FoundMyFitness · 2024-03-19 · Rhonda Patrick (host)
The Science of Magnesium and Its Role in Aging and Disease
63 claims checked against research: 3 contradicted 1 overstated 4 needing context 47 supported 8 unverified
3 Contradicted by research
Noise exposure stress decreases magnesium levels in humans and causes urinary magnesium excretion to peak within a few hours and remain elevated for up to two days.
"This was done in people that were impacted, they were affected by noise exposure, so they had been subjected to noise exposure, and their magnesium levels, of course, went down after the post after the noise exposure, and their urinary excretion peaked after a few hours, and it continued for up to two days." (said at 0:26:23)
The claim refers to human experimental research on noise exposure and magnesium balance, but misstates the direction of acute serum magnesium changes. In a study of 25 healthy volunteers exposed to industrial noise (average 98 dB(A)), acute noise stress caused serum magnesium levels to significantly increase (rather than decrease) immediately following exposure. This acute rise was accompanied by significantly increased urinary magnesium excretion that persisted for the following 2 days. Because the speaker stated that magnesium levels decreased after noise exposure rather than increasing in serum, this portion of the claim is contradicted by the published trial.
Glutamine synthetase requires magnesium to convert glutamate into ammonia and glutamine to prevent excitotoxicity.
"It's also important for another enzyme called glutamine synthetase. So this enzyme, it enables the conversion of glutamate into ammonia and glutamine, and magnesium is required for the appropriate function of this enzyme because—and this is really critical—because maintaining that glutamate-to-glutamine balance in the brain is important for preventing excitotoxicity." (said at 0:39:11)
The speaker misstates the biochemical reaction catalyzed by glutamine synthetase. Glutamine synthetase uses magnesium (or other divalent cations) to combine glutamate and ammonia into glutamine (consuming both neurotoxic glutamate and cytotoxic ammonia), rather than converting glutamate into ammonia and glutamine. The reverse reaction (converting glutamine into glutamate and ammonia) is catalyzed by the enzyme glutaminase. While magnesium is indeed a cofactor for glutamine synthetase and the conversion of extracellular glutamate to glutamine by astrocytes is crucial to prevent excitotoxicity, the reaction direction and substrates were incorrectly described.
Over a lifetime, people lose nearly half of the magnesium content in their bones.
"In fact, over a lifetime, nearly half of the magnesium content of bone is lost in people, and there's some evidence that suggests that this magnesium loss in the bones over decades contributes to osteoporosis." (said at 0:55:36)
Studies analyzing elemental bone composition across the lifespan show that bone magnesium concentration remains relatively stable and does not decrease by nearly half over a lifetime. In postmortem human bone analysis across various age groups, magnesium concentration in cancellous bone showed no significant correlation with age in healthy individuals, and showed only slight decreases with increasing age in individuals with chronic immobilizing diseases. While overall bone mass decreases with age and osteoporosis (which reduces absolute amounts of all bone minerals), there is no evidence that humans lose nearly 50% of their bone magnesium content as a standard feature of aging.
Unverified means no publication matching the claim was located; it does not prove the claim false. Spotted an error? See the corrections policy - disputes from the people quoted are prioritized.