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. 2025 Apr 28:16:1550695.
doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1550695. eCollection 2025.

A multinational cross-sectional study on knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards magnesium supplements

Rana Abutaima  1 , Muna Barakat  2 , Samar Thiab  2 , Hana M Sawan  1 , Malak Amer  1 , Reem Alzayer  3 , Doaa H Abdelaziz  4   5 , Noha O Mansour  6 , Fatima Saleh  7 , Wael Abu Dayyih  8
Affiliations

A multinational cross-sectional study on knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards magnesium supplements

Rana Abutaima et al. Front Pharmacol. .

Abstract

Background: Magnesium is a vital mineral with a crucial role in different biochemical reactions. There is a contradicting evidences about its role in maintaining bone, muscle and cardiovascular health. Recently, magnesium supplements gained attention due to claimed effectiveness in improving sleep quality and relieving muscle spasm.

Aim: This study aimed to assess Arab communities' knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding magnesium supplementation.

Methods: A cross-sectional self-administered survey was disseminated to collect responses from different Arab countries. Descriptive statistics were calculated for demographics. Data normality was assessed using Shapiro-Wilk test. Associations between sociodemographic variables and knowledge, attitudes and practices were explored using simple and multiple linear regression. Significance level was considered at p < 0.05.

Results: A total of 1,445 responses were collected. Mean (±SD) knowledge scores were low 8.61 ± 5.9. Eighty seven percent recognized magnesium role in alleviating muscle spasm and sleep disorders (83%). Magnesium citrate was the mostly used magnesium salt (37.43%). Neutral attitudes were observed with a mean score of 3.02 ± 0.66. Only 31.8% reported using magnesium supplements, 36.1% of them received a medical consultation. Having poly cystic ovary (p = 0.033), relying on scientific articles (0.004), receiving pharmacist consultation (p = 0.019) significantly associated with higher knowledge.

Conclusion: Despite the huge debate regarding magnesium benefits in maintaining muscle, bone health and improving sleep quality, this study found that there is a significant gap in knowledge and neutral attitude towards magnesium supplementation in Arab communities. These findings emphasizes the need for educational campaigns targeting the public on the rationale use of supplements.

Keywords: bone health; insomnia; magnesium salts; magnesium supplements; migraine; muscle relaxants; over the counter; spasm.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Source of information about magnesium used by the study participants (n = 1,445).
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Types of magnesium supplement used by the participants (Only 390 responses were received for this question, presented data are the percentages).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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