4 Ways Magnesium Supports Weight Loss

Magnesium is a mineral essential for basic human functions, particularly the heart, muscles and nerves. It may also play a role in maintaining a healthy weight by influencing several processes involved in weight loss.

Here are some ways magnesium can help manage weight.

Magnesium helps improve your body’s response to insulin, a hormone that helps move glucose (sugar) into cells. When your body doesn’t respond to insulin, glucose builds up in the blood. This condition is called insulin resistance.

With insulin resistance, your body produces more insulin to compensate for high blood sugar. High insulin levels can increase body fat storage.

Magnesium’s ability to regulate blood sugar levels can prevent blood sugar spikes and crashes. When your blood sugar levels are balanced, you are less likely to experience extreme hunger and cravings.

Magnesium stimulates the small intestine to release a hormone called cholecystokinin (CCK). CCK helps suppress hunger and reduce food consumption.

By increasing CCK levels, magnesium can promote feelings of fullness. It could also prevent overeating and reduce body weight.

Magnesium plays a role in adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP helps store and transfer energy within cells.

ATP must bind to magnesium to become active and form a magnesium-ATP complex. This complex facilitates metabolism, so magnesium helps burn more energy.

Magnesium also affects how your intestines process fats. When it binds to fats, magnesium forms soaps that your body cannot easily absorb. It digests and uses less fat, which decreases calorie intake.

Long-term inflammation is one of the underlying causes of weight gain and obesity. Elevated levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), an inflammatory marker, are common in obese people.

Magnesium has been shown to reduce obesity-related inflammation. It can regulate inflammatory pathways and decrease CRP levels.

The standard Western diet consists of high consumption of processed foods and deionized water and low consumption of legumes and vegetables. Nearly 50% of Americans don’t get enough magnesium.

Low levels of magnesium can contribute to obesity. Foods and supplements rich in magnesium have been shown to reduce body fat and the risk of obesity.

Insufficient magnesium intake can also result from conditions that affect absorption. Examples include celiac disease and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Try to get the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of magnesium to prevent magnesium deficiency and promote weight loss.

The RDA for magnesium in milligrams depends on age, gender, and health conditions, such as: