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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Boston, Massachusetts » Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #204095
Title: Magnesium Intake and Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome in Older Adults

Author
item MCKEOWN, NICOLA - HNRCA AT TUFTS
item Jacques, Paul
item XINLI, ZHANG - UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
item WENYEN, JUAN - UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
item SAYHOUN, NADINE - CDC, USDA

Submitted to: European Journal of Nutrition
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/26/2008
Publication Date: 6/16/2008
Citation: Mckeown, N., Jacques, P., Xinli, Z., Wenyen, J., Sayhoun, N. 2008. Magnesium Intake and Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome in Older Adults. European Journal of Nutrition. 47:210-216.

Interpretive Summary: Magnesium is an important nutrient that is found in a wide range of foods including whole grains, green leafy vegetables, nuts and legumes. Diets rich in magnesium have been found to have important health benefits, such as reduced risk of having the metabolic syndrome. The metabolic syndrome is disease condition that is identified by three or more risk factors, such as obesity, high blood pressure, high blood lipids and high blood glucose. We undertook the present study to determine if elderly people, whose diets contained more magnesium had a lower risk of having the metabolic syndrome compared to people whose diets contained less magnesium. Our findings indicated that people with the highest dietary magnesium intake had a 64% lower risk of having the metabolic syndrome compared to people with the lowest magnesium intake. Furthermore, it appeared that those elderly with a higher magnesium intake in their diet were less likely to be overweight and had better blood glucose control. The findings in this study suggest that dietary magnesium may be important in the development of the metabolic syndrome.

Technical Abstract: Higher dietary intake of magnesium (Mg) may protect against development of type 2 diabetes. The aim of this study was to examine the association between dietary magnesium intake and metabolic syndrome risk factors in elderly men and women. We examined cross-sectional associations between magnesium intake and prevalence of metabolic syndrome. Magnesium intake was assessed by three day food record and categorized by quartiles of dietary intake. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between quartile categories of Mg intake, prevalence of MS and components of the MS. Models were adjusted for age, gender, BMI (except when it was outcome), race, educational attainment, marital status, smoking status, alcohol intake, exercise, energy intake (kcal), percentage of calories from saturated fat, use of antihypertensive or lipid medication. Tests for linear trends were measured across increasing quartile intake using the median value in each quartile as the intake. Mg intake was inversely associated with the MS; those with the highest intake of Mg had significantly lower risk of having MS compared to the lowest quartile of intake (OR: 0.36, 95% CI 0.19-0.69, P for trend 0.002). Significant inverse relationships were observed between Mg intake and BMI (OR: 0.47, 95% CI: 0.22-1.00, P trend= 0.03), and fasting glucose (OR:0.41, 95%CI 0.22-0.77, P trend = 0.005). In conclusion, our study demonstrates that Mg intake is inversely associated with prevalence of the MS in older adults, supporting existing evidence among younger adults linking Mg to reduce diabetes.