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How Does Magnesium Carbonate Affect the Body?

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Magnesium is one of the body’s essential minerals.

For the human body, it is the fourth most abundant mineral. Magnesium plays a part throughout the body and its various functions. There is not one organ that doesn’t need magnesium to perform efficiently.

Magnesium is found in foods like leafy greens, nuts, dry beans, seeds, whole grains, wheat, and oat bran. Even with a healthy diet that is rich in foods where magnesium can be found, it is possible that a person may still not be getting enough of it.

For adult males, the recommended dietary allowance is 400–420 mg per day. For adult females, it is 310–320 mg per day.

Despite being an essential mineral for the human body and being found in multiple foods, about 50% of the people in the United States and Europe consume less than the recommended daily amount of magnesium.

For this reason, supplements like magnesium carbonate are needed to bring levels back to normal as necessary. Low levels of magnesium in the body can make muscle cramps, tiredness, irritability, and changes to your emotional wellness noticeable.

Addressing mineral deficiencies in the body can assist in feelings of wellness and improved health. If problems persist after supplements or there are concerns about serious medical issues, these should be addressed with a doctor.

What is Magnesium Carbonate?

Magnesium carbonate is a compound.

The formula for the composition of magnesium carbonate is MgCO3. This means it has one molecule of the chemical elements magnesium bonded to three molecules of carbonate.

Carbonate is a salt of carbonic acid. Carbonic acid occurs when carbon dioxide (CO2) is dissolved in water. 

So, magnesium carbonate is a magnesium salt, and it is also commonly called magnesite. It is extracted directly from the mineral itself. It can be found in various supplemental products to aid in the increase of magnesium in the body.

It is possible to get too much magnesium in the blood. Be sure to follow the instructions on your product or from your doctor.

Always consult your doctor if you have questions about your health or notice changes after beginning any new regimen.

Benefits of Magnesium Carbonate

Magnesium carbonate helps to administer magnesium to the body. When taken as a supplement, it is possible to bring magnesium levels up to their proper levels.

Proper magnesium levels have many benefits. Just as low levels of minerals the body needs can cause problems or concerns, bringing them to adequate levels will help vital functions be performed more efficiently.

Understanding the benefits of magnesium and its role in the human body is essential to understanding why the proper levels are needed.

So, what are the benefits of magnesium carbonate?

Contributes to Overall Health Throughout the Body

As an abundant mineral in the body, magnesium is involved in hundreds of biochemical reactions throughout the body. It helps to create energy from food, to create new proteins from amino acids, and to create and repair DNA and RNA.

Magnesium contributes to the relaxation and contraction of muscles in the body. Additionally, it helps regulate the nervous system, and it is even essential to bone health.

Eases Upset Stomach

Magnesium can help draw water into the intestines. This works to soften stool, and the magnesium itself can help calm the muscles in the intestine.

Magnesium also encourages healthy bowel movements.

Soothes Heartburn

Magnesium helps to neutralize stomach acid, and with its ability to get bowel movement underway, stomach acid moves on and away from the esophagus. This is great news for anyone familiar with that sensation.

Aids in Relieving Acid Indigestion

Magnesium helps to neutralize stomach acid.

Reduced stomach acid is of great relief for those familiar with the burning sensation. As with other functions of the body, proper magnesium levels help the process be more efficient.

Soothing the stomach acid, promoting the movement of digestion, and drawing water into the intestines all work together to help sufferers experience less pain. The magnesium also operates as an osmotic laxative

Supports Heart Health

Finding low levels of magnesium with your doctor may indicate a larger problem.

When the health of your heart comes into play, it is possible to see higher than normal blood pressure levels, arterial plaque build-up, cholesterol, and calcification of soft tissues.

Correcting magnesium levels helps to promote better heart health.

Magnesium helps transport electrolytes. These electrolytes contribute to the nerve signals that create a normal heartbeat.

Contributes to Healthy Vision

Normal levels of magnesium in the body play a role in the normal functions of the eye. As it works on other areas of the body, proper magnesium levels may help alleviate ocular ailments by correcting other functions in the body.

Helps Boost Exercise Performance

Magnesium contributes to the movement of blood sugar into your muscles and assists in getting lactate out of the muscles for disposal.

Lactate builds up during exercise and causes fatigue. Proper magnesium levels may allow your body to perform this task more efficiently.

Supports Emotional Wellness

Magnesium plays a vital role in brain functions and stabilizing moods.

Proper levels support emotional wellness and improve mental health. Maintaining the right levels of magnesium may help avoid the harmful effects of emotional instability tied to mental health.

Boosts Energy

Physical and mental exhaustion or weakness even after adequate rest can be very frustrating and impact lives in a negative way.

When exhaustion persists and becomes severe, it can be a serious cause for concern. Inefficient levels of magnesium in the body can contribute to this exhaustion and weakness.

As magnesium levels return to normal, they promote health and improved bodily function efficiency. When your body is able to perform tasks correctly, you feel better, rejuvenated, and more rested.

Magnesium’s role in transporting electrolytes is so important. Electrolytes regulate nerve and muscle functions, improve hydration in the body, balance food acidity, and help in the rebuilding of damaged tissues.

Boosting the transportation of electrolytes will help to boost energy levels and recovery time.

Soothes Tension

Magnesium helps support the body’s normal blood pressure levels.

Heightened blood pressure levels can seriously damage essential organs. Maintaining normal blood pressure levels is an important part of your heart's health.

Eases Tension in the Head

Tension in the head can be debilitating. Magnesium assists in the body’s functions, and it works to soothe and calm.

Whether it is through muscle relaxation, aiding the body’s hydration, or just improving the brain’s functions, the right magnesium levels can help soothe the tension in the head from various causes.

Supports Healthy Metabolic Function

Maintaining magnesium levels assists in the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar levels properly. Avoiding low magnesium levels may help the body keep its healthy metabolic function performing efficiently.

Boosts Bone Health

In addition to being found in every organ and system in the body, magnesium is also found in bones. Proper magnesium levels help deliver calcium to the body, and calcium is one of the crucial building blocks for bones.

Poor dietary consumption of magnesium and lower levels of magnesium have been associated with lowered bone mineral density. This further emphasizes magnesium’s importance in one more area of the body.

How to Include Magnesium Carbonate in Your Diet

Magnesium levels can drop in the body due to a poor diet, excessive and long-term alcohol use, certain diuretics, and other medical conditions that cause dehydration, absorption issues, and diminished metabolic function.

In certain instances, your body may lose magnesium faster than you can replace it with diet.

Fortunately, magnesium carbonate is a mineral supplement. It often comes in capsule form administered by mouth, and it should be taken as directed. Many magnesium supplements blend together specific forms of magnesium, including citrate, orotate, glycinate and taurate, giving a range of forms for absorption purposes. If you have any questions, you should contact your doctor or pharmacist.

As with many supplements, doses should be taken with a meal to avoid stomach upset or diarrhea. If the product’s instructions or your doctor advise against this practice, heed their directions.

In addition, taking any supplement with a cup (8 oz.) of water is the best practice, unless a doctor instructs you not to do so. Water is an important part of delivering nutrients throughout the body, and supplements can use it to aid in their delivery as well.

Summary

Magnesium carbonate is a compound that helps provide one of the body’s most abundant and essential minerals. Maintaining magnesium levels isn’t just advisable, it’s critical.

Magnesium is essential to overall health and well-being because magnesium is a crucial part of the body’s system.

Every organ in the human body uses magnesium to some degree, and it can be found in abundance in the body. Despite being an abundant, vital mineral, it is still possible for magnesium levels to fall below the levels needed for peak efficiency of the body’s systems.

Even with a proper diet, it’s possible that the body may still need additional magnesium. This supplemental magnesium can be taken by mouth in a capsule.

Sources:

Healthy Directions Staff Editor