If you like nutritional meta-analyses, then have I got a treat for you. Two separate papers (one for each gender) were published this year (The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, International Journal of Stroke) that reviewed the relationship between magnesium, potassium, calcium and the likelihood of strokes.
The study on women published in the AJCN, took a look at the two Nurses’ Health Studies, the biggest and longest-running investigations into what factors influence female health. The Information in this study comes from over 200,000 nurses-participants. During the 30 years of the study, over three thousand strokes were reported. The research indicated that women with the highest intake of magnesium reduced their risk of stroke by 19% when compared to those who had the lowest levels of magnesium. Those with the highest potassium levels saw 11% reduction in stroke risk when compared to those in the lowest potassium strata. Finally, those women who had the highest levels of potassium and magnesium reduced their risk of stroke by a whopping 28%. Calcium did not seem to affect stroke outcome either way.
The second study looked at male over 40,000 male participants in the Health Professional Follow-Up study, and the results were similar:
A diet rich in magnesium, potassium, and calcium may contribute to reduced risk of stroke among men. Because of significant collinearity, the independent contribution of each cation is difficult to define.
The AIM Companies offers fine, transdermal magnesium in Mag-nificence CWR. For potassium, we offer RediBeets.
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