Body health functions around the nutrition it gains from all the food it eats. Vitamins, minerals and proteins are vital for the healthy and smooth functioning of body processes. We tend to pay a lot of attention to reducing fat and increasing vitamin, calcium and iron intake. But, we do not pay as much attention to the other minerals that are just as important, if not more. One of these minerals is Magnesium, which is an essential mineral that helps keep the body in balance.
The immediate result of insufficient doses of minerals and vitamins is that the body struggles to cope with the lack and this in turn, results in deficiencies. To this end, many people don’t even know that they are suffering from a deficiency. Magnesium deficiencies are among the most common kinds in the world – and cannot be ably detected by blood tests because only 1% of the total amount of magnesium in the human body is stored in the blood. And yet, it is exceptionally important in the body.
Magnesium is a rather important element in assisting the continuation of over 300 metabolic processes in the body. Magnesium is vital in transporting calcium across cell membranes, and is also critical to maintaining the level of electrical stability between cells in the body. This is especially why magnesium deficiency can cause many diseases, far more than any other nutritional deficiency can. Some of these diseases include everything from osteoporosis and asthma, depression and epilepsy, to hypertension and diabetes, high cholesterol and heart diseases.
When magnesium is insufficient, the body automatically looks to the bones for more. Therefore, your bones remain vulnerable and stripped of their basic minerals. When magnesium deficiencies occur, there are two kinds of symptoms. One is the clinical symptom which includes things like spasms, cramps, pain, anxiety and seizures. The other is sub-clinical symptoms that are more of a latent kind, present but cannot be differentiated from symptoms of other issues such as headaches, migraines, insomnia, fatigue, depression and digestive disorders. Magnesium deficiency can also result in calcium and potassium deficiency because of the lack of absorption. Furthermore, people can feel weakness, experience seizures and muscular spasms, tremors, involuntary eye movements, vertigo, impaired memory and cognition.
Magnesium rich foods are available in plenty – think nuts and grains, avocadoes, bananas, beans, lentils, whole grains, mackerel, dark leafy vegetables, dry fruits and even dark chocolate. Include rich portions of greens in your everyday eating, and take magnesium supplements if your body demands it.

References:
http://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/foods-high-in-magnesium.php
http://healthmeup.com/news-diet-fitness/are-you-getting-enough-magnesium/15051387
http://www.everydayhealth.com/pictures/foods-high-in-magnesium/
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002423.htm

Picture Courtesy: inlifehealthcare.com

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