Ray Peat on magnesium

"Phosphate, which predominates in grains, beans, nuts, meats, and fish, increases our production of parathyroid hormone, while calcium and magnesium inhibit its production. This hormone, which increases with age, suppresses immunity, and in excess it causes insomnia, seizures, dementia, psychosis, cancer, heart disease, respiratory distress and pulmonary hypertension, osteoporosis, sarcopenia, histamine release, inflammation and soft tissue calcification, and many other problems."

- September 2017 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

"One of the most important effects of sodium is that it tends to spare magnesium, which is likely to be lost during stress and hypothyroidism. If we eat salty foods when we crave them, we are able to retain our magnesium more easily."

- Nutrition For Women

"Anything which produces tissue atrophy will tend to produce cancer. The important question is, what will induce differentiation and useful function in cancer cells? There are many substances which promote differentiation and oppose the effects of estrogen, and some of these have been found to be useful in cancer therapy. Among the substances opposing estrogen are dopamine and nickel, prolactin inhibitors; chalones, the tissue specific proteins which inhibit cell division (and possibly more ephemerally, the peptides of memory); the aprotic solvents, DMF and possibly DMSO; progesterone and testosterone; thyroxin and iodine; magnesium ATP, the stable form of the biological energy molecule; vitamin A, a protein-sparing nutrient which promotes differentiation, and vitamin E (and the closely related coenzyme Q, or ubiquinone)."

- Nutrition For Women

"In a vitamin E deficiency, certain tissues lose enough ATP that they cant function normally. Muscles cramp, and eventually can harden and become dystrophic. Magnesium also helps to maintain ATP levels, and for example can be used to stop menstrual cramps. In an extreme case of vitamin E deficiency, reflexes become abnormal; in some animals, softening of the brain is the first symptom of a vitamin E deficiency."

- Nutrition For Women

"In general, stress should be met first by correcting the defect, which may be environmental or nutritional. Increased nutritional needs usually include protein and fat; acute hypoglycemia may require a large amount of sugar, and this suggests that the adrenals may be depleted, in which case pantothenic acid, vitamin C, vitamin A, magnesium and potassium should be provided in addition to other nutrients."

- Nutrition For Women

"The pancreas can be damaged by prolonged malnutrition, so that the inability to produce insulin may be permanent. Magnesium and vitamin B6 deficiencies are known to be involved in damage to the pancreas. Insulin itself is only part of the insulin-like system (Adv in Metabol Disorders 7, p.26, 1974); proper treatment requires a proper study of all factors."

- Nutrition For Women

"Sometimes as much as 500 mg. of niacin can be required to stop a hysterical feeling. The mildly sedative action of magnesium can also have a dramatic effect."

- Nutrition For Women

"Cancer overstimulates the anti -stress adrenocortical hormones, and usually produces extreme wasting from mobilization of fat and protein; blood sugar and glycogen storage are disturbed. During or after cancer treatment the hypoglycemia diet seems desirable: frequent small feedings, liver (or similar nutrients), magnesium, potassium. Vitamins A, E, C, and pantothenic acid are particularly important in stress, but all nutrients are necessary."

- Nutrition For Women

"Stress apparently increases a persons need for all nutrients including calories and protein. The vitamins most commonly used for resisting stress are A, C, E, and pantothenic acid. The minerals magnesium, calcium, potassium and zinc can help in the first stages of stress, and sodium supplements may be needed in the last extreme stage of stress when the adrenals have been exhausted."

- Nutrition For Women

"The adrenal hormones and mineral metabolism are disturbed in stress, whether the cause is a disorganized style of life, or the injury of surgery. The diet should include about 90 grams of protein (in frequent feedings), eggs as a source of sulfur (needed to synthesize joint lubricants, for example), and should keep the ratio of magnesium to calcium high (as with vegetables, bran, fruit), and the phosphate intake low (this would include using green leaves in place of some meat, as well as using cheese). Vitamins C, E, and pantothenic acid are needed in especially large amount in stress. Vitamins A and B2 are also essential for production of the anti-stress hormones. Inositol is known to protect biological materials from many kinds of damage, and might have this effect in arthritis, but I dont know of any research in this particular application."

- Nutrition For Women

"Magnesium carbonate is very useful for stabilizing nerves and muscles while raising the energy level: one gram a day of magnesium is a reasonable amount,"

- Nutrition For Women

"High cholesterol usually indicates low thyroid function. When thyroid is low, cholesterol isnt converted efficiently into progesterone. The real cause of heart attacks seems to be hypothyroidism and its effects, including loss of magnesium."

- Nutrition For Women

"estrogen causes, rather than cures, heart attacks. It causes a magnesium deficiency, which promotes clotting"

- Nutrition For Women

"magnesium deficiency also promotes abnormal fat metabolism, contributing to heart disease."

- Nutrition For Women

"Magnesium acts against calcium (and estrogen) in the clotting system, can prevent spasms of blood vessels, and can spare oxygen."

- Nutrition For Women

"There are several reasons to suspect that a magnesium deficiency is often involved in heart disease; in a clinical study, for example, injected magnesium sulphate helped in angina pectoris and coronary thrombosis, and tended to lower blood lipids."

- Nutrition For Women

"Numerous studies have found that a high magnesium intake is associated with low blood cholesterol levels. Magnesium also opposes clot formation and vascular spasm, which can be promoted by an excess of calcium."

- Nutrition For Women

"n old age, the walls of blood vessels tend to become hardened with calcium. In at least some tissues, it is known that calcification begins in degenerating mitochondria, and mitochondria tend to deteriorate in aging tissue. Nutrients such as iodine, vitamin E, magnesium and vitamin B2 are especially important for maintaining the function of the mitochondria, which produce most of our energy."

- Nutrition For Women

"Stress, the immune system, and lipid metabolism have complex interactions. For example, a fat, triolein, is known to stimulate phagocytosis, as does magnesium;"

- Nutrition For Women

"P. Delbet used physiological magnesium chloride (12.1 grams per liter) to stimulate phagocytosis in white blood cells. The activity was more than doubled by injection of 150 cc. of this solution into a dog, or by application to cells in vitro."

- Nutrition For Women

"Sometimes a few hundred milligrams of magnesium carbonate per day (or a spoonful of epsom salts, if this dose is divided into several parts to avoid the laxative effect) will immediately make it possible to sleep normally."

- Nutrition For Women

"Two or three tablespoonfuls of honey in a glass of milk will provide some magnesium, as well as sugar to increase the livers stored glycogen"

- Nutrition For Women

"A peculiar kind of irritability, sometimes with a sense of having your head in a kind of cloud, is often a result of a vitamin B1 deficiency. If that is the cause, it will clear up within a few minutes after taking the vitamin. Magnesium deficiency is another common cause of irritability."

- Nutrition For Women

"Teeth that are sensitive to heat or cold suggest a deficiency of calcium, magnesium, or vitamin D."

- Nutrition For Women

"Many women with abnormal Pap smears, even with a biopsy showing the so-called carcinoma in situ, have returned to normal in just two months with a diet including the following: 90 grams of protein, 500 mg. of magnesium as the chloride, 100,000 units of vitamin A, 400 units of vitamin E, 5 mg. of folic acid, 100 mg. of pantothenic acid, 100 mg. of B6, 100 mg. of niacinamide, and 500 mg. of vitamin C, with thyroid and progesterone as needed. Liver should be eaten twice a week. Some of the women apply vitamin A directly to the cervix."

- Nutrition For Women

"Vitamin E, vitamin A, and magnesium are other nutrients that help to maintain blood sugar. Vitamin B12 is needed to use vitamin A. Folic acid, vitamin B6, and zinc are depleted by elevated estrogen and are especially important for healthy pregnancy. Too much copper can lower blood sugar; too much iron can destroy vitamin E, and vitamin E deficiency can lead to jaundice, which can affect the babys brain."

- Nutrition For Women

"Nearly all Americans have porous, weakened bones and teeth by the time they are 50, because of the large amount of meat eaten in relation to other foods. When excess phosphate (from meat or wheat germ, for example) is eaten, calcium and magnesium are removed from the teeth and bones to be excreted with the phosphate."

- Nutrition For Women

"Using a large amount of milk improves the ratio of calcium to phosphorus, but doesnt supply enough magnesium to prevent tooth decay, heart trouble, and cramps."

- Nutrition For Women

"ATP is more stable than many chemists realize — it is only a lack of magnesium or an excess of calcium which destabilizes its molecular structure. This seems to be involved in the sedative and anti -cramp actions of magnesium."

- Nutrition For Women

"Too much carotene, too little vitamin A, not enough magnesium or sodium, and too much cortisol are commonly overlooked factors in infertility."

- Generative Energy Restoring The Wholeness Of Life

"ntiendorphin, antiexcitotoxic, anticholinergic, antiserotonergic, antiprostaglandin, and antiglucocorticoid drugs have been used with good effect in various degenerative nervous diseases, but all the so-called anti drugs are imprecise antagonists, and have many side effects. The natural antagonists and nutrients are usually helpful. Protein, sodium, magnesium, carbon dioxide/bicarbonate, progesterone, thyroid, vitamins, etc., can be curative in many brain diseases,"

- 2001 - February

"The adsorptive effects of carbon dioxide, and a great variety of other chemical effects, modulate the cell’s structure_and function so that it retains far more potassium than sodium, and is able to excrete calcium while binding magnesium."

- 2000 - January - Ray Peat's Newsletter

"Thyroid, protein, sodium, and magnesium will correct most edemas. Progesterone, acting on mitochondria to increase respiratory efficiency, and on structural proteins to change their ionic affinities, synergizes with the other natural factors to correct permeability and water regulation."

- 2000 - January - Ray Peat's Newsletter

"About 88 years ago, W. K. Koch (who is known for his cancer therapy) studied the parathyroid hormone and its relation to tetany (prolonged muscle contraction) and convulsions, and was able to demonstrate that the major minerals, sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium are to some extent interchangeable in alleviating the tetany and convulsions produced by removal of the parathyroid gland, though magnesium was the most effective."

- 1999 - December- Ray Peat's Newsletter

"The doctrine of hypocalcemic tetany led to the practice of treating tetany with intravenous calcium solutions; for example, veterinarians often treat cows’ grass tetany with large intravenous doses of calctum. The treatment works, but the tetany is now attributed to a magnesium deficiency (since magnesium supplementation works better, as Koch discovered), and excessive ammonia produced in the cow’s rumen can contribute to the magnesium deficiency."

- 1999 - December- Ray Peat's Newsletter

"These excitatory receptors release calciuminto the cytoplasm, activating many cell processes, including the liberation of fatty acidsand the breakdown of proteins. When these receptors are activated, the cells’ energy requirement increases, and glucose is consumed more rapidly. Whenever these receptors are activated, magnesium will protect the cell from the toxic excitation. Effective antidotes to the excitotoxins have been based on their. blocking of these receptors."

- 1999 - December- Ray Peat's Newsletter

"Low-thyroid cells are also unable to retain magnesium efficiently, and a magnesium deficiency prevents muscle relaxation, wasting energy. Adequate sodium prevents urinary magnesium loss."

- 1998 - Ray Peat's Newsletter - 4

"Men who have had a diagnosis of scleroderma have told me that with the use of thyroid and magnesium supplements, epsom salts baths, and topical progesterone and vitamin E, their symptoms regressed. I suspect that carbon dioxide produced in mitochondria is the main factor in removing calcium from them."

- 1997 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

"thyroid and magnesium are often the factors needed to normalize mitochondria and prevent calcification. In general, fatigued cells take up calcium and lose magnesium."

- 1997 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

"here are several systems that oppose the toxic effects of adrenalin. GABA, dopamine, and adenosine have multiple anti-adrenergic effects. In many situations, the parasympathetic system is protective against adrenalin. The protective steroids also act at many levels. Magnesium, retained in the ce)l largely under the influence of ATP and thyroid, is our basic calcium blocker, or calcium antagonist. GABA and dopamine inhibit the ACTH-glucccorticoid system, and shift the steroid balance toward the protective anti-glucocorticoids, progesterone, testosterone, pregnenolone, and DHEA."

- 1992 - June - Ray Peat's Newsletter

"A complete list of protective nutritional chemicals and natural drugs or analogs to our endogenous protective factors would be very long, but we should give special thought to certain ones, including succinic acid, which stimulates respiration and protective steroid synthesis; thyroid and vitamin E, which promote normal oxidation while preventing abnormal oxidation; magnesium; sodium and lithium, which help us to retain magnesium; tropical fruits, which contain GHB; coconut oil, which protects against cardiac necrosis, lipid peroxidation, hypothyroidism, hypoglycemia, and histamine damage; valium agonists, natural anti-histamines; adenosine and uridine. Visits to higher elevations, and exposure to bright, long-wave light, can cause the body to optimize its own antistress chemistry. Avoiding the sense of being trapped is a high-level adaptive factor."

- 1992 - June - Ray Peat's Newsletter

"In degenerative diseases, the stress and age - induced accumulation of iron and other mitochondria-toxic material (e.g., calcium, aluminum, and lipid peroxidation products including age pigment) and the failure of detoxifying systems make therapy with ordinary nutritional supplements fairly ineffective. Direct supplementation of the various natural protective substances (or their analogues) in addition to the protective vitamins (especially E) and minerals (especially magnesium) is more appropriate."

- 1992 - August.September - Ray Peat's Newsletter

"‘The availability of energy is central to our stable functioning, and the need for energy powerfully modifies our functioning. For example, as hunger increases, the brain’s interpretive system changes in a way that causes increasingly unfamiliar things to be considered as possible food. The spreading excitation that leads to this extended search probably occurs in relation to needs other than hunger, and could lead to experimentation with drugs and to other activities that give some indirect satisfaction. Obsessive and compulsive patterns can sometimes be resolved by assisting the brain’s energy metabolism, for example with a supplement of magnesium and thyroid."

- 1991 - June- Ray Peat's Newsletter

"While many people think of thyroid as a kind of stimulant, because it can cure the coma or lethargy of myxedema, this is a very misleading idea. In hypothyroidism, the brain exciting hormones adrenalin, estrogen, and cortisol are usually elevated, and the nerve-muscle relaxant magnesium is low. Normal, deep sleep is rare in a hypothyroid person. The correct dose of trilodothyronine (the active thyroid hormone) with magnesium is a reliable treatment for insomnia, cramps, and anxiety, whether these symptoms are caused by fatigue, or aging, or alcohol withdrawal."

- 1991 - June- Ray Peat's Newsletter

"Vitamin E and magnesium and some substances produced by the body shift the balance away from clots."

- 1991 - April - Ray Peat's Newsletter

"good results with their allergy patients when they gave them supplements of vitamin A, pantothenic acid, and vitemin C. Later, thyroid extract or triiodothyronine and magnesium were added to the other supplements for patients who had problems more serious then ordinary allergies."

- 1989 - November - Ray Peat's Newsletter

"Magnesium is not retained well during stress or in hypothyroidism, so  supplement of several hundred milligrams daily is desirable;"

- 1988 - January - Ray Peat's Newsletter