A video interview with Carolyn Dean, MD, ND. 

The balancing mineral for calcium is magnesium, in a ratio of at least 1:1. For people who have magnesium deficiency, a healthier ratio is two parts magnesium to one part calcium.

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To understand how you can create a calcium/magnesium imbalance in your own body, try this experiment in your kitchen. Crush a calcium pill and see how much dissolves in 1 oz of water. Then crush a magnesium pill and slowly stir it into the calcium water.  When you introduce the magnesium, the remaining calcium dissolves; it becomes more water-soluble. The same thing happens in your bloodstream, heart, brain, kidneys, and all the other tissues in your body. If you don’t have enough magnesium to help keep calcium dissolved, you may end up with calcium-excess muscle spasms, fibromyalgia, hardening of the arteries, calcium deposits, and even dental cavities. Another scenario plays out in the kidneys and bladder. If there is too much calcium in the kidneys and not enough magnesium to dissolve it, you can get kidney stones. Calcium deposited throughout the bladder can make it rigid,lower its capacity, and lead to frequent urination.

All muscles, including the heart and blood vessels, contain more magnesium than calcium. If magnesium is deficient, calcium floods the smooth muscle cells of the blood vessels and causes spasms leading to constricted blood vessels and therefore higher blood pressure, arterial spasm, angina, and heart attack.1  A proper balance of magnesium in relation to calcium can prevent these symptoms. Calcium excess, stimulating the cells in the muscular layer of the temporal arteries (located over the temples) can cause migraine headaches. Excess calcium can constrict the smooth muscle surrounding the small airways of the lung, causing restricted breathing and asthma. Finally, too much calcium, without the protective effect of magnesium, can irritate delicate nerve cells of the brain. Cells that are irritated by calcium fire electrical impulses repeatedly, depleting their energy stores and causing cell death. 

For bone health and the prevention of osteoporosis adequate levels of magnesium are essential for the absorption and metabolism of calcium.

• Magnesium stimulates a particular hormone, calcitonin, that helps to preserve bone structure and draws calcium out of the blood and soft tissues back into the bones, preventing some forms of arthritis and kidney stones.

• Magnesium suppresses another bone hormone called parathyroid, preventing it from breaking down bone.

The most common form is magnesium citrate in powder form. When taken in divided doses throughout the day, it does not cause a laxative effect. Magnesium is a “safer” product than calcium because it is excreted more completely and doesn’t build up in the body.

Always consult your doctor. 

Reference:

1. Altura BM, “Sudden-death ischemic heart disease and dietary magnesium intake: is the target site coronary vascular smooth muscle?”
Med Hypotheses, vol. 8, pp. 843–848, 1979.