--
Diabetes and magnesium: Can this mineral help improve blood sugars?
Keeping your blood sugars in range can be a full-time job. You may feel like you're already doing everything you can to take care of your diabetes. But what if optimizing your body's magnesium level could give you an edge? We'll discuss the potential benefits of dietary magnesium, which types of magnesium are most beneficial for people with diabetes, and tips for getting more magnesium in your daily diet.
Diabetes and magnesium: what are the benefits?
For almost thirty years, researchers have known that people living with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes experience low blood levels of magnesium (hypomagnesemia) more often than people who don't live with diabetes. We also know that supplementing with magnesium can significantly improve hemoglobin A1c levels in people living with type 1 diabetes (t1d). In 2017, a study found that giving children with t1d a magnesium supplement for three months reduced their average hemoglobin A1c level from 10.1 milligrams per deciliter to 7.9 milligrams per deciliter.
Not only can your magnesium level affect your blood glucose level but it can also play a role in protecting you from the complications of diabetes. Magnesium supplementation can improve your HDL (commonly known as "good cholesterol"). It can delay the progression of neuropathy, prevent kidney damage, and improve depression as well. Taking a magnesium supplement is an easy and inexpensive action with a great potential payoff.
Which magnesium supplement is best for people living with diabetes?
There are several different forms of magnesium available for supplementation.
- Magnesium Chloride: A study published in Diabetes Care showed that (among people with type 2 diabetes) supplementation with 2.5 grams of magnesium chloride daily decreased fasting blood glucose and hemoglobin A1c by 37 and 30 percent, respectively.
- Magnesium Citrate: When compared with magnesium oxide, magnesium citrate is more readily absorbed by the body, making it a superior choice.
The U.S. Recommended Dietary Allowance (U.S. RDA) for magnesium is approximately 400 milligrams for men and 310 milligrams for women. (Specific U.S. RDAs vary by age levels.) If you choose to use a supplement, take no more than the RDA of magnesium or any other nutrient, unless your physician recommends a higher dose for your specific situation.
Best food sources of magnesium
Magnesium is found in a wide variety of foods. It can also be found in water, but the magnesium content of water varies according to the source. To increase your magnesium intake, try eating more of these magnesium-rich foods:
- Pumpkin seeds
- Almonds
- Black beans
- Peanuts
- Hazelnuts
- Sunflower seeds
- Spinach
- Lima beans
- Plantains
As you can see from this list, your best bet for improving blood sugars by including more magnesium in your diet is to aim for a whole-foods, plant-based approach including nuts, seeds, legumes, and leafy greens.
When you think about how to get better blood sugars, your mineral intake may not be the first thing that pops into your head. But diabetes and magnesium intake are definitely related. Magnesium can be just one more tool to help you effectively manage your blood sugars.
Want more nutrition strategies for taking great care of your health with diabetes? Take a look at this article, 5 nutrition strategies for a healthy heart when living with T1D.
