New Research on Magnesium in Menopause
One of the recent advances in lifestyle science over the past decade is the increased consideration of health concerns and strategies relating to population health and ageing.
I’ve been keeping an eye on much of this research for the past decade, especially within the context of the menopause transition. The perimenopause to menopause transition is known to be an inflammatory phase of the female life cycle (McCarthy & Raval, 2020) which impacts the accumulation of inflammation – a known contributing factor in numerous diseases of ageing.
I’m sure you’ve all seen this trend too – a surge in interest in the menopause transition, however, it is often situated in the biomedical paradigm and not within the women’s health, ageing and longevity research, specific to evidenced lifestyle solutions.
This is why studies on the hallmarks of ageing are relevant to midlife women. When we understand that the menopause transition is the biological gateway to the post-menopause years, then the hallmarks of ageing are relevant.
These hallmarks of ageing (López-Otín et al., 2013) represent common denominators of ageing in different organisms, including mammalian ageing. These hallmarks are:
- genomic instability,
- telomere attrition,
- epigenetic alterations,
- loss of proteostasis,
- deregulated nutrient-sensing,
- mitochondrial dysfunction,
- cellular senescence,
- stem cell exhaustion, and
- altered intercellular communication.
Within the framework of this research, I’ve been particularly interested in women’s health and ageing. It allows a framework situated within the Theories of Ageing, which allows us to better understand how to work towards the healthiest state that is possible and within the confines of any medical conditions.
Whilst research on the hallmarks of ageing was proposed back in 2013 by López-Otínet al., further additions to these hallmarks have been added in 2023. These additions include:
- gut microbiome disturbance,
- inflammation and,
- autophagy discoveries (cellular recycling), and
- the possible modifiable determinants underlying the ageing process.
Using the framework provided by the known hallmarks of ageing, allows for the consideration of lifestyle solutions for women, including nutritional and nutrient considerations. This is where research interest has gathered about magnesium as a specific nutrient that positively influences ageing.
This mineral is of relevance to women during and after menopause because the change in oestrogen status impacts the storage of magnesium in tissues throughout the body.
That’s why, maintaining optimal magnesium levels is a potential strategy for healthy ageing – magnesium status correlates with all twelve recognized hallmarks of ageing.
For those of your clients who aren’t on HRT, or have come off it due to health risks, such as breast cancer risk, based on their medical advice, or their symptoms have returned in post-menopause despite it, then I want you to understand Marvellous Magnesium.
Magnesium Works for All Cells and Tissues
Magnesium is the second most abundant mineral in the human body after potassium (K+).
Plasma levels are maintained within a narrow limit in healthy conditions due to the interaction of dietary magnesium intake, your intestinal absorption, excretion, bone storage, and the requirements of your body tissues (Dominguez et al., 2024).
Because the ageing process is complex, it takes time for scientists to understand specific nutrients that directly influence the ageing process. Magnesium is one of these nutrients and it is becoming increasingly important in menopause studies too. (Porri et. al., 2021)
Causes of Magnesium Deficiency in Midlife and Older Women
While magnesium’s physiological roles are well recognized, emerging evidence also suggests that its metabolism, requirements, and health impacts may differ significantly between men and women. [Mazza et al., 2025].
There are a number of reasons for lower magnesium levels in women as they move through menopause, not least that, as oestrogen levels naturally decline, so too does magnesium.
When we examine how that occurs, it’s because magnesium acts as a co-factor, helping oestrogen to enter tissues, particularly cardiac, nerve and musculo-skeletal tissues.
As muscles, bones and other tissues, including the digestive system, change due to ageing, this affects the integrity of cell membranes. As such, magnesium doesn’t move in and out of cells as efficiently as it once did.
Furthermore, reduced intestinal absorption of magnesium may occur due to the increased frequency of IBS in midlife and older women – 1 in 4 western women are known to have IBS as they approach midlife.
For those of you, who have overweight or obese clients, the struggle to maintain energy levels and lose weight during and after menopause is real. But is this perhaps due to lowered magnesium availability in the mitochondria – the energy production organelles?
There is another issue too – as we get older, muscle mass begins to decline, and there is a close link between magnesium, mitochondrial function, and muscles.
Whilst ageing itself is an inevitable part of our life course, scientists now better understand that ageing is modulated, both negatively and positively, by dietary factors, including magnesium intake, and other lifestyle determinants. With magnesium involved in several cellular processes, it’s no surprise that interest in this marvelous mineral has been gathering attention.
For example, one of the main roles of magnesium as women get older is the repair of DNA. Low magnesium intake can slow down the rate of repair of DNA strands, leading to increased inflammation.
Of particular interest to those of you working with midlife women, is that low Vitamin D levels also inhibit the bioavailability of magnesium. These two nutrients work together.
Symptoms and Signs of Low Magnesium
When I was experiencing severe muscle cramping during menopause, especially in my hamstrings, as well as Restless Leg Syndrome, my doctor dutifully placed me on HRT – with no relief for the extremely painful cramping of my muscles.
But it was my years of studying and teaching muscle physiology, including the production of a muscle twitch – that led me to explore magnesium (and calcium) requirements for women in midlife, especially active women like myself.
Magnesium acts as a gatekeeper by actively pumping or helping transport calcium back into the sarcoplasmic reticulum (the storage reservoir inside muscle cells), hence magnesium allows muscle cells to relax and reduce tension.
There are numerous signs and symptoms of low magnesium, but for me, the muscle cramps, weakness, restlessness and ‘twitching’ were the most distracting.
Clinically, the signs and symptoms of low magnesium cover a range of symptoms which women (and their doctors) attribute to menopause. Some of these include (Dominguez et al., 2024):
- Vertigo/Dizziness
- Fatigue
- Muscle tremors
- Depression and Anxiety
- Heart palpitations
- Alterations in blood glucose levels (high or low)
- Migraine
- Impaired exercise performance
- Electrolyte disturbance – including low calcium
- Osteoporosis
If any of these sound familiar for your midlife clients, then perhaps dietary and/or supplemental sources of magnesium may help if this is in your Scope of Practice to recommend dietary changes?
Magnesium matters to women’s health as they move through menopause – perhaps in more ways than we give it credit for. Not only for muscles, but also to help hold glucose in tissues and cells – after all, this is also the role of oestrogen and it’s what HRT achieves too.
Muscle pain, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, cardiovascular disease, dementia, osteoporosis and weight gain, are all intricately related to changes in our muscles as we get older 0- whether you are active with resistance training or not.
But there are numerous studies about magnesium now, reporting that all of these conditions are related to inflammatory changes with age (inflammaging) and that dietary Magnesium, especially that consumed in drinking water, is needed.
For those who are regularly active, the studies report that magnesium intake 10-20% above the recommended dietary intake is also recommended.
I think that numerous women are confused about the variety of supplements and interventions for managing their menopause symptoms and weight these days, but perhaps magnesium is the one that rises above them all?
Dr Wendy Sweet (PhD), Member: Australasian & British Societies of Lifestyle Medicine
References:
DiNicolantonio JJ, O’Keefe JH, Wilson W. Subclinical magnesium deficiency: a principal driver of cardiovascular disease and a public health crisis. Open Heart. 2018 Jan 13;5(1):e000668. doi: 10.1136/openhrt-2017-000668. Erratum in: Open Heart. 2018 Apr 5;5(1):e000668corr1. doi: 10.1136/openhrt-2017-000668corr1. PMID: 29387426; PMCID: PMC5786912.
Dominguez LJ, Veronese N, Barbagallo M. Magnesium and the Hallmarks of Aging. Nutrients. 2024 Feb 9;16(4):496. doi: 10.3390/nu16040496. PMID: 38398820; PMCID: PMC10892939.
Mazza E, Maurotti S, Ferro Y, Castagna A, Pujia C, Sciacqua A, Pujia A, Montalcini T. Magnesium: Exploring Gender Differences in Its Health Impact and Dietary Intake. Nutrients. 2025 Jul 4;17(13):2226. doi: 10.3390/nu17132226. PMID: 40647330; PMCID: PMC12251677.
McCarthy M, Raval AP. The peri-menopause in a woman’s life: a systemic inflammatory phase that enables later neurodegenerative disease. J Neuroinflammation. 2020 Oct 23;17(1):317. doi: 10.1186/s12974-020-01998-9. PMID: 33097048; PMCID: PMC7585188.
Debora Porri, Hans K. Biesalski, Antonio Limitone, Laura Bertuzzo, Hellas Cena,
Effect of magnesium supplementation on women’s health and well-being.
NFS Journal, Volume 23, 2021, Pages 30-36, ISSN 2352-3646.
Tarsitano MG, Quinzi F, Folino K, Greco F, Oranges FP, Cerulli C, Emerenziani GP. Effects of magnesium supplementation on muscle soreness in different type of physical activities: a systematic review. J Transl Med. 2024 Jul 5;22(1):629. doi: 10.1186/s12967-024-05434-x. PMID: 38970118; PMCID: PMC11227245.
Wu Z, Yang J, Liu J, Lian K. The relationship between magnesium and osteoarthritis of knee: A MOOSE guided systematic review and meta-analysis. Medicine (Baltimore). 2019 Nov;98(45):e17774. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000017774. PMID: 31702629; PMCID: PMC6855624.
