Magnesium – the Ultimate Heart Medicine
This edition offers a substantial breakthrough in cardiac medicine that could positively impact the lives of thousands of people and their families. When someone is in cardiac arrest or are having a stroke, having panic attacks with heart palpitations what is the first thing, the very first thing we would reach for? Our biological engine is seizing up (heart attack) what do we inject? For the next million years there is going to be only one answer and that answer is magnesium.
If you’re ever rushed to the hospital with a heart attack, intravenous magnesium could save your life. In a 1995 study, researchers found that the in-hospital death rate of those receiving IV magnesium was one-fourth that of those who received standard treatment alone. In 2003, a follow-up study of these same patients revealed an enduring effect of magnesium treatment. Nearly twice as many patients in the standard treatment group had died compared to those who received magnesium, and there were considerably more cases of heart failure and impaired heart function in the placebo group. In addition to increasing survival after heart attack, IV magnesium smoothes out arrhythmias and improves outcomes in patients undergoing angioplasty with stent placement.
Magnesium is absolutely essential for the proper functioning of the heart. Magnesium’s role in preventing heart disease and strokes is generally well accepted, yet cardiologists have not gotten up to speed with its use. Magnesium was first shown to be of value in the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias in 1935. Since then there have been numerous double-blind studies showing that magnesium is beneficial for many types of arrhythmias including atrial fibrillation, ventricular premature contractions, ventricular tachycardia, and severe ventricular arrhythmias. Magnesium supplementation is also helpful in angina due to either a spasm of the coronary artery or atherosclerosis.
Heart palpitations, “flutters” or racing heart, otherwise
called arrhythmias, usually clear up quite dramatically
on 500 milligrams of magnesium citrate (or aspartate)
once or twice daily or faster if given intravenously.
Dr. H. Ray Evers
A magnesium deficiency is closely associated with cardiovascular disease.[1] Lower magnesium concentrations have been found in heart attack patients[2] and administration of magnesium[3] has proven beneficial in treating ventricular arrhythmias.[4],[5],[6],[7] Fatal heart attacks are more common in areas where the water supply is deficient in magnesium and the average intake through the diet is often significantly less than the 200-400 milligrams required daily.[8]
Magnesium is proving to be very important in the maintenance of heart health and in the treatment of heart disease. Magnesium, calcium, and potassium are all effective in lowering blood pressure.[9],[10],[11],[12] Magnesium is useful in preventing death from heart attack and protects against further heart attacks.[13],[14] It also reduces the frequency and severity of ventricular arrhythmias and helps prevent complications after bypass surgery.
Magnesium deficiency appears to have
caused eight million sudden coronary deaths
in America during the period 1940-1994.[15]
Paul Mason
Researchers from Northwestern University School of Medicine in Chicago have determined that not having enough magnesium in your diet increases your chances of developing coronary artery disease. In a study of 2,977 men and women, researchers used ultrafast computed tomography (CT scans) of the chest to assess the participants’ coronary artery calcium levels. Measurements were taken at the start of the study—when the participants were 18- to 30-years old—and again 15 years later. The study concluded that dietary magnesium intake was inversely related to coronary artery calcium levels. Coronary artery calcium is considered an indicator of the blocked-artery disease known as atherosclerosis.
Almost all adults are concerned about the condition of their heart and cardiovascular system. Some live in constant fear wondering whether any ache, cramp or pain in their upper body is a sign of a heart attack. There isn’t an adult living in North America that hasn’t lost a loved one or a family member to heart disease. The fact is heart attacks kill millions every year.
Chernow et al in a study of postoperative ICU patients found that the death rate was reduced from 41% to 13% for patients without hypomagnesemia (low magnesium levels). Other post heart surgery studies showed that patients with hypomagnesemia experienced more rhythm disorders. Time on the ventilator was longer,[16] and morbidity was higher than for patients with normal magnesium levels. Another study showed that a greater than 10% reduction of serum and intracellular magnesium concentrations was associated with a higher rate of postoperative ventricular arrhythmias. The administration of magnesium decreases the frequency of postoperative rhythm disorders[17] after cardiac surgery. Magnesium has proven its value as an adjuvant in postoperative analgesia. Patients receiving Mg required less morphine, had less discomfort and slept better during the first 48 hours than those receiving morphine alone.
It is established that clinically significant changes in a number of electrolytes occur in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). Magnesium ions are an essential requirement for many enzyme systems, and clearly magnesium deficiency is a major risk factor for survival of CHF patients. In animal experiments, magnesium has been shown to be involved in several steps of the atherosclerotic process, and magnesium ions play an extremely important role in CHF and various cardiac arrhythmias.
Magnesium is also required for muscle relaxation.Lower magnesium
levels can result in symptoms ranging from tachycardia and
fibrillation toconstriction of the arteries, angina, and instant death.
Due to lack of magnesium the heart muscle can develop a spasm or cramp and stops beating. Most people, including doctors, don’t know it, but without sufficient magnesium we will die. It is important to understand that our life span will be seriously reduced if we run without sufficient magnesium in our cells and one of the principle ways our lives are cut short is through cardiac arrest (heart attack). Yet when someone dies of a heart attack doctors never say “He died from Magnesium Deficiency.” Allopathic medicine ignores the true causes of death and disease and in the field of cardiology this is telling. Magnesium is an important protective factor for death from acute myocardial infarction.[18]
[1] Harrison, Tinsley R. Principles of Internal Medicine. 1994, 13th edition, McGraw-Hill, pp. 1106-15 and pp. 2434-35
[2] Shechter, Michael, et al. The rationale of magnesium supplementation in acute myocardial infarction: a review of the literature. Archives of Internal Medicine, Vol. 152, November 1992, pp. 2189-96
[3] Ott, Peter and Fenster, Paul. Should magnesium be part of the routine therapy for acute myocardial infarction? American Heart Journal, Vol. 124, No. 4, October 1992, pp. 1113-18
[4] Dubey, Anjani and Solomon, Richard. Magnesium, myocardial ischaemia and arrhythmias: the role of magnesium in myocardial infarction. Drugs, Vol. 37, 1989, pp. 1-7.
[5] England, Michael R., et al. Magnesium administration and dysrhythmias after cardiac surgery. Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 268, No. 17, November 4, 1992, pp. 2395-2402
[6] Yusuf, Salim, et al. Intravenous magnesium in acute myocardial infarction. Circulation, Vol. 87, No. 6, June 1993, pp. 2043-46
[7] Woods, Kent L. and Fletcher, Susan. Long-term outcome after intravenous magnesium sulphate in suspected acute myocardial infarction: the second Leicester Intravenous Magnesium Intervention Trial (LIMIT-2). The Lancet, Vol. 343, April 2, 1994, pp. 816-19
[8] Eisenberg, Mark J. Magnesium deficiency and sudden death. American Heart Journal, Vol. 124, No. 2, August 1992, pp. 544-49
[9] Supplemental dietary potassium reduced the need for antihypertensive drug therapy. Nutrition Reviews, Vol. 50, No. 5, May 1992, pp. 144-45
[10] Ascherio, Alberto, et al. A prospective study of nutritional factors and hypertension among U.S. men. Circulation, Vol. 86, No. 5, November 1992, pp. 1475-84
[11] Witteman, Jacqueline C.M., et al. Reduction of blood pressure with oral magnesium supplementation in women with mild to moderate hypertension. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 60, July 1994, pp. 129-35
[12] Geleijnse, J.M., et al. Reduction in blood pressure with a low sodium, high potassium, high magnesium salt in older subjects with mild to moderate hypertension. British Medical Journal, Vol. 309, August 13, 1994, pp. 436-40
[13] Manz, M., et al. Behandlung von herzrhythmusstorungen mit magnesium. Deutsche Medi Wochenschrifte, Vol. 115, No. 10, March 9, 1990, pp. 386-90
[14] Iseri, Lloyd T., et al. Magnesium therapy of cardiac arrhythmias in critical-care medicine. Magnesium, Vol. 8, 1989, pp. 299-306
[16] England MR, Gordon G, Salem M, Chernow B. Magnesium administration and dysrhythmias after cardiac surgery. A placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized trial. JAMA 1992; 268: 2395–402.
[17] The effect of preoperative magnesium supplementation on blood catecholamine concentrations in patients undergoing CABG. Pasternak, et al; Magnes Res. 2006 Jun;19(2):113-22;
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=
AbstractPlus&list_uids=16955723&itool=iconabstr&itool=pubmed_DocSum
[18] Am J Epidemiol 1996;143:456–62.
When I tried to email this page the link didn’t work..can you help? thanks Hannah
I have very high B/P and have experienced chest discomfort. when that happened I took magnesium and the ache went away. I was also able to sleep better.
I have had two heart attacks, I have a defribulator. Last year my defrib. zapped me twice during an attack of ventrical and atrial fribulation. Lab test results at the hospital showed only one out of the norm result. Low Magnesium ! Doctors private and hospital found nothing else out of order. They brought my mag. level back to normal and released me from the hospital. The emergency room doctor told me it would be a good idea to maybe take a Magnesium supplement.
How much, who knows none of my doctors! I bought some Mag64, 64mg and take one or two a day sometimes. At this point blood tests show everything is OK! Not normal but OK, so I guess that’s OK?
Oh! I now have two stents and 2/3 of a heart, w/defrib. Been four months. Just took two more Mag64′s after reading this web site.
I have atrial fibrillation now for 3 years. I do not take any medication. I have been taking Magnesium Glycinate, 2 – 2x/day(that is 400 mg. total per day). It is suggested by Dr. H. Ray Evers, above article, that one should take 500 mg. of magnesium (either citrate or aspartate) 2x/day or more. Which magnesium is better and why…..glycinate, citrate or aspartate? I suppose I should consider increasing my intake as it appears that according to Dr. Evers, it should rectify the irratic heart beat. Tests have been taken and no other issues are present. Please advise. Thanks.
Dear Terri,
Taking magnesium by oral means is frequently not effective, mainly due to problems in absorption. If you use magnesium oil, you will bypass these kinds of absorption issues. Taking magnesium orally usually only results in 30-40% of the magnesium being absorbed. Please read Dr. Sircus’ essay on using magnesium transdermally
Purchase some magnesium oil from LL’s Magnetic Clay and I’ll bet you feel the difference right away!
Sincerely,
Claudia French
IMVA
Intravenous magnesium for acute myocardial infarction (2009)
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/o/cochrane/clsysrev/articles/CD002755/frame.html
This is the latest research on the effectiveness of magnesium on coronary artery disease. Please read before you make a decision.
Dear Georgie,
Please remember when reading this Cochrane Report, that these people doing the reviews are most likely not unbiased. I would say they are strongly biased toward pharmaceutical use, which is evident in their final conclusions recommending “Other effective treatments (aspirin, beta-blockers) should be used to treat heart attack.” We have enough evidience in the magnesium books to contradict this review. Not to mention that the studies considered in this review are most likely flawed or biased toward pharmaceutical drugs too.
Your comment about the Cochrane report leaves me confused. If the Cochrane report is biased towards big pharma, how do I know that your recommendations are not unbiased as well? Who to belive, DEFINITELY NOT BIG PHARMA!
Jimmy,
The IMVA definitely is biased……toward natural, least harmful, and most affordable remedies for illness which most often happen to be non-pharmaceutical drugs.
Here is a short exerpt from William Falloon’s article The Lethal Impact of Flawed Government posted in Life Extension Magazine. Hopefully this will help to resolve your confusion of my statement on the Cochrane Reviews. http://www.lef.org/featured-articles/Pharmaceutical-Profit-Big-Government-Bias-The-Plan-to-Destroy-Access-to-Dietary-Supplements.htm.
“Dietary supplement safety is an important topic. In what may be a revelation to a variety of misinformed, though vocal, media pundits and Internet personalities, the FDA’s post-marketing responsibilities include monitoring safety (adverse event reporting, product labeling, claims, package inserts, and accompanying literature), and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulates dietary supplement advertising.3
The most recent peer-reviewed, published article on the topic of dietary supplement safety that achieved dramatic, widespread media attention appeared in 2008, a Cochrane Database meta-analysis,4 which was essentially an updated version of a review that originally appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2007.5
While 67 clinical trials were included in the 2008 Cochrane Database meta-analysis of dietary supplement studies that suggested an increased mortality risk, most people were not aware that 748 trials were excluded from the analysis, including 405 studies with no reports of death in study subjects ingesting dietary supplements.
Of interest, a critical study co-author of the 2008 Cochrane Database meta-analysis has close financial and professional ties with the pharmaceutical industry as an Ambassador and Member of BioLogue’s Scientific Advisory Board,6 closely associated with the Danish Pharma Consortium,7 including pharmaceutical companies such as AstraZeneca Denmark. BioLogue’s Steering Committee members include representatives of the Danish Association of the Pharmaceutical Industry.8″
You might also read Dr. Rath’s opinion of the Cochrane Reviews: http://www4.dr-rath-foundation.org/PHARMACEUTICAL_BUSINESS/cochrane_20080514.html
Hi, I am a 43 year old male, I was diagnosed with Atrial Fibrillation approx 5 years ago, I do not take any medicine for this condition, if possible could you please give me some advice with re- to returning my heart to a normal rhythm, and required doseage in ML of Magnesium Chloride Oil, for both transdermal and oral. Thank you …. Jamie ;-)
Jamie,
When you start to notice an episode of atrial fibrillation immediately apply magnesium oil to your body, your arms and chest. You can also put a large amount in a bath and in a few minutes you should feel your heart rate return to normal. Also use it daily as a body spray to help bring up levels in your body. We do not recommend oral supplements though you can spray some magnesium oil into your glass of drinking water each day. put in 5-10 sprays, to your tolerance.
Hi Claudia,
Happy Christmas and thank’s for you reply.
I am in AF permanently, which is a bit of a downer I guess ;-( although the symptoms are not too noticeable, or having said that maybe I am just kind of used to the feeling? It would be great to not have this feeling every day, Have you any suggestions, I am kind of fit and healthy I cycle every day and try to eat healthy. Claudia you mentioned 5-10 sprays of Magnesium oil in a glass of water, I have been having 10-20 drops in a glass twice a day would the poor absorption rate not really make oral supplements effective?
Also I have been trying to get X2 baths a week with Magnesium sulphate approx 5 lb in each bath but haven’t really noticed any improvements in my condition ;-(…..Best Wishes
Happy Holidays to you too Jamie.
Continuous atrial fibrillation is more advanced and harder to deal with than intermittent atrial fib. You may want to consider a consultation with Dr. Sircus to determine what would best help you. But the magnesium is crucial and any type of digestive problem can affect absorption of magnesium from the gut.
Also, please note that magnesium sulfate which you are using in baths will not have the same effect as magcnesium chloride will. It has been shown by magnesium researcher Jean Durlach, that magnesium chloride’s effects last longer in the body than does magnesium sulfate which tends to be much more rapidly excreted. So for sustained effect switch to magnesium chloride.
Please see Dr. Sircus’ essay on magnesium chloride vs magnesium sulfate: http://magnesiumforlife.com/product-information/magnesium-chloride-vs-magnesium-sulfate/
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