It’s important to get enough magnesium in your diet, whether through food or supplements, because it’s responsible for many critical components of your body’s processing. Magnesium is known to keep bones strong, help you sleep, keep muscles from cramping, manage stress and keep nerves and blood vessels operating correctly. But how do you get magnesium on the daily if you don’t want to rely on a supplement? Let’s take a look at foods that are rich in magnesium.

Foods High in Magnesium & The Health Benefits

Magnesium is an essential mineral for the human body. It's present in every cell of your body and is needed for more than 300 biochemical reactions, including digestion, nerve function, and blood sugar regulation. Magnesium also helps maintain normal muscle and nerve function, energy production, bone strength, and heart health.

Among those benefits, magnesium also supports against:

Bone loss because magnesium can increase bone density
Heart health and blood pressure regulation
Metabolic syndrome.

Magnesium has also been shown to help pain management for sore muscles, fibromyalgia, migraines and PMS. This mineral has also been shown to help with sleep and lessen feelings of stress.

Magnesium Deficiency

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), around 50% of the population shows a deficiency in magnesium. The reasons for this include the following:

Certain medications (e.g., diuretics) can cause your body to excrete more magnesium than usual.
Gastrointestinal issues like Crohn's disease and celiac disease can interfere with your body's ability to absorb nutrients from food.
Diet can impact your intake of magnesium. Farming practices have rendered our soil-less rich in minerals like magnesium. Plus, food choices like processed food can also affect how much magnesium you get from your diet.
Stress can further deplete magnesium stores.

Furthermore, research has shown that magnesium deficiency can lead to chronic diseases over time. Luckily, we have an idea as to how much magnesium we need.

How Much Magnesium Do I Need?

The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) is the minimum amount of a nutrient needed to prevent deficiency. The magnesium RDA for men over age 30 is 420 milligrams per day and 320 milligrams per day for women.

On the other hand, the Optimal Daily Allowance (ODA) is slightly higher than the RDA. While the RDA represents the amount needed to prevent deficiency, the ODA is the amount needed to achieve optimal health. Currently, the ODA for magnesium is 500 milligrams per day.

The average person's daily magnesium intake is 330 milligrams per day.

So what can we do, knowing that up to half of us may be deficient in magnesium and that we each need around 500 milligrams per day?

We can start by adding more magnesium-rich foods to our diet. These include food high in chlorophyll such as leafy greens, it can also be found in whole grains, nuts, and in modest amounts in meat and dairy. Water also contains magnesium, but the amounts vary depending on how hard or soft the water is. Lastly, process foods don’t contain adequate amounts of this mineral because most of it is stripped during the refining process.

Foods High in Magnesium

Here are some of the foods containing the highest amounts of magnesium:

Brazil nuts contain 107 milligrams of magnesium per ounce; however, it's important to note, you should only eat 3-4 whole Brazil nuts daily to avoid selenium toxicity.
Brown rice and other whole grains are good sources of magnesium, provided they are minimally processed. One cup of cooked medium-grain brown rice contains 86 milligrams of magnesium.
Mackerel is also a good source of magnesium. Three ounces of cooked mackerel contain 82 milligrams of magnesium.
Spinach contains good amounts of magnesium. Remember that magnesium is part of the chlorophyll molecule, which makes green plant foods like spinach green! One-half cup of frozen and cooked spinach contains 78 milligrams of magnesium.
Swiss chard, another leafy green, is also a great source of magnesium. One-half cup of cooked chard contains 75 milligrams of magnesium.
Avocado contains a lot of great nutrients, including healthy fats. It also contains 58 milligrams of magnesium per fruit.

If you ate all these foods daily, you would come out with an impressive 486 milligrams of magnesium daily. Not too bad! This amount is within your RDA and just shy of your ODA.

However, it is estimated that we only absorb up to 40% of the magnesium we get from food, which brings the number down to 194 milligrams, which is less than half the level we need for optimal health.

It's also worth pointing out that it is unlikely that you will eat all these magnesium-rich foods on any given day.

To top it off, different growing conditions at different times of the year can render food more or less nutritious. The point is that nutrient levels fluctuate based on the seasons and conditions.

The Solution? Take a Magnesium Supplement

Magnesium supplements are widely available these days and offer a convenient way to get a reliable amount of magnesium each day. With a magnesium supplement, you’ll get:

A reliable dose: When you buy a supplement, it has been tested to guarantee that you receive the amount of the nutrient that you will find on the label.
The right form for your needs: Magnesium supplements come in different forms, each of which offers its distinct absorption, bioavailability, and therapeutic application. If you're not sure where to start, pop by the store to speak with one of our in-house nutritionists, who can guide you to the right form of magnesium for your needs.
Convenience: Magnesium supplements come in a variety of formats. Whether you prefer taking pills, chewing tablets, dissolving a powder into water, or soaking in a tub of magnesium, we have the right magnesium supplement for you.

While food sources of magnesium should be consumed as part of a healthy diet, they should not be relied upon as your sole source of magnesium. As mentioned, this is because growing conditions can impact the amounts of magnesium contained in foods, plus we only absorb around 40% of the magnesium we get from food.

So how do you get proper amounts of magnesium? Add a quality magnesium supplement to your routine. Not only are they convenient, they have a dose that’s reliable and better absorbed. You can also select the right form of magnesium for your condition when choosing a supplement. At National Nutrition, we carry a wide variety of magnesium supplements on our shelves. Don't hesitate to stop by the store or visit us online and speak with an expert to be guided to the right form of magnesium for you.