Magnesium question.....

[mammo]

I keep reading about magnesium.  How does one know if they need to take it? I read that 90% of the population is deficient??? If I need it, what is best to take and can anyone advise me on the dosage?
Thanks!

[sbh7884]

It is true that most people are deficient in magnesium. Unfortunately, our society has become so reliant on fast food that we don't get enough magnesium. Magnesium can be obtained through eating fish, fruits, vegetables, grains and nuts. Otherwise you can supplement your diet with a magnesium supplement. Always double check the ingredient list, the supplement should only contain magnesium nothing else added.
Because most people dont get sufficient amounts of magnesium through their diet it is normal for most people to need magnesium. Their are some definite symptoms of magnesium deficiency, however these symptoms can be related to several other causes as well. Muscle fatique, tension, tightness, headaches, low energy, mood swings, can all be caused by magnesium deficiency. The recommended dosage for magnesium is 600mg a day. You want to make sure that you don't take too much magnesium as it can cause diarrhea. You can take magnesium up to the point that your stool is soft. Magnesium is a great all natural muscle relaxer.

I hope this helps!

  

[allmymarbles]

Thank you for being so gracious. The Middle East is normally defined as that area bordered on the west by the Mediterranean and Red seas (including Turkey) and extending to Iran and Afghanistan in the east. Confusion may arise since neither Afghanistan nor Iran are Arab nations. But then neither are Turkey and Israel. The Middle East is a geographic designation. You have inadvertently hit on much of my life's work. At one time I wrote articles on the area for an encyclopedia, and as part of an economic development project investigated Iranian nutrition. All I can say about their diet is that we should be so lucky  

[Paxiled]

Don't mind one-upping me at all.  I need to learn just like anyone else.  Personally, I don't consider Iran as part of the Middle East.  I know we call it that, but it's really just the East and it has always focused East until very recently.  It was the Arab nomadic tribes and the ancient Hebrews and the herders who drank the milk.  Not so many of them left now, to be sure, but when you're riding through deserts you have no choice but to drink the milk of your animals.  As for the tea, I was thinking of India and places influenced by India.  My bad.  (That's where Europeans got it from -- after conquering India).  You should try Tibetan tea -- mix it with yak butter.  Awful stuff.

[allmymarbles]

I am not looking to one-up you, but I lived and worked in the Middle East for almost two decades. They drink their tea without milk (except for a very few Lebanese who try to mimic Europeans). I have never seen a Middle Easterner ever drink a glass of milk - cow, sheep,  goat, or camel. The nomads of Iran, Syria, or any others that I have known of do not drink milk. Maybe some of the Saudis do. I don't know. I don't know what the habits are in North Africa.

[Paxiled]

The above post is largely true, but they do drink milk in the Middle East.  It just isn't cow's milk, and they don't drink a lot, but they do put in in their tea on a regular basis and the nomadic tribes drink camel's milk, though they also use a lot of kefir, a drink somewhat like yoghurt.  Americans didn't drink very much milk either until the Dairy Milk Marketing
Board was created by the federal gov't in the early part of the 20th Century to help the dairy industry.  It worked, to our detriment.  The only people who drink a lot of mild are the Scandinavians and some tribes in India who have the enzyme to digest milk.  But even they eat yoghurt and cheese more than drinking milk.  It's a marketing ploy, folks, that has nothing to do with our health.

[allmymarbles]

The emphasis on milk appears to be a northern European bias. It is not just American. In the Far East there is no cheese or milk. In the Middle East there is some fresh cheese and lots of yoghurt - no milk. Southern Europeans don't like milk, and some can't tolerate it. None of these non-milk peoples are noted for melting bones.