AOR Mag Malate Renew - 240 Caps

Fibromyalgia:
is a common clinical syndrome of generalized muscular pain, stiffness and chronic aching. It is characterized by reproducible tenderness on palpitation of specific anatomical sites called tender points. Other prominent symptoms include headaches, short term memory loss, forgetfulness, depression, sleep disturbances, mild fevers or chills, sore throat, and painful lymph nodes in the neck. White, middle aged (30- to 50-year old) women are much more likely to suffer fibromyalgia than are men.

How your body uses energy
When your body takes in energy from food, it cannot use it directly, just as you can't use burning coal or a spinning windmill to directly operate a food processor. Instead, food energy must first be converted into a useable form: adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the "univeral energy currency." Low levels of ATP, and abnormalities in the glycolytic cycle, are commonly are found in people suffering with fibromyalgia, and are believed to play a significant role in the physical and mental symptoms of the disease. Restoring cellular ATP levels is therefore crucial to digging your way out of the pit of this debilitating disorder.

Magnesium
Magnesium plays a critical role in the production and stabilization of ATP. It activates almost all the enzymes of the glycolytic and the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, which transform fats and sugars into useable energy. Without magnesium, ATP is quickly broken down into the low-energy adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and inorganic phosphate, which cannot deliver energy for cell metabolism and transport. It is also needed for the very structure of mitochondria, the cell's "power plants:" magnesium defiency causes swelling and disruption of the cristae (the folds in the inner mitochondrial membrane, where oxidative phosphorylation of ADP into ATP occurs) and leads to a decreased number of mitochondria per cell. Maintaining adequate ATP levels is critical to brain function. The brain stores 20% of total body ATP. Low levels of ATP may cause a decline in cognitive function - the "brain fog" so commonly reported, in which victims find themselves struggling through a dark haze, unable to concentrate and often forgetting simple thoughts and tasks.

Lack of ADP
A lack of ATP is also thought responsible for the muscle weakness and pain that accompanies the disease. Here again, magnesium is crucial for adequate muscle metabolism and function. In magnesium deficiency, there is excessive muscle tension, leading to muscle spasms, restlessness, tics, and twitches. Also, histochemical studies in muscle show that the tender points in fibromyalgia victims' muscles are deficient in ATP. Additionally, magnesium modulates the ion channels which regulate key nerve receptors (such as those for the 5HT3 serotonin receptor and N-mehtyl-D-aspartate (NMDA), which are involved in the neurological aspects of fibromyalgic pain.

Malic Acid
Malic Acid has an important role in generation of mitochondrial ATP, both under aerobic and hypoxic (low-oxygen) conditions. Under aerobic conditions, the malate is converted into oxaloacetate by the TCA energy cycle, providing electrons to the electron transport chain for oxidative phosphorylation of ADP through the malate-aspartate shuttle. Under anaerobic conditions, however, the electrons from sugars cannot be processed in the early glycolytic stages of energy production, and instead build up in the cytosol and inhibit glycolysis and normal cellular metabolism. Here again, malate can help, by removing cytosolic reducing equivilents through either reduction to succinate or oxidation to oxaloacetate, thereby reversing the inhibition of glycolysis. This process yeilds three molecules of ATP.

In animal experiments, malate has been shown to increase anaerobic endurance, as measured by increased swimming times. Malic acid is the only metabolite of the citric acid cycle which correlates positively with physical activity: experimental studies show that exercise-induced mitochondrial respiration is associated with increased malate levels only; other TCA metabolites remain unchanged. As well, malic acid is a potent aluminum chelator.

Two open trials have reported significant reductions in measurements of myalgic pain, as assessed by tender point index, in fibromyalgia victims supplementing with magnesium and malic acid. The dosages have ranged from 300 to 600 mg of magnesium and 1200 to 2400 mg of malate, with most symptoms improving in approximately eight weeks.