Magnesium May Benefit Blood Pressure in Hypertensives
Lee Swanson Research Update
Supplemental magnesium may reduce blood pressure in people with high blood pressure, but seemingly normal magnesium levels, says a new study from Korea.
On the other hand, the supplements had no effect on the blood pressure measurements of normo-tensive individuals, according to findings published in Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Disease.
"These findings suggest that magnesium supplementation may help prevent the progression of hypertension in normo-magnesemic non-diabetic overweight people with higher BP, although mechanisms of counter-regular preventing further BP increase remain to be elucidated," wrote the researchers from Pusan National University.
The study adds to findings from epidemiological studies, which reported that more magnesium, potassium and calcium may reduce the risk of hypertension in certain populations.
High blood pressure (hypertension), defined as having a systolic and diastolic blood pressure great than 140 and 90 mmHg, is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
Since very little is known about how magnesium may affect blood pressure in healthy individuals, the researchers recruited 155 people to take part in a double-blinded, placebo-controlled, randomized trial. The subjects, who had an average BMI of 23 kg/m2, were randomly assigned to receive either daily supplements of 300 mg of elemental magnesium in the magnesium oxide form or placebo for 12 weeks.
At the end of the study, no significant differences were observed between the magnesium or placebo groups. However, when the researchers looked specifically at hypertensives, significant decreases in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure were observed in the magnesium group (17.1 and 3.4 mmHg, respectively), compared to placebo (6.7 and 0.8 mmHg, respectively).
Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Disease Published online ahead of print.
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