3 ms·

On a slightly related note; with all of your life changes, it's pretty easy to become Magnesium deficient. Please look into taking Magnesium Glycinate. It's mad

• PragmaticPulp 10y ago
  While there's no harm in supplementing with small doses of Magnesium, it's also very unlikely to be the sole causative or curative factor in most people's depression. I'll address your studies individually: [1] Refers to case studies (e.g. clinical anecdotes) of depression recovery following magnesium administration, but the number of cases is omitted. More importantly, there are no placebo controls to differentiate between spontaneous or placebo response and response to the magnesium supplementation. Finally, the article is in the context of severe magnesium deficiency, which is a strong selection bias that prevents the anecdotes from being extrapolated to the general population anyway. (Yes, I am aware that much of the US population does not meet FDA guidelines for magnesium intake, but that's not the same as being deficient in magnesium in the body). [2] Is a good example of the importance of noting which journal the article was published in: In this case, it was published in Medical Hypotheses, which is dedicated to promoting diversity in debate by publishing hypothesis and fragmentary ideas that don't yet have enough real evidence to publish elsewhere. The first study it cites is from 1921, which was not placebo-controlled. The second study cited is from a journal dedicated to Magnesium research, but more importantly which pre-selected for patients with hypomagnesia. In other words, the study examined whether Imipramine (an anti-depressant) or magnesium supplementation were more effective in elderly type 2 diabetes patients who were known to have hypomagnesia. [3] Refers to animal studies, but 3 of the 4 cited articles are about magnesium in migraine headaches. Perhaps the full-text articles have some embedded murine studies, but otherwise I don't see much evidence for magnesium treatment in humans here. In short: It can't hurt to supplement, but it's unlikely to be curative. More importantly, recommending weak or unproven supplements to depressed patients can send them down a path of attempted self-medication with supplements that do not work, when proper medical treatment can work much more quickly and effectively.
  • aantix 10y ago
    I don't think I ever made the claim that Magnesium would cure. It has helped my symptoms. Hypermagnesemia appears to be very rare so it was a low risk effort for me. I've had positive results with it whereas other touted natural antidepressants have quickly petered out (St John's Wort, 5-HTP).
• gjem97 10y ago
  I would like for this to be true. There are a bunch of red flags in the abstracts of those papers though. For example "Fortifying refined grain and drinking water with biologically available magnesium to pre-twentieth century levels is recommended." Seems to be overstating their case a bit. Anybody with more expertise care to weigh in?
  • throwanem 10y ago
    Not a specialist in the field, but I note the journal where both those papers appear, Medical Hypotheses, explicitly disavows peer review, and was founded by a fellow [1] who seems to have spent his entire professional life under something of a shadow. I'd take those hypotheses with a grain of salt. But, if I were feeling myself unduly miserable (which happens sometimes), I might also take magnesium supplements for a while just to see what effect it might have on my state of mind. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Horrobin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Horrobin
• PaulHoule 10y ago
  My experience is that cheap magnesium works better than the expensive stuff, at least when it comes to the mild sedative effects of magnesium.