Positive effects of magnesium supplementation in metabolic syndrome

Recent data show that magnesium supplementation decreases systolic and diastolic blood pressure values depending on the blood pressure levels and improves metabolic parameters in cardiovascular disease. In this context, we conducted a prospective, randomized, double-blind study on serum and ionized magnesium, systolic and diastolic blood pressure values, interleukin-6, vitamin D, and metabolic profile in 27 patients (13 male/14 female, age: 60.2 ± 12.5 years) with metabolic syndrome. All patients received 400 mg of oral magnesium supplementation daily. Parameters were measured before and after 6 and 12 weeks of treatment. 27 patients served as controls without additional magnesium treatment (10 male/17 female, age: 64.6 ± 13.2 years). There was no significant change in serum magnesium after 6 and 12 weeks of magnesium supplementation and in controls. Ionized magnesium significantly increased from 0.56 ± 0.05 to up to 0.63 ± 0.08 mmol/L (mean ± SD) (p < 0.01). The ionized Ca /Mg ratio was significantly increased at baseline in about 32% of all patients; after 12 weeks of magnesium supplementation, the Ca /Mg ratio decreased significantly from 2.32 ± 0.22 to 2.04 ± 0.24 at the end of the study (mean ± SD, p