Magnesium is the fourth most abundant mineral in the human body and is essential to good health. In our bones we have around 50% of total body magnesium but in our blood we have only 1% of magnesium. It's a small part but very important for people's health. Magnesium is needed for more than 300 biochemical reactions in the body. Magnesium helps people in many ways - regulate blood sugar level, keeps the heart rhythm and immune system and keeps bones strong. There is one really interesting role of magnesium - to manage disorders such as hypertension, disease, and diabetes.
Sometimes we called the magnesium "macromineral," which means that our food must provide us with hundreds of milligrams of magnesium every day. Inside us we have magnesium not only in our bones but in the muscles (25%), and in other cell types and body fluids. But we can't make magnesium in our body, we provide it through food and water.
Magnesium is sometimes regarded as a "smoothie" mineral, since it has the ability to relax our muscles. Our nerves also depend up on magnesium to avoid becoming overexcited.
Functions of magnesium are really important for us. There are functions like: bone function, nerve and muscle relaxation and others. About two thirds of all magnesium in our body is found in our bones. Researchers have discovered that bone magnesium has two very different roles to play in our health - to give the physical structure of the bone and to stay on the surface of the bone. This surface magnesium doesn't appear to be involved in the bone's structure, but instead acts as a storage site for magnesium which the body can draw upon in times of poor dietary supply. Magnesium regulates the body's nerve and muscle tone. In many nerve cells, magnesium serves as a chemical gate blocker - as long as there is enough magnesium around, calcium can't rush into the nerve cell and activate the nerve. The nerve is kept relaxed. If our diet provides us with too little magnesium, this gate blocking can fail and the nerve cell can become over activated. So, the nerve cells message to the muscles to activate them and muscles become over activated, too. This thing explain how magnesium deficiency can trigger muscle tension, muscle spasms, muscle cramps, and muscle fatigue. Many chemical reactions in the body are provoked by enzymes. They are special proteins that help trigger chemical reactions. Over 300 different enzymes in the body require magnesium in order to function. That is the other important magnesium function - to involve in the metabolism of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. It helps genes function properly. The metabolic role of magnesium is so diverse that it is difficult to find a body system that is not affected by magnesium deficiency. Our cardiovascular system, nervous system, muscles, kidneys, hormone-secreting glands, liver and brain all rely on magnesium for their metabolic function.