Posted by IsoM on March 3, 2003, at 15:36:54
In reply to Re: Mg Supps. - VIRIDIS and LARRY HOOVER, posted by bluedog on March 2, 2003, at 23:30:17
Hey blue, want to hear my take on the subject? Of course you do!
High amounts of calcium at one time are not as well absorbed as smaller doses through the day. The body becomes less efficient at absorbing calcium if plentiful & more efficient when less is taken. Vitamin D is required for active transport of calcium ions in the small intestines. There's also certain substances that inhibit the absorption by binding with the calcium ion to form insoluble salts that are excreted instead. Phylates (found in the bran of grains) & oxalates (found in spinach, rhubarb, & some other greens) form insoluble salts so better to take your calcium at a diff time than those foods.
Calcium chloride is somewhat irritating to most people's intestinal tract & that's one reason chelated calcium is recommended> But even calcium carbonate is well absorbed in any one with sufficient stomach acid. All calcium salts get converted to ionic form anyway & it's only the calcium ion that's transported across the intestinal membrane. I've never had heart burn or tasted acid in my mouth if I had a "big burp" so I do take chelated calcium
The saem goes for magnesium too. It dissolves into ionic form so even magnesium oxide works just fine for most people. You only end up paying more for fancy formulations. If you want magnesium citrate (like I use), you can buy it in liquid form at the druggist as it's used as a laxative in large amounts. (100 ml or cc of magnesium citrate liquid as sold in drug stores contains contains a little more than 1.0 grams (1000 mg) elemental magnesium. If I'm incorrect in my calculations, I hope Larry or viridis will correct me.
While both calcium & magnesium work closely together in our body, each one inhibits the absorption of the other. They act as antagonists, not synergists when taken at the same time. Still, I wouldn't be overly concerned about taking them together as there's many foods that contain them both, or meals we eat that have both. The popular combo of chocolate cake & a glass of milk is one - chocolate's high in magnesium while milk has calcium. Larry mentioned that this antagonist effect isn't when the foods containing them are eaten together but when blood levels are higher in one of them than it should be. I'm not sure on this myself.
So if you're talking the two together, I'd suggest taking smaller amounts with your meals rather than one large dose at a time. For me, taking magnesium in the morning or evening or any other time of day has never made any difference.
What I can say with a certainty is to make sure you get vitamin D in your diet as low levels will only mean the calcium is wasted. I found taking magnesium made a HUGE difference with my absorption of vitamin B6. I may have a fairly high need of magnesium as I showed B6 deficiency symptoms that wouldn't respond to anything till I added the magnesium. Few days later, they were gone completely.
poster:IsoM
thread:204243
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030301/msgs/205559.html