Saturday June 15, 2013 (foodconsumer.org) -- A new study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that eating magnesium rich foods or taking magnesium supplements may help reduce the risk for cardiovascular disease including ischemic heart disease.

The study led by Liana C Del Gobbo from Harvard School of Public Health in Boston MA and colleagues shows that increasing serum magnesium by 0.2 mmol/L was associated with 30% reduced risk for cardiovascular disease.

Clinical hypomagnesemia (low magnesium) has been associated with increased risk for cardiac arrhythmias.  The current review and meta-analysis, which was based on 16 previous studies selected out of 2303 articles, was intended to examine how circulating or dietary magnesium affects the risk of cardiovascular disease including fatal ischemic heart disease (IHD).

In addition to the inverse association between circulating magnesium and risk of cardiovascular disease, the researchers also found those who had high levels of circulating magnesium were 17% less likely to suffer ischemic heart disease and 39% less likely to be diagnosed with fatal ischemic heart disease, compared with those who had low levels of circulating magnesium.

The study also found that dietary magnesium intake was inversely associated with the risk of cardiovascular disease.  Increasing magnesium intake per day by 200 mg per day was associated with 11% reduced risk for cardiovascular disease, but the risk reduction was considered insignificant.  

However, 200 mg per day of magnesium was associated with 22% reduced risk for ischemic heart disease.   It should be noted, according to the study, that the association between high intake of magnesium and risk of ischemic heart disease was not linear.  It reduced the risk by 27% when the daily intake of magnesium was up to 250 mg per day.

The researchers concluded "Circulating and dietary magnesium are inversely associated with CVD (cardiovascular disease) risk, which supports the need for clinical trials to evaluate the potential role of magnesium in the prevention of CVD and IHD (ischemic heart disease)."

The circulating magnesium concentration may simply be a biomarker to indicate how much plant-based foods a person uses.  The study may actually suggest that eating plant-based foods or diet reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease because magnesium is found high in plant-based foods, but not in foods derived from animals such meat and dairy products.

Early studies have shown or suggested that a plant-based diet can stop the progression or even reverse coronary heart disease, diabetes and even cancer.

Foods that are rich in magnesium include legumes such as navy beans, tempeh, pinto beans, kidney beans and lima beans, nuts and seeds such as pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, cashews, almonds. (reporting by David Liu, PHD)