Once, not so long ago, our ancestors got their drinking water directly from streams, rivers and lakes. This water was pure, uncontaminated and rich in mineral content.

Perilous waters
Today our drinking water comes from a spigot or from a plastic bottle. Purity is a thing of the past. Pollutants and contaminants such as acetone, butyl acetate, defoliants, dissolved oil, formaldehyde, methyl ethyl ketone and potassium permanganate are commonly found in public water supplies. As a result, municipal water-purification facilities have intensified their efforts to remove these contaminants and others from drinking water. Unfortunately, modern water-treatment methods also depletes drinking water of precious minerals like calcium and, most importantly, magnesium.

Because of the poor quality of municipal tap water, health-conscious people are increasingly relying on bottled or home-filtered water for their drinking needs. The problem is, once again, that most filtered and bottled waters provide little or no magnesium at all.

Magnesium’s Crucial Role
Magnesium plays many crucial roles in the body, including suppressing unstable heart rhythms, controlling blood pressure, maintaining insulin sensitivity, and regulating over 300 enzymes. Attaining optimal magnesium levels is an absolute requirement for good health.

The implications of magnesium deficiency are serious. Communities with low magnesium content in drinking water show increased rates of sudden death.

“According to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (1977) there have been more than 50 studies, in nine countries, that have indicated an inverse relationship between water hardness and mortality from cardiovascular disease. That is, people who drink water that is deficient in magnesium and calcium generally appear more susceptible to this disease. The U.S. National Academy of Sciences has estimated that a nation-wide initiative to add calcium and magnesium to soft water might reduce the annual cardiovascular death rate by 150,000 in the United States (1).”

Too Little Too Late
The bottom line is that we cannot rely on our drinking water, bottled or filtered, to provide us with adequate magnesium. The recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for magnesium—that is, the amount required to prevent severe deficiency—is 420 mg a day for men and 320 mg a day for women. In cities with the highest magnesium water content, only 30% of the RDA can be obtained by drinking two liters of tap water a day (2). In most cities, only a meager 10-20% of the daily requirement can be obtained. That leaves 70-90% of the daily magnesium requirement that must be obtained from other sources.

What Your Doctor Won’t Tell You
Medical ignorance, or worse, willful medical ignorance, continues to be a major cause of death in the US. Doctors prescribe expensive patented drugs, while low-cost nutrients such as magnesium remain overlooked. Although more and more cardiologists are recommending coenzyme Q10 and fish oil, hardly anyone points out the critical importance of magnesium. As a result, startling numbers of aging Americans suffer the often lethal consequences of magnesium deficiency.

What You Can Do
To begin with, you can eat magnesium-rich foods. Green vegetables such as spinach are good sources of magnesium. Some legumes (beans and peas), nuts, seeds, and whole, unrefined grains are also good sources of magnesium. Refined grains, on the other hand, are generally low in magnesium. When white flour is refined and processed, the magnesium-rich germ and bran are removed. Bread made from whole-grain wheat flour provides more magnesium than bread made from white refined flour.

Another way to optimize your magnesium intake is to choose water that is rich in magnesium. Unfortunately in the US this is easier said than done. The FDA regulates bottled water and mandates that the only additives permitted are fluoride and antimicrobials to deter bacterial growth. With the exception of Florida’s Original Fountain of Youth Mineral Water, drinking an entire liter of many so-called mineral waters provides only a minimal amount of magnesium. Of course dietary supplements are not intended to treat or cure any disease. However, by adding a magnesium supplement to your diet, you can easily meet your RDA without drinking gallons of expensive mineral water.

What You Need To Know About Magnesium

1. Magnesium is critical to human health, helping the body perform functions as varied as blood pressure regulation, muscle contraction, heart rhythm stabilization, and nervous system communication.
2. Modern water-purification techniques, consumption of magnesium-depleted bottled waters, and poor dietary habits contribute to widespread magnesium deficiencies in the US and around the world. Although the US RDA for magnesium is 420 mg per day for adult men and 320 mg for adult women, most Americans ingest only about 270 mg of magnesium per day.
3. Magnesium deficiencies have been linked to sudden death from cardiac arrhythmias, along with conditions such as muscle cramps, migraine headaches, and metabolic syndrome.
4. Optimal magnesium intake, by contrast, is associated with improved insulin sensitivity, optimal lipoprotein levels, suppression of abnormal heart rhythms, reduced blood pressure, relief from migraine headaches, and improved exercise capability, among other health benefits.
5. Strategies for optimizing daily magnesium intake include consuming foods high in magnesium content, supplementing with the soluble fiber known as inulin, drinking magnesium-rich mineral waters, and taking magnesium supplements.

References

1. 1. Dr. Harold D. Foster, “Groundwater and Human Health,” Groundwater Resources of British Columbia, Ministry of Environment, Lands, and Parks and Environment Canada, pp 6.1-6.3 (reprint), 1994.
2. 2. Available at: www.mgwater.com. Accessed June 6, 2005