Does Magnesium absorb other vitamins?
I'm pregnant and taking Magnesium in addition to other vitamins and wonder if it absorbs my other vitamins thereby reducing nutrition? I take a prebiotic along with prenatal vitamins, DHA fish oil, a folic acid, B12 & Vita D3 both sublingual as well as a magnesium. Anyone know if taking this together interferes with absorption? Thanks!
Thanks for responding but FYI ...
Magnesium is needed to prevent miscarriage when there is too early contractions. You need more when pregnant, throwing up for months generally means you're deficient. Minerals can and do interact with many other meds. There's no info on it's interaction with vitamins because vitamins and minerals are not FDA regulated or studied. Thanks for taking the time to try to help though.
Yes, these supplements were recommended by my OB. After a late mid trimester miscarriage at 16 wks not due to chromosomal issues I was suggested these supplements by my OB. I am mostly vegetarian but eat some fish, hence the B12, D3 because I'm on bed rest and no sun exposure. The prenatal and DHA is highly recommended by all OB's. The magnesium however, may reduce uterine contractions and due to the previous miscarriage, it is suggested. It is given in hospitals when women show signs of premature labor, a possibility in my case. My concern is severe vomiting (3-5x's day) and not absorbing ANY nutrients. Hoping that at least these supplements offer something and prevent the reason for miscarriage before. It is thought my son's water broke due to placental abruption but it not known.
November 3rd, 2010 - 14:11
Hi Joie. Even though most of the answer by the Skeptical doctor was accurate, some of it is absolutely incorrect, so I gave it a thumbs down.
Attached is a link to a major scientific paper in one of the world’s top medical journals (The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) by one of the world’s leading experts in nutritional biochemistry (Dr. Bruce Ames, former chairman of the dept. of biochemistry at U.C. Berkeley). If you click on table 1 in the article you will see that 56% of American adults do NOT consume adequate amounts of Magnesium.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1693790/?tool=pubmed
I don’t know why the skeptical doctor does not read the scientific research, but you need to know that his answer is incorrect on this issue. Most Americans do not get enough magnesium from their diet. You can also see from the table that many other nutrients are commonly deficient as well.
The skeptical doctor is correct in stating that magnesium does not interfere with the absorption of other nutrients. However, there is a caveat to even this simple statement. Because magnesium supplements can induce diarrhea, if that occurs a lot of nutrients can be lost to the diarrhea.
Best wishes and good luck with your baby.
November 3rd, 2010 - 14:11
Magnesium is a mineral, not a vitamin. It doesn’t "absorb" anything, vitamins included.
Magnesium isn’t usually a common dietary deficiency and we most commonly see low levels in chronic alcoholics and otherwise severely malnourished.
It is not usually recommended for pregnancy, but here’s a list of vitamins and minerals that are.
http://www.webmd.com/baby/guide/prenatal-vitamins
EDIT The article Doctor J links to is a small study of the theoretical roles of various micronutrients. While interesting at a "basic research" level, it does not actually have any clinical relevance and there is no evidence that pregnant women are any more at risk of magnesium deficiency than anyone else. The prestige of the author is also irrelevant, that is the fallacy of "argument from authority". There are thousands of similar articles published in hundreds of scientific journals every year. Proceedings of the NAC is not a terribly prestigious journal, it is not peer reviewed, but publishes mostly one offs, and opinion pieces, summaries of research etc. And no, I don’t read most of them…nobody does except other research scientists. Get back to me in a decade when the clinical evidence is there as well. No single study, especially at a theoretical, cellular level should make a difference in clinical practice guidelines.
I gave him a thumbs down for a smarmy and pedantic answer that doesn’t actually prove what he thinks it does. Yes, an excess of magnesium will cause diarrhea…that was not the question.
November 3rd, 2010 - 14:11
You’re pumping a heck of a lot of weird and unnatural supplements into that baby! Hopefully this is on a doctor’s advice and you haven’t just read this ‘advice’ on some silly website set up for advertising revenue? Does the pregnancy vitamins already contain folic acid (i.e. are you overdosing on folic acid?)
You should be getting your nutrients from a proper diet, god knows how healthy babies were born before the advent of the pharmaceutical-driven supplement industry!