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Magnesium Self-Experiments
3 magnesium self-experiments on magnesium l-threonate and magnesium citrate.
Magnesium oxide is widely available it looks cheap, but the absorption/bioavailability problem makes it unattractive: at a 3:5 ratio, an estimate of 4% absorption, a ZMA formulation of an impressive-sounding 500mg would be 500 × 3⁄5 × 0.04 = 12mg or a small fraction of RDAs for male adults like 400mg elemental. That really says it all: there’s an initial spike in MP, which reads like the promised stimulative effects possibly due to fixing a deficiency (a spike which doesn’t seem to have any counterparts in the previous history of MP), followed by a drastic plunge in the magnesium days but not so much the control days (indicating an acute effect when overloaded with magnesium), a partial recovery during the non-experimental Christmas break, another plunge, and finally recovery after the experiment has ended. Electrolyte Imbalance: I recall that there is another related supplement where my randomized blinded self-experiment found harm despite general reports of benefits and deficiencies: potassium.
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