Calcium and Magnesium "Dietary" Ratios

This is fundamental to understand why disease occurs at high rates in some Countries and not in others.

PROFOUND HEALTH CONCEPT:  Here is one of the most profound health concepts you need to understand. Over a very long time period, dietary minerals were balanced or within a somewhat narrow range according to the amounts in a variety of available whole foods. Plus, the body slowly adapted mechanisms to deal with these mineral ratios that became genetically imbedded.

The two ratios of major concern include the calcium to magnesium (and phosphorus), and the other one is potassium to sodium. In a variety of intact whole foods, the average ratio of calcium to magnesium is close to 1 to 1 with a slight calcium edge. ref Dairy, at a ratio of 10 to 1, was not a major food source until much later along this long dietary timeline, and one that is mainly suitable for infants. The natural food ratio of potassium to sodium varies between 10 to 1 up to 100 to 1. ref Not much sodium but lots of potassium, so the body adaptive process was to hold onto sodium and dump potassium. Today, this evolutionary process of holding sodium in the body is still operating. But, chefs have turned the sodium and potassium ratios upside down in prepared foods. The body simply cannot yet effectively deal with this new ratio, and disease could eventually develop. ref article

Phosphorus is very abundant in the typical diet today. ref ref article  A low calcium intake with high phosphorus becomes problematic for bone health and this is one reason why the calcium RDI is so high in the USA compared to other Countries. ref ref

About 80% of foods from Fast Food outlets contain added phosphate additives as well as many processed foods and colas type drinks. Food sources of natural phosphorus include: Meats, Poultry, Fish, Dairy, Nuts, Beans, and Whole Grains. Beans, whole grains, and nuts have binding elements that do not let all the phosphorus get absorbed. 

CALCIUM to MAGNESIUM ISSUES

Calcium and magnesium both have vital links to maintain health. In the U.S.A., nutrition experts recommend lots of calcium to maintain bone health, and consumption is relatively higher than in many other Countries. The recommended levels for calcium and magnesium put the ratio to each other at about 4 to 1 overall. Thus, one would expect to find less bone fractures in the U.S.A. than in the Countries with lower calcium intake. But, just the opposite occurs. There are more bone fractures when people consume higher dairy amounts. Why is this opposite scenario happening? Are the experts right or wrong in their high calcium to magnesium requirements? Interestingly, the experts in the U.S.A. are saying the populations is still not consuming enough calcium, even though it is 2 to 3 times greater than in many other Countries where the people have stronger bones. chart

SIDEBAR: A study was constructed to compare bone health between native South Africans to their relatives who came to the United States. In the USA, the average calcium consumption was about 720 mg. while in South Africa it was just under 300 mg. That is almost 2 and 1/2 times less calcium. To the amazement of the researchers, the hip fracture rate in the USA was 9 times higher. Calcium must not be a major player by itself. Important yes, but other factors must have greater influence.

In the U.S., calcium recommendation averages 1000-1200 milligrams, in England it is about 750 mg, and most other Countries about 400-500 mg.

If you measure the calcium to magnesium ratio in all foods other than dairy, overall it would average close to a 1 to 1 ratio.* Most Supplements have a 2 to 1 ratio if they contain both. One study put the ideal at 1.7 calcium to 1 magnesium. Both red algae plant calcium and diary foods have over a 10 to 1 ratio. Plus, many bone supplements have just calcium which may be quite unwise to consume by itself. Nutrition experts promote an even higher ratio of calcium to magnesium of about 3 to 1 (1000 or 1200 to 350). Two things are at work here. The first is understanding how calcium is used and stored and the second is how other dietary and lifestyle factors influence the behavior of calcium. ref

NOTE: Many Nutritionists could be fuming right now as the use of the term ratio may be somewhat misleading. The correct usage would be more of a dietary mineral balance or the relationship of minerals to their synergistic counterpart mineral, such as Sodium/Potassium, Zinc/Copper, Calcium/Phosphorus, Calcium/Magnesium to name a few. While the body has various ways to help maintain mineral balance as diets vary, when certain balance points are exceeded over a period of time, adverse health is often the result. The adaptive mechanisms simply become overwhelmed and start interfering with other mineral functions. For infants, here is reference for ideal ratios of calcium to phosphorus. Could unbalanced dietary mineral loads be one reason there are so many Kidney problems today? 

The reason fruit and vegetable consumption helps build bone is not because they supply bone building nutrients so much as it is about providing minerals like potassium that spare minerals like calcium from having to be used as acid buffers. Potassium is the bodies favorite acid buffer and calcium will only be used if not enough potassium is available. How much sodium is present influences what the body does with potassium. Too much sodium and the body dumps potassium into urine, or vice versa. Are you beginning to see how these dietary mineral ratios or mineral balance points affect health?

Here is an interesting fact. Without dairy foods in the diet, it is relatively easy to maintain the proper healthy ratio, that is until food fortification with calcium took off around 1995. Dairy has a 10 to 1 ratio of calcium to magnesium. And there is a good reason for this. An infant needs to change, or mineralize, the bending cartilage type bones, that served it well as it squeezed through the birth canal, into strong solid bones to support upright walking in a few years.

CHECK this out: Here are the details for a Grant application from ODS looking at how modifying the calcium to magnesium ratio would impact certain health parameters, like inflammation. ref  Here are early partial results showing value to increasing magnesium intake since over 50% show a deficiency. ref    Here is another study looking into this.  ref  What this means for calcium and magnesium supplement amounts. ref  

Now, this question has to be asked.  Are the Experts right in recommending so much calcium and is Nature wrong in how much calcium and other minerals are in all the foods other than dairy? chart   Is the impact of magesium on increasing good bacteria in the microbiotia being included in these ratio recommendations? 

*Yes, there are some foods like spinach and collards with more calcium, but the oxalates and phytates pretty much prevent the calcium and other minerals from being absorbed. That is why eating spinach with vinegar is the norm since the acid vinegar prevents all calcium binding with the phytates. But, the overall influence of calcium and magnesium ratio in foods is not from the exceptions, rather it is from the totality of all dietary foods, usually without dairy after age 3 as nature's plan, and this ratio averages almost one to one.

TIP: Magnesium is better absorbed in smaller dosages. ref Absorption in small dosages can be 65% while at large dosages drops to only 11%. Plus, blood levels do not always equate with cellular or tissue levels. Thus, blood tests do not reveal the whole story for magnesium. ref

OF INTEREST:

There are some valid reasons why Nutritionists in the United States recommend greater intakes of calcium. It has to do with cultural dietary patterns such as higher protein, especially animal proteins, with simple carbs as sugars resulting in an overall higher renal acid load. These dietary patterns cause more calcium to be sucked out of the body than in Countries without such patterns. You can either change your typical dietary pattern or continue to consume higher calcium hoping to compensate, a feat that seldom pays healthy dividends in the long run. Soft tissue calcification and artery calcification increase CVD risk and other diseases. chart ref

CRITICAL:  The Body has elaborate mechanisms to maintain "ratios" between minerals from a wide range of amounts in different diets. The Kidneys have a major role. Magnesium is a very important mineral. While calcium gets more play, it is magnesium that is responsible for vitamin D activation before it works on calcium. ref  Magnesium is found inside cells at 40%, 59% in bones, and 1% in blood plasma. Magnesium influences blood sugar levels as well as helps control inflammatory responses. ref Testing the amount of magnesium in blood does not reveal levels inside cells or in bones. Blood levels of magnesium are tightly controlled. Calcium exhibits a similar scenario. This presents obstacles for Doctors to properly evaluate body levels to accurately determine needs. Magnesium is often low in 61% of the population while calcium is low in just 49%. ref Bones act as a reservoir for both calcium and magnesium. Remember, a more or less balance point is needed between the amounts of calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium for many vital body functions, including many of those outside of bone density.

The current dietary ratio of calcium to magnesium is disruptive for overall body health.

SIDEBAR: Here is perhaps the last straw. When magnesium is deficient, bone does not form properly. A couple of very significant things happen. One, there is more inflammation. Second, the bone turnover rate is accelerated and the bone tearing down cells exhibit a strange shape. The last fact is paramount. There is an unbalanced mineralization of new bone with too much calcium and not enough magnesium. ref This reduces bone strength. Some of these processes also appear when magnesium is at higher than proper intakes as well.