By David Liu, PHD

Saturday Nov 10, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- A study recently published in Journal of Hypertension suggests that lower intake of magnesium may boost risk of hypertension or commonly known as high blood pressure.

Magnesium deficiency can lead to muscle weakness, tremor, or spasm, heart arrhythmia, irregular contraction, or increased heart rate, softened or weakened bone, imbalanced blood sugar levels, headaches, in addition to high blood pressure, according to early studies.

The current Indian study led by Natesan Chidambaram and colleagues found hypertensive men and women had significantly lower ratio of magnesium to creatinine in their urine compared to those who did not have high blood pressure.

The authors said in their report  that a study called CARDIAC study, which enlisted participants from 25 countries representing 61 populations had already demonstrated that 24-hour urinary magnesium excretion was inversely associated with cardiometabolic disease risks like obesity, high blood pressure, and hypercholesteremia among other things.

The current study adopted the WHO-coordinated CARDIAC protocol to examine the association between body mass index, blood pressure with measurements of certain urinary biomarkers in 180 men and women aged 30 to 59 from the community of Chidambaram, India.

The average systolic and diastolic blood pressure and the average BMI in men and women were generally higher than those found in CARDIAC Study populations.

The researchers then divided participants into two groups with one  hypertensive or having blood pressure equal or greater than 140/90, and the other non-hypertensive.

Excretion of sodium chloride or NaCl and the ratio of sodium to potassium (Na/K ratio) was not significantly different between the two groups.

However, men and women with high blood pressure or hypertension had a much lower ratio of magnesium to creatinine in their urine samples, compared to those who did not have hypertension, 68 mg/g in hypertensive men and women vs. 112 mg/g in non-hypertensive men and women.

The researchers concluded "Marked Mg intake reduction may be related to hypertension in Indian vegetarians whose Mg (magnesium) intakes are decreased because of their changes in dietary customs to eat polished grains commonly."

Actually clinical trials have already shown that taking magnesium supplements may cause a small, yet clinically significant reduction in blood pressure.

Researchers from the University of Hertfordshire analysed data from previous studies and found that taking a magnesium supplement in a dose ranging from 120 to 973 mg for three to 24 weeks reduced both systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

The researchers reported in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition that the antihypertensive effect of magnesium is dose responsive, meaning that higher dosages result in a greater reduction in blood pressure.

Food consumers who do not want to take magnesium supplements should eat a lot of vegetables.