Magnesium is necessary for both the action
of insulin and the manufacture of insulin.

Magnesium is a basic building block to life and is present in ionic form throughout the full landscape of human physiology. Without insulin though, magnesium doesn’t get transported from our blood into our cells where it is most needed. When Dr. Jerry Nadler of the Gonda Diabetes Center at the City of Hope Medical Center in Duarte, California and his colleagues placed 16 healthy people on magnesium-deficient diets, their insulin became less effective at getting sugar from their blood into their cells where it’s burned or stored as fuel. In other words, they became less insulin sensitive, or what is called insulin resistant. And that’s the first step on the road to both diabetes and heart disease.

A new study published in the journal Clinical Nutrition from a team of Brazilian researchers has found that low levels of magnesium worsens the symptoms of type 2 diabetes, as this often results in low levels of insulin and elevated blood sugar. The research indicates that a diabetic’s ability to control blood sugar levels is closely tied to their magnesium levels, as the mineral plays an important role in insulin receptor cells. Another study published in the journal Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism found that taking oral magnesium supplements helps individuals who have become insulin resistant avoid developing type 2 diabetes. These are just the latest in a long string of studies that the medical establishment and mainstream diabetes organizations continue to ignore. We know this because they continue to refuse to prescribe magnesium supplementation or treatments that can make all the difference in a diabetic’s life.

Diabetes mellitus is positively associated with magnesium depletion, which in turn contributes to metabolic complications of diabetes including vascular disease and osteoporosis. Intracellular depletion is directly connected to the impaired ability of insulin to increase intracellular magnesium during insulin deficiency or insulin resistance.

Insulin is a common denominator, a central figure in life, as is magnesium. The task of insulin is to store excess nutritional resources. This system is an evolutionary development used to save energy and other nutritional necessities in times (or hours) of abundance in order to survive in times of hunger. Little do we appreciate that insulin is not just responsible for regulating sugar entry into the cells but also magnesium, one of the most important substances for life. It is interesting to note here that the kidneys are working at the opposite end, physiologically dumping from the blood excess nutrients that the body does not need or cannot process in the moment.

Controlling the level of blood sugars is
only one of the many functions of insulin.

Insulin plays a central role in storing magnesium but if our cells become resistant to insulin, or if we do not produce enough insulin, then we have a difficult time storing magnesium in the cells where it belongs. When insulin processing becomes problematic, magnesium gets excreted through our urine instead, and this is the basis of what is called magnesium-wasting disease.

There is a strong relationship between magnesium and insulin action.
Magnesium is important for the effectiveness of insulin. A reduction
of magnesium in the cells strengthens insulin resistance.[1],[2]

Low serum and intracellular magnesium concentrations are associated with insulin resistance, impaired glucose tolerance, and decreased insulin secretion.[3],[4],[5] Magnesium improves insulin sensitivity thus lowering insulin resistance. Magnesium and insulin need each other. Without magnesium, our pancreas won’t secrete enough insulin—or the insulin it secretes won’t be efficient enough—to control our blood sugar.

Magnesium in our cells helps the muscles to relax, but if we can’t store magnesium because the cells are resistant then we lose it. Losing magnesium makes the blood vessels constrict, affecting our energy levels and causing an increase in blood pressure. We begin to understand the intimate connection between diabetes and heart disease when we look at the closed loop between declining magnesium levels and declining insulin efficiency.

Though it would be a long stretch to compare insulin with chlorophyll, we are walking a trail at the very nuclear core of life. It’s the magnesium trail and we find to our surprise that it takes us into intimate contact with the very structure and foundation of life. The dedication of this chapter is to the beauty of magnesium, to its meaning in life, in health, and in medicine.

Every part of life is in love with magnesium—except allopathic medicine, which just cannot accept it in all its light, flame and beauty. Thousands of years ago the Chinese named it the beautiful metal and they were seeing something pharmaceutical medicine does not want to see for there is little money to be made from something so common.

In a study from Taiwan, the risk of dying
from diabetes was inversely proportional to
the level of magnesium in the drinking water.[6]
Dr. Jerry L. Nadler

Insulin resistance and magnesium depletion result in a vicious cycle of worsening insulin resistance and decrease in intracellular Mg(2+) which limits the role of magnesium in vital cellular processes.[7] Magnesium is an important cofactor for enzymes involved in carbohydrate metabolism, so anything threatening magnesium levels threatens overall metabolism. Large epidemiologic studies in adults indicate that lower dietary magnesium and lower serum magnesium are associated with increased risk for type 2 diabetes.[8],[9]

Redistribution of magnesium into cells may
cause lowermagnesium levels in the serum.
Insulin causes this effect.

Researchers at the Institute of Internal Medicine, University of Palermo wrote, “Intracellular magnesium concentration has also been shown to be effective in modulating insulin action (mainly oxidative glucose metabolism), offset calcium-related excitation-contraction coupling, and decrease smooth cell responsiveness to depolarizing stimuli. A poor intracellular magnesium concentration, as found in noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) and in hypertensive patients, may result in a defective tyrosine-kinase activity at the insulin receptor level and exaggerated intracellular calcium concentration.”[10]

The link between diabetes mellitus and magnesium deficiency
is well known. A growing body of evidence suggests that
magnesium plays a pivotal role in reducing cardiovascular
risks and may be involved in the pathogenesis of diabetes itself.
Dr. Jerry L. Nadler

Magnesium improves and helps correct insulin sensitivity, which is the fundamental defect that characterizes pre-diabetes, metabolic syndrome and even full-blown diabetes and heart disease. An intracellular enzyme called tyrosine kinase requires magnesium to allow insulin to exert its blood-sugar-lowering effects. In several studies, daily oral magnesium supplementation substantially improved insulin sensitivity by 10 percent and reduced blood sugar by 37 percent.[11],[12]

Magnesium also helps correct abnormal lipoprotein patterns. We would expect to find larger improvements in this increased insulin sensitivity if magnesium is supplemented in a correct way, meaning through transdermal and oral methods combined with using liquid magnesium chloride (magnesium oil) as compared to the very inefficient oral solid forms commonly used.

Improved insulin sensitivity from magnesium replacement can markedly reduce triglyceride levels.[13] Reduced triglyceride availability, in turn, reduces triglyceride-rich particles, such as very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) and small low-density lipoprotein (small LDL), both of which are powerful contributors to heart disease. Magnesium supplementation can also raise levels of beneficial high-density lipoprotein (HDL).[14]

Insulin regulates intracellular magnesium levels via
activation of Na+/Mg2+ exchange. Insulin’s effect on Na/Mg
exchange may explain the low cellular magnesium levels
observed in vivo under hyperinsulinemic conditions.[15]

Magnesium and insulin need each other. Without magnesium, our pancreas won’t secrete enough insulin—or the insulin it secretes won’t be efficient enough—to control our blood sugar. Insulin is a hormone, and like many hormones, insulin is a protein. Insulin is secreted by groups of cells within the pancreas called islet cells. Insulin has many more functions than we realize. It regulates the following:

• Lifespan—Lower insulin levels equate to a longer life.
• Blood sugar
• Blood lipids
• Excess nutrients (from glucose, carbs and calories) and converts them to fat
• Muscle building
• Protein storage
• Magnesium levels in our body
• Calcium levels in the body
• Retains sodium levels
• Cell division
• Growth hormone
• Liver functions
• Sex hormones, estrogen, progesterone, testosterone
• Cholesterol in the body
• Fat in our body

Magnesium is a cofactor for multiple enzymes involved in carbohydrate metabolism. [16] Adipocyte cells placed in low-magnesium media show reduction in insulin-stimulated glucose uptake. [17] Magnesium deficiency is associated with increased intracellular calcium levels, which may lead to insulin resistance. Low erythrocyte magnesium content increases membrane micro viscosity, which may impair insulin interaction with its receptor. [18] Tyrosine kinase activity is decreased in muscle insulin receptors of rats fed a low-magnesium diet. [19] These findings indicate that magnesium deficiency directly affects insulin signaling.

When magnesium levels fall, hyper secretion of adrenalin and insulin compensate. Their increased secretions help maintain the constancy of the levels in intracellular magnesium in the soft tissues. Plasma and intracellular magnesium concentrations are tightly regulated by insulin. But Dr. Ron Rosedale says that, “Extra insulin floating around in the blood causes plaque build-up. They didn’t know why, but we know that insulin causes endothelial proliferation. Every step of the way, insulin is causing cardiovascular disease. It fills the body with plaque, it constricts the arteries, it stimulates the sympathetic nervous system, and it increases platelet adhesiveness and coagulability of the blood.” So as we can see, when magnesium levels drop there is a cascade of physiological problems that corrupt the heart of our health.