ADHD Symptoms and Magnesium Deficiency

by

Tess Messer

Magnesium deficiency may bring about ADD and ADHDsymptoms. The reasons for this involve understanding what Magnesium is and how it works in our bodies.

Magnesium is a mineral. It is the 4th most abundant element in your body. ADHD studies have shown that Inadequacies in magnesium can bring on a host of problems and symptoms are among the symptoms that have been linked to nutritional Inadequacies of this mineral.

The majority of teen age children in this country have, according to Scientific studies performed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Unites State Department of Agriculture, significant magnesium Inadequacies.

Magnesium is necessary for hundreds of chemical reactions in the body. Our muscle and nerve function depends on magnesium as do our skeletal system and our immune system. Magnesium is needed to maintain normal blood sugar levels and a normal blood pressure. Perhaps the most significant role that magnesium plays is in protein synthesis and energy metabolism.

Magnesium works with calcium to power the cells in our body but according to the 2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and published in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, What We Eat in America, 2006-2007 Report, most of our kids have magnesium Inadequacies. Many younger young kids and adults do as well but the statistics are most alarming for teens. Eighty-nine percent of boys and seventy percent of girls aged 14-18 have inadequate dietary intake of Magnesium.

Research Studies have found that magnesium can be used to improve a host of conditions including anxiety and depression. There is some scientific evidence that magnesium may be able to regulate neurotransmitter function. Deficiencies in magnesium, which can caused by excess perspiration or by decreased diet intake will worsen these conditions.

These Inadequacies may result in faulty neurotransmission as well as anxiety, depression, migraine headaches, mood disorders, hyperactivity and decreased concentration. Low magnesium has also been linked to sudden cardiac death, mitral valve prolapsed, diabetes and hypertension.

Several Research Studies have shown that supplementation with 80 mg to 200 mg of magnesium daily improves anxiety, depression and ADD and ADHD symptoms.

Most multivitamins have between 20mg to 50 mg of magnesium. This may be plenty of supplementation if you, or your children, are eating foods that are rich in magnesium such as green leafy vegetables, lot of whole grains, walnuts, cashews, and peanuts, beans, fish, pumpkin, bananas, avocados, raisins, milk products and tomato paste but is likely not enough if you are not and if this is the case then supplementation is required.

Magnesium is an essential nutritional element that may be deficient in the diet of most Americans. High schoolers in particular, are likely to have magnesium Inadequacies. Magnesium is lost through respiration and sweating and active people are more at risk for having borderline low magnesium levels than people who are sedentary. Eating foods high in magnesium or supplementing your diet with a magnesium vitamin is essential to avoid the poor health outcomes that result from low magnesium levels.

Check your multivitamin to insure that you and your children are getting enough magnesium. Those of us, who like hot chocolate and coffee, have yet another reason to drink more of these beverages. It turns out that cocoa and caffeine both contain a fair amount of magnesium. Some of the mood lifting effects of chocolate and coffee could be attributed to these magnesium levels.

The Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disordercommunity has been quick to recommend fatty acid supplementation to improve the behavioral symptoms that bring on problems in people with Attention Deficit Disorder. The research community is only now learning that nutritional substances such as calcium, magnesium and zinc also play a role in moderating our mood and our behavior.

By supplementing our diets with magnesium we may avoid worsening the symptoms of ADHD and may, in the process not only improve our overall health but also diminish the incidence of developing conditions such as depression and anxiety that often accompany a diagnosis of ADHD.

For resources and free ADHD tools visit:

Primarily Inattentive ADD

and

Organizing ADD

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ADHD Symptoms and Magnesium Deficiency

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