Heart Health

Nutritious Diet will keep the ticker pumping

 

Published May 17, 2003 in the North Island Weekender

 

Whenever I hear of a person in their teens or early twenties dying suddenly as if from a cardiac event, especially while playing sports, I wonder what their nutrition status was. With the prevalent ingestion of nutrient-poor food, it is very likely that many young people of today are very deficient in magnesium, potassium and calcium to name just a few minerals. In my practice magnesium is one of the most common deficiencies I see. Most everyone needs a good calcium and magnesium supplement and when taken on a regular basis the following symptoms improve: blood pressure, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, migraines headaches, restless leg syndrome, calcium oxalate kidney stones, asthma, osteoporosis, premenstrual syndrome, urinary frequency, diabetes, hypoglycemia, chronic lung disease, complications of pregnancy and alcohol withdrawal. The dosage needs to be in the 500mg range and the best is a citrate or citrate malate combination in a capsule or liquid but not tablets (most tablets are harder to break down and absorb). The only oral toxicity reaction is diarrhea if the patient is taking too much. Often I will have patients take magnesium until they get diarrhea as that is their body tolerance for it and then back off by a few milligrams and maintain that dosage.

The following drugs deplete magnesium: thiazide diuretics, some antibiotics, some chemotherapeutic drugs, cyclosporine, cortisone, digoxin, some asthma medications and chronic laxative use. Magnesium requirements increase when the diet is high in protein, fat, refined sugar or alcohol, hence perhaps why we see young people dying of cardiac events.

Magnesium will calm the heart muscle making it less irritable and is used in the treatment of acute heart attack to reduce the incidence of fatal heart irregularities. It is also used in angina, congestive heart failure, other heart irregularities and intermittent claudication (painful calf muscle while walking).

Magnesium deficiency causes fatigue, depression, anxiety, irritability, insomnia, hyperventilation, muscle spasms, chest tightness, confusion and memory loss.

Hiliary age 55 was post-menopausal. She complained of insomnia, restless legs at night, migraine headaches that had worsened since her period stopped, elevated cholesterol, anxiety and increasing body pain. Her fatigue got in the way of her ability to be more physically active in her garden. She has a glass of wine with every dinner and more on the weekends and she had a family history of diabetes.  On physical exam I found her blood pressure to be slightly abnormal at 140/80.  Her blood work showed that her fasting blood sugar was on the wrong side of normal at 5.5 and her tryglycerides were 2.2 which indicates that she was heading towards diabetes. As with most post menopausal women I wanted to know what her bone density was and we learned that she was osteopenic, the stage before osteoporosis. This surprised her as there was no osteoporosis in her family. I explained to her that I felt it was a deficiency disease and recommended an excellent calcium magnesium mineral supplement as well as a B complex. I recommended a general anti-inflammatory diet consisting of mainly fruits and vegetables, fish, organic poultry, and excluding anything white including alcohol. I also recommended one tablespoon of purified cod liver oil to help with her blood fats, joints and osteopenia. With these simple suggestions she began to sleep better within one month, her energy improved, her headaches disappeared, her body pain improved significantly and she saw a lowering of her blood pressure and blood sugars. The following year her DEXA scan showed a slight increase in her bone density. Magnesium can improve all of these symptoms very easily and inexpensively. If only it was still in our soils we would see many fewer medical complaints! Please make sure a good quality magnesium is part of your life long supplemental program!

Dr. Pincott has been practicing naturopathic medicine since 1985 and is currently practicing in Campbell River. She can be reached at (250) 286-3655 or www.DrPincott.com