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Many nutritional supplements today are being marketed as antioxidants. This is because report after report has confirmed their beneficial effects on everything from IQ levels, antisocial behaviour and delinquency in the young to age-associated problems such as arthritis, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels and general debility.

The term anti-oxidant refers to the facility of certain vitamins and minerals to protect the body from the oxidizing effect of free radicals, the effect in the body being similar to that observed when opened wine goes sour or butter goes rancid. Leaving leather goods out in the sun is another example – the cross-linking of the fibres which occurs in the presence of air and sunlight resembles very closely what happens to skin when it ‘leathers’ and wrinkles from too much exposure to the sun and elements. Obviously if this kind of effect happens inside the body it is responsible for tissues hardening and becoming less supple as is characterized by ageing.

Vitamins both arrest and slow down this process, particularly vitamins with strong antioxidant properties, such as vitamins A, C, E and certain minerals, such as chromium, magnesium, zinc and selenium. All vitamins and all minerals play key roles in the body, but some are indispensable. It is highly significant that at least two of the most indispensable of the minerals, especially in view of their advantageous effect on normalizing blood pressure and heart action and general antioxidant effects respectively, are magnesium and selenium, both of which are in short supply in the British diet (and probably elsewhere).

Selenium is depleted because the soils in which crops are grown now lack this vital trace mineral. Low selenium levels are linked to coronary artery disease.

Magnesium is depleted because of the British habit of eating over-refined food. White flour has lost 82 per cent of the magnesium content found in whole grain and white sugar has lost 99 per cent of the magnesium found in molasses and brown sugar is little better.

Factors such as these ensure that the average British diet provides just under 250mg magnesium a day which is about half what should be taken. (US RDA figures recommend

350-400mg per day and these are thought to be characteristically low, as most RDAs are.)

Magnesium works in apposition to calcium to balance the electrical charges in the cell.  Michael Murray, ND and Joseph Pizzoro, ND, write: ‘An intracellular deficiency of free magnesium is a major etiological factor in hypertension, as its levels are consistently low in hypertensives as compared with nomotensives (those with normal blood pressure). In one double-blind clinical study magnesium supplementation lowered low blood pressure by 12/8mm mercury in 19 out of 20 subjects in the experimental group, compared to none 0/4 in the placebo group.’

However, before rushing out to buy supplements, be aware that some (cheaper) forms of magnesium (inorganic) are poorly absorbed and it is best to buy supplements that consist largely of magnesium citrate, orotate, aspartate, that is in its organic form.

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Cardio & Blood/ Cholesterol

Directory of health resources for healthcare professionals.