Another in the series on natural anti-inflammatories for you (see here, here and here, written on the TGF blog), this time a nice summary report from LEF on the link found between low magnesium levels and higher inflammation.

Magnesium is really key in healing any form of chronic illness I have found clinically, and this could well be the reason why.

Greater magnesium intake associated with decreased inflammation

Friday, February 21, 2014. The European Journal of Clinical Nutrition published the results of a meta-analysis on February 12, 2014 which reveals an association between increased dietary magnesium and lower levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of inflammation.

D. T. Dibaba and colleagues at Indiana University’s School of Public Health selected seven cross-sectional studies involving a total of 32,918 male and female participants for their analysis. Food frequency questionnaire responses or National Health and Nutrition and Nutrition Examination Survey data were analyzed for magnesium intake.

Pooled analysis of data from four of the cross-sectional studies uncovered an association between rising magnesium intake and declining CRP levels. In the three cross-sectional studies that compared lowest to highest intake, a 49% greater risk of having an elevated CRP level of over 3 milligrams per liter (mg/L) was found among participants whose magnesium intake was lowest in comparison with the highest intake group. An additional review of five interventional studies involving magnesium supplementation also indicated an anti-inflammatory benefit for the mineral.

The authors detail a chain of events in the body that lead from insufficient magnesium intake to elevated C-reactive protein levels. “Our results suggest that the potential beneficial effect of magnesium intake on the risk of chronic diseases may be, at least in part, explained by inhibiting inflammation,” the authors conclude. “Because inflammation is a risk factor of various chronic diseases, increasing magnesium intake is certainly of great public health significance.”

I always say that there are two nutrients I don’t like guessing. One is Vitamin D and the other is red cell magnesium.They are both too important to guess and both are, in fact, natural anti-inflammatories and much more besides.

You can do a fingerprick test for Vitamin D now which makes life nice and easy. Tip: Do NOT believe ‘normal’ if it is lower than 40ug/L or 100nmol.

And you can do red cell magnesium on its own or as part of the full red cell minerals test.