Evening Edge

Magnesium may not get the spotlight like calcium, but this essential mineral is being recognized for many health benefits.

A recent analysis showed that for every 100 milligram increase in magnesium intake, type 2 diabetes risk decreases by 15 percent. The daily amount of magnesium needed is 320 milligrams for women and 420 milligrams for men, but in the United States, our intake is lower than the recommended amount.

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Black beans provide more than 100 milligrams of magnesium.

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In addition to diabetes-risk reduction, magnesium is also crucial to controlling blood pressure, maintaining strong bones, keeping a healthy heart, and may even help preserve hearing in people exposed to loud noises. Magnesium may be lost from the body if you take some types of diuretic drugs to lower blood pressure or take birth control pills or estrogen.

Foods that provide over 100 milligrams of magnesium per serving include:

• Trail mix

• Halibut

• Cooked spinach

• Roasted pumpkin seeds

• Black beans

• High fiber bran cereals, like All Bran

• Brazil nuts

• Lima beans

A typical multi-vitamin mineral supplement contains between 50 and 100 milligrams so don't count on it as an insurance policy. If you want to take a magnesium supplement keep in mind that there are many forms of this mineral so look at the amount of elemental magnesium. Supplements with magnesium gluconate have only about 6 percent elemental magnesium, magnesium citrate about 16 percent and the glycinate form has about half of its magnesium in elemental form.

As with all nutrients, more is not better — a high dose of magnesium acts as a laxative (like milk of magnesia) so the upper limit for supplementation is suggested to be 350 milligrams. People with kidney disease should not take magnesium supplements and may even need to control the amount of magnesium in their diet.