Dietary Magnesium: New Research

Magnesium is the fourth most abundant mineral in the body and is essential to good health. Approximately 50 per cent of total body magnesium is found in bone. The other half is found predominantly inside cells of body tissues and organs. Only 1 per cent of magnesium is found in blood, but the body works very hard to keep blood levels of magnesium constant. Magnesium is needed for more than 300 biochemical reactions in the body. It helps maintain normal muscle and nerve function, keeps heart rhythm steady, supports a healthy immune system, and keeps bones strong.

Trends in Dietary Carbohydrates Research

Carbohydrates are present in food comprising of digestible sugars and starches and indigestible cellulose and other dietary fibres. The former are the major source of energy. The sugars are in beet and cane sugar, fruits, honey, sweet corn, corn syrup, milk and milk products, etc.; the starches are in cereal grains, legumes, tubers, etc. In patients with hepatic forms of porphyria, a person should consume at least 350 mg of carbohydrate per day, or the carbohydrates should make up 60-65 per cent of the daily consumption. 

Univ. of Vermont, Burlington. Comprehensive and current clinically based resource for physicians and residents. Covers background, rationale for optimal glycemia control in diabetes and standards of care, injection/glucose-monitoring equipment, dietary practices, application of principles, and prevention and therapy.

This single-source reference draws together the current knowledge of the vitamins' biological properties in the context of human nutrition. Vitamins are co-enzymes, antioxidants or precursors of hormones and are therefore involved in a great many biochemical and physiological processes. They play a vital role in the maintenance of health, and there is evidence that dietary sources of vitamins have beneficial effects in the prevention of heart-related diseases, bone diseases and possibly cancer.