WHAT IS MAGNESIUM NEEDED FOR? Magnesium is vital to enzyme activity. It assists in calcium and potassium uptake. A deficiency interferes with the transmission of nerve and muscle impulses, causing irritability and nervousness. Supplementing the diet with magnesium helps prevent depression, dizziness, muscle weakness, twitching, heart disease, and high blood pressure, and also aids in maintaining the proper pH balance. This essential mineral protects the arterial lining from stress caused by sudden blood pressure changes, and plays a role in the formation of bone and in carbohydrate and mineral metabolism. With vitamin B6, magnesium helps reduce and dissolve calcium phosphate stone. Consumption of alcohol, use of diuretics, the presence of fluoride, the effects of diarrhea, and high amounts of zinc and vitamin D all increase the body's need for magnesium. Magnesium combined with vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) may prevent calcium oxalate kidney stones. Magnesium is critical to heart health; it is essential for the heart muscle to function and orchestrates the complex process which keeps the heart beating with smooth regularity. Magnesium allows arterial muscular tissue to relax. A severe lack of magnesium can cause muscular spasm, a deadly event when a coronary artery supplying the heart muscle with oxygen clamps shut without warning. 25% of all heart attacks occur in people with clean coronary arteries - arteries free of the plaque buildup generally associated with our number one killer. Even more important are numerous studies showing that people who die suddenly from ischemic heart disease, and oxygen-starved heart, often have tissues severely deficient in magnesium. Our body cannot assimilate calcium without sufficient magnesium which is why so many people suffer from "hardening of the arteries" and arthritis - it is all a magnesium deficiency situation.  Magnesium is needed for calcium to be incorporated into bone tissue - when magnesium is lacking, an excess of calcium builds up in the soft tissue causing additional unwanted problems. Diabetes, coffee consumption, commonly used medications, excessive psychological stress, sweat loss during exercise and working in the heat, breast-feeding and an overactive thyroid, all deplete magnesium from the body. A Magnesium deficancy may result in the following symptoms: Premature Aging Aggressive Behavior Amytrophic Lateral Sclerosis Alzheimer's Disease Arrhythmia Asthma Attention Deficit Disorder Cerebral Palsy Cerebrovascular Cluster Headaches Chronic Fatigue Constipation Fibromyalgia Fluoride Toxicity Heart-Related Conditions Hypertension Hyperactivity in children Kidney Stones Menopause Migraine Multiple Sclerosis Osteoporosis Premenstrual Syndrome Pregnancy-related problems Psychiatric Disorders Rheumatoid Arthritis SIDS Stress Toxic Shock Magnesium is one of the most important minerals necessary for a human body to survive. Thousands of articles are available on the internet for further study, should one wish.   Back to Calcium Information Return to the main Calcium page Back to Nutritional page. Question? Email us!   "These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, cure, prevent or treat any diseases." The above is a Government ORDERED statement. It is NOT based in either reality or sanity. Just like our Government. In a landmark decision on Friday, Jan. 15, 1999, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that the health claim rules imposed by the FDA unconstitutional and in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act. The court instructed the FDA to define "significant scientific agreement" for health claims on dietary supplement labels, and instructed the FDA to allow the use of disclaimers on labels rather than to suppress these claims outright. The court further held that four FDA Final rules (prohibiting certain nutrient disease relationship claims) invalid under the first Amendment to the Constitution.