Getting enough magnesium in your diet could help prevent
diabetes, a new study suggests.
People who consumed the most magnesium in foods and from
vitamin supplements were about half as likely to develop diabetes over the next
20 years as people who took in the least magnesium, Dr. Ka He of the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and colleagues found.
The results may explain in part why consuming whole grains,
which are high in magnesium, is also associated with lower diabetes risk.
However, large clinical trials testing the effects of magnesium on diabetes
risk are needed to determine whether a causal relationship truly exists, the
researchers note in Diabetes Care.
It's plausible that magnesium could influence diabetes risk
because the mineral is needed for the proper functioning of several enzymes
that help the body process glucose, the researchers point out. Studies of
magnesium and diabetes risk have had conflicting results, though.
To investigate the link, the researchers looked at magnesium
intake and diabetes risk in 4,497 men and women 18 to 30 years old, none of
whom were diabetic at the study's outset. During a 20-year follow-up period,
330 of the subjects developed diabetes.
People with the highest magnesium intake, who averaged about
200 milligrams of magnesium for every 1,000 calories they consumed, were 47
percent less likely to have developed diabetes during follow up than those with
the lowest intakes, who consumed about 100 milligrams of magnesium per 1,000
calories.
He and colleagues also found that as magnesium intake rose,
levels of several markers of inflammation decreased, as did resistance to the
effects of the key blood-sugar-regulating hormone insulin. Higher blood levels
of magnesium also were linked to a lower degree of insulin resistance.
"Increasing magnesium intake may be important for
improving insulin sensitivity, reducing systemic inflammation, and decreasing
diabetes risk," He and colleagues write. "Further large-scale
clinical trials are needed to establish causal inference and elucidate the mechanisms
behind this potential benefit."
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