Does Magnesium Deficiency Cause Diabetes?

Diabetes is a chronic condition characterized by abnormally high levels of glucose in the blood. The onset of diabetes is linked with multiple causes including excessive eating of sugary foods, low to zero activity levels, and magnesium deficiency. Although magnesium deficiency can cause several complications, high glucose levels, sleeplessness, muscle spasms are major side effects.

Risk factors of magnesium deficiency

Our body is naturally tuned to excrete anything extra in our bloodstream, including magnesium. But certain factors can inhibit or slow the body’s ability to get rid of unnecessary substances. A person having any of the following in daily lifestyle is at the risk of being magnesium deficient.

1.    Use of Diuretics

Diuretics are a class of drugs that are recommended in people with less urinary excretion. These kinds of drugs tend to enhance the excretory effect of the kidney, which ultimately leads to the loss of water-soluble contents, as well. Therefore, a person who is using diuretic medications can be at the risk of developing a magnesium deficiency.

2.    GI Diseases

Different GIT disorders cause disturbance in the normal absorbance of different nutrients. Diseases like Celiac Disease, Crohn’s Disease, and Chronic Diarrhea can impair the intestinal absorption of magnesium and other nutrients.

3.    Age

Age is also a leading factor in the depletion of many nutrients, and magnesium is also one. With passing years of life, our body goes through a lot of physical and physiological changes, and because of that digestion & absorption of nutrients become slow. This leads to excessive excretion, thus can create a huge gap in nutrient content in our body stores.

4.    Insufficient Dietary Intake of Magnesium

Another very common but alarming risk factor of magnesium deficiency is the poor intake of dietary magnesium. Whenever our body gets deficient in something, it begins to extract and utilize that particular nutrient from body stores, consequently causing a decline in the levels of that nutrient.

How magnesium deficiency is linked with diabetes?

Magnesium is involved in the proper signaling of insulin in the body. However, only a long-term magnesium deficiency is responsible for the onset of Type 2 Diabetes but it generally tends to develop since childhood. Magnesium, as an important co-factor, is involved in hundreds of enzymatic reactions including Insulin regulation and carbohydrate metabolism.

What can help overcome magnesium deficiency?

To overcome magnesium deficiency, it is generally recommended to chew on magnesium-rich foods. Foods like spinach, nuts (cashews, peanuts, and almonds), bananas, and dark green vegetables contain a healthy amount of dietary magnesium. So, a person having all these foods daily may not be at the risk of developing a magnesium deficiency.

But the absorption of magnesium from these foods is sometimes not enough to fulfill the daily requirement of this nutrient. Therefore, healthcare professionals also encourage the use of high-quality dietary supplements to overcome the severe deficiency of magnesium.

References:

•    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4549665/

•    https://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/65/1/3

•    https://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/28/5/1175

•    https://cjasn.asnjournals.org/content/2/2/366

•    https://www.healthline.com/health/hypomagnesemia#complications