Magnesium helps to make a hormone that your body uses to absorb calcium. If you are taking calcium supplements and not getting enough magnesium, the calcium is not being used to make bone. It is either going into the toilet or as Dr. Nany Fuchs states, “the calcium ends up in your joints, organs and other soft tissue…” One result of this can be painful joints.

In the United States and many other developed countries, people eat a diet that is low in magnesium while at the same time consuming foods rather high in calcium.

Example: Dairy products (milk, cheese, yogurt) contain nine times the as much calcium as magnesium. And it is not just traditional ‘calcium foods’. Today many products including orange juice, cereal, snack food and even water have added calcium. Companies have found that this is a good marketing toll.

In addition to all the extra calcium added to food, there has been a stripping of magnesium from traditional foods such a bread, rice etc. Refined foods: breads, coookies, instant rice etc. have had much of their magnesium stripped in the refining process. So many people are getting more calcium but they can not absorb this into making strong bone. Instead the calcium is depositedin their joints, soft tissue, veins and arteries.

For many years, a popular “chorus of wisdom” about calcium and bone health has been playing. Its refrain goes something like this: Calcium is essential to bone health. Variations on this theme are also heard. Drink your milk for healthy bones… Take a calcium-based antacid, and it will help your bones while it soothes your stomach… Look, this food, or that one, is fortified with calcium for healthier bones! In the well-known “Got Milk?” campaign, one ad has Superman promising “bones of steel” if you drink milk!

This focus on calcium as the “silver bullet” for bone health is not entirely restricted to mass media marketing messages. You’ll see calcium emphasized in osteoporosis web sites and pamphlets, research reports, and even in the Surgeon General’s bone health recommendations. In our society, where calcium is so widely available and its benefits are so widely known bone disorders like osteoporosis (fragile bones) and osteopenia (reduced bone mineral density) are still prevalent. Why is this?

The reasons for this paradox fly in the face of popular understanding: bone loss is not caused by low calcium intake. Furthermore, calcium by itself will prevent neither bone loss nor needless osteoporotic fractures.

Bone health depends not so much on calcium intake, but rather on its metabolism and utilization. The major players in this regard are vitamin D, vitamin K, and magnesium — which are woefully under-publicized in the campaign against osteoporosis. This article will discuss these nutrients, and help you understand how critical they are for maintaining bone health.

The reasons for this paradox fly in the face of popular understanding: bone loss is not caused by low calcium intake. Furthermore, calcium by itself will prevent neither bone loss nor needless osteoporotic fractures.

Bone health depends not so much on calcium intake, but rather on its metabolism and utilization. The major players in this regard are vitamin D, vitamin K, and Magnesium — which are woefully under-publicized in the campaign against osteoporosis.

Dr. Mark Stengler, Nturopathic Medical Doctor points out that the importance of magnesium to bone health shouldn’t really be surprising, for a number of reasons. The body holds 60% of its magnesium in the bones. Magnesium influences how calcium is transported out of the gastrointestinal tract and formed into bone. It also helps to control hundreds of enzymatic reactions in cells that influence bone density. In addition, this busy mineral is required for the formation of proteins that help form bone.

Most people are familiar with magnesium and assume that they are already getting it in the foods they eat. But Dr. Stengler firmly disagrees with the belief that people are getting enough magnesium. While the mineral exists in whole grains, nuts, legumes, green leafy vegetables, fish and meat (beef, poultry and other animals), the sad fact is these are not the foods that fill the plates of many, perhaps even most, Americans. Furthermore, a number of common medications drain magnesium stores. The list of drugs is lengthy and includes some diuretics and antibiotics, antifungal medications, asthma medications, immune suppressing corticosteroids and cyclosporine, among others. Drinking alcohol, especially in excess, also depletes the body’s magnesium. In fact, Dr. Stengler says that when he tests patients for the level of magnesium in their blood, he finds the vast majority have far from optimal levels.

Magnesium is in every cell and serves as a regulator, allowing in the proper amounts of calcium in and out. Magnesium teams up with vitamin B6 to regulate the absorption of calcium into bone. Vitamin D and K are also part of the committee. This function is only one out of 300 that magnesium is known to do. In other words, without magnesium, calcium will not be absorbed into the bones.  Our bones contain more than half of our total body magnesium.