The #1 Nutrient You’re Overlooking for Better Blood Sugar

Reviewed by Dietitian Casey Wing, RD, CD

Key Points

• Magnesium supports insulin function and may help with blood sugar regulation in some people.

• Low magnesium levels can contribute to insulin resistance and make managing blood sugar harder.

• Add magnesium-rich foods like beans, nuts, seeds and dark chocolate to meals and snacks.

Checking the carbohydrate and added sugar content of a food can become routine when you live with diabetes or prediabetes. Both can help you make decisions about what to eat, since your body breaks down sugars and starches into glucose. You may be less familiar with the nutrients your body needs to use that glucose, including magnesium.

Found in foods like beans, nuts and whole grains, magnesium is involved in blood sugar regulation, so getting enough of it in your diet may be something to consider for better blood sugar. We spoke with two dietitians about how magnesium affects blood sugar, what the research says about its benefits and how to include it in your meals. Here’s what they said.

How Magnesium Can Improve Your Blood Sugar

It Helps Your Body Respond to Insulin

After you eat, insulin helps move glucose from your bloodstream into cells that can use or store it. If those cells become less responsive to insulin, more glucose remains in your blood. Magnesium can support the reactions that allow cells to receive and act on insulin’s signal, so inadequate magnesium may contribute to insulin resistance.

“Low magnesium makes it harder for your body to use insulin well, and high blood sugar makes your kidneys flush out more magnesium,” says Stephanie Hill, M.S., RD, LDN. Those losses can further deplete magnesium, potentially adding to the difficulty of managing blood sugar.

Research suggests that increasing magnesium intake may improve insulin responsiveness in some people. In an analysis of randomized trials involving adults at increased risk of diabetes, magnesium supplements improved a measure of insulin resistance calculated from fasting glucose and insulin levels compared with a placebo.

The above research seems to support getting adequate magnesium, while leaving uncertainty about who will benefit from supplements. Hill recommends starting with food and discussing supplementation with your clinician if you may have low magnesium. Addressing a shortfall can be part of your care alongside treatment for elevated blood sugar.

It Supports the Release of Insulin

Your pancreas contains beta cells that release insulin when blood glucose rises after a meal. In response, these cells first break down glucose and produce ATP, a molecule that supplies energy. The increase in ATP triggers a series of changes that allows calcium to enter the cells, prompting them to release insulin. Magnesium supports the enzymes involved in producing that ATP. Put more simply, “magnesium is part of the signaling system that tells your pancreas when to release insulin,” Hill explains.

When your pancreas cannot release enough insulin to meet your body’s needs, glucose can remain elevated in your bloodstream. Getting enough magnesium supplies these cells with a nutrient they need to respond to rising glucose. Its role therefore begins in the pancreas, helping initiate the insulin response that allows your body to manage the glucose from a meal.

A review of research on pancreatic beta cells describes how inadequate magnesium may interfere with glucose-sensing enzymes and the energy-dependent signals involved in insulin release. Though this research may provide a biological explanation for how low magnesium could affect blood sugar, it doesn’t establish that taking magnesium supplements will improve insulin secretion in everyone.

It Helps Your Cells Use Glucose for Energy

Moving glucose into a cell is one step. The cell then needs to convert it into energy it can use. Magnesium helps enzymes carry out that conversion, including reactions involved in breaking down glucose. “It also helps your body process carbohydrates for energy,” says Grace Phelan, M.S., RD, LDN, CNSC.

Researchers have investigated whether supplying additional magnesium translates into better blood sugar readings. An analysis of 24 randomized controlled trials involving 1,325 people with type 2 diabetes found modest reductions in fasting blood sugar and HbA1c among those receiving magnesium compared with control groups. HbA1c, which reflects average blood sugar over roughly three months, fell by an average of 0.22 percentage points for those taking magnesium supplements.

The results of the trials in this analysis varied depending on factors including participants’ initial magnesium levels and the dose and duration of supplementation. These findings suggest a possible benefit for some people, but they don’t tell us how much adding magnesium-rich foods will change an individual’s blood sugar. The trials tested supplements, and food provides a combination of nutrients that can’t be assessed from those results alone.

Tips for Enjoying More Magnesium

“For most people, food is the place to start,” Hill says. Adults generally need 310 to 320 milligrams daily for females and 400 to 420 mg for males, depending on age. You don’t need to get all of that from one food, though. The dietitians we spoke with recommend incorporating sources across meals and snacks.

• Stir seeds into breakfast. Hill suggests adding chia seeds or ground flaxseed to oatmeal or yogurt.

• Add crunch to your salad. Phelan recommends sprinkling 1 to 2 tablespoons of pumpkin seeds on top of a salad. Keep a container with your other salad ingredients so they’re easy to remember when you’re assembling lunch.

• Add in beans. Phelan suggests vegetable chili with black beans and quinoa. A half-cup of cooked black beans provides about 60 mg of magnesium.

• Choose nuts for a snack. Phelan recommends an ounce of almonds or cashews, both magnesium-rich foods. You can also add them to your usual breakfast or salad.

Our Expert Take

Counting carbohydrates can help you manage blood sugar, but getting enough of the nutrients your body needs to use glucose can also be part of your overall nutrition care. Magnesium contributes to insulin release and function, and some studies have found modest improvements in blood sugar measures. Those findings support addressing inadequate intake, though they don’t establish that everyone with diabetes or prediabetes needs a supplement. Both dietitians we spoke with recommend starting with food. Adding beans to dinner or seeds to your usual breakfast can help you meet your magnesium needs through meals you already enjoy.

Read the original article on EatingWell