Health updates: Magnesium and EMF’s

The following is new information regarding magnesium and sudden death, and cordless phone EMF dangers.

Magnesium can reduce risk of sudden death

New research examined the association between magnesium, which has anti-arrhythmic properties, and the risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD). The study looked at more than 88,000 women who were followed for 26 years. The results showed that the relative risk of SCD was significantly lower in women in the highest quartile of dietary magnesium consumption. Women with the highest blood levels of magnesium had a 41 percent lower risk of SCD. As reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition: “In this prospective cohort of women, higher plasma concentrations and dietary magnesium intakes were associated with lower risks of SCD. If the observed association is causal, interventions directed at increasing dietary or plasma magnesium might lower the risk of SCD.” A similar 15-year study, published in 2009, also found that people with the highest blood levels of magnesium had a 40 percent reduction in the risk of SCD, compared to those with the lowest magnesium levels.

Cordless phone electromagnetic fields (EMFs) trigger heart rhythm abnormalities

An international team of researchers recently discovered that in some individuals, the 2.4-GHz pulsed signals emitted by a cordless phone system produce significant disruptions in cardiac rhythm. The researchers demonstrated that 40 percent of healthy volunteers in their study showed marked increases in heart rate, arrhythmias and other disturbances in heart rate following exposure to active cordless-phone base stations. Many wireless routers and other forms of Wi-Fi technology also emit fields at this frequency. Holistic Primary Care reports: “This is the first objective evidence of cardiovascular effects associated with wireless EMF exposure, and it lends quantitative vindication to the concept of electrohypersensitivity — the sense some people have that they become physically ill when close to EMF fields from cell phones, microwave ovens, computers, fluorescent lighting systems and Wi-Fi networks.”

Sources: Holistic Primary Care December 2010, European Journal of Oncology October 22, 2010 (PDF), American Journal of Clinical Nutrition February 2011; 93(2): 253-260 and www.mercola.com.

Reprinted from AzNetNews, Volume 30, Number 2, April/May 2011.