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Inflammation and viral infections like influenza, hepatitis C, HIV, Sepsis, Aplastic anemia and Severe Acute Respiratory Stress Coronavirus 1 & 2, can cause blood clotting disorders – either excessive clots and vascular blockages, or low platelet count causing excessive bleeds.
If you’ve never heard of thrombosis before, then take note, because it is a sign that the blood is in a state of ‘dis-ease’. Our blood forms rivers of life in our body that need to keep flowing properly to maintain health and wellbeing. The blood’s red blood cells, via their haemoglobin, deliver vital oxygen and nutrients all around the body to the furthest extremities and back again.
Maintaining a healthy blood pH is extremely important so that blood can flow smoothly and fluidly around the body through the arteries, veins and all the tiniest capillaries to the extremities of the body. If the blood is not fluid enough the blood circulation is restricted and the micro capillaries get starved of blood and oxygen. Some capillaries are so small they can only pass through the tube one blood cell at a time (single file), so you can imagine how a slightly thicker blood can retract the reach of circulation to the extremities. Oxygen deprivation in cells via restricted blood circulation is called hypoxia, which results in damage and cell death.
We need some blood clotting ability so that our blood doesn't all spill out of our vessels in the case of punctures. If you accidentally cut yourself blood will escape, you put some pressure on the gash and shortly afterwards, if your clotting system is working normally, the blood thickens in that location to form a plug (a clot), which stops you losing too much blood. The body gets to work to repair tissue cells and remove debris, after which your skin has repaired itself and returned to normal.
Clotting disorders can either be because platelets keep aggragating and clumping, which endangers blood flow, or it can go the other way, whereby not enough platelets are available for plugging breaches and bleeds occur too easily. Those on blood-thinner medications will know all too well the feeling of panic when that blood just keeps coming out of the cut because the platelets are slow to form a plug.
Thrombosis, Blood Clotting and Platelets
Platelets, along with red blood cells, and the white blood cells of the immune system, are all made in the bone marrow. The platelets help the blood to coagulate (get thicker like a gel). According to an 2018 study, "Blood and bone marrow are not fundamentally different solutions, but rather a continuation of the same biological system. All blood cells have a similar life history: they are generated from a common stem cell in the bone marrow."
"Inflammation is part of the wound healing process. In the first step of tissue repair, platelets arrive at a wound site, degranulate, and release their diverse contents, inclusive of growth factors. Platelets provide proteins for primary and secondary hemostasis including fibrinogen and von Willebrand factor. Once bound to extracellular matrix at a wound site, activated platelets secrete a wide variety of chemokines which attract white blood cells."
Platelets move into the blood in response to an injury on the vessel wall. They are part of the immune system and stimulate the attraction of white blood cells, interacting with endothelial cells to quickly stem any internal bleeding from an injured blood vessel.
Platelets release proteins that cause a stickiness in the clot due to positive surface charges that are attracted to the negative surface charge of the red blood cells. Fibrin is a protein which increases and further binds the mass. Other red blood cells moving past can also get caught up in the melee and become part of the growing clot.
In the clean-up process the macrophages get activated to swallow up and remove damaged cells or platelets, debris, or any associated pathogens. As the inflammation itself produces more acids, the body also needs to send alkalising antioxidant enzymes to bring pH back to normal. New tissue cells are made to repair the breach, after which the healing process is complete. At a small scale with no significant breaches, you may not even notice symptoms. The body just deals with it.
In thrombosis however, the clots are not dissolved fast enough by enzymes, leading to the formation and growth of a larger clumpy mass, known as a thrombus (blood clot), which forms on the endothelial lining. This is more likely to happen in an acidic environment which means more attractive positive charges pull cells together, as opposed to an alkaline environment which has more negative charges repelling cells so they bounce off one another in a more fluid environment.
If the clot breaks off from the site where it was formed, it can travel through the bloodstream and get stuck in a smaller vessel. This is known as an embolism and can cut off blood supply to the area.
You may have heard of some people sitting for very long periods of time, such as on an international flight or long road trip, developing Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT), which is a clot in the leg or pelvic veins. The lack of oxygen, water, antioxidants and electrolytes promote an acidic environment, which is more conducive to clotting.
A clot that gets stuck in the lung arteries is called a pulmonary embolism, and a clot that lodges in the brain is known as a stroke. All these clots have in common inflammation, oxygen deprivation and acidity.
An aneurysm is when a blood vessel wall balloons outward like a blood blister because the wall has become too thin and lost its structural resilience. It can sometimes be associated with a clot or stroke due to the pressure build up caused by the obstruction. The thinning of the vessel walls can also be caused by acidosis, which damages the proteins making up the collagen matrix of the endothelial linings.
Genetic factors increasing risk of thrombosis
Factor V Leiden is the most frequent genetic risk for thrombosis, with an occurrence of about five per cent in the population. With this gene mutation coagulation responses occur naturally, but normal inactivation of coagulation is impaired. It means that coagulation can keep building up beyond what is necessary, and be slow to break up and dissipate, which causes thrombosis.
“The relative risk of thrombosis increases by five to ten-fold in heterozygote individuals (where the gene mutation is inherited from one parent), however the relative risk of thrombosis is increased by 50 to 100 fold in homozygous individuals (mutation inherited from both parents).”1
You can get genetic testing to see if you have Factor V Leiden, and if so, then you must be extra cautious to avoid circumstances that can induce inflammatory responses and clots – such as long distance flights or sitting for long periods of time without movement. Also, nutritional needs will be more significant in the control of pH balance to avoid acidosis.
Hypertension and cardiovascular disease increase clot risk
Clotting disorders are more prevalent in those with cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome and diabetic acidosis. These metabolic issues are also strongly associated with chronic magnesium deficiency. Research shows consistently that low magnesium status in platelets of “those with excess adiposity, insulin resistance, diabetes mellitus type I and II, and hypertension, accounts for hypercoagulability in these patients.” 2 These conditions are also associated with acidic pH, starving the cells of enough oxygen for proper respiration and metabolism.
When viral infections get loaded on top of their already low magnesium and acidic cell environments, they are more prone to hyper-inflammatory responses, increasing acidosis and consequent severity of symptoms. Low magnesium itself is known to prime inflammatory responses to make us more sensitive and reactive to provocations.
According to a new study in the Open Heart Journal 2020, “Hyperinsulinaemia decreases cholesterol sulfurylation to cholesterol sulfate, as low vitamin D regulation due to magnesium depletion and/or vitamin D sequestration and/or diminished activation capacity decreases sulfotransferase enzyme SULT2B1b activity, consequently decreasing plasma membrane negative charge between red blood cells, platelets and endothelial cells, thus increasing agglutination and thrombosis.”3
In most cases hypertension is caused by a combination of stiffening arterial walls and a thickening of the blood itself. This means that the heart has to do a lot more work to pump the blood around the body to deliver oxygen and nutrients to cells, as well as to remove waste products.
It’s like trying to push water through an old dry hose: It takes a lot more energy to push that water through so that you get the right amount of water coming out the other end. Not only do you have to pump harder, but the more the hose resists because of stiffness, the more likely it is to develop splits and break.
Your blood vessels work like the water hose. When they are young they are flexible, hydrated and juicy, allowing the flow of blood to be adjusted more easily to maintain a normal pressure range. The vessel walls have plenty of collagen and elastin to allow for expansion and contraction without shearing. Nitric oxide (NO) is also used to help the vessels expand as needed.
Magnesium is a very important player in this system. Not only is it used to make NO, but magnesium can even help the smooth muscle wall of the endothelium relax and expand independently of NO, due to its control of the calcium channels. When you have plenty of magnesium available it helps move the calcium into the bone matrix for strengthening, but if you don’t have enough magnesium, the calcium leaches out of the bones and can cause osteoporosis.
Calcium, like magnesium, can be used as an alkaliser to neutralise the effect of acids. In the case of magnesium deficiency, calcium moves into the blood as ‘free calcium’ and can bring the pH back to normal range. However, there is a thickening effect in the blood (as in dehydration). This short-term fix can lead to precipitation of calcium onto the endothelial walls of vessels, which causes stiffening.
As more calcium deposits over time, the smooth muscle wall becomes more rigid, increasing the risk of splitting as the blood is pumped through. The micro splits at the calcium deposit sites are called calcium lesions. To fix the emergency, the body creates micro clots at the breaches.
It also sends extra cholesterol to try to mop up acidic wastes and toxins. This mixture forms fatty plugs (ie. plaque) that can grow and reduce the opening space of the vessel, which further increases blood pressure, heart strain and angina pain. If the plugs (plaque) increase too much, they can block the vessel completely and cause a heart attack (ie. cardiac arrest).
Magnesium helps our vessels, ligaments, muscles etc., maintain flexibility and resilience to accommodate movement. It brings water into cells for better hydration due to its large hydration shell. It also helps the body make the proteins collagen and elastin, which are necessary for the matrix structure and flexibility of the vessel wall. Magnesium in this way acts as a blood pressure normaliser and even outperforms statin drugs. 1
Studies have also shown that, “Magnesium deficiency promotes atherosclerosis, thrombosis and hypertension.” 4
Metabolism, oxygen and pH balance
Magnesium is used by the body to do more jobs than any other mineral. One of its most important functions is to recharge the mitochondria so they can make adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the body’s electrical energy currency. Magnesium is also used to store ATP in the cell membrane for later use as backup battery power. Without enough magnesium you can too quickly run into fatigue.
The mitochondria use oxygen and magnesium to produce ATP, which is called oxidative phosphorylation, or aerobic glycolysis. It is a very efficient form of energy production because you get 38 ATP molecules per molecule of glucose used up, but it is a slower process.
Cells can also use anaerobic metabolism (anaerobic glycolysis) without the mitochondria if a fast energy hit is required and if not enough stored ATP is available. However the downside of anaerobic metabolism is that you only get 2 ATP molecules per glucose molecule used up. This means a lot more glucose molecules are required to produce energy when oxygen is in short supply. It leads to sugar cravings and more insulin and blood sugar release into the blood. This leads to an acidic cascade because more sugar metabolism produces more waste acids from the excess use of glucose. On top of it all you are also short-changed on energy supply. You could be caught in a revolving door made out of sugar; that is, feeling more fatigued despite the increase in glucose.
Therefore, either path of metabolism (with or without oxygen) produces acid wastes, but anaerobic metabolism has been shown to produce the most acid wastes. If you don’t have enough buffers to neutralise the free radicals and detox, acidosis will suffocate cells.
“The acid produced by glycolysis lowers the pH both inside cells where lactate is produced, as well as outside where protons can diffuse. Since the pH range in which cells can function is quite narrow (pH 7.0–7.6), uncontrolled glycolysis can lead to cell death... In the final analysis it is overproduction of acid and lowering of the pH by glycolysis that kills most organisms, including humans.” 5(p32)
“Conditions in humans that greatly increase anaerobic glycolysis because of a shortage of oxygen, for example, failure of the respiratory system or the blood circulatory system, often cause the production of more acid than can be handled by the buffering systems of the body. The consequence is lactic acidosis, a life-threatening condition. Lactic acidosis can be dealt with most effectively by re-establishing the supply of oxygen.” 5(p32)
It’s a revolving door because in order to absorb more oxygen into the plasma to supply mitochondria, you need to lift pH. To do this you need more antioxidants, which are electron donors and acid buffers. And you need to stop feeding your body with so many processed carbohydrates, which encourage anaerobic glycolysis and excessive acid production. Once the pH balance is restored, more oxygen can get access to cells. Together with magnesium, the mitochondria can then do their more efficient aerobic phosphorylation to supply the energy you need, without as many acid waste byproducts.
The body’s pH war
Magnesium is also used to make detoxification enzymes like Superoxide Dismutase (SOD), which has an important role to neutralise the acidic ‘oxidised’ waste products of metabolism. The production of ATP itself results in oxidised waste products which are free radicals. When magnesium is low, and therefore SOD is low, the mitochondria slow down metabolism. They slow production of ATP in line with magnesium levels because ATP without magnesium becomes toxic to mitochondria and can kill them. 6
Our cells can only perform and do their job well if the environmental conditions of the cell are optimal, and the pH is right. The ideal pH for blood plasma is 7.35, which is slightly alkaline. If nutrients are missing that are essential, if cell pH is driven downward and free radicals are not neutralised, then cells perform sub-optimally… a bit like the ‘safe mode’ on the computer, basically working, but high-level functions are not available, so that fatigue becomes pervasive.
The plasma, a clear watery substance inside cells and blood, is made up mainly of water and electrolytes, magnesium being the master mineral component to maintain electrical charge integrity. This charge creates a slightly alkaline fluid matrix that pulls the water molecules closer together like train tracks. Scientist Gerald Pollack explained it well in his book Cells, Gels and the Engines of Life.
This slippery hexagonal water structure enables better transport of nutrients and organelles. In blood plasma, as the alkaline environment helps maintain a negative charge on the surface of the organelles, whatever components are carried in the vascular system can bounce off one another, maintaining distance and optimal surface area. Everything glides, flows and slips to where it needs to go.
There is an association between low magnesium and a low plasma pH (acidity). This happens when the body has too many free radicals (ie. acid wastes) roaming around looking to steal electrons from other cellular tissue. In an acidic environment, blood components don’t slip like they should, but instead get sticky and disordered. If they degrade further, they get wobbly and bumpy looking, with spiky protrusions that tend to attract more clumping of cells.
Fungi and bacteria use acids to break down carbon-based materials like plants and meat, leaves and timber, sewage etc., so they can be turned back into soil to grow more plants in nature’s recycling factory. Your compost heap is a great example of how this degradation system works. However, in the well-ordered balanced pH environment of a living organism, cells look plump and round because of a negative charge from an alkaline environment, and energy is produced efficiently.
There are circumstances where we need a temporary high level of acidity, such as with stomach digestion. When the stomach produces hydrochloric acid to break down the food we eat, we need a strong acid – as much as 2-3pH. However, once the food is mulched enough, some sodium bicarbonate from the pancreas is pumped into the mix via the stomach glands to neutralise the acid, allowing it to pass to the next level in the digestive system, the small intestine, for absorption of the nutrients.
For the rest of the journey through the bowel, the food materials need to be neutral or alkaline. If they get acidic, it is associated with constipation and drying up of faecal matter. Also, our beneficial bacteria which are necessary for good digestion, the making of neurotransmitters and immune cells, don’t like acidic conditions and start to die off. This leaves the way open for more pathogenic bacteria and fungi (like candida) to flourish, which love the acidic conditions. They also produce too much acid which then starts to eat into the endothelial lining, loosening the tight junctions and degrading the protective mucin layer, which causes 'leaky gut syndrome'. This triggers an immune response, that is, inflammation.
Think of free radicals like robbers stealing bricks that hold up a house. Magnesium acts like an antioxidant because it has two spare electrons (extra bricks) in its outer shell to donate to the free radicals, which have missing electrons (empty spaces). This joining of yin and yang helps to keep our cellular house in tact. The compound then becomes stable, that is, neutral.
Keeping pH and inflammation under control
To increase pH add more antioxidant foods to your diet, like vegetables and fruits (low sugar) with high vitamin C, flavanoids and flavanols. These foods help to cleanse, detox and support your garbage-disposal system.
It’s always a see-saw balancing act in the body: We use nutrients to create and spend energy, which makes acidic wastes, and those wastes need to be neutralised and removed by antioxidant enzymes. Some of the enzymes are supplied by plant foods, and some are made by our body if it has the right minerals available, like magnesium and zinc. Extra enzyme support is also available via supplements.
If your digestive system isn’t working well, it may be hard to digest and absorb supplements, and more attention needs to be given first to cleansing, restoration of balanced gut microbiome, and functional stomach digestion. If digestion is poor you can rely more on transdermal magnesium.
Magnesium is also used by the body to make another powerful detoxing enzyme (like SOD) called glutathione, which helps neutralise, chelate and remove toxins – and especially toxins like heavy metals. The body also uses magnesium to make melatonin during deep sleep, which is a powerful detoxification hormone for the brain and cerebrospinal fluid.
The food supply has become very deficient in modern times due to industrial farming, use of pesticides and genetic modification. This makes it hard to fortify and replenish ourselves unless we grow our own foods naturally or buy organic. Even then, you have no assurance that the soils have enough magnesium, or if your digestive system is working well enough to extract magnesium. In this case you can get more magnesium faster via skin using magnesium chloride, which, once dissolved in water, is already in the right form for cellular uptake without further digestion.
Sodium bicarbonate, alkalising vegetables, foods high in vitamin C and magnesium can all help to neutralise the acids so they don’t take over the system and destroy healthy cells. Sunshine exposure also helps produce vitamin D in the skin – which can be enhanced if you put magnesium cream on before sun exposure. Vitamin D is an important hormone that supports mental health, bone health and the immune system. Moderate exercise in the fresh air and deep breathing exercises can help to re-oxygenate the system. We need to be working at this pH rebalancing system from all sides.
Stresses that cause increase in acidity include sleep deprivation, excessive exercise and work load, emotional stress, anxiety, exposure to chemicals and drugs, refined sugars and flours, as well as radiation or EMF over-exposure. Even just a bit of each of these kinds of influences can add up to high impact stress and free radical damage. High or chronic stress causes excessive magnesium loss. If we don’t get enough antioxidant nutrients and magnesium, the whole system can get overloaded and spiral out of control.
Interestingly, the more magnesium deficiency, the less we can cope with stress and the more it produces acid wastes, which pollute our rivers of life – the cardiovascular system.
Stress and acidosis increase the risk of inflammation
Inflammation increases the risk of diabetes and heart disease
“Inflammation, and perhaps chronic infection, may play important roles in the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis. Atherosclerotic lesions are heavily infiltrated by cellular components associated with inflammation (macrophages and T lymphocytes), and acute plaque rupture is also associated with inflammatory components.” 7
Diabetes and heart disease increases the risk of thrombosis and serious complications from viral infections due to acid load
Magnesium is anti-thrombotic and anti-inflammatory
Magnesium has the best reputation as a natural anti-thrombotic. Even in critical situations in hospital, magnesium has come to the rescue as an intravenous treatment. “High dose of IV magnesium can inhibit thrombus formation and is associated with suppression of platelet aggregation. Magnesium treatment can dose-dependently inhibit a wide variety of agonists of platelet aggregation, such as thromboxane A2 and stimulate prostacyclin synthesis.” 8
What about thrombocytopenia - low platelet count?
Thrombocytopenia is a low platelet count usually below 150 x 109/L. It can impair normal clotting processes, leading to vascular bleeds. This can occur when insufficient numbers of platelets are made in the bone marrow, or the platelets that are made are being destroyed during the inflammatory response.
Blood platelets are produced in the bone marrow and remain in the blood for roughly 10 days until they are naturally destroyed. In healthy people, they are always being produced, so you will almost never have a shortfall. However, certain cancers that affect the bone marrow can limit platelet production, including bone marrow cancer, leukemia, and other varieties of the marrow. Problems with the spleen, as well as heart conditions like atrial fibrillation and other heart rhythm dysfunctions can be associated with low platelet count.
Drugs that can cause low platelet count range from prescribed anti-clotting drugs to over-the-counter pain pills. Prescription antibiotics can also lead to thrombocytopenia. Certain ingredients like quinine, found in tonic water and sports drinks, can reduce platelet counts, as can deficiencies in nutrients like iron, vitamin B12, and folate (B9). Alcohol has been found to temporarily slow the production of platelets, as it works like a blood thinner. This effect is intensified in heavy drinkers due to low vitamin B12, iron, or folate.
Low platelet count signs and symptoms include:
- Easy or excessive bruising (purpura)
- Superficial bleeding into skin, appearing as a rash or pinpoint-sized reddish purple spots
- Prolonged bleeding from minor cuts
- Bleeding from nose or gums
- Blood in urine or stool
- Unusually heavy menstrual flow
- Fatigue
- Jaundice
- Enlarged spleen
Viral infections commonly cause low platelet count
If your immune system is battling a virus or disease, thrombocytopenia symptoms may be more pronounced. Recent research is revealing the role of platelets in the (antiviral) immune response, showing that platelets interact with cells of the innate and adaptive immune system, as well as directly with viruses. Despite not having a nucleus, platelets do contain some RNA to make proteins, but it appears also potentially supporting replication of some RNA viruses. 9 This may make them a target for the immune system’s white blood cells.
Some common viral infections associated with low platelet count include:
- Severe Acute Respiratory Stress (Coronavirus) SARS-CoV1 & SARS-CoV2
- Aplastic anemia
- Hepatitis C
- HIV
- Sepsis
Nutritional supports include:
- Antioxidant supplements like vitamin C and plant flavanols
- Vitamin D from sunshine (or cod liver oil or similar D source)
- Eating a variety of fruits and vegetables, especially leafy greens
- Including fatty fish like salmon in your diet a couple of times per week
- Buying organic to avoid possible threats of pesticides and herbicides
- Lowering your intake of sugar, refined carbohydrates, and processed food
- Include healthy fats from sources like olive oil, almonds, avocado
- Support better detoxification with minerals like selenium, magnesium and zinc, and alkaline clays and charcoal for intestinal cleansing.
- Drink more mineral water for better hydration, flushing of toxins and blood fluidity.
SUMMARY: Magnesium plays a regulatory role in the immune system to avoid clotting disorders
As stress depletes magnesium, thereby suppressing metabolism and depressing the immune system, the restoration of adequate magnesium can help to calm the nervous system, improve metabolism and strengthen the immune system and detoxification responses.
Magnesium has both anti-thrombotic effects, and it also lowers the risk of thrombocytopenia. Magnesium works as an adaptogenic nutrient and regulator of the immune system via its control of calcium channels, role in metabolism and in enzyme co-factoring support. In this way it helps the body regulate pH balance, detoxification and tissue repairs, which then calms down the inflammatory response and moves the nervous system back to a parasympathetic mode.
“Magnesium plays a key role in the immune response, that is, as a co-factor for immunoglobulin synthesis, C’3 convertase, immune cell adherence, antibody-dependent cytolysis, IgM lymphocyte binding, macrophage response to lymphokines and T-helper B cell adherence (Galland 1988).” 10 In this way it makes the virulence of the immune system more potent.
In the case of low platelet activity and immune depression, studies in acute care conditions have shown; “When serum magnesium was treated as a continuous variable, each one standard deviation increase of magnesium was associated with 12 and 8% lower risk of thrombocytopenia in men and women respectively. Serum magnesium was inversely associated with thrombocytopenia.” 11
Please consult your doctor if you have any health issues, as this article was intended only for educational purposes. I hope it helped to raise awareness about potential issues with blood and inflammation, and to better understand how to preserve good health and avoid disease.
By Sandy Sanderson © 2021 www.elektramagnesium.com.au
REFERENCES
1. Thrombosis & Genetic Disorders. Accessed September 16, 2021. https://www.anticoagulationeurope.org/conditions/thrombisis-genetic-disorders
2. Belin RJ, He K. Magnesium physiology and pathogenic mechanisms that contribute to the development of the metabolic syndrome. Magnes Res. 2007;20(2):107-129.
3. Cooper ID, Crofts CAP, DiNicolantonio JJ, et al. Relationships between hyperinsulinaemia, magnesium, vitamin D, thrombosis and COVID-19: rationale for clinical management. Open Heart. 2020;7(2):e001356. doi:10.1136/openhrt-2020-001356
4. Maier JAM, Malpuech-Brugère C, Zimowska W, Rayssiguier Y, Mazur A. Low magnesium promotes endothelial cell dysfunction: implications for atherosclerosis, inflammation and thrombosis. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Molecular Basis of Disease. 2004;1689(1):13-21. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbadis.2004.01.002
5. KANTOR PF, LOPASCHUK GD, OPIE LH. CHAPTER 32 - Myocardial Energy Metabolism. In: SPERELAKIS N, KURACHI Y, TERZIC A, COHEN MV, eds. Heart Physiology and Pathophysiology (Fourth Edition). Academic Press; 2001:543-569. doi:10.1016/B978-012656975-9/50034-1
6. Pontes MH, Sevostyanova A, Groisman EA. When too much ATP is bad for protein synthesis. Journal of molecular biology. 2015;427(16):2586-2594. doi:10.1016/j.jmb.2015.06.021
7. Tousoulis D, Davies G, Stefanadis C, Toutouzas P, Ambrose JA. Inflammatory and thrombotic mechanisms in coronary atherosclerosis. Heart. 2003;89(9):993. doi:10.1136/heart.89.9.993
8. Shechter M, Merz CN, Rude RK, et al. Low intracellular magnesium levels promote platelet-dependent thrombosis in patients with coronary artery disease. Am Heart J. 2000;140(2):212-218. doi:10.1067/mhj.2000.107553
9. Raadsen M, Du Toit J, Langerak T, van Bussel B, van Gorp E, Goeijenbier M. Thrombocytopenia in Virus Infections. Journal of Clinical Medicine. 2021;10(4). doi:10.3390/jcm10040877
10. Tam M, Gómez S, González-Gross M, Marcos A. Possible roles of magnesium on the immune system. European Journal Of Clinical Nutrition. 2003;57:1193. doi:10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601689
11. Lu L, Zhan Y, Yu J, Sui L. Prevalence of Thrombocytopenia and Its Association with Serum Magnesium. Biological Trace Element Research. 2016;169(1):46-51. doi:10.1007/s12011-015-0406-4
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Hormones greatly influence our growth and development, health, behaviours, metabolism, sex life and fertility. Pretty well everything we do and experience in life is governed by the chemical messages of hormones. As we get into our more mature and senior years, or are young but chronically stressed, our energy and hormone production can become out of balance, acidic, oxygen-deprived and dehydrated. In this article I will focus on magnesium's effect on catecholamines (stress hormones), including cortisol, adrenaline and aldosterone, which are produced by the adrenal glands and directly affect the cardiovascular system.
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One hormone of note is the neurotransmitter oxytocin, which is a happy 'feel-good' hormone with similar pain-relieving properties to endorphins (opiate chemicals). It is released in the body when we interact with others in a loving and caring way. An oxytocin deficiency is also associated with stress sensitivity, anxiety and depression, lack of motivation and a dark outlook on life. You need enough magnesium to make oxytocin in the body.
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Chronic or severe stress is a known risk factor for metabolic syndrome, diabetes, obesity and heart disease, because stress is the biggest contributor to magnesium loss and deficiency. Magnesium deficiency leads to metabolic syndrome, which progresses to diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
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Many people have become obsessed with the notion that lack of calcium causes osteoporosis. Yes, calcium and osteoporosis are related, however the bones are made up of a myriad of different minerals that come together to make healthy and strong bones. We have been collectively 'taught' by dairy industry advertising since last century that calcium is the mineral that prevents osteoporosis. This is simply not true. What bones need is good balance of minerals , with the presence of calcium in the right proportion. In fact, if you overdose on calcium you can create serious complications and side effects - namely the suppression of magnesium.
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The pineal gland produces melatonin at night during deep sleep, which works as a potent neuro-protective antioxidant that helps to detox the cerebrospinal fluid of the brain. It has even been shown to have anti-viral effects. When we don’t get a restful deep sleep, which produces enough melatonin, we wake up with leftover pollution and waste products in the brain. We need magnesium to help get a restful deep sleep so melatonin can be produced, and melatonin is a hormone which the body makes using magnesium.
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Many people mistakenly think of fluoride as a mineral, and many a politician promoting fluoridation has referred to it as, “the magic mineral.” However, this is not true. Fluorine in its pure form is a gas which is the most toxic of four main halogens; chlorine, bromine and iodine. Fluorine happens to be the most tightly binding element on the periodic table, so it is mostly found as a compound clinging to something else. Fluoride binds up magnesium, and so steals it from your body. The symptoms of fluoride toxicity are the same as magnesium deficiency.
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Both magnesium and massage therapy have important health benefits for blood circulation, waste clearance and muscle recovery, as well as alleviation of anxiety and stress. Magnesium massage supercharges health benefits by promoting pain relief, stress relief, faster recovery from injury, bolstering the immune system, and prevention of premature ageing.
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Did you know heavy metals disrupt your body’s mineral balance causing many negative side effects? People who are chronically ill may not realise that it can be the harmful accumulated toxic metals in their tissue cells that are a big part of their problem..
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It is now well-known that dogs need all the essential vitamins and minerals that humans do. One of these key nutrients is magnesium because it’s needed for energy production at the cellular level. Magnesium deficiency in dogs can lead to a diverse set of symptoms. Every time your pet moves a muscle, experiences a heartbeat or has a thought, magnesium is needed to help them achieve this.
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Increasing your magnesium levels also supercharges the cleansing process. This is because magnesium supports detoxification by energising the detox enzymes such as glutathione and superoxide dismutase. These are powerful antioxidants, which neutralise free radicals and help to restore pH balance and energy production. This will give your metabolism a great boost - especially if you have been feeling sluggish and foggy, if the weight is piling on when it shouldn't be, or if you are battling with IBS and debilitating gut issues.
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Without the relaxation and antioxidant support of magnesium, the stress and tension increases acidity, weakens the immune system and microbiome balance, which promotes inflammation and headache. These symptoms are common during influenza or coronavirus infections because they increase the stress and toxic load, thereby depleting more magnesium.
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When the body is dehydrated it can also cause oedema, a pooling of fluids around the ankles or puffiness around the eyes. The reason for fluid retention is usually because the body cannot properly eliminate wastes when there is not enough free water flowing through the system. In order to protect the vital organs the body holds back and pools water in regions where the toxicity needs to be diluted most (eg. sites of inflammation or acidity). Waste products can also pool up and cause swelling in the lymph system - the body's protein waste disposal system. This is another case where toxic residues need to be diluted with more water.
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The microbial balance of our gut directly influences our Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis, the production of hormones and neurotransmitters, and our immune system's regulation. Stress is very debilitating and causes depletion of magnesium because of excessive magnesium loss via the kidneys. Magnesium deficiency causes energy depletion and acidosis, which triggers inflammatory states, resulting in moods swings, hormone imbalance, mental illnesses, fatigue, irritability, pain symptoms, and a weaker immune system. Magnesium deficiency also directly affects the beneficial bacteria, which thus leads to depressive-like behaviours.
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Magnesium is an essential mineral which performs some very important functions when you're pregnant. It’s used to maintain healthy blood sugar levels in the body (see study) and it helps build healthy teeth and bones by working in partnership with calcium. It also regulates cholesterol and irregular heartbeat.
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Magnesium deficiency or antagonism (blockage) can cause any one of these steps to malfunction, causing overdose of stress hormones and inability to relax enough to sleep deeply.
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It's almost impossible for you to get a toxic magnesium dose or overdose, unless magnesium is given at high dose intravenously, where there is no magnesium deficiency or the person has kidney problems and can’t excrete excess salts.
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We can become addicted to more than just pharmaceutical drugs or alcohol. Researchers are now noticing symptoms of addiction also to excessive exercise. Does excessive exercise or over-training have negative side effects? Could it harm health and cause premature ageing? The research indicates yes, mainly because of increasing magnesium deficiency.
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Magnesium deficiency weakens performance, stamina and increases risk of injury
When you push your muscles hard your brain is telling your body to ‘squeeze’ and act. Adrenalin and cortisol increase, and that helps push the calcium into the calcium channels of the muscle fibre cells, which makes them contract. Magnesium is temporarily pushed out of these channels during the contractions. When we relax, calcium comes out and magnesium moves back into the channels to relax the muscles again.
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I was over 50 when menopause set in, accompanied by an autoimmune disorder called Hashimotos Hypothyroidism, severe heart arrhythmia, and the emerging white patches on my skin. This form of autoimmune hypothyroidism is thought to be prevalent in about 5% of the world’s population, however I believe the numbers are growing as people become more chemically sensitive to pollutants that stress the thyroid.
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The haemoglobin of red blood cells requires magnesium to help it take up oxygen from lungs and deliver that oxygen to tissue cells in other parts of the body. Researchers believe this is because, as part of the ATP energy currency, magnesium is vital to membrane integrity of red blood cells. The heme protein (containing iron) in these cells needs to ‘attract’ oxygen molecules from lung sacs as blood passes by. The oxygen molecules need to pass through the red blood cell (RBC) membrane – to get ‘onboard’ the train so to speak.
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Note that dehydrated states can cause feelings of anxiety where we just don’t know the reason for our fear or agitation, but the feeling persists. Re-hydrating the body with ample water and magnesium can calm down these sensations because magnesium has a dampening effect on adrenaline and cortisol. When the brain has ample water and magnesium we can think more clearly and make better decisions. This is especially important during crises because our magnesium reserves can become dangerously low.
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Magnesium is so important to cardiovascular function, its scarcity being correlated with the development of cardiovascular disease, that it has become the focus of intense scientific study and review over recent years. A meta-analysis review of epidemiological studies published in 2017 concluded that magnesium intake is associated with lower risk of major cardiovascular risk factors such as metabolic syndrome, diabetes and hypertension, as well as incidence of stroke and total cardiovascular disease. Higher levels of circulating magnesium are also associated with lower risk of heart disease, mainly ischemic and coronary heart disease.
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You may not realise it, but cramps and restless legs are quite easy to fix and you can do it without drugs. All you need is enough magnesium (and water) to get to where it is needed in the muscles for recovery and performance.
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As magnesium drops lower from excessive stress, there is less control over adrenaline and cortisol release, so that these catecholamines (stress hormones) escalate and chronically flood the system in a fight or flight (sympathetic) mode. We can get stuck in that mode, unable to relax and move back to rest and recover grazing (parasympathetic) mode. The stress hormones prompt glutamine to overstimulate neurons causing rapid and incessant calcium firing. Without enough magnesium to control the calcium and switch off the catecholamine release, we can’t relax.
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It’s been coined the master mineral and deemed as critical as water. But how exactly does it correlate to the process of ageing? The ways are numerous, but we’ll highlight a few of our standouts. From menopause to migraines, bone health to beautiful skin, you’ll be eager to lather up in magnesium cream by the time you’ve finished reading this. And remember, even if you’ve had a blood test that did not show up a deficiency in magnesium, only a small portion of magnesium stores actually sit in the blood. There are other areas more likely to be depleted that won’t be detected so simply.
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Optimal nutrition for our children means they will have the best opportunity to realise their fullest genetic potential to be well balanced, healthy and happy into adulthood. We all want our children to be ‘upgrades’ from ourselves. We want to pass on our seeds to future generations, but what about the quality of those seeds when magnesium is low? Can ‘magnesium kids’ offer a better hope for optimal health over a lifetime?
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Healthy cells need lipid protection, magnesium charge and ample hydration to support mitochondrial energy metabolism of Mg-ATP ‘batteries’. This energy is then used to assemble amino acids into the various proteins we need to build collagen structures. It is also used to manufacture hormones, enzymes, neurotransmitters and other chemical messengers.
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The review goes on to explain glyphosate’s mechanism of toxic action. Firstly, it is a strong chelating agent, creating complexes that immobilize the mineral micronutrients of the soil, such as magnesium, calcium, iron, manganese, nickel and zinc, making them unavailable to plants. This means that the food supply is robbed of vital mineral nutrients. We eat the food, it fills a void, but it doesn’t supply valuable nutrition. The end result is that we keep eating more and more empty carbs until obesity and other metabolic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, senile dementia, inflammatory bowel disease, renal failure, thyroid or liver cancer develop.
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Inflammation and pain can be part of a healing crisis, but if your magnesium status is healthy you will heal and recover relatively quickly because the metabolism can perform the way it should. The lower the cellular magnesium levels get however, the slower it becomes to recover from the stresses and the more painful and amplified are the symptoms.
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Premature ageing is usually marked by excessive weight gain (especially adipose tissue around the middle), exaggerated dehydration, hypercalcemia, joint stiffening, acidosis and inflammation. In other words, getting overweight, dry and stiff with creaky and brittle bones before our time. Skin can also get very dry and saggy looking. As we need magnesium to synthesise collagen proteins and elastin fibres, which are the structures that hold us together as skin, bone, ligaments, sinew, smooth muscle walls in arteries etc, low magnesium means those structures lose their integrity. [6] Thus magnesium helps us to stay more hydrated, flexible and stretchy longer!
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Did you know that our gut microbiome needs a good supply of magnesium for energy to do all their jobs properly? Beneficial gut bacteria are extremely important to good health. Did you know that we rely on our gut microbiome more than our own cells and enzymes for digestion of food and nutrient absorption? If digestion is compromised we can be short-changed on magnesium uptake. Low magnesium can lead to feelings of depression, mood disorders, fatigue, restless and disturbed sleep, foggy brain, anxiety and much more. See the STUDY: "Dietary magnesium deficiency alters gut microbiota and leads to depressive-like behaviour."
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Transdermal magnesium absorption means that magnesium ions (electrolytes) can pass into the epidermis (outer layer) of the skin, which acts as a nutritional reservoir until the tiny capillaries of the dermis underneath can absorb nutrients as required. From this skin reservoir the body may also absorb the vitamin D it made when you got some sunshine on your skin.
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Keratosis can also develop concurrently with inflammatory states such as eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis, allergies and asthma. If the inflammation is adequately quelled, the skin issues also tend to dissipate. Magnesium is a powerful anti-inflammatory. Many studies since last century have confirmed that in low-magnesium states we are more likely to develop inflammatory conditions. Where those inflammatory conditions manifest depends largely on genetics and environmental factors. Some people can experience skin problems or mood swings and depression, while others develop hardening of the arteries or sugar-sensitivity (metabolic syndrome) and unstable energy fluctuations. Multiple symptoms can occur and are usually a sign of magnesium deficiency.
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When you purchase epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) from the supermarket however, it is usually not one harvested from ocean water, but manufactured in a factory as an isolate which is magnesium sulfate. It does not contain the other sea trace minerals that would be present in dehydrated sea salt. Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) is very cheap and in the event you can’t get hold of anything else, it can certainly save your life.