 93 milligrams on each 3/4-cup portion, a medium orange with 70 milligrams and one medium grapefruit supplying 64 milligrams of vitamin C, according to the Office of Dietary Supplements. Vitamin C is also a common nutrient found in multivitamins and other dietary supplements.
Too Much Vitamin C
More vitamin C isn’t always better, even when you’re trying to shed pounds. Ingesting too much vitamin C may affect the absorption of other nutrients -- and could cause diarrhea, abdominal cramps and nausea, according to the Office of Dietary Supplements. To help avoid side effects and potential health risks, adults should aim to ingest no more than 2,000 milligrams of vitamin C daily. That includes vitamin C from food and drink, as well as supplements.
Weight-Loss Considerations
You won’t lose weight, even if you consume high amounts of vitamin C, if your overall caloric intake is higher than the number of calories you burn throughout the day. Eating vitamin C-rich, high-fiber fresh fruits and vegetables helps fill you up without the extra calories. To effectively shed about 2 pounds per week -- the maximum recommended amount for long-term weight-loss success -- eat 1,000 fewer calories than you burn off daily, suggests the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Effects on Weight Loss
Although vitamin C doesn’t necessarily cause weight loss, it seems to be related to body weight. According to the review published in 2005 in the “Journal of the American College of Nutrition,” higher vitamin C intakes are associated with lower body-mass indexes. The authors of this review also point out that getting sufficient amounts of vitamin C increases body fat oxidation during moderate-intensity exercise. Therefore, vitamin C deficiency may hinder weight and body fat loss.
The recommended dietary allowance for vitamin C is 90 milligrams daily for men and 75 milligrams per day for women, according to the Institute of Medicine. These amounts should be treated as minimum daily requirements. Vitamin C-rich foods include red peppers containing 95 milligrams in 1/2 cup, orange juice providing 93 milligrams on each 3/4-cup portion, a medium orange with 70 milligrams and one medium grapefruit supplying 64 milligrams of vitamin C, according to the Office of Dietary Supplements. Vitamin C is also a common nutrient found in multivitamins and other dietary supplements.
Too Much Vitamin C
More vitamin C isn’t always better, even when you’re trying to shed pounds. Ingesting too much vitamin C may affect the absorption of other nutrients -- and could cause diarrhea, abdominal cramps and nausea, according to the Office of Dietary Supplements. To help avoid side effects and potential health risks, adults should aim to ingest no more than 2,000 milligrams of vitamin C daily. That includes vitamin C from food and drink, as well as supplements.
Weight-Loss Considerations
You won’t lose weight, even if you consume high amounts of vitamin C, if your overall caloric intake is higher than the number of calories you burn throughout the day. Eating vitamin C-rich, high-fiber fresh fruits and vegetables helps fill you up without the extra calories. To effectively shed about 2 pounds per week -- the maximum recommended amount for long-term weight-loss success -- eat 1,000 fewer calories than you burn off daily, suggests the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
01dragonslayer
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- Aug 25, 2016
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Sorry about the long reads but its good info.
Donkeykong
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- Mar 17, 2016
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obv all are essential but can be tricky because when some levels get to high you need to inc others as well as everyone being different though ID guess ost HARD training athletes are deficient in a vit level or mineral which is how Victor Conte came up with the ZMA formula... I was tested once for gen. blood work and given VIT D prescription but I never kept it going once the script ran out I stopped taking reg doses after awhile... We get NO SUN where I live and esp since most of us are at work all day and can't spend all daylight hours outside like our ancestors... I think for most your covered with a good MULTI and I really think though you might not "feel" it or see an inc in muscle it's good for you overall... Some others Ill use on occasion and used to use HIGH dose VIT C and E after reading about antioxidants and I forget what bber was taking them but I always used them and felt they helped... When I had a sprain or tendon injury I used Pantothenic acid( a b vitamin) after reading on T_NATION that it helped speed recovery specifically in tendons and other benefits if you were deficient
- Mar 9, 2016
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Now you making me feel old...
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