Rivlin · Journal of the American College of Nutrition 1994 · narrative review · n=?

Magnesium deficiency and alcohol intake: mechanisms, clinical significance and possible relation to cancer development (a review).

Cited 56 times in the scientific literature.

Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data

Narrative review without systematic search methodology or original data

PubMed 7836619 · doi:10.1080/07315724.1994.10718430 · record verified 2026-08-28

What was done

A narrative review of published evidence investigating the mechanisms and clinical consequences of magnesium deficiency related to acute and chronic alcohol consumption, potential therapeutic interventions, and cancer risk.

What was found

The abstract reports no numerical values, sample sizes, or effect estimates. It qualitatively describes that acute alcohol intake promotes rapid urinary magnesium excretion, chronic alcoholism depletes body magnesium stores, and end-stage alcoholism leads to reduced urinary magnesium excretion as a compensatory response. It also notes potential therapeutic benefits of magnesium administration in alcoholism.

Why it matters

This review outlines the physiological mechanisms linking alcohol use to magnesium depletion and highlights magnesium supplementation as a possible clinical and preventive strategy.

Limits

This is a narrative review without systematic search criteria or meta-analytic pooling. No numerical data, patient counts, or empirical evidence evaluating cancer outcomes are provided in the abstract.

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