A widespread nutritional deficiency affecting roughly half of all Americans may be silently increasing cancer risk and causing long-term health consequences that won’t surface for decades, according to biomedical scientist Dr. Rhonda Patrick.
In a recent discussion about mineral deficiency, Dr. Patrick revealed that approximately 50 percent of the U.S. population fails to meet the recommended daily allowance for magnesium, a mineral essential to hundreds of biological processes in the human body.
“It depends on what kind of deficiency we’re talking about. If you’re severely deficient, you start to get muscle spasms,”
Dr. Patrick explained.
“But when you’re just kind of suboptimal, like half the U.S. population is, when you’re just not getting that RDA requirement, which for women is about 320 milligrams a day, for men it’s 420.”
The problem becomes more acute for physically active individuals, as magnesium is lost through perspiration.
“If you’re physically active, that requirement goes up even more because you’re sweating and losing magnesium through your sweat,”
she noted.
While muscle cramps may signal a need for more magnesium, Dr. Patrick emphasized that the real concern lies in damage that accumulates silently over time. Magnesium serves as a cofactor for approximately 300 different enzymes in the body, including those responsible for DNA repair.
“Magnesium is a cofactor for many important enzymes, 300 different enzymes. DNA repair is one of them. And if you can’t repair damage to your DNA, then you increase the risk of getting cancer,”
Dr. Patrick said.
The gradual nature of this damage makes it particularly dangerous.
“DNA damage isn’t a problem for five years. It’s not a problem for 10 years. It’s not a problem for 15 or 20 or 30. It starts to become a problem 40, 50, 60 years later, right? Then cancer rears its ugly head.”
Research has established a direct connection between magnesium intake and cancer risk. According to studies cited by Dr. Patrick,
“for every 100 milligram decrease in magnesium intake, they have a 24 percent increased pancreatic cancer risk.”
Individuals in the highest quartile of magnesium consumption demonstrate a 50 percent lower rate of cancer-related mortality compared to those in the lowest quartile.
Dr. Patrick advocates obtaining magnesium primarily through food sources, particularly leafy green vegetables, which provide a spectrum of beneficial nutrients beyond just magnesium.
“I tend to think you really should try to get as much magnesium from your diet as you can because leafy greens are so good. And there are so many different micronutrients that are in them that you’re getting, like the vitamin K and the calcium and the vitamin C,”
she said.
For those who do choose to supplement, Dr. Patrick recommends taking smaller, divided doses to avoid gastrointestinal distress. Large amounts of magnesium can irritate the digestive system and cause intestinal discomfort.
“You don’t want to take a big bolus of magnesium. It can cause, like, muscle spasm, like, your muscles and your intestinal system to kind of spasm and can cause diarrhea and things like that. So you want to take lower doses, maybe, like, 150 milligram, 300 milligram doses,”
she advised.
Regarding supplement forms, Dr. Patrick suggested several options:
“I would say magnesium malate, magnesium citrate are good forms, but also magnesium glycinate, which is what I take, is a good form.”
The benefits of adequate magnesium extend beyond cancer prevention. The mineral plays a role in managing daily stressors and promoting restful sleep, both of which have become increasingly important concerns in modern life.
“For sleep as well and stress. I mean, when you’re stressed, your body pulls on magnesium as well,”
Dr. Patrick noted.
Magnesium deficiency represents a slow-building health threat that most people won’t recognize until significant damage has already occurred. By the time symptoms appear, decades of cellular harm may have already taken place, potentially setting the stage for serious illness later in life.