The History of Magnesium: how the supplement became popular

Magnesium is one of the most popular supplements in the world, but its history did not begin in gyms at all. Our editorial team traced the path of this mineral from the bitter water of an English spring to today’s sports-nutrition shelves and worked out which stages of this history are backed by science and which by marketing.

From an English spring to "bitter salt"

The history of magnesium as a health remedy began long before chemists learned of this element’s existence. According to a widespread historical account, in 1618 in the English town of Epsom a local farmer noticed that his cattle refused to drink water from one spring because of its bitter taste. It later turned out that this water had a laxative effect and healed scratches well.

Epsom quickly became a popular resort where people came "to take the waters". Later they learned to evaporate a crystalline salt from the water, which they named Epsom, or bitter, salt. Today we know it is magnesium sulfate. Throughout the 17th–18th centuries it became one of the most common laxatives in Europe.

The name "magnesium" itself comes from the Greek region of Magnesia in Thessaly, from which came various minerals given the name "magnesia". For a long time this word was understood to mean several different substances, including compounds of magnesium and manganese.

So, at the first stage magnesium was a therapeutic agent with a specific action — laxative — and the notion of it as a "mineral for muscles and nerves" was still far off.

Discovery of the element and its biological role

In 1755 the Scottish chemist Joseph Black showed that "white magnesia" was a distinct substance, different from lime (calcium compounds). This was one of the first careful quantitative chemical works. Half a century later, in 1808, the English chemist Humphry Davy, using electrolysis, isolated metallic magnesium for the first time, albeit in an impure form.

An important milestone was the elucidation of magnesium’s role in living organisms. In the early 20th century Richard Willstätter established that magnesium is the central atom in the chlorophyll molecule, and in 1915 he received the Nobel Prize for research on plant pigments. It became clear that without magnesium photosynthesis is impossible, and therefore so is life on Earth in its current form.

In the 20th century biochemists gradually established that magnesium is a cofactor of hundreds of enzymes in animal cells. Most importantly, almost all ATP in the cell exists as a complex with magnesium. Modern reviews count more than 600 enzymes for which magnesium is a cofactor, and another 200 or so that it activates (de Baaij et al., 2015).

Thus magnesium went from a "laxative salt" to one of the key elements of cellular biochemistry, which created the scientific basis for its subsequent popularity as a supplement.

Magnesium in 20th-century medicine

In the first half of the 20th century, magnesium sulfate began to be used to treat seizures in eclampsia — a dangerous complication of pregnancy. In 1955 the American obstetrician Jack Pritchard published a standardized administration regimen that became the basis of obstetric practice for decades.

Convincing confirmation of its effectiveness came much later. The large international randomized Magpie trial (2002), involving more than ten thousand women, showed that magnesium sulfate roughly halves the risk of eclampsia in women with preeclampsia. Since then it has been on the WHO list of essential medicines.

In parallel, doctors described clinical magnesium deficiency. In the 1950s the American physician Edmund Flink and co-authors showed that in patients with alcoholism and those who had long received intravenous nutrition without magnesium, tremor, seizures and mental disturbances developed, which disappeared after magnesium was administered.

In 1980 the monograph by Mildred Seelig, "Magnesium Deficiency in the Pathogenesis of Disease", was published, in which the author advanced the idea of the role of hidden magnesium deficiency in cardiovascular disease. This work greatly influenced the popularization of magnesium, although some of its hypotheses remain a subject of debate to this day.

How magnesium came into sport

Athletes’ interest in magnesium is linked to several factors. It participates in energy metabolism and in the contraction and relaxation of muscles, and magnesium losses through sweat and urine during training have long been documented. Hence arose the logic that athletes need more magnesium.

A major boost to its popularity came from the ZMA formula, which combines zinc, magnesium and vitamin B6. It was developed and patented by Victor Conte, founder of the BALCO laboratory, which later became notorious through a large-scale doping scandal. The study that first reported an effect of ZMA on strength and hormones (Brilla, Conte, 2000) had an author connected with the product, and an independent study later did not confirm the benefits.

Modern reviews acknowledge that magnesium deficiency impairs physical performance, and in people with low status a supplement may be beneficial (Nielsen, Lukaski, 2006). At the same time there is no convincing evidence of an ergogenic effect in athletes who are well supplied with magnesium.

Another factor in its popularity is cramps. Magnesium is traditionally recommended for muscle cramps, although a Cochrane review (Garrison et al., 2020) concluded that for typical cramps in older people it is unlikely to be effective.

Why magnesium is popular today

The popularity of magnesium today is sustained by several real trends. Nutrition studies in developed countries show that a significant part of the population consumes less magnesium than the norms recommend (Rosanoff et al., 2012). Refined products contain much less magnesium than whole grains, nuts and greens.

• insufficient magnesium intake in the modern diet;
• a proven role in a number of clinical conditions (eclampsia, hypomagnesemia);
• regulators’ warnings about the risk of hypomagnesemia with long-term use of proton-pump inhibitors;
• research on effects on blood pressure, glycemia and sleep;
• active marketing of "anti-stress" formulas.

In 2011 the FDA published a warning that long-term use of proton-pump inhibitors can lead to low blood magnesium levels. This reminded doctors that magnesium deficiency can also be drug-induced.

At the same time, marketing often runs ahead of science. Magnesium supplements are advertised as remedies for stress, anxiety, fatigue, insomnia and even for "detoxification". Some of these claims have limited basis, some have none at all.

The task of a prudent consumer is to separate the proven from the promised and assess whether they really have a risk of deficiency before buying yet another jar.

Editorial conclusions

Magnesium has traveled a path from a bitter salt of an English spring to one of the most popular minerals in sports nutrition. Along this path there were both important scientific discoveries and marketing exaggerations.

Magnesium’s real merits are its key role in cellular energetics and its proven effectiveness in medicine for eclampsia and deficiency states. Its benefit for athletes with normal status remains unproven.

The history of ZMA is a reminder to pay attention to who finances and conducts supplement studies.

See also our articles "Magnesium after 40", "Magnesium for women: are there any particularities" and "Magnesium for mass: is it worth it".

References

1. de Baaij JH, Hoenderop JG, Bindels RJ. Magnesium in man: implications for health and disease. Physiol Rev. 2015;95(1):1–46.
2. Jahnen-Dechent W, Ketteler M. Magnesium basics. Clin Kidney J. 2012;5(Suppl 1):i3–i14.
3. Magpie Trial Collaborative Group. Do women with pre-eclampsia, and their babies, benefit from magnesium sulphate? The Magpie Trial: a randomised placebo-controlled trial. Lancet. 2002;359(9321):1877–1890.
4. Seelig MS. Magnesium Deficiency in the Pathogenesis of Disease. New York: Plenum Medical Book Company; 1980.
5. Brilla LR, Conte V. Effects of a novel zinc-magnesium formulation on hormones and strength. J Exerc Physiol Online. 2000;3(4):26–36.
6. Nielsen FH, Lukaski HC. Update on the relationship between magnesium and exercise. Magnes Res. 2006;19(3):180–189.
7. Garrison SR, Korownyk CS, Kolber MR, et al. Magnesium for skeletal muscle cramps. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2020;9:CD009402.
8. Rosanoff A, Weaver CM, Rude RK. Suboptimal magnesium status in the United States: are the health consequences underestimated? Nutr Rev. 2012;70(3):153–164.