The FIRST Sign of a Magnesium Deficiency Is... (Dr. Berg Explains)
Dr. Berg’s Healthy Keto and Intermittent Fasting Podcast
Dr. Eric Berg
4.7 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 25 October 2023
⏱️ 7 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today, I want to cover the first sign of magnesium deficiency. Many people don’t get enough magnesium from their diet, not to mention other factors that deplete magnesium.
Magnesium is a cofactor involved in 350 enzymes. A cofactor is something that is required by an enzyme to work.
Symptoms of magnesium deficiency:
• Cramping
• Twitching
• Arrhythmia
• Osteoporosis
• Osteomalacia
• Insulin resistance
• Insomnia
• High cortisol
• Depression
However, the number one symptom of magnesium deficiency is fatigue.
The top cause of low magnesium is not consuming enough magnesium in the diet. Foods rich in magnesium are vegetables and leafy greens.
Consuming large salads is a great way to get the magnesium you need. But you can also take a magnesium supplement. If you do take a supplement, consider magnesium glycinate.
Other causes of magnesium deficiency:
1. Refined foods
2. Fructose
3. Alcohol
4. Certain medications
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | I'd like to discuss the first sign of a magnesium deficiency. |
| 0:04.7 | Did you realize that 68% of people in the United States don't get the required amounts of magnesium from their diet? |
| 0:13.1 | Now, not to mention all the other foods and things and drugs and things that people are exposed to that |
| 0:18.0 | deplete magnesium. Magnesium is a cofactor involved in 350 different enzymes. What's a cofactor? |
| 0:27.6 | A cofactor is something that is required by an enzyme for that enzyme to work. |
| 0:33.1 | I'm not just talking about digestive enzymes. I'm talking about enzymes that make up all your biochemistry |
| 0:38.6 | that do all the bodily functions. The other thing about a magnesium deficiency is many times |
| 0:45.2 | a potassium deficiency has very similar symptoms. It is difficult to determine if you have a magnesium |
| 0:53.6 | deficiency or a potassium deficiency. But the good news is they both come from vegetables and |
| 1:01.2 | salads. As long as you already know, you're going to be totally fine. But before I get into the |
| 1:05.2 | number one most common symptom, let me go through some other symptoms. Cramping, twitching, |
| 1:10.9 | which could also come from other things as well, like your pH being too alkaline, |
| 1:16.4 | a rhythmia is okay. Of the heart, the heart starts skipping because of a lack of magnesium, |
| 1:21.9 | mainly because magnesium works with calcium. Magnesium helps remove too much calcium from the cell, |
| 1:30.0 | helping this over-contracted vasoconstricted artery lowering your blood pressure. Now, as far as |
| 1:37.0 | your bone health, people think calcium to prevent osteoporosis, but magnesium is just as important. |
| 1:43.1 | And osteomalacia, which is a vitamin D deficiency, which is softening of the bones in adults, |
| 1:49.5 | like a child's version would be rickets, because magnesium is essential for vitamin D activation. |
| 1:56.3 | You can't activate vitamin D without magnesium. Insulin resistance, and I talked about this in |
| 2:02.9 | many other videos, has a related magnesium deficiency usually. And this is why when you increase |
| 2:09.1 | magnesium, you start to make insulin more sensitive and it starts to work. And of course, |
| 2:14.0 | insomnia, if you don't have enough, you'll have a tendency to not being able to sleep. And also |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Dr. Eric Berg, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Dr. Eric Berg and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.