The Mineral Your Drinking Water Might Be Missing: Magnesium's Importance
- Published:
- Updated: January 17, 2025
Summary
Magnesium, a crucial mineral for optimal bodily function, is often overlooked in both diet and drinking water. Here’s why it matters and how to ensure you’re getting enough: Magnesium plays a vital role in numerous bodily processes, including muscle function, bone health, and energy production. Many people remain unaware of the significant health benefits of mineral water, which can be a natural source of this essential mineral. To increase your magnesium intake, consider incorporating more leafy greens, nuts, and whole grains into your diet, as well as opting for mineral waters that are rich in magnesium.
- Sources: Found in leafy greens, nuts, seeds, and whole grains, magnesium is also present in varying levels in drinking water, particularly in bottled mineral water.
- Health Benefits: Adequate magnesium intake supports heart health, bone strength, nerve function, protein synthesis, and blood glucose control.
- Deficiency Risks: Insufficient magnesium can lead to symptoms like fatigue, muscle cramps, and increased risk of chronic conditions like heart disease and osteoporosis.
Magnesium is another of those minerals we have to function properly. It’s involved in more than 300 chemical reactions, and essential to everything from energy and muscle health to immune system health. It also helps in the construction of bone and synthesises DNA, RNA and the antioxidant glutathione.
It’s so crucial yet we don’t talk much about magnesium, both as a food and when it comes to our water. We only need to know what this mineral is about in order to be able to get enough of it.
Sources of Magnesium
If magnesium is easily available in a lot of foods – leafy greens, nuts, seeds and whole grains – water can also be a rich source. Water in the form of drinking water, however, contributes much of that to our daily intake, too, and also on how the water gets filtered.
)Water can be a quick and easily digestible magnesium supplement for those who find it hard to get enough from diet alone. When you’re in this position, how much magnesium your water contains can add a lot to your daily diet.
Magnesium Content in Drinking Water
Magnesium concentration in drinking water test can be very different. In the open ocean, it is based on local rock and soil minerals. Tap water, too, can be a matter of local water treatment systems. Bottled mineral water, on the other hand, is often high in magnesium, because it comes from a spring or well where minerals have naturally leached into the water.
There’s no prescribed amount of magnesium in your water – and it can be as low as zero, all the way up to very high. So it’s important to understand the variability and how to keep the magnesium steady.
What are the Benefits of Magnesium in Drinking Water?
High in magnesium water can be a boon to us. One of its main assets is its heart health. Research suggests that taking enough magnesium can reduce your risk of both high blood pressure and atherosclerosis.
Furthermore, since magnesium helps bone structure, eating enough of it can keep bones strong. Magnesium is also needed for nerve activity, protein production and blood sugar regulation. Drinking water with an easily digestible source of the mineral can add up to all these benefits.
Magnesium Deficiency: Causes, Symptoms, and Risks
But as much as it’s critical, not everyone gets enough magnesium. This can be from eating less magnesium-containing foods to drinking water deficient in the mineral. There are other conditions and drugs that can decrease magnesium absorption or excretion from the body.
Appetite loss, nausea, fatigue and weakness are some of the symptoms of magnesium deficiency. More extreme forms can bring numbness, muscle spasms, seizure, even personality changes. Long-term, deficiency in magnesium can lead to chronic disease such as heart disease and osteoporosis.
How do water treatment processes work to remove magnesium from water?
Water treatment is another thing that can make a huge difference to the magnesium content of your tap water. Most cities clean the water, removing dirt and any pathogens so it’s fit to drink. But some of these treatments – in particular filters such as reverse osmosis – also strip water of minerals, such as magnesium.
These treatments are important to provide potable water, but consider how they might affect mineral concentration. You might not be getting enough magnesium if your main source of drinking water is treated tap water.
How to Ensure You're Getting Enough Magnesium from Your Water
If you want to make sure you’re drinking enough magnesium, here are some ideas:
Making Sure You’re Getting the Test: Water test kits are widely available and can provide you with mineral levels of your water.
If you Need Bottled Mineral Water: There are some bottled mineral water brands that have a bit more magnesium in them, which is an option if your tap water lacks minerals.
Consider a Mineral-Retaining Filter: If you have a home water filter, choose one that keeps minerals and filters out the bad stuff. Not all filters take minerals out, so you should research yours.
Additional Ways to Supplement Magnesium
You don’t have to take magnesium from your water, but there are alternatives. The most easy one is diet: a variety of foods high in magnesium can supplement your intake. Plant foods high in magnesium are green leafy vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds and whole grains.
Another option are oral magnesium supplements, available almost everywhere and a viable alternative if you can’t get enough magnesium from your food or water. Yet always consult with your doctor before implementing any new supplement program.
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