Dr Jocelin’s Weekly Health Tip is on the benefits of Himalayan Salt Lamps.
Author: Whitaker's Natural Market
New Insights on Gut Permeability and Depression
If you know what depression feels like – the brain clouding, the flat moods, the tiredness – you’re not alone. Over 300 million people around the world have depression, and yet there’s a lot that we still don’t quite understand.
Thankfully, the medical field is developing some new insights that just might help us understand depression better. In a new 2019 study, researchers decided to examine the potential mechanisms of major depressive disorder in teenage girls and found some evidence that could help us better understand exactly how gut permeability (leaky gut) can lead to inflammation, which in turn, leads to depression.
In this 2019 study, Baylor College of Medicine researchers are directly looking at gut permeability and major depressive disorder, a study that is the first of its kind. With a sample of forty-one 14-17 year-old teenage girls who were medically healthy, the study measured the severity of the girls’ depressive symptoms, the activity of the autonomic nervous system, intestinal permeability, or gut leakiness, and the number of inflammatory cytokines.
To measure whether the girls were depressed, an interviewer performed the Children’s Depression Rating Scale-Revised (CDRS-R) and a clinical interview. The CDRS-R is a rating scale that requires interviews of both child and parent to understand the severity of a child’s depression. Over the past few decades, the CDRS-R has become the most widely used rating scale for assessing severity and change in depression for clinical trials involving children and adolescents. In order to collect data on the autonomic nervous system activity, researchers measured pre-ejection period (PEP) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) data, which are indicators for the activity levels of the sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic nervous system respectively. They measured the leakiness of the gut using the lactulose-mannitol ratio (LMR), which involves having the teens first fast overnight and then ingesting a premeasured amount of lactulose and mannitol. The researchers then collected the urine for four hours after ingestion. By looking at the ratio of lactulose and mannitol that passed through the gut lining, researchers could calculate the permeability of the gut lining, or how “leaky” it was. To measure inflammation, the researchers took blood samples and measured inflammatory cytokines.
They found that in unmedicated teenage girls between the ages of 14-17, depression severity was associated with increased intestinal permeability, as measured by the lactulose to mannitol ratio. The leakier the gut, they found, the more severe the depression and depressive symptoms. They saw that the higher the concentration of the cytokine IL-1β, the more severe the depression. They also found that increased intestinal permeability may be the path between sympathetic nervous system activation and depression severity. Additionally, their evidence suggested that increased intestinal permeability may activate the innate immune system and push the development of depression.
The result of this study also helps clarify the mechanisms through which activating the sympathetic nervous system can increase gut permeability and activate the innate immune system–two things that are likely contributing to depression symptoms.
The Brain, The Gut, and the Immune System
If you’re wondering why intestinal permeability is related to depression, let’s back up and walk through the whole pipeline.
We start with the immune system. Throughout the last century, psychiatry has been exploring the role of the immune system in certain presentations of depression. Importantly, the gut houses over 70% of our immune system, which makes sense given that the lining of your gut is the barrier between your insides and the outside world. The gastrointestinal epithelium usually forms a single-cell-thick barrier that prevents the free movement of toxicants, microbes, and microbial antigens from entering into the rest of your body. This lining usually does a good job absorbing things we need (like food) and interfacing with foreign things that might wreak havoc–which is probably why most of our immune cells are located in the gut. The relationship between the gut and the brain is both complex and important. We’ve all felt the butterflies in our stomachs when we’re nervous or anxious, but it turns out that the relationship between the brain and the gut is actually bidirectional. Not only can our brains affect how our guts feel, but our gut can relay its state of calm or alarm to the nervous system and send those immune reactions up the vagus nerve to the brain.
To understand how the gut and depression are related, we should first better comprehend the triggers for inflammation, what inflammation is, and how it happens.
Stress Drives Inflammation
So what IS inflammation in the first place? Inflammation is the body’s defensive response to stresses, like injury or the ingestion of bodily-incompatible chemicals. Upon approaching a stressor, the immune system kicks into a higher gear to heal the body.
Stress is a catch-all term, a trigger that links hormones to inflammation. Essentially, when the body thinks something is wrong, the body releases hormones that tell the body to be on the lookout and get on defense, and inflammation occurs. These triggers can come in all forms, many of which are actually staples of modern American life, from sugar to stress to pesticides and pollution to anxiety to beyond. Whether psychological or physiological, stress drives the inflammation response by telling the brain to release cortisol, the steroid hormone that acts as nature’s built-in alarm system and makes it for our bodies to use blood sugar for energy so that we can flee from whatever is causing the stress.
Once inflammation is started, not only does inflammation cause more inflammation, but recent studies have linked low-grade inflammation to depression. When inflammation reaches the brain, cells begin to take their limited supply of tryptophan to produce more anxiety-provoking chemicals like quinolinate. Medical literature has found that inflammation seems to be a consistent marker of depressive symptoms, like flat mood, slowed thinking, avoidance, alterations in perception, and metabolic changes.
How does inflammation get provoked in the gut?
So let’s understand how exactly a leaky gut can lead to inflammation – the body’s language of imbalance.
When the body is stressed, the junctions between cells in the stomach can be less effective than they should be. This allows bacteria and toxicants to enter the bloodstream that can continue to cause widespread inflammation and possibly trigger a far-reaching reaction from the immune system. Having leaky gut cause inflammation sets off a problematic chain of events because the gut has a direct link to the brain through the vagus nerve.
The medical field has been slowly inching up on a fuller understanding of the link between intestinal permeability (“leaky gut”) and depression. Previous studies focusing on depression have found the chemical hints of leaky gut. For example, one study showed that patients with a recent suicide attempt had higher concentrations of an anti-lipopolysaccharides (LPS) antibody, meaning that the immune system had either encountered more of or reacted defensively against LPS, which is a molecule that marks microbe-associated patterns in the body. In another study, compared to healthy controls, adults with depressive or anxiety disorders, who didn’t have any symptoms of gastrointestinal disorders, still had higher concentrations of fatty acid-binding protein-2, which is produced to signify impaired intestinal epithelium integrity. These studies, and the first study we discussed in this article, suggest that intestinal permeability may be impaired in depression.
So What Do We Do?
All of this sounds kind of complicated, but really, this approach to depression-seeing it as a symptom that results in unhealthy inflammatory balance-means that we might be able to do more about it. It means that depression isn’t happening because of genetics or not enough serotonin. Instead, you’re probably experiencing low-grade inflammation that’s happening because your gut is stressed and leaky. The goal is to send your system a signal of safety – from the gut, from the mind, or by lessening perceived stressors and burdens through detox.
Interested in step-by-step support to help you optimize your health?
Be sure to talk to Dr Jocelin about her practitioner grade cleanse protocol which is amazing at detoxifying the body, how to do the Aloe-Silver Gut Reset (developed by a homeopath who reversed his Chron’s Disease), the importance of eating Organic, and the gut health supporting supplements at Whitaker’s Natural Market. She is also available for in-depth consultations.
Weekly Health Tip – Natural Alternatives to Toxic Household Cleaners
Dr Jocelin’s Weekly Health Tip is on Natural Alternatives to Toxic Household Cleaners.
Vitamin D Equals Healthy Pregnancy
Proper nutrition is key to the health of any individual, but perhaps most important to pregnant mothers. The health of women during pregnancy determines the future health of her child, and there is evidence that her health affects the next generation as well.
Unfortunately, today’s standard diet, and even one of whole foods, often does not provide all of the nutrients in the amounts necessary to support all aspects of health at a functional level. This is especially true for vitamin D—the sunshine vitamin—that is not easily found in the foods we eat, and must be obtained through supplements for most people.
Something Unique about Vitamin D and Pregnancy
Pregnancy presents a unique and exaggerated example of the body’s need for vitamin D. There’s something very unique concerning the metabolism of vitamin D that occurs only during pregnancy and at no other time in the human life cycle. While the conversion of vitamin D is normally directly related to serum calcium levels, during pregnancy there is an uncoupling of vitamin D metabolism from calcium. If a pregnant woman has adequate levels (40-60 ng/ml or 100-150 nmol/L) of 25(OH) vitamin D, the precursor to active vitamin D, her body will convert twice the normal amount of active 1,25(OH) vitamin D by the end of the first trimester, and over three times the normal amount by birth, with her calcium levels remaining normal. This could potentially indicate a physiological need for greater availability of vitamin D during pregnancy more than any other time, and for reasons other than bone and calcium homeostasis.
80% or More of Pregnant Women are Vitamin D Deficient
Unfortunately, United States statistics reveal nearly 80% of pregnant women, and virtually 100% of African American women, have vitamin D levels below 40 ng/ml. This clinical finding potentially can preclude to a 30-50% increased risk of preterm birth and an increased risk of other perinatal morbidities including gestational diabetes, infections, preeclampsia, low birth rate, and cesarean delivery.
The Grassroots Health Nutrient Research Institute panel of scientists recommends a vitamin D serum level of 40-60 ng/ml (100-150 nmol/L). Research published by Grassroots Health and others has shown that when these levels are achieved, there exists a potential 40-60% reduction in preterm births. Other articles have shown such results as a 50% reduction in influenza rates in children, an 80% reduced risk of Type 1 diabetes, and an 83% reduction in breast cancer risk. Keep in mind that, due to a large variation in the response each individual has to supplementation, testing the vitamin D serum level is essential. In other words, one cannot assume that supplementing with a certain recommended dose of vitamin D will get them to their target level; therefore it is important to test.
Due to the overwhelming evidence supporting vitamin D during pregnancy, specifically reaching a minimum vitamin D level of 40 ng/ml, Grassroots Health helped implement a first-of-its kind study for pregnant women at MUSC. The goal of the project was to help all prenatal patients to achieve a vitamin D serum level of at least 40 ng/ml, which has been demonstrated to be the threshold for benefit in previous randomized trials, as described above. This nutrient field trial included 1,064 pregnant women who, over a 16-month period, received vitamin D screening at their first prenatal appointment, supplementation and education about vitamin D, and re-testing to ensure a vitamin D level of 40 ng/ml had been achieved. Results found that those who achieved a vitamin D level of at least 40 ng/ml had a 60% lower risk of preterm birth compared to those with levels less than 20 ng/ml. For those women who had previously experienced a preterm birth (who are also at a higher risk for subsequent preterm birth), their chance of having a recurring preterm birth was reduced by 80%. During implementation there were no incidences of toxicity due to any vitamin D intake. An impressive result, especially considering the only intervention was vitamin D screening, supplementation, and education. The MUSC project has run continuous analysis on the implementation of the protocol in practice since the original paper and continues to show consistent results.
Be sure to talk to Dr Jocelin about having your Vitamin D levels monitored during pregnancy and checking out our large selection of Vitamin D supplements at Whitaker’s Natural Market.
Weekly Health Tip – Organic Turkeys
Dr Jocelin’s Weekly Health Tip is on Turkeys for Thanksgiving and why Organic is Important.
Better Than Zoloft for Depression: Rhodiola
Will doctors ever opt for an herb over a drug for depressed patients? It may sound unlikely but researchers from the University of Pennsylvania think they should consider it
In a randomized placebo-controlled trial doctors tested the herb rhodiola rosea against the conventional antidepressant therapy sertraline (Zoloft) in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD).
A diagnosis of MDD means a patient exhibited two or more major depressive episodes, depressed mood, and/or loss of interest or pleasure in life activities for at least 2 weeks. In addition, they show signs of significant unintentional weight loss or gain, insomnia or sleeping too much, fatigue, diminished ability to think or concentrate, and recurrent thoughts of death.
The study looked at 57 adults diagnosed with major depressive disorder. The patients received treatments of either rhodiola rosea extract, sertraline, or placebo.
After 12 weeks there was no statistically significant difference between the rhodiola and the Zoloft.
In the Penn study the researchers concluded that rhodiola may possess a more favorable risk to benefit ratio for individuals with mild to moderate MDD because it produced only half the side effects of Zoloft. In fact, a whopping 63% of patients on Zoloft reported side effects – most commonly nausea and sexual dysfunction. That compared to only 30% of patients on rhodiola.
The authors suggested that “herbal therapy may have the potential to help patients with depression who cannot tolerate conventional antidepressants due to side effects.”
Rhodiola rosea is a hardy yellow flower native to the arctic mountains of Eastern Siberia. It’s sometimes called the “Root of the Arctic” or Tibetan ginseng.
Ancient healers used rhodiola to treat infections, anemia, stomach upset, and depression. In the old Soviet Union scientists used rhodiola to help soldiers improve mood, brain function, and physical performance.
Human studies show that just one 200 mg dose of rhodiola helped volunteers improve their exercise endurance.
It’s also been shown to relieve mental fatigue. In one study of doctors on night call just 170 mg of rhodiola per day for two weeks helped the doctors think and remember better, concentrate, calculate, and respond to audio and visual cues.
And taking 100 mg of rhodiola every day for 20 days helped students improve their capacity to work, their coordination, and their general sense of well-being. Their learning ability increased 61% and their fatigue levels dropped by 30%.
Another study showed rhodiola may be helpful in smoking cessation.
Be sure to check out our Rhodiola Supplements at Whitaker’s Natural Market!
Weekly Health Tip – Dry Skin
Dr Jocelin’s Weekly Health Tip is on dry skin and how to keep it hydrated in this cold Ohio weather.
Organic apples are better than conventional apples for gut health, new study reveals
As we understand more and more about the importance of gut health, many people are making food choices to feed a healthy microbiome in the gut. If you’re working to keep your gut healthy, organic apples offer a far better choice than pesticide-treated, conventional apples. In fact, a new study supports the benefits of going organic, specifically when choosing your apples.
Thankfully, a team of Austrian researchers took a closer look at both organic apples and pesticide-treated apples, publishing their findings in Frontiers in Microbiology.
It’s just one of the latest studies comparing organic agriculture and chemical-intensive agriculture to dig deeper into the benefits of organic farming. According to the study results, organically managed apples are a far better choice for people who want to eat a diet that supports optimal gut health.
Organic apples offer a more distinct and diverse bacterial community
Researchers reported that organic apples that are freshly harvested offer a significantly more distinct, even, and diverse bacterial community when you compare them to conventional apples. Scientists took a look at both conventional and organic apples, looking at the complete apple microbiome, including the fruit pulp, stem, peel, calyx, and seeds. Apples were all weighed, divided up, and put through multiple tests to find out the diversity and number of the microbiota.
While both types of apples had about the same number of bacterium – about 100 million – most of those microbes were found in the seeds, calyx, and stem of the apple. This means that if you want to enjoy the great benefits for your gut’s microbiome, you need to eat the whole apple instead of tossing the core.
When comparing the organic apples to conventional ones, every area of the organic apple had great bacterial diversity, and the distribution of microbes was more even in the organic apples. The organic apples also were dominated by Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus – which are both known to benefit gut health.
While conventional apples had about the same number of bacterium, the most common type was Buckholderiarles, which can be pathogenic to people. Conventional apples also contained low amounts of Escherichia-Shigella, another human pathogenic kind of bacteria.
Study supports the benefits of organic agriculture for health and more
The study supports the many benefits of organic agriculture for health. When compared to foods grown in chemical-intensive agriculture, organic foods are shown to be better for the human microbiome based on this and other studies. It supports the positive impact of switching to an organic diet as a method of reducing cancer risk, lowering levels of pesticides within the body, and improving overall health.
Beyond the health benefits, organic agriculture offers several other benefits as well. It helps boosts local economies, aids our environment, and can even help boost the bottom line for farmers. Overall, purchasing organic foods doesn’t just promote gut health and overall well being, it’s an excellent choice for the local environment and the success of local economies – that makes going organic a win-win for everyone.
Be sure to check out our selection of Organic Apples at Whitaker’s Natural Market!
Imbalance of fatty acids linked to most common age-related diseases
Chronic disease is on the rise. Right now, 133 million Americans – nearly half the population – have at least one chronic illness such as diabetes or heart disease. With so much illness prevalent – and with the aging of the population overall – it’s no wonder many individuals are worried about healthy aging. But, could consuming the proper amount of omega 3 fatty acids be part of the solution?
Research shows most Americans are not consuming enough omega 3 fatty acids in their diets. Turns out this is hugely problematic, and not just because people aren’t getting enough of these healthy nutrients. People also aren’t consuming the right ratio of fatty acids – which is believed to be a major driver of age-related health problems.
Adding more omega 3 fatty acids to the diet holds the key to better health, research says
Omega 3 fatty acids, including EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), are healthy nutrients found abundantly in fatty fish. Another kind of fatty acids are called omega 6 fatty acids. These are primarily found in foods containing sunflower, cottonseed, soybean, and corn oils – in other words, processed foods.
This is exactly why the modern diet (which is heavy with processed foods) causes humans to consume way more omega 6 fatty acids and not enough omega 3 fatty acids. In ancient history, our ancestors’ diet included a more balanced omega 6 to omega 3 ratio of about 4 to 1. Today’s typical human has a ratio of 20 to 1!
Why is this extreme ratio so bad for health and believed to be driving age-related diseases?
Well, the most common type of omega 6 fatty acid (called linoleic acid) gets transformed in the body into a substance that promotes inflammation and blood vessel constriction. While this isn’t necessarily “bad,” it is bad when so much omega 6 is being consumed that these inflammatory and blood vessel changes becomes chronic and widespread, which we see in things like heart disease.
Meanwhile, omega 3 fatty acids are powerful anti-inflammatory nutrients. So by taking in too much of one and not enough of the other, we’re wreaking pure havoc on our health!
This is why supplementing with omega 3 fatty acids protects against and helps manage so many disorders – cardiovascular, neurological, dermatological, psychiatric, and more. Depression and anxiety, heart disease, cancer, fetal development, ADHD, autoimmune diseases, Alzheimer’s disease, and other ailments have ALL been shown to benefit from these tiny omega 3’s.
Discover the “right amount” of omega 3 + some great natural sources
Currently, there’s no one recommended dosage for omega 3 fatty acids. According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), adult women and men should consume between 1.1 and 1.6 grams of omega 3 fatty acids per day.
However, these recommendations only refer to alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), since ALA is technically the only “essential” fatty acid, meaning the human body can’t make it.
But the NIH acknowledges that even though the body can convert ALA into EPA and DHA, it’s only able to produce very small amounts. And, by the NIH’s own account, we’re not consuming enough ALA to begin with!
This is why many scientists and health organizations recommend consuming more than that, especially more DHA and EPA. And many studies safely show health benefits of taking anywhere from 1,000 to 4,000 mg of DHA plus EPA daily.
You can increase your DHA and EPA intake by eating fatty fish (like sardines, anchovies, and salmon) at least twice per week, adding a high quality omega 3 fatty acid supplements to your routine, and snacking on a few other natural sources of omega 3 fatty acids including chia seeds, flaxseeds, and walnuts.
Just remember: it’s not only about adding MORE omega 3’s to your diet. It’s also about eliminating excessive omega 6’s – so avoid those processed foods containing substances like soybean and corn oil.
Be sure to check out our large selection of Ohio made Wiley’s Finest Fish Oils at Whitaker’s Natural Market! They are the only fish oil brand that is 100% USA harvested and manufactured!
Why 80% of Us are Deficient in Magnesium
Magnesium deficiency is often misdiagnosed because it does not show up in blood tests – only 1% of the body’s magnesium is stored in the blood
Most doctors and laboratories don’t even include magnesium status in routine blood tests. Thus, most doctors don’t know when their patients are deficient in magnesium, even though studies show that the majority of Americans are deficient in magnesium.
Consider Dr. Norman Shealy’s statements, “Every known illness is associated with a magnesium deficiency” and that, “magnesium is the most critical mineral required for electrical stability of every cell in the body. A magnesium deficiency may be responsible for more diseases than any other nutrient.” The truth he states exposes a gaping hole in modern medicine that explains a good deal about iatrogenic death and disease. Because magnesium deficiency is largely overlooked, millions of Americans suffer needlessly or are having their symptoms treated with expensive drugs when they could be cured with magnesium supplementation.
One has to recognize the signs of magnesium thirst or hunger on their own since allopathic medicine is lost in this regard. It is really something much more subtle then hunger or thirst but it is comparable. In a world though where doctors and patients alike do not even pay attention to thirst and important issues of hydration, it is not hopeful that we will find many recognizing and paying attention to magnesium thirst and hunger, which is a dramatic way of expressing the concept of magnesium deficiency.
Few people are aware of the enormous role magnesium plays in our bodies. Magnesium is by far the most important mineral in the body. After oxygen, water, and basic food, magnesium may be the most important element needed by our bodies; vitally important, yet hardly known. It is more important than calcium, potassium, or sodium and regulates all three of them. Millions suffer daily from magnesium deficiency without even knowing it
In fact, there happens to be a relationship between what we perceive as thirst and deficiencies in electrolytes. I remember a person asking, “Why am I dehydrated and thirsty when I drink so much water?” Thirst can mean not only lack of water but it can also mean that one is not getting enough nutrients and electrolytes. Magnesium, Potassium, Bicarbonate, Chloride, and Sodium are some principle examples and that is one of the reasons magnesium chloride is so useful.
You know all those years, when doctors used to tell their patients ‘it’s all in your heads,’ were years the medical profession was showing its ignorance. It is a torment to be magnesium deficient on one level or another. Even if it’s for the enthusiastic sport person whose athletic performance is down, magnesium deficiency will disturb sleep and background stress levels and a host of other things that reflect on the quality of life. Doctors have not been using the appropriate test for magnesium – their serum blood tests just distort their perceptions. Magnesium has been off their radar screens through the decades that magnesium deficiencies have snowballed.
Symptoms of Magnesium Deficiency
The first symptoms of deficiency can be subtle – as most magnesium is stored in the tissues, leg cramps, foot pain, or muscle ‘twitches’ can be the first sign. Other early signs of deficiency include loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and weakness. As magnesium deficiency worsens, numbness, tingling, seizures, personality changes, abnormal heart rhythms, and coronary spasms can occur.
A full outline of magnesium deficiency was beautifully presented in a recent article by Dr. Sidney Baker. “Magnesium deficiency can affect virtually every organ system of the body. With regard to skeletal muscle, one may experience twitches, cramps, muscle tension, muscle soreness, including back aches, neck pain, tension headaches and jaw joint (or TMJ) dysfunction. Also, one may experience chest tightness or a peculiar sensation that he can’t take a deep breath. Sometimes a person may sigh a lot.”
“Symptoms involving impaired contraction of smooth muscles include constipation; urinary spasms; menstrual cramps; difficulty swallowing or a lump in the throat-especially provoked by eating sugar; photophobia, especially difficulty adjusting to oncoming bright headlights in the absence of eye disease; and loud noise sensitivity from stapedius muscle tension in the ear.”
“Continuing with the symptoms of magnesium deficiency, the central nervous system is markedly affected. Symptoms include insomnia, anxiety, hyperactivity and restlessness with constant movement, panic attacks, agoraphobia, and premenstrual irritability. Magnesium deficiency symptoms involving the peripheral nervous system include numbness, tingling, and other abnormal sensations, such as zips, zaps and vibratory sensations.”
“Symptoms or signs of the cardiovascular system include palpitations, heart arrhythmias, and angina due to spasms of the coronary arteries, high blood pressure, and mitral valve prolapse. Be aware that not all of the symptoms need to be present to presume magnesium deficiency; but, many of them often occur together. For example, people with mitral valve prolapse frequently have palpitations, anxiety, panic attacks, and premenstrual symptoms. People with magnesium deficiency often seem to be “uptight.” Other general symptoms include a salt craving, both carbohydrate craving and carbohydrate intolerance, especially of chocolate, and breast tenderness.”
Magnesium is needed by every cell in the body including those of the brain. It is one of the most important minerals when considering supplementation because of its vital role in hundreds of enzyme systems and functions related to reactions in cell metabolism, as well as being essential for the synthesis of proteins, for the utilization of fats and carbohydrates. Magnesium is needed not only for the production of specific detoxification enzymes but is also important for energy production related to cell detoxification. A magnesium deficiency can affect virtually every system of the body.
One of the principle reason doctors write millions of prescriptions for tranquilizers each year is the nervousness, irritability, and jitters largely brought on by inadequate diets lacking magnesium. Persons only slightly deficient in magnesium become irritable, high-strung, and sensitive to noise, hyper-excitable, apprehensive and belligerent. If the deficiency is more severe or prolonged, they may develop twitching, tremors, irregular pulse, insomnia, muscle weakness, jerkiness and leg and foot cramps.
If magnesium is severely deficient, the brain is particularly affected. Clouded thinking, confusion, disorientation, marked depression, and even the terrifying hallucinations of delirium tremens are largely brought on by a lack of this nutrient and remedied when magnesium is given. Because large amounts of calcium are lost in the urine when magnesium is under supplied, the lack of this nutrient indirectly becomes responsible for much rampant tooth decay, poor bone development, osteoporosis, and slow healing of broken bones and fractures. With vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), magnesium helps to reduce and dissolve calcium phosphate kidney stones.
Magnesium deficiency may be a common factor associated with insulin resistance. Symptoms of MS that are also symptoms of magnesium deficiency include muscle spasms, weakness, twitching, muscle atrophy, an inability to control the bladder, nystagmus (rapid eye movements), hearing loss, and osteoporosis. People with MS have higher rates of epilepsy than controls. Epilepsy has also been linked to magnesium deficiencies.
Another good list of early warning symptoms suggestive of magnesium insufficiency:
Physical and mental fatigue
Persistent under-eye twitch
Tension in the upper back, shoulders, and neck
Headaches
Pre-menstrual fluid retention and/or breast tenderness
Possible manifestations of magnesium deficiency include:
Low energy
Fatigue
Weakness
Confusion
Nervousness
Anxiousness
Irritability
Seizures (and tantrums)
Poor digestion
PMS and hormonal imbalances
Inability to sleep
Muscle tension, spasm, and cramps
Calcification of organs
Weakening of the bones
Abnormal heart rhythm
Severe magnesium deficiency can result in low levels of calcium in the blood (hypocalcemia). Magnesium deficiency is also associated with low levels of potassium in the blood (hypokalemia). Magnesium levels drop at night, leading to poor REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep cycles and unrefreshed sleep. Headaches, blurred vision, mouth ulcers, fatigue, and anxiety are also early signs of depletion.
We hear all the time about how heart disease is the number one health crisis in the country, about how high blood pressure is the “silent killer”, and about how ever increasing numbers of our citizens are having their lives and the lives of their families destroyed by diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, and a host of other chronic diseases.
Signs of severe magnesium deficiency include:
Extreme thirst
Extreme hunger
Frequent urination
Sores or bruises that heal slowly
Dry, itchy skin
Unexplained weight loss
Blurry vision that changes from day to day
Unusual tiredness or drowsiness
Tingling or numbness in the hands or feet
Frequent or recurring skin, gum, bladder, or vaginal yeast infections
But wait a minute, aren’t those the same symptoms for diabetes? Many people have diabetes for about 5 years before they show strong symptoms. By that time, some people already have eye, kidney, gum, or nerve damage caused by the deteriorating condition of their cells due to insulin resistance and magnesium deficiency. Dump some mercury and arsenic on the mixture of etiologies and pronto we have the disease condition we call diabetes.
Magnesium deficiency is synonymous with diabetes and is at the root of many if not all cardiovascular problems.
Magnesium deficiency is a predictor of diabetes and heart disease both; diabetics both need more magnesium and lose more magnesium than most people. In two new studies, in both men and women, those who consumed the most magnesium in their diet were least likely to develop type 2 diabetes, according to a report in the January 2006 issue of the journal Diabetes Care. Until now, very few large studies have directly examined the long-term effects of dietary magnesium on diabetes. Dr. Simin Liu of the Harvard Medical School and School of Public Health in Boston says, “Our studies provided some direct evidence that greater intake of dietary magnesium may have a long-term protective effect on lowering risk,” said Liu, who was involved in both studies.
The thirst of diabetes is part of the body’s response to excessive urination. The excessive urination is the body’s attempt to get rid of the extra glucose in the blood. This excessive urination causes the increased thirst. But we have to look at what is causing this level of disharmony. We have to probe deeper into layers of cause. The body needs to dump glucose because of increasing insulin resistance and that resistance is being fueled directly by magnesium deficiency, which makes toxic insults more damaging to the tissues at the same time.
When diabetics get too high blood sugars, the body creates “ketones” as a by-product of breaking down fats. These ketones cause blood acidity which causes “acidosis” of the blood, leading to Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA), This is a very dangerous condition that can lead to coma and death. It is also called “diabetic acidosis”, “ketosis”, “ketoacidosis” or “diabetic coma”. DKA is a common way for new Type 1 diabetics to be diagnosed. If they fail to seek medical advice on symptoms like urination, which is driving thirst they can die of DKA.
Oral magnesium supplements reduce erythrocyte dehydration. In general, optimal balances of electrolytes are necessary to maintain the best possible hydration. Diabetic thirst is initiated specifically by magnesium deficiency with relative calcium excess in the cells. Even water, our most basic nutrient starts having a hard time getting into the cells with more going out through the kidneys.
Autism and Magnesium Deficiency
When dealing with autism spectrum and other neurological disorders in children it is important to know the signs of low magnesium: restless, can’t keep still, body rocking, grinding teeth, hiccups, noise sensitive, poor attention span, poor concentration, irritable, aggressive, ready to explode, easily stressed. When it comes to children today we need to assume a large magnesium deficiency for several reasons.
1) The foods they are eating are stripped of magnesium because foods in general, as we shall see below are declining in mineral content in an alarming way.
2) The foods many children eat are highly processed junk foods that do not provide real nutrition to the body.
3) Because most children on the spectrum are not absorbing the minerals they need even when present in the gut. Magnesium absorption is dependent on intestinal health, which is compromised totally in leaky gut syndromes and other intestinal problems that the majority of autism syndrome disorders.
4) Because the oral supplements doctors rely on are not easily absorbed, because they are not in the right form and because magnesium in general is not administered easily orally.
Modern medicine is supposed to help people not hurt them, but with their almost total ignorance of magnesium doctors end up hurting more than they help for many of the medical interventions drive down magnesium levels when they should be driving them up. Many if not most pharmaceutical drugs drive magnesium levels into very dangerous zones and surgery done without increasing magnesium levels is much more dangerous then surgery done with.
The foundation of medical arrogance is actually medical ignorance and the only reason ignorance and arrogance rule the playing field of medicine is a greed lust for power and money. Human nature seems to be at its worst in modern medicine when it should be at its best. It is sad that people have to suffer needlessly and extraordinarily tragic that allopathic medicine has turned its back on the Hippocratic Oath and all that it means.
If you have any of these symptoms, please be sure to browse our large selection of Magnesium supplements, rehydrating blends, and mineral drops at Whitaker’s Natural Market!
