Children’s Health, Diabetes Type 2 and Magnesium

Diabetes is a disease that is characterized by high blood sugar levels and is associated with a high risk of heart related complications and heart disease.

Insulin is the hormone that helps with the regulation of glucose (sugar) metabolism. Glucose is the basic fuel burned by all of the body’s cells and is vital to life. In order for glucose to be used it must first get into the cells. Insulin is the hormone secreted by the pancreas, that enables glucose to move from the blood into the cells where it can be used for energy. Magnesium is needed for insulin to deliver glucose into the cells.

Type I Diabetes

In people with diabetes, this system has broken down. With type I diabetes insulin is not produced in adequate amounts causing blood glucose to rise to dangerous and even lethal levels if insulin is not administered. The kidneys must excrete the excess glucose, which causes the kidneys to also eliminate magnesium which leads to a deficiency in magnesium and a further risk of heart disease and heart related complications.

People with type I diabetes need and respond to insulin injections. They also need magnesium supplementation to avoid the higher risk of heart disease.

Type II Diabetes

People with type II diabetes produce plenty of insulin, but their cells do not respond to it, their muscle and fat cells cannot take in normal amounts of glucose from the blood. Their glucose delivery to their cells is blocked even though they secrete enough insulin. This condition is called insulin resistance. Magnesium is needed for insulin to bring glucose into the cells, therefore it follows that a deficiency in magnesium in the cells would be a contributing factor to if not a cause of insulin resistance.

The incidence of type II diabetes is growing as the consumption of modern processed foods increases throughout the world. While this disease has a genetic component, it mostly becomes visible after years of living on a processed food diet that is high in refined foods, including sugar and low magnesium. When such a lifestyle results in a low magnesium content within the cells, the cells become resistant to insulin so that glucose cannot enter the cells. A sustained high blood glucose results as in people with type I diabetes, which further increases the excretion of magnesium as well as glucose. This situation further exacerbates the health issues associated with this condition.

Magnesium has been found to improve insulin’s response to dietary sugar and to improve the action of insulin in regulating blood sugar levels.

According to the American Diabetes Association, projections of a continued rapid growth in the incidence of type 2 diabetes requires a cost-effective approach that can be widely employed to prevent or delay this major disorder. Published in the journal Diabetes Care, two recent studies suggest that an increased intake of magnesium could have a role in reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes.

Summary

In people with either type of diabetes, the tendency toward low magnesium levels increases the risk of heart disease. People with type I diabetes often have a low cellular magnesium level because of constantly high blood glucose levels. This results in increased excretion of magnesium through the urine. In addition, the utilization of glucose by the cells depends on magnesium, so when there is a large amount of glucose that needs processing, there is an increased need for magnesium.

For people with type I diabetes, magnesium supplements can help prevent heart disease, but they can never make insulin secretion normal. However, they can improve the response to any insulin that is secreted or to the insulin administered by injection.

The sustained high blood sugar in type II diabetes also results in high urinary loss of magnesium. This intensifies the magnesium deficiency that caused the resistance of cells to insulin in the first place, making type II diabetes a progressive disease if not treated. Supplementation with magnesium can improve response to insulin and can arrest the disease process, especially if combined with exercise and weight loss.

Supplementation

Take magnesium in a form that can be completely dissolved in water. In this state it will absorb quickly into the body, producing almost instant relief.

According to Carolyn Dean, MD, author and certified clinical nutritionist, “The powdered form of magnesium is the best because you start absorbing it straight away, even in the mouth. So, powdered first, and then capsules, and then tablets. The tablets usually have a lot of binders and fillers and are harder to dissolve than capsules.