Magnesium is a necessary compound for the proper functioning of the body. It can reverse brain changes caused by neurodegenerative ailments like Alzheimer’s disease and memory lapses caused by accidents. According to scientists, the recently synthesized compound magnesium L-threonate works best for this role.
The brain is one of the most delicate organs of our body. Its contraction begins after the age of 25. Practicing extreme sports that can lead to head injuries can accelerate the process of structural changes and synaptic loss, which reduces cognitive performance. Our most important organ is also negatively influenced by neuroses, especially the anxiety neuroses common in today’s pace of life – after the age of 30, they accelerate the process of losing neurons by about 1,5 times. In turn, after the age of 55, cognitive disorders may already occur. In the USA, in the above-mentioned age group, this type of disorder is recorded in 20 percent. people; in Europe, about 15-17 percent. Another growing problem is Alzheimer’s disease, which appears in lower and lower age groups, below 50 years of age, where no cases have been reported so far.
An international research team composed of researchers from the Chinese Tsinghua University and the University of Texas in the USA, led by Dr. Guosong Liu, conducted analyzes of brain damage in diseases resulting in cognitive impairment, mainly in Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers found that it is possible to inhibit them and avoid the rapid wasting of neurons that occurs in neurodegenerative diseases.
The team found in a mouse model that the use of magnesium L-threonate (MgT), one of the rapidly digestible forms of magnesium, inhibits the degeneration of brain cells and even reverses cognitive impairment. Magnesium L-Threonate (MgT) is the amino acid magnesium salt. This therapy can be used not only in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, but also in people who show memory impairment or decreased efficiency due to, for example, work overload. The problem is that threonate therapy is a long-term one, but as shown by the results of Dr. Liu’s team, it prevents synaptic loss and reverses the effects of memory impairment. The team is currently developing solutions that can be used to conduct the first clinical trials on volunteers. The results of the work will be released in the first quarter of 2014 along with the initial results of the first phase of clinical trials. The drug is likely to be in treatment in about 3 years.
Magnesium creates neurons
In turn, a team of scientists from Tel Aviv University (TAU) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, led by Dr. Irina Slutsky from TAU, focused on the role of magnesium in the formation of neurons in children and the possible impact of magnesium deficiency on brain cells in adults and on the effect of using magnesium in people after accidents resulting in brain damage and, consequently, memory.
Administering magnesium to increase memory capacity seems against logic, as magnesium is the first natural compound to block the NMDA receptor, a molecule critical to the proper functioning of memory. But the compounds we administer only block this receptor during the background phase of specific brain activity, not with increased neuronal activity. As a result, the plasticity of the brain increases and the number of synapses that can be put into action increases, Dr. Slutsky told Science.
Slutsky’s team, by studying both a rat model and treating children and adults with cognitive impairment, found that magnesium is an essential component in the formation of neurons in children. Scientists have found that its threoninate-based compounds are able to cross the blood-brain barrier to inhibit the flow of calcium in neurons.
Studies on a rat model have determined that magnesium L-threonate used in both young and old rats protects against memory impairment and supports its recovery. The research was carried out in a long-term, five-year cycle, which means that possible therapies will also be long-lasting.
In the course of the experiments, two groups of rats were fed a healthy diet containing enough magnesium from natural food sources. However, in the first group, MgT was administered, while in the second, only the normal diet was used. Then, experiments were conducted examining the cognitive abilities of rats from both groups, which showed that in the first group they increased significantly. Experiments with the transmission of electromagnetic pulses in the brain of rats from this group showed that their number of synapses increased significantly; the electrical activity of their brains was greater than in the second group.
However, as Dr. Slutsky noted, it was also found that a large part of the magnesium supplements available on the market today do not show positive effects, except for a slight somatic effect. They definitely don’t work on the brain. They do not penetrate the blood-brain barrier. Magnesium is the fourth most abundant element in body fluids, but now more than half of people in the developed world experience magnesium deficiencies when consuming highly processed foods and beverages that are virtually absent, Dr. Slutsky said.
Supplements based on sulphates or other such insoluble magnesium compounds sold as cheap OTC drugs tend to be absorbed very little and are excreted from the body, according to scientists. They may even have a negative role in contributing to the formation of kidney stones.
Threonates for the brain, chelates for the body
The relatively best effects are achieved with the use of magnesium chelates and threonates, while the chelates have a positive systemic effect, while threonates have a good effect primarily on the brain. Joint experiments carried out by scientists from Tel Aviv University, MIT, Tsighua University and the University of Toronto allowed the conclusion that after just 2 weeks of administering these compounds to mice, the magnesium level in the cerebrospinal fluid increased. The first symptoms of memory improvement will appear after a long time; as in the case of administering other essential minerals orally, the treatment must also be long-lasting; which means that the mouse model corresponds to a human treatment of at least 1-2 years.
As scientists have found, nowadays, apart from supplements with chelates or magnesium ascorbates or the slightly available OTC drugs with magnesium threonates, its deficiencies can now be easily supplemented in a traditional way: by eating broccoli, wheat bran and germ, almonds, cashew nuts, or such fruits. like bananas. Scientists also note that a very good source of magnesium can be waters with a high content of its ions (in Poland it is, for example, Muszynianka), but they should not be overused, because a high concentration of magnesium is usually accompanied by a high concentration of ions of other minerals such as calcium, which in turn may contribute to the formation of kidney stones. Researchers note that, of course, the effect of such a diet will not appear overnight, but as Dr. Slutsky adds, the effect of a constant change to a diet containing such additives will be clearly visible after a few months. Memory will improve, reduce the reaction time to solving problems (the so-called quick intellectual ignition), improve the activity of synapses (less forgotten words or concepts) and, in older people, the first symptoms of cognitive disorders that worry them will disappear and the changes in perception and memory associated with with age.
Tekst: Marek Mejssner