Magnesium is the mineral that just keeps growing. Nutritional Outlook has included magnesium in its annual Ingredients to Watch projections for a few years runningand reasons are strong for highlighting magnesium again in 2020.

First, sales: Market researcher SPINS (Chicago) reports that in the 52 weeks ending October 6, 2019, magnesium saw impressive sales growth that pushed the mineral, for the first time, to rank within the top-10 ingredients, in terms of dollar change, that SPINS tracks cross-channel (mainstream, natural, and specialty gourmet channels). Combining these channels, magnesium experienced double-digit sales growth last year of 11%, taking sales to $151 million by the periods end. (For more insights on this cross-channel growth, click here.)

As many have predicted in years past, magnesium is set to overtake calcium as the mineral markets superstar. Says Nick Dehnert, vice president of brand marketing for supplements company Nutranext, The rapid growth of the magnesium category helped it recently surpass the size of the calcium category in the natural channel of trade, and we expect magnesium to continue its healthy growth trend as consumer awareness grows.

Consumer interest in magnesium is on the rise. The Council for Responsible Nutritions (CRN; Washington, DC) latest Consumer Survey on Dietary Supplements, conducted on more than 2000 U.S. adults in August 2019, ranked magnesium as one of the top-10 dietary supplements U.S. consumers take. In the 2019 survey, 18% of supplement users surveyed said they take magnesium. In fact, says Andrea Wong, PhD, senior vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs for CRN, According to CRNs Consumer Survey on Dietary Supplements, consumer usage of magnesium supplements overall has increased over the last five years.

Andrea Rosanoff, PhD, is an expert on magnesium research. As the director of research and science information outreach for the Center for Magnesium Education & Research LLC (CMER; Pahoa, HI; http://www.magnesiumeducation.com), Rosanoff has been studying magnesium for 35 years. Until recently, she says, magnesium has been a very underevaluated and underwatched nutritional supplement. (CMER, soon to be a nonprofit organization, comprises independent scholars whose mission is to promote nutritional magnesium awareness and the peer-reviewed science behind magnesium.)

But while magnesium has been underrated in the past, she says, that is slowly changing. I would say that in the last three to five years, people have come up to me and said, Oh, I read about magnesium, and its really important, wanting to know a little bit more about it. Interestingly, Rosanoff says, the dieticians that her Center speaks to are often less aware about the research and importance of magnesiumthat, in fact, it is consumers who seem to be giving magnesium its boost. Its the consumer who seems to be interested in driving the desire for knowledge about magnesium, she says.

Chalk that up to growing research and media attention on magnesiums role in good health. Rosanoff says there is more than 50 years worth of research on magnesium by now. So, what does research show?

Studies are revealing magnesiums role in many body systems, says Vanessa Pavey, ND, who is also an education scientist for supplements brand Life Extension. Magnesium helps regulate heart muscle contraction and relaxes arterial smooth muscles to promote healthy blood flow. Magnesium aids in synaptic connections between neurons to support memory. It is also a cofactor for enzymes that regulate the neurotransmitters associated with mood. And, it is becoming common knowledge that magnesium supports more regular bowel movements.

Given these benefits, its no surprise to see, per SPINS data, that magnesium sales were up in the following health supplement categories: digestive health (mainstream channel), brain health (natural channel), heart health (natural and specialty gourmet channels), mood (natural and specialty gourmet channels), and bone health (specialty gourmet channel). Magnesium is also linked to healthy blood sugar management.

Where is the scientific evidence for magnesiums efficacy strongest?

Studies are long-reaching on magnesiums benefits for heart health, especially its benefits for those suffering from high blood pressure. Rosanoff, who in 2003 co-authored a book called The Magnesium Factor together with her mentor, the late Mildred S. Seelig, MD, MPH, says that in the cardiovascular space, the research is quite robust on magnesium. And while pharmaceuticals and antihypertensive medications have taken over as treatments prescribed for heart disease and high blood pressure, Rosanoff says she believes that the real cause of heart disease epidemic in the Western world and spreading globally is a low-magnesium diet.

The whole heart disease epidemic is the symptom[T]hey have all these treatments for it, and weve been spending all this money on it, but there seems to be a reluctance to take a look and say that the core issue is really a low magnesium intake that happens chronically, and its happening to the entire population, she adds. What we are doing is treating the symptoms of what is in fact a nutritional deficiency in most casesnot all cases. In 2016, CMER was instrumental in the submission of a qualified health claim petition to FDA linking magnesium to lowering blood pressure. The petition is still in review.

Stress management is also an evolving market for magnesium, reflecting consumers growing search for stress aids. And while the mental health research on magnesium is nowhere as robust as it is for heart health, Rosanoff says that magnesium is crucial to optimizing how you face stress. Because magnesium is involved in so many bodily reactions and even up to 80% of metabolism, if you get low in magnesium, your reactions just cant go as well as they optimally could, she says.

This is how basic magnesium is to life, she points out, and in some of these basic cellular metabolic reactions that make life run smoothly.

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Magnesium saw huge cross-channel sales growth last year. Here's what's driving the ingredient in 2020: 2020 Ingredient trends to watch for foods,...