Magnesium is a naturally occurring mineral found in our blood, bones, tissues and organs (Lipman 2015). It is involved in at least 300 (yes – 300!) biochemical reactions in the human body and it plays a key role in the following functions:
Sign of Deficiency are many and varied and can include anger, angina, anxiety, apathy, arrhythmia of the Heart, alternating constipation and diarrhoea, cold extremities, concentration difficulties, convulsions, food cravings, infertility, insomnia, irritability, kidney stones, restlessness and being startled easily by noise!
Of course, these symptoms may also be signs of other issues, so never diagnose yourself and always speak to a health professional to discuss your issues or to get a diagnosis of root causes.
However, you could also make sure that you are including magnesium rich foods in your diet anyway. Foods such as Brown Rice, Almonds Dried Figs, Cashew Nuts, Apricots, Prawns, Avocado, Brazil Nuts, Parsley, Sunflower Seeds, Banana & Broccoli are all great sources and should be on your shopping list every week. It is also worth noting that excess caffeine intake, can impede your absorption of magnesium, so best to stick to one cup of coffee mid-morning per day, in order to maximize the benefits of this really important mineral!
Further reading on this topic can be found here.