That’s the problem with subclinical deficiency symptoms and why it’s only in the past decade or so that they’ve even begun to be recognized - it’s hard to pin down the proximate cause.
You seem awful sure that the RDA is set for no particular reason other than some bureacratic excess of caution. To dismiss the “it’s killing us” hyperbole is one thing; to claim that there is no widespread “magnesium deficiency of any clinical significance” is hyperbolic in the other direction.
There is good data, some reviewed here, that lower magnesium intake and levels are common and are correlated with increased risk of metabolic syndrome, T2 DM, hypertension, coronary artery disease and stroke.
A diet high in foods high in magnesium content is clearly prudent and the Standard American Diet is not such a diet. The lowest 20% of intake is at significantly higher risk of many diseases and condition than the highest 20%. Large numbers of people are not getting enough magnesium with the data showing apparent significant measurable health consequences, based on moderately strong evidence, no bullshit.
Nah. The magnesium really helps my um, regularity. Nothing put me in a better mood than a nice easy poop. 
What the linked review does not propose is that people should generally take magnesium supplements. Potential benefits may only involve certain subgroups of patients, and taking too much can cause problems, especially in people with kidney malfunction.
Eating well (and not too well, from a caloric standpoint) remains the best strategy for most people based on current knowledge.
You know, it IS possible to avoid going to one extreme or the other when it comes to supplementation just like it is with good nutrition.
One key difference: foods known to be good sources of magnesium can be generally relied upon not to vary much in terms of nutritional content.
You can’t say the same about supplements.
Sure, but the benefits of reasonable supplementation of magnesium have not yet been demonstrated (at least as far as I’ve heard.)
Consider the case of Omega 3 fish oils. Years ago, lots of folks started popping these supplements to avoid heart disease. Now the evidence indicates that to reduce the heart disease risk, you need to get your Omega 3s from eating fish directly, NOT from taking concentrated supplements.
The same could end up being the case for magnesium.
What does that have to do with going to extremes? Are you trying to say that there are no reputable supplement manufacturers? Or are you trying to change the subject to get into a discussion of the fact that they aren’t regulated to the extent desirable?
Funny then that MY doctor still prescribes it (Lovaza) for my triglycerides. I guess I should sue him for malpractice then?
If you want. You’ll lose, unless you can show he’s harmed you.
Current expert recommendations are to NOT use lovaza to lower triglycerides and cholesterol unless there is a previous history of coronary artery disease, congestive heart disease, or of triglycerides elevated over 500. But many docs are still prescribing it for folks who don’t meet those criteria. But it’s not been demonstrated to be helpful for folks who don’t meet that criteria.
The approved indication for Lovaza is triglycerides over 500 (endocrinologists recommend over 1000 before using it.) Unapproved use tends to be for IgA nephropathy. YMMV.
Well please provide a citation I can print off and I’ll be happy to pass it along.
Agreed with Jackmannii’s post.
The point is merely that njtt’s claim that since magnesium “is in virtually everything you eat … that no-one, not even people with seriously weird, poor, restricted diets, is not getting a fair amount of magnesium in their diet, and very few people are likely not to be getting enough” is wrong.
Many Americans are not getting enough … but as is the case for most individual nutrients supplementing them in isolation is a very poor and inadequate substitute for having them packaged in real foods. (And may indeed cause more harm than good in some people.) It is easy to get enough if one eats a reasonably prudent diet; it’s just that many Americans do not eat such a diet.
That may be the case, but given the foods you have to eat to get large amounts of magnesium balanced with getting enough of other nutrients balanced with absorption issues, I don’t think you can dismiss supplementation out of hand either. And the fact of the matter is that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. People may WANT to eat well but it is also the fact of the matter that most of the time they simply don’t.
Yes I can dismiss it out of hand. No, there is no evidence that inadequate magnesim levels will result because real foods need to be balanced else you won’t absorb enough or that large amounts are required. Eating a prudent diet is pretty damn easy to do and believing that taking supplements can offset the harm done from eating crap instead is a delusion sold by hucksters.
You know, that was the same attitude the medical profession had 20 years ago to subclinical deficiency symptoms. You’d think doctors would learn from past mistakes. I guess not.
The package insert is a start.
I can’t even find the other indications QtM alluded to (although I am sure he is right.)
Amazingly we actually go by evidence. So far the mistakes regarding supplements that doctors have made have been in occassionally advising them based on weak evidence and a thought that there was likely no risk of harm. Several times it has turned out that there was no benefit when supplements were studied rather than getting them in a prudent diet and that harm has occuurred.
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Indications and evidence supported off-label as we both know are not the same thing.
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True enough. And the evidence, which you yourself have provided in this very thread, supports the idea that subclinical magnesium deficiency can be deleterious. Since magnesium is just a simple chemical element, it’s not like fish oil where there may be a host of cofactors required for it to work its magic. Of course there will certainly be cofactors and a good diet is more likely to provide those. But it is also true that the DV for magnesium compared to what most people are likely to get - being realistic rather than idealistic - is probably higher than what their GI tracts are likely to see.
Now at this point I suppose you’re committed to arguing against this so I suppose I won’t argue with you any further, but dealing with patients all of the time, if you’re going to be honest, I think you’re bound to agree with thise.
I see that DSeid has already provided the Lovaza package insert, which makes my main point. For IgA nephropathy, more info can be found in this paper:
Donadio JV and Grande JP, “The Role of Fish Oil/Omega-3 Fatty Acids in the Treatment of IgA Nephropathy,” Semin Nephrol, 2004, 24(3):225-43. [PubMed 15156528]
They exist, or so I’ve heard. The problem (as demonstrated by the link I provided) is that active ingredients vary so widely among tested products that it’s often tantamount to playing the lottery when you buy them as to whether you’re getting what you need (or added ingredients you don’t need or want).
This issue should come to mind whenever you read articles urging you to buy and use “dietary supplements” (and it’s curious how many sources that hype them heavily depend on ad income from supplement dealers or market supplements themselves).*
I’d concentrate on eating better.
for instance, the author of this article, who just happens to promote this magnesium supplement.*
**Hilariously, she is also described as holding the patent for a Miracle product called “RNA Drops”, which is probably taken with gusto by some of the same people who are horrified at the thought of eating GM foods and ingesting Foreign Nucleic Acids. 
Look. I’m not going to argue that the supplement industry shouldn’t be regulated. Would I love to see GMP enforced for all manufacturers? Damn right I would. Hell, I would want to seem them have to GCMS every ingredient including excipients and bring them under FDA control. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t any good manufacturers out there. In fact there are databases you can subscribe to find them. These are generally the province of nutritionists since they do actual sample testing but you subscribe yourself if you’re that worried.