Long-term magnesium supplementation improves arterial stiffness in overweight and obese adults: results of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled intervention trial.
What this study found
Twenty-four weeks of magnesium citrate supplementation improved arterial stiffness versus placebo in overweight and obese adults. Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity decreased to 8.3 m/s at 24 weeks and was significantly better than placebo by 1.0 m/s (95% CI 0.4, 1.6; P = 0.001). Office and 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure did not change, and no adverse events were observed. Serum magnesium did not significantly differ at 12 weeks and only tended to increase at 24 weeks, while 24-hour urinary magnesium excretion increased significantly.
- Study & population
- Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in Maastricht, Netherlands.
- Intervention
- Oral magnesium citrate complex providing 350 mg/day elemental magnesium, given as 3 capsules per day (116.7 mg magnesium per capsule) after breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 24 weeks, compared with placebo.
- Key limitation
- The active intervention arm was small (N = 26), and the trial was conducted at a single center in a relatively specific group of apparently healthy overweight or slightly obese Dutch adults, limiting generalizability.
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Open PDFOriginal abstract
BACKGROUND Epidemiologic studies have suggested a protective effect of magnesium intake on cardiovascular disease risk. However, intervention trials of magnesium supplementation on blood pressure and conventional cardiometabolic risk markers are inconsistent. Effects on vascular function markers related to cardiovascular disease risk have rarely been studied. OBJECTIVE The objective was to evaluate the effects of long-term magnesium supplementation on arterial stiffness. DESIGN We performed a 24-wk, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled intervention study. Fifty-two overweight and slightly obese individuals (30 men and 22 postmenopausal women, mean ± SD age: 62 ± 6 y) were randomly allocated to receive either 3 times daily magnesium (3 × 117 mg or 350 mg/d) or placebo capsules. Twenty-four-hour urine collections and 24-h ambulatory blood pressure assessments were performed at the start and end of the study. Carotid-to-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWVc-f) was assessed at baseline, after 12 wk, and at week 24. RESULTS Serum magnesium concentrations did not differ after 12 wk but tended to increase after 24-wk magnesium supplementation compared with placebo by 0.02 mmol/L (95% CI: 0.00, 0.04 mmol/L; P = 0.09). Twenty-four-hour urinary magnesium excretion increased by 2.01 mmol (95% CI: 1.22, 2.93 mmol; P < 0.001) at week 24. PWVc-f was not changed after 12 wk (0.0 m/s; 95% CI: -0.6, 0.5 m/s; P = 0.90) but was improved in the magnesium compared with the placebo group by 1.0 m/s (95% CI: 0.4, 1.6 m/s; P = 0.001) after 24 wk. Office and 24-h ambulatory blood pressure levels were not changed. No adverse events were observed. CONCLUSION Our data indicate that a daily magnesium supplement of 350 mg for 24 wk in overweight and obese adults reduces arterial stiffness, as estimated by a decrease in PWVc-f, suggesting a potential mechanism by which an increased dietary magnesium intake beneficially affects cardiovascular health. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02235805.