Muscle strength linked to magnesium in older adults

PALERMO, ITALY.

Magnesium is central to human health as it plays a role in a wide range of activities on the cellular level. A deficiency can lead to muscle weakness, fatigue and insomnia. This nutrient may therefore be essential for maintaining muscle strength throughout life.

Evidence from athletes supports a role for magnesium in avoiding damage to muscle cells. Muscle mass and function can be compromised in older age, a condition known as sarcopenia.
Researchers from the University of Palermo investigated the relationship between sarcopenia
and magnesium status.

Magnesium status was found to be significantly related to each of the measures of muscle strength - grip strength, lower-leg muscle power, knee rotation, and ankle strength.

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Gary Moller comments:

Depending on the study, around 70% of adults do not get enough magnesium in their diets to remain healthy. Hard exercise, emotional stress, injury, illness and various medications boost our daily requirements.

Few athletes would not benefit from supplemeting their diets with this mineral which is their principal protection from muscle cramps.

Magnesium has an important role, working with other nutrients including vitamin D, for prostate, blood pressure and bone health.

Programmes to reduce falls in the elderly are a wasted exercise if nutrition (including Mg intake) is poor because physical strength can not be created out of thin air. Any gains will be temporary, impossible to sustain for long.

Magnesium supplementation is cheap and very safe. Up to 800mg of total Mg can be safely taken per day depending on need.

Should I be incorporating some sort of weight training into my exercise workouts to help build some muscle?

Hi Gary,

Hope I am doing this right. Would love some advice as I havent a clue what i am doing.I am a 42 year old married, mother of 5. Last September I decided to change my lifestyle considerably as i was 134 kilos and feeling everyone of them. (Although my top weight was 140 kilos 3 years ago).

It is almost my 1 year anniversary of these changes and i am now 72 kilos! Really pleased with myself, and havent been this low since I was a teenager.

Now, I am doing approx. 1 1/2 hours- 2hours exercise each day, not counting work (part-time shelf stacker at the local supermarket). This exercise constitutes walking, biking and an elliptical trainer my brother gave me.

I am loving the changes (and comments), however I have an awful lot of loose skin, not too worried about this as feel it is the price you pay for getting so overweight to begin with. I am wondering whether I should be incorporating some sort of weight training into my schedule to help build some muscle.

My eating is pretty good, not as good as it could be, but compared to what it was, not too bad, I take no supplements at this stage.

Any advice would be magnificent as I am really flying blind here.

Thanking you in anticipation,

"J"
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Gary replies:
Congratulations on your dramatic change in lifestyle and associated weight loss! And my apologies for taking so long to respond to your inquiry.

With regards to the loose skin, it is possible that it will be less obvious with time. Women are a little more prone to wrinkling and loose skin with ageing compared to men. This is because a woman's hormonal makeup makes for less robust collagen which is more liable to damage such as from stretching or excessive sun exposure. There are a number of nutritional strategies that one can use to improve collagen health, including extra vitamin C, regular bone broths (rich in minerals and gelatine), supplementary MSM (methylsulfonylmethane), flax oil, vitamin E and even some glucosamine and chondroitin. I would add lots of bright fruit and berries to the diet. These are all very good for the skin. Then you could add some extra silica to the diet. If you need any supplements like silica or MSM, you can get these from www.myotec.co.nz . Contact me if you need sorting through the confusion of options that I have just listed.

Moving on to your question now:

You should be adding weight training that is additional to the shelf stacking that you do in the supermarket. As one gets older, strong bones are important and the exercise you are doing is wonderful; but only for your hips and lower down (The cross trainer is a qualified exception). You need to add exercise that works the muscles and bones from the low back and upwards. In effect, you are setting out to exercise the muscles that defy the pull of gravity.

There is an added benefit of lifting weights: Packing on a bit of extra muscle helps keep that excess fatt you lost from coming back because healthy muscle burns calories like crazy when working out and even a little while at rest. The other benefit is the muscle will help fill out some of that loose skin such as is commonly seen on the upper arms of women who have lost weight.

You need to be doing some repetitive lifting that takes a weight from ground level to stretch above your head. Pages 111-112 of my book on back pain describes this exercise and how to do it safely. You can add all kinds of other exercises but these are optional. I prefer to use body weight, rather than machines. You can do exercises like kneeling press-ups and even just hanging from an overhead bar and lifting your legs in a reverse sit up. This exercise helps keep you tall and straight while conditioning the abdominals. I must make a You Tube video about this topic soon, so please keep a watch for it.

You do not need any expensive equipment for your weight training. Get a couple of discarded 2-4 liter plastic containers with handles handles from the supermarket and fill with either water or sand.
1 liter water = 1 kg weight.
Choose a weight you can lift about 15 times before losing form, then do 2-4 sets of about 14 repetitions between other exercises. Add a little more weight over the months as you get stronger. You never need more than about 4 kg per arm.

So; sore muscles are good for you!

Here is a well-written expression of the "party line" that is taken by most medical and physical conditioning experts about delayed onset muscle soreness:

"The good soreness that makes you stronger is called DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) and is caused by microscopic tears in your muscle fibers. It is not caused by lactic acid buildup. When muscles are damaged, they produce healing prostaglandins that cause muscles to become bigger and stronger than before they were exercised vigorously".

Gary Moller comments:
So, DOMS is "good soreness! This is rubbish. DOMS is not good for you.

For a start, the damage to healthy cells which you feel as pain, swelling and stiffness (DOMS), releases massive amounts of cell debris into the body. This debris is toxic to healthy cells, principally because it is rich with oxidants that damage the healthy tissue that is already depleted and exhausted following the workout. Flooding the body with oxidising toxins accelerates the ageing processes. This might be why excessive exercisers do not live as long as those who exercise moderately.

Recovery from exercise that causes DOMS takes from 2-5 days and further vigorous exercise within that period will delay recovery and may even lead to complete breakdown in the form of an injury or infection.

A further problem with doing too much exercise that causes DOMS is the steady loss of flexibility. As any long distance runner will ably demonstrate, the steady loss of flexibility causes the eventual grinding to a halt with passing years. This is because the repair process always has the damaged tiisue shorten and harden a little each time. Again, any runner will tell you that attempts at maintaining flexibility by stretching is painful futility. In fact, most runners give up, other than during token spells such as during injury time!

Exercise:
Take several people off the street and have them walk as fast as they can up the stairwell to the top of the tallest building you can get access to. Have them come down in the lift. Take another group and take them to the top of the building and have them walk quickly to the bottom. Contact them 2 days later and have them rate 0-10 any DOMS.

What you should discover is the group that walked up will report little or no DOMS than the other who will probably report being semi-crippled and this will last several days!

This demonstrates that not all exercise is the same; despite the walking down was far less strenuous, the strenuous walking up was far less damaging to the body. Furthermore, the down walkers, have significant losses of leg flexibility and this loss is lasting.

Conclusion:
Exercise that has the muscles actively resisting being lengthened (eccentric contractions) causes DOMS; whereas exercise that has the muscles actively shortening (concentric contractions) only has little or no DOMS. Activities that have high amounts of eccentric include: running, lifting and lowering weights, jumping and lunging. Activities that do not have much eccentric work include: swimming, paddling, cycling, pushing hydraulic exercise machines and walking on the flat.

Try cycling for example: With no preparation, go ride for as long and as hard as you can. The chances are you will have a really sore bum from the seat, a stiff neck and sore hands from a poor bike setup; but your thighs which you thrashed to a standstill will only be mildly sore and tired the following day. By day 2-3 you will be easily able to repeat the workout. Now, I would never suggest that you attempt the equivalent with eccentric-soaked running, would I?

Final Conclusion:
Not all exercise is the same and don't believe everything the experts say. Finally, if you want to slow the ageing process and to be physically active well into old age, I advise you to choose your exercises with care.

Working out in the gym - balance between cardio and strength training?

I am 51 & try to get to the gym 4 times a week. What balance between cardio & resistance training should I do?
Ron
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Gary Moller comments:
(This was first published on www.grownups.co.nz)
Ron,

• To improve an aspect of fitness, such as strength, you need to do three exercise sessions per week.
• To maintain an aspect of fitness, such as strength, you need to do two exercise sessions per week.
• A well structured cardio or strength training programme will have overlap of both.

If you work indoors, then cardio exercise is best done outdoors, even during the depths of winter, because bright sunlight and fresh air are essential for physical and mental health. This can be any form of exercise that has you puffing a little for 20 minutes or longer and can include a brisk walk to and from work weekdays and a long walk during the weekend.

So, to improve strength above where it is right now: do 3-4 gym workouts per week and do so for about six weeks. Do two quality cardio exercise sessions per week. Better still, walk to work daily.

After six weeks, reduce the gym work to 2-3 sessions per week and divert more energy into the outdoors cardio exercise for about 6 weeks.

After six weeks, switch the emphasis back to the gym. Body and mind will love these swings back and forth.

Set yourself goals that challenge and inspire. For example; your goal might be to walk the Tongariro crossing in 6 weeks time. Another might be to take your lover for a romantic paddle down the Wanganui River in springtime, so that you can show off your chiseled chest and paddling prowess!

Got the idea Ron?

Sunlight makes athletes stronger, faster and more precise

"If you are vitamin D deficient, the medical literature indicates that the right amount of vitamin D will make you faster, stronger, improve your balance and timing, etc. How much it will improve your athletic ability depends on how deficient you are to begin with. How good an athlete you will be depends on your innate ability, training, and dedication. However, peak athletic performance also depends upon the neuromuscular cells in your body and brain having unfettered access to the steroid hormone, activated vitamin D. In addition, how much activated vitamin D is available to your brain, muscle, and nerves depends on having ideal levels of vitamin D in your blood - about 50 ng/ml, to be precise". Quote from Dr John Cannell.

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Gary Moller comments:
To relate Dr Cannell's recommended levels to the usual NZ blood tests, here is the information you need.We have known for years that vitamin D deficiency in the elderly leads to muscle and bone weakness and poor cognitive performance that results in poor balance and stumbling, dementia and so on. It is therefore little surprise that boosting an athlete's vitamin D levels to optimum will bring about an imtprovement in strength, speed, agility, concentration and stamina. It also stands to reason that such athletes are more resistant to injury by having stronger bones and muscles.

To date, not a single sports person (Or anybody else for that matter) who has consulted me about a chronic health or injury problem has returned a blood test for vitamin D that is anywhere near optimum.

If you are in serious training and if you want to produce your best and most consistent performances then it makes such good sense to boost your vitamin D levels to optimum and then to keep it there year round. Here is one of the most important nutritional supplements and it is completely free!

I am currently a sophomore in a US high school and on the brink of breaking the 5 minute mile barrier. To break the barrier and then some, my winter track coach, who is also the director of XXX Accademy in XXX, strongly reccomends weight training. My coach provided an 8 week program. My only question is, should I continue my hard track training while proceeding with the program simultaneously?

Photo: a young Peter Snell running at a meet in Wanganui and smashing a mile record
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Gary Moller comments:

Well, do you actually need more speed to break your 5 min barrier?
Run 200m as fast as you can and then multiply by 8. If the total time is less than 5 min then you have mostly an endurance issue and not a speed/strength one.

If you can already run 200m significantly faster than your one mile pace, then you can do all the core exercises in the gym you like, plus leg presses etc and you will go no faster over a mile as a result of all that extra effort.

Having said this, I am not averse to lifting weights and doing various gym drills - I do some myself most days because it is important to have a strong, supple and well-balanced body to run efficiently and to remain injury free. Read this here. However; the fact of the matter is the only way to get better at running is to get out and run - smartly of course.

Strength training can be effectively done by doing various running drills. These drills develop the muscles and reflexes that are specific to running.

One of the greatest losses in modern running is that athletes have forgotten how to do drills that develop strength, balance and posture that are specific to running.

Please refer to my earlier article on this topic

About core strength for endurance athletes

This article is going to get me off-side with the strength and conditioning experts; but here goes.... Much is heard nowadays about "core strength". It appears that just about every sporting injury has the lack of core strength as a root cause and it seems every exercise programme must include a complex series of "core exercises" that are so difficult to do that the ongoing services of a personal trainer are required to do them safely. In the context of endurance sports like running and cycling, I believe the need for core strength is over-promoted to the point where it is detrimental to athletic performance.

Photo: Light weight, wiry strength and no bulk are key determinants of who wins

While an endurance athlete needs strong abs and back muscles, there is definitely no need for a thick "core" of trunk muscles that do nothing to improve forward propulsion and serve only to add excess weight that is an added strain to the heart and the legs.

What makes a middle and long distance runner, swimmer or cyclist faster is time spent doing the actual activity - time spent in the gym lifting weights or teetering on large balls for longer than about 30 minutes three times a week probably does not contribute to athletic performance. If the athlete has the time and the energy to spend longer in the gym then he or she is probably not doing enough of their "core" activity such as running.

My previous business partner (He was a nationally ranked runner with a 4min 01s mile PB) in the gym business and I were constantly bemused by all the hours spent by aspiring athletes doing advanced Swiss Ball exercises. It was a pity there was not an Olympic event for Swiss Balls!

Sure: Strong, mobile joints and muscles about the hips are essential for running and strength is needed about the trunk to maintain posture and to balance and transfer pushing, pulling and torsional forces between the upper and lower limbs. But it comes down to how much strength and bulk is needed and how it is developed and maintained. The best way to develop core strength that is sport-specific is resistance forms of the competition one is training for - so in kayaking, that might involve drills towing a bucket or sack; a runner may do hill bounds; a cyclist might do hill climbs -stomping a big gear and a swimmer might use hand paddles.

I have put together a guide for core exercises to develop core strength and good posture - exercises you do not neeed a university Degree to do safely. These exercises should require no more than about 30 minutes in the gym 3 times a week, including warm-up time. Any longer and you might be doing too much and you should be outside doing some real training!

How to prevent muscle cramp during an event like the Oxfam trailwalker 100km

"Dear Gary,
I have entered with a team into the Oxfam 100km trailwalker this April. I have suffered really bad muscle cramps in the past when doing long runs. Do you have any advice about diet and supplements during training to prevent this happening again?
Thanks"
Anon.
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Gary Moller comments:
I have had several enquiries like this one for advice from walkers and runners who have entered the Oxfam Trailwalker 100km April 14-15, 2007). The challenge of the Trailwalker is to complete 100kms in 36 hours as a team of four and raise funds to help some of the world's poorest people.

Whether you intend to walk or run the Oxfam Trailwalker 100km, it’s a gruelling challenge and the odds are that you and your team mates are going to suffer cramping of some kind. So, let’s concentrate this article on what you can do with diet and training to avoid being hampered by cramp during the event. Train your ability to use fat stores When doing an event like the Oxfam Trailwalker, you have near limitless supplies of body fat for energy; but very limited internal supplies of your other source of energy: glycogen. When your glycogen runs low, as it will no matter how you get from A to B with 100km between, you must rely increasingly upon your fat stores for the energy to keep going. However; this is not easy if you are a typical Kiwi who is never further than several metres from a food source. Not being used to digging deep into your fat stores during intense physical exercise will result in only one thing: dead in the water exhaustion and muscle cramps. You need to train your body to operate efficiently using its fat stores.

This means having your last meal about two hours before exercise and doing your longest training runs/walks of the week on water only. You should be steadily building up to being able to trot comfortably for about three hours once a week, or to walk at a steady clip for about four hours.

It is important to cut the junk carbohydrates out of your daily diet - sugar, white flour, corn syrup and so on and replace these with whole food sources like wholemeal bread, oats, Kumara, taro, yams and spuds. Whole foods sourced carbohydrates are digested more slowly, they contain more nutrients and cause less stress on metabolic regulators like the pancreas.
Consuming sweets, gels and sugary drinks while you are exercising will not allow your body to learn how to burn fat efficiently. My free e-book "Training for a Marathon" has more information about training endurance capacity (download from http://www.healthandlifestyle.co.nz/).

You may initially get intense carbohydrate cravings during your long training sessions. However, if you stick at it you will be delighted with the results: The cravings will diminish and you can maintain a steady clip for much longer. I have found that this takes at least three months to really kick in, so start now. Build your body's mineral stores while you still have time Barely a single modern person's diet is adequate in minerals. Our depleted agricultural soils and limited range of cultivated crops sees to that, as does our general aversion to eating organs like the liver and making mineral rich broths from beef bones. Magnesium and calcium are critical for health, including muscle function. It can take several months, if not a year or so of supplementation to build a depleted body's stores in muscles, bones and organs like the liver. Rich body stores of minerals are your defence against muscle cramps during events like the Oxfam Trailwalker. During the remaining weeks of your preparation I recommend that you take two tablets of Calcium Complete and two capsules of Magnesium Complete per day, spread over the day and with food.

Eat organ meats like liver and kidney and make beef bone soups that have the bones well and truly simmered to release the bone minerals. Eat your leafy vegetables. Take extra B vitamins, extra antioxidants and glutamine and boost vitamin D

Minerals and the B group of vitamins work together to keep muscles, nerves (and brain) working, so you need extra B vitamins on a daily basis when doing all of the training you must do in preparation for walking or trotting 100km. Take two Super B tablets per day with food.

Vitamin D is like a mineral magnet and without high levels in your body, your ability to uptake and use minerals like magnesium and calcium is seriously compromised (This is why sunlight deprivation causes disease like rickets, osteoporosis and muscles weakness). Its importance for health is frequently overlooked possibly because vitamin D is free and does not require a prescription.

You can also take additional antioxidants into your body to keep muscles resistant to damage by taking a daily antioxidant supplement. However, your main source of antioxidants is bright coloured fruit and veggies including berries. Dark berries like blueberries and black currant also provide some protection from sunburn which is important at this time of year. The amino acid Glutamine aids muscle repair and recovery. It is best taken before and after exercise.

Note: You can order the supplements referred to in this article from http://www.myotec.co.nz/ or you can find similar products from your local natural health store.

Mobility and toning exercises for runners

A distance runner needs to have good total body tone and mobility while not building excessive muscle bulk which is energy sapping weight when running.

Hot off the press is my latest workout for runners. It is a simple weight-free routine that covers the essential bases of a distance runner’s toning and mobility requirements. These can be incorporated into your pre-run/race warm up and cooling down routine. Make this routine a training session for easy exercise in the evenings and during rest days.

You can easily incorporate some of the other runner’s stretching exercises into this routine to make it even more comprehensive. Further exercises can be found in my book on Back Pain which is available from my online store here.

Here is the direct link to download this E-Publication

All about sex: The connection between libido and exercise

This is the second of several articles about Libido. While I am not an expert in such matters, here is my understanding of the exercise physiology that works behind the scenes.

Having spent 20 years in the gym industry there has been more than the occasional passing comment from clients that their sex lives have received a boost of energy and enjoyment after commencing a fitness programme. This sure has been the case where couples work out together. Let's look at some of the possible reasons:

A plumber's view of the penis The penis is like a mass of flexible pipes encased in a flexible casing. Blood flows in through the arteries and flows out via the veins. During arousal, the outflow is clamped off, causing the penis to balloon. It's as simple as that. How effectively this happens depends on the blood flow and the tone of the blood vessels. Decreasing cardiovascular health may reduce penile performance because:

• The power of the pump (heart) is insufficient to maintain a strong inflow into the penis.
• Arteries can become progressively clogged like a kitchen sink drain pipe that has had fat poured down it over the years, reducing blood flow
• There may be fewer of the prolific microscopic blood vessels in the flesh (capillaries)
• The blood vessel walls lose tone and flexibility and are therefore less able to fully constrict to cause and maintain an erection.

The urban myth of the sexual stamina of the long distance runner has some merits from a straight analysis of the workings of the body's plumbing. Endurance exercise strengthens the heart, tones the blood vessels and causes a proliferation of capillaries.

Testosterone: The Agressor Hormone A powerful libido factor at work in both men and women is declining testosterone levels with age. Testosterone has a direct effect on libido in both men and women, despite the commonly held belief that this "male" hormone is found only in men. As we all know, men have two brains and it is speculated that testosterone works on both. Testosterone levels peak during one's 20's and progressively declines over the following decades.

Vigorous exercise like sprinting and lifting heavy weights, that build muscle elevates testosterone levels. This applies to both men and women. The converse can be assumed: Deteriorating strength and muscle tone with inactivity will be associated with lowering testosterone levels. So, one way to counter natural reductions in testosterone production with ageing is to do explosive exercise and lift heavy weights.

Those who work out together, stay together Working out together, whether it is a run in the bush, or lifting weights is a bit like an extended foreplay session. Shared experiences - be they fun-filled, exciting, daring or a thrilling achievement like climbing a mountain peak or completing a half marathon - bring couples closer together with a shared exhilaration.

There's just something about hard bodies Its not just the extra testosterone or the better blood flow, or the feeling closer with your partner: Let's face it - a strong, toned body has a certain physical attraction for most and it generally works a lot better.

So here is Dr Sex's workout prescription for lasting libido:

• Do two long, slow endurance workputs per week (rowing, cycling, running, walking, swimming, hiking etc).
• Do a progressive weights lifting programme 2-3 times a week to build muscle.
• Take up an explosive, exhilarating physical activity with your partner like restricted full-contact boxing, karate, judo, netball, indoor soccer, badminton, squash, climbing, sprinting, shot-putting and do 2 times a week.
• Take weekly dancing classes with your partner.
• Make sure that you are having fun together when you are doing these.
• Then, if you have any time and energy left after doing all of the above; make love!

A final piece of advice: Use it, or lose it! Every organ in the body (male or female), be that brain, penis, muscles, bones or heart; responds to how it is being used by strengthening those functions that receive the most use, while reducing the functions that recieve the least. So, if your penis is going the way of the vestigial Appendix, you now know what you have to do - give it a regular workout like any other muscle 2-3 times a week.

The next article is about nutrition. In the meantime, start working on the fitness, if you are not already.

New Product added- Balance Effervescent Glutamine Powder - Lemon / Lime 500g

I have added this new product to the www.myotec.co.nz store.

Glutamine contributes 80% of the free nitrogen found in the body and is the most abundant amino acid in muscle tissue. During periods of heavy training, an increased demand for glutamine throughout the body results in the depletion of stores from muscle tissue and a consequent loss of muscle mass.

Special Features

• Helps preserve muscle glutamine levels
• Supports new muscle growth and repair
• Reduces muscle catabolism
• Improves endurance and stamina
• Improves absorption of other nutrients
• Helps prevent build up of harmful ammonia
• Reduces recovery time

Why do I keep going on about magnesium?

Magnesium deficiency is widespread in all populations, including athletes. I first twigged to the importance of magnesium years ago when some researchers began administering it to heart attack victims upon entering emergency departments to see if it helped survival.

Magnesium deficiency contributes to high or erratic blood pressure, heart disease, poor circulation and muscle cramps. It calms the nerves.

When is magnesium deficiency suspected?
Magnesium deficiency should be suspected if any person has developed cardiovascular problems, muscle cramps, tendon problems, back and neck pain, fibromyalgia, stress, anxiety and nervous twitches. Incidentally, it is often associated with vitamin D (sunlight) deficiency. Many of the ailments I come across are cardiovascular and muscular in nature. Magnesium deficiency is suspected in many cases as a significant contributing factor. Sometimes the improvement from a few simple measures, including magnesium (and other mineral) supplementation is spectacular.

Is it more common nowadays?
We don't really know; however, we know much more about the importance of magnesium and there is good reason to think it is more common nowadays. For a start, we are living longer and older people don't eat as much or absorb nutrients quite as well as they did when young.

Magnesium deficiency is more likely nowadays because of our refined foods diet and the fact our vegetables are gown on intensively cultivated lands that have about 70% less trace minerals in them than 50 years ago (This is a good reason for growing your own veggies and feeding them with composted seaweed). Mineral water is often a good source of magnesium, but not so in most filtered water and zero in distilled water. Sea salt contains trace minerals, including magnesium. Processed salt (sodium chloride) has no trace minerals worth considering.

Sweat increases magnesium loss, so a person working or exercising for long periods in hot conditions has larger than usual needs for dietary magnesium. Topping up an athlete’s depleted magnesium stores will give a significant gain in both power and endurance and is the principal way to prevent muscle cramping.

How much magnesium do you need to keep healthy?
If deficiency is suspected, I recommend taking up to 800mg supplementary magnesium per day for three months. This is combined with other minerals, including calcium. After three months this can drop to less than 400mg.

Magnesium is stored in the organs, including the muscle and bones. While it is easy to boost blood levels in a day or so, it can take many months to build body stores. This is why I recommend a period of deliberate supplementation before backing off and then relying principally on diet.

Why don’t we hear more about the importance of magnesium?
The answer is simple, as well as disturbing: magnesium is dirt cheap and does not require a medical prescription. It is just like sunlight (vitamin D) which gets little or no promotion. This is despite the overwhelming evidence of the health benefits of magnesium for conditions like heart disease and ragged nerves.

There is no money to be made out of magnesium; whereas there is billions to be made out of all manner of heart drugs for example. You get it in your water, cheap sea salt and in your veggies. A course of magnesium supplementation costs just $10-15.