According to a recent meta-analysis, magnesium could be useful in lowering our blood pressure. The research, which studied data from 34 randomised, double-blind trials, found a causal effect between supplementing with the mineral and decreased blood pressure in adults.
Published in the journal Hypertension, the analysis provided credible evidence of magnesium’s cardiovascular benefits. It looked at the results of data gathered from 2,028 participants, providing a solid sample size to work with.
As the study’s authors pointed out, there is long-standing interest in the benefits of magnesium on our cardiovascular health, including its ability to regulate blood pressure and prevent hypertension. Despite this, they noted that evidence from human studies has thus far been scant, piecemeal, and inconsistent.
Unsurprisingly given its potential benefits, magnesium is becoming an increasingly popular supplement in both the UK and the United States. Around 70 to 80 percent of Americans are deficient in the mineral, failing to meet their recommended intake.
It’s a similar scenario in the UK, where our daily diets rarely contain a sufficient level of magnesium. However, this is expected to change in the near future, with many experts predicting that sales of the supplement surpassed those of calcium in 2020.
Details of the study
The meta-analysis covered 34 individual clinical trials and 2,028 participants. Of this number, those studied encompassed a wide range of ages, being anywhere between 18 and 84. 1,010 of them received a dose of magnesium, with the median figure being 368 mg/ct for a period of three months, while a further 1,018 were given a placebo.
The results indicated that those dosed with magnesium saw a notable reduction in both their systolic and diastolic blood pressure, with it taking roughly one month of dosing before a significant rise in serum magnesium was seen.
While the study’s authors did note certain flaws in some of the trials, including a high dropout rate and a decision to use serum magnesium as a marker of magnesium status, they nonetheless concluded that their analysis adds to the growing body of evidence suggesting that magnesium can be beneficial for our cardiovascular health.
