Magnesium May Counter Diabetes

While magnesium is found in dietary sources such as  green, leafy vegetables, meats, starches, grains and nuts, and milk, a number of surveys suggest that many adults fail to consume the RDA for this essential mineral.  Frank Christoph Mooren, from the Institute of Sport Sciences at the Justus-Liebig-University (Germany), and colleagues enrolled 52 men and women in a study in which each received either a magnesium supplement (containing magnesium-aspartate-hydrochloride at a dose of 365mg per day), or placebo, for six months. At the study’s conclusion, the team found that two out of three measures of insulin sensitivity improved significantly in those receiving the supplemental magnesium, as compared to the placebo group. As well, blood sugar levels, measured as fasting levels of glucose in the blood, improved by about 7% in the magnesium supplemented group, as compared with placebo. The researchers conclude that: “The results provide significant evidence that oral [magnesium] supplementation improves insulin sensitivity even in normomagnesemic, overweight, non-diabetic subjects emphasizing the need for an early optimization of [magnesium]  status to prevent insulin resistance and subsequently type 2 diabetes.”