Research paper
Role of magnesium supplementation in the treatment of depression: A randomized clinical trial
Study answer
What this study found
Magnesium chloride improved depressive and anxiety symptoms versus control and was well tolerated. The primary PHQ-9 outcome showed a net improvement of -6.0 points (95% CI -7.9, -4.2; P<0.001), and the GAD-7 showed a net improvement of -4.5 points (95% CI -6.6, -2.4; P<0.001). During magnesium treatment, PHQ-9 scores fell by -4.3 points versus -0.1 during control, and GAD-7 scores fell by -3.9 points versus +0.8 during control. Adherence by pill count was 83% in the immediate group and 82% in the delayed group; most adverse effects were not increased, although headache was slightly less…
- Study & population
- Randomized clinical trial in adults with mild-to-moderate depression treated in outpatient primary care clinics at a single academic medical center in the United States.
- Intervention
- Oral magnesium chloride was given as four 500 mg tablets daily, providing 248 mg elemental magnesium per day for 6 weeks.
- Key limitation
- The study was modest in size, with 62 and 64 participants in the active treatment sequences, and used relatively short 6-week treatment periods.
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Open PDFOriginal abstract
Current treatment options for depression are limited by efficacy, cost, availability, side effects, and acceptability to patients. Several studies have looked at the association between magnesium and depression, yet its role in symptom management is …