Magnesium Status Evaluation: the Present and the Perspectives

This review focuses on current knowledge and future trends in the magnesium status evaluation. Sub-optimal magnesium intake in large p.art of population in Western countries supports an increased risk of latent magnesium deficiency. This chronic mild deficiency can cause a wide spectrum of health disorders that can be considered nonspecific and may be at the origin of progressive severe health deterioration, in particular, cardio-metabolic diseases. ln turn, several pathophysiological conditions e.g. metabolic syndrome, obesity, type 2 dia­betes, stress and aging-related dysfunctions can contribute to and deepen chronic magnesium deficiency. Compared with severe magnesium deficiency, the diagnosis of latent defi­ciency is difficult because of nonspecific clinical symptoms and magnesemia often within reference intervals. Current clinical laboratory tests are almost limited to total serum magnesium. Less frequently ionized serum magnesium, red blood cell magnesium and urinary excretion of magnesium are measured. Recent meta-analyses have shown that both circulating and urine magnesium concentrations respond to oral magnesium supplementation and dietary depletion, confirming their value as markers of magnesium status. However, the assessment of magnesium status to diagnose latent deficiency is still prob­lematic because only subtle changes occur in these parameters and there is a large inter-individual variability. Accurate assessment of magnesium status remains a major challenge for the clinical laboratory. Magnesium is mainly an intracellular cation and in the body is mostly found in the bone and soft tissues. Therefore, to develop rapid and robust test representative for intra­cellular magnesium or for the whole body magnesium in humans is difficult to achieve