Who’s At Risk of Deficiency?
Magnesium deficiency is quite common, but most folks aren’t aware they have it as the symptoms are quite subtle. The interesting part of magnesium deficiency is that unless you have severely low intakes of magnesium or have one of a few different medical conditions, you probably wouldn’t even notice. If you have dangerously low intakes, alcohol dependency, have Type 2 diabetes, or gastrointestinal diseases or are a little older, then some symptoms may start to pop up sooner then you want them to. The reason for this is the fact that when you look into the subject, you realize that most magnesium lies in the bones and cells of the body, meaning it’s really hard to assess whether someone is truly deficient or not and there’s no single reliable method to find out.
What Are the Symptoms?
The symptoms of magnesium deficiency as stated earlier are subtle, but as your deficiency gets worse, so do the symptoms. Early signs of magnesium deficiency include loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and weakness. When you become more deprived, numbness, tingling, muscle contractions and cramps, seizures, personality changes, abnormal heart rhythms, and coronary spasms can occur. Things get far more dangerous the longer you wait. It can even wind up manifesting as hypocalcemia or hypokalemia (low serum calcium or potassium levels, respectively) because mineral homeostasis is disrupted. So sure, everything is fine now, you don’t have much to worry about, but do you really want to wait to until symptoms show up?
Sources of Magnesium
There’s no need to fear because the problem is solved easily enough. As it happens, there are many foods that can help you replenish your levels. Now it’s not an exact science, but so long as you incorporate more of the foods on the list, you can prevent being deficient in magnesium. In fact, one very reliable and abundant source of magnesium happens to be leafy vegetables. All things considered, here’s a solid list of foods that can easily be incorporated into your diet to be more magnesium-heavy.
Almonds Spinach Cashews Peanuts Cereal Soymilk Black Beans Edamame Peanut Butter Bread Avocado Potato Rice Yogurt Breakfast Cereals Oatmeal Kidney Beans Banana
And more. When you’re looking for solid ways to use these foods, just be aware that some actually need to be prepared in order to have the biggest effect. The black beans need to be cooked while you can just scarf a banana. There’s also the prominence of supplements as well, with a disclaimer. You need to be aware that if you are going the supplement route, too much magnesium can cause diarrhea and abdominal cramping.
Final Thoughts
When you picture yourself when you’re older, sometimes we have a skewed vision of what it’ll look like. It may not be as pretty as you might hope if you keep living the way you do now, but you can take steps now to ensure your health in both the present and future. It’s worth handling now, as it’ll be more difficult the longer you wait!
