Researchers in Japan have found that high intakes of magnesium can reduce your cardiovascular fatality rate by up to 50%.  The almost 15 year study focusing on more than 58,000 Japanese people aged between 40 and 79 found that increasing your dietary magnesium intake can also severely lower your risk of stroke and coronary heart disease. 

There are many links between magnesium and heart health.  Past research has found that magnesium helps regulate your blood pressure, regulate your heart beat, and even reduce inflammation.  This latest study further supports the importance of increasing your magnesium intake.

While magnesium is readily available in many green vegetables, meats, grains, nuts, dairy products, and starches many American adults do not intake the daily recommended amount of magnesium.  With so many heart health benefits, doctors recommend fortifying your diet with magnesium supplements to ensure you are getting at least the minimal recommended amount – 320 mg for women and 420 mg for men each day.

Similar studies have also found that patients lower their risk of stroke by about 9% for every 100 mg per day increase in their magnesium intake.  The Japanese study, found that those with the highest dietary intakes of magnesium showed as much as a 50% reduction in their risk of fatal heart disease.

Aside from the heart benefits, magnesium has always been known as one of the most crucial nutrients because it affects so many different types of cells in your body.  Magnesium deficiency has been strongly associated with cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, anxiety disorders, migraines, osteoporosis, muscle spasms, and hypertension.

Magnesium is also a crucial supporting ingredient of calcium supplements.  Without a proper supporting dietary intake, certain types of calcium supplements cause high levels of calcium in the blood that can damage blood vessels and increase your chance of heart disease.  Even when taking calcium into account, magnesium has shown very strong benefits of reduced risk of coronary heart disease, heart failure, and stroke.