The current medical preventive treatment for cardiovascular disease includes avoiding cholesterol and saturated fat. This is based on outdated and erroneous scientific research, first published by mainstream shills such as Ancel Keys, that suggests dietary saturated lipids are a cause of atherosclerosis, which in turn is a cause of cardiovascular disease. However, the Maasai tribes of Kenya eat little but the meat and milk from their goats and sheep, which comprises of mainly protein and saturated fat, and yet they have low levels of cardiovascular disease. Such observations are not isolated, because a plethora of information including clinical trials, epidemiological studies and medical records show that saturated fat and cholesterol in the diet does not detrimentally alter metabolic function. Recently a shift away from the absurd lipid hypothesis of cardiovascular disease has occurred and a number of more credibly alternatives have been explored. The focus of much of this work has been on the healing and cardioprotective properties of plants.
Magnesium is one component of plants that may be responsible for their cardioprotective effects. Magnesium is the major intracellular cation that promotes relaxation of smooth muscle and may therefore be beneficial at preventing contraction of coronary arteries. The beneficial effects of magnesium on ischemic heart disease may be explained by a number of mechanisms. Firstly, magnesium is required as cofactor for ATPase in the membrane sodium potassium pumps which maintain membrane potential. Secondly, magnesium prevent tonic contraction in smooth muscle by opposing calcium ion transport and is therefore a calcium channel blocker. Magnesium deficiency causes spasms, cramps and arrhythmias that if present in coronary arteries may occlude blood flow and cause a heart attack. however, studies investigating the beneficial effects of magnesium on cardiovascular disease have been inconsistent, This inconsistency can be attributed to methodological flaws in some of the estimates of magnesium intakes.
For example, some studies have used dietary recall as a method of assessing magnesium intakes, but this is problematic because subject recall in unreliable, and intake often does not reflect the amount of absorbed magnesium. Because urinary magnesium excretion is reflective of magnesium intake it can be a more reliable measure of magnesium status than subject recall. In addition, urinary magnesium excretion represents actual absorbed magnesium and takes into account incomplete absorption. For example, in one study, urinary magnesium excretion was measured in nearly eight thousand subjects and the number of ischaemic heart attacks was observed during a 10 year follow up1. After controlling for different factors, the authors reported a non-linear association between urinary magnesium and ischaemic heart disease. Subjects in the lowest fifth for urinary magnesium concentrations had an increase risk of fatal and non-fatal ischaemic heart disease compared to subjects in the upper four fifths for urinary magnesium concentrations.
In this study a low magnesium plasma level was associated with a 60% increase in the risk of ischaemic heart disease. However, no association was observed between plasma magnesium and the risk of ischaemic heart disease. The association between urinary magnesium and ischaemic heart disease was independent of other dietary cations. Because other dietary cations such as potassium are present in plant foods, this suggests that the effects of the magnesium were not simply a marker for increase plant food consumption. In addition, the association between magnesium and mortality was confined to ischaemic heart disease and was not present for cancer further showing that magnesium is not just acting as a marker for a high quality diet. The association was also consistent across ages and sexes and showed no interactions further suggesting a real physiological effect. In fact, previous studies have shown low magnesium levels in heart tissue of those people who have suffered from an ischemic heart attack.
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