Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Dec 16;13(12):4496.
doi: 10.3390/nu13124496.

Associations of Serum Magnesium with Brain Morphology and Subclinical Cerebrovascular Disease: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities-Neurocognitive Study

Aniqa B Alam  1 , DaNashia S Thomas  2 , Pamela L Lutsey  3 , Srishti Shrestha  4 , Alvaro Alonso  1
Affiliations

Associations of Serum Magnesium with Brain Morphology and Subclinical Cerebrovascular Disease: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities-Neurocognitive Study

Aniqa B Alam et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Circulating magnesium has been associated with a lower risk of dementia, but the physiologic effects by which magnesium may prevent neurological insults remain unclear. We studied 1466 individuals (mean age 76.2 ± 5.3, 28.8% black, 60.1% female) free of prevalent stroke, with measured serum magnesium and with available MRI scans obtained in 2011-2013, participating in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Neurocognitive Study (ARIC-NCS). Cross-sectional differences in frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital lobe volume, along with deep grey matter, total brain, and white matter hyperintensity volume across serum magnesium (categorized into quintiles and per standard deviation increases) were assessed using multiple linear regression. We also examined associations of magnesium with the prevalence of cortical, subcortical, and lacunar infarcts using multiple logistic regression. After adjusting for demographics, biomarkers, medications, and cardiometabolic risk factors, higher circulating magnesium was associated with greater total brain volume and frontal, temporal, and parietal lobe volumes (volumes 0.14 to 0.19 standard deviations higher comparing Q5 to Q1). Elevated magnesium was also associated with lower odds of subcortical infarcts (OR (95%CI): 0.44 (0.25, 0.77) comparing Q5 to Q1) and lacunar infarcts (OR (95%CI): 0.40 (0.22, 0.71) comparing Q5 to Q1). Elevated serum magnesium was cross-sectionally associated with greater brain volumes and lower odds of subclinical cerebrovascular disease, suggesting beneficial effects on pathways related to neurodegeneration and cerebrovascular damage. Further exploration through prospective analyses is needed to assess increasing circulating magnesium as a potential neuroprotective intervention.

Keywords: brain volume; cerebrovascular disease; magnesium.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram of ARIC participant selection into study.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Alam A.B., Lutsey P.L., Gottesman R.F., Tin A., Alonso A. Low Serum Magnesium is Associated with Incident Dementia in the ARIC-NCS Cohort. Nutrients. 2020;12:3074. doi: 10.3390/nu12103074. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kieboom B.C.T., Licher S., Wolters F.J., Ikram M.K., Hoorn E.J., Zietse R., Stricker B.H. Serum magnesium is associated with the risk of dementia. Neurology. 2017;89:1716–1722. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000004517. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Li W., Yu J., Liu Y., Huang X., Abumaria N., Zhu Y., Huang X., Xiong W., Ren C., Liu X.-G., et al. Elevation of brain magnesium prevents synaptic loss and reverses cognitive deficits in Alzheimer’s disease mouse model. Mol. Brain. 2014;7:65. doi: 10.1186/s13041-014-0065-y. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Huang Y., Huang X., Zhang L., Han F., Pang K.L., Li X., Shen J.Y. Magnesium boosts the memory restorative effect of environmental enrichment in Alzheimer’s disease mice. CNS Neurosci. Ther. 2018;24:70–79. doi: 10.1111/cns.12775. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Flink E.B. Magnesium deficiency. Etiology and clinical spectrum. Acta Med. Scand Suppl. 1981;647:125–137. doi: 10.1111/j.0954-6820.1981.tb02648.x. - DOI - PubMed