Research appearing in Archives of Internal Medicine (March 10, 2008;168(5):469–476) examined magnesium intake in more than 26,000 Finnish men between the ages of 50 and 69. Magnesium intake was tracked for 14 years. Men with the highest dietary magnesium intake had a 15% lower risk of stroke (cerebral infarction) compared with those with the lowest intake.
This finding is biologically plausible given the established relationship between magnesium and blood pressure regulation. Research published in Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases (April 7, 2009) investigated the effects of magnesium supplementation on insulin sensitivity and blood pressure in 155 overweight adults. Subjects were randomly assigned to receive either 300 mg of magnesium per day or a placebo.
Magnesium supplementation did not improve insulin sensitivity, but it did significantly reduce blood pressure in participants who were hypertensive at baseline. After 12 weeks, systolic blood pressure decreased by an average of 5.6 mm Hg and diastolic blood pressure by approximately 2 mm Hg in the magnesium group. No blood pressure changes were observed in subjects who had normal blood pressure at the start of the study.
