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Review
. 2020 Nov 28;12(12):3672.
doi: 10.3390/nu12123672.

Magnesium Status and Stress: The Vicious Circle Concept Revisited

Gisèle Pickering  1 , André Mazur  2 , Marion Trousselard  3 , Przemyslaw Bienkowski  4 , Natalia Yaltsewa  5 , Mohamed Amessou  6 , Lionel Noah  6 , Etienne Pouteau  6
Affiliations
Review

Magnesium Status and Stress: The Vicious Circle Concept Revisited

Gisèle Pickering et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Magnesium deficiency and stress are both common conditions among the general population, which, over time, can increase the risk of health consequences. Numerous studies, both in pre-clinical and clinical settings, have investigated the interaction of magnesium with key mediators of the physiological stress response, and demonstrated that magnesium plays an inhibitory key role in the regulation and neurotransmission of the normal stress response. Furthermore, low magnesium status has been reported in several studies assessing nutritional aspects in subjects suffering from psychological stress or associated symptoms. This overlap in the results suggests that stress could increase magnesium loss, causing a deficiency; and in turn, magnesium deficiency could enhance the body's susceptibility to stress, resulting in a magnesium and stress vicious circle. This review revisits the magnesium and stress vicious circle concept, first introduced in the early 1990s, in light of recent available data.

Keywords: dietary intake; hypomagnesemia; magnesium; magnesium deficiency; magnesium supplementation; stress; vicious circle.

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Conflict of interest statement

A.M. reports consultancy fees from Sanofi, unrelated to this publication. E.P. is an employee at Sanofi. G.P. has no conflicts of interest. L.N. is an employee at Sanofi. M.A. is an employee at Sanofi. M.T. has no conflicts of interest. P.B. reports speaker’s honoraria from: Abbott, Adamed, Angelini, Apotex, Astellas, Asteriamed, Bausch Health, BGP Products, BMS, Bioton, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bonnier Business, Chiesi, CROS, Fundacja Syntonia, Fundacja Zdrowie i Opieka, Gedeon Richter, + pharma, G-Pharma, Ipsen, Item Publishing, Janssen, Kimze, Krka, Lilly, Lundbeck, Medforum, Mediadore, Medical Education, Medical Experts, Medycyna Praktyczna, Mylan, Neoart, Novo Nordisk, P2P, Pfizer, Pierre Fabre, Polfa Tarchomin, Polpharma, Promed, QAH, Sandoz, Sanofi-Aventis, Servier, S & P Partners, Takeda, Termedia, Teva, Warsaw Voice, White Solutions, Valeant, Via Medica, VM Media, Zentiva. Y.N. has no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Magnesium homeostasis. Figure adapted from Jahnen–Dechent, 2012 [17]. Data from Elin, 1988 [19] and deBaaij, 2015 [8]. Mg, magnesium.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Interaction of magnesium and neurological stress mediators. (A) Serotoninergic transmission. (B) Glutamatergic and GABAergic transmission. GABA, γ-aminobutyric acid; Mg, magnesium; NMDA, N-methyl-D-aspartate.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The vicious circle of stress and magnesium. GABAA-R, γ-aminobutyric acid-A receptor; Mg, magnesium; NMDA-R, N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor; NA, noradrenaline; SNS, sympathetic nervous system, 5HT-R, 5-hydroxytryptamine receptor.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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