I know magnesium glycinate and malate are the preferred forms, and they’re more bioavailable and more gentle on the gut, but if someone seems to handle magnesium citrate absolutely fine, how important is it? For instance, NOW does a magnesium citrate capsule of 500 mg, 180 in the bottle for £15 in the U.K. Pure Encapsulations magnesium is 120 mg for 180 capsules goes for £28, so almost double the price but only a quarter of the magnesium. Many of these supplements are just not affordable for some people, especially those with young families with one partner not working. Is the citrate example fine if tolerated, and somebody really needs to be taking a good dose of magnesium every day?

Dr. Amy Nett:  So, as you mentioned, there are some slight differences. As you mentioned, citrate is probably going to be less bioavailable. Citrate stays in the gut a little bit more. It draws water into the colon, so that’s why people most often have looser stools or more watery bowel movements, but if you’re saying a patient is taking magnesium citrate and they don’t have any evidence of loose or watery stools, is that okay? I think it’s okay, but again, I think you have to take into account that you might not be getting the same degree of bioavailability. For example, I’ve seen patients taking pretty high doses of magnesium citrate, but then when we run either the Quicksilver blood metals panel, which tests several nutrient levels, or we look at a serum magnesium, we actually see low magnesium levels. Just because they’re tolerating it well doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re getting the absorption of magnesium into the cells. If cost is an issue, a couple of options. One, yes, you can stick with citrate, but also think about increasing magnesium-rich foods. Can the patient tolerate nuts? Those are going to be a good option, but just have a dietary focus on magnesium as well and really emphasize that. Another option is maybe do lower doses of magnesium glycinate, so instead of doing a full 400 to 600 mg of magnesium glycinate daily, what if you do one capsule of the 120 mg daily? So, I don’t know. I definitely get when cost comes into play. We have to figure out what makes the most sense, and see how they do. If you want to see how well it’s working for them, consider checking serum magnesium levels, so maybe it will work for some people, but I would think about diet. Whenever you’re trying to get nutrients in the most least expensive way possible, think about the foods that you’re eating, and see if you can tweak the diet a little bit to focus on certain nutrients. Hopefully that helps.