Magnesium: Is Your Diet Providing Enough?

It’s the new star of the wellness show, a once humble mineral now touted as a natural antidote for insomnia, migraines, constipation, anxiety, heart and blood sugar issues ... you name it, it seems. It’s true that magnesium is involved in more than 300 biochemical reactions, essential for many bodily functions and lacking in roughly half of people’s diets, according to two major studies. But is it really the holy grail of supplements, worthy of viral TikTok videos and global sales projected to surpass $1 billion in 2025? In this episode, we examine who truly needs more magnesium and sift through the different claims of what the nutrient can actually achieve.

Expert: Dr. Brotee Rahman, Primary Care Physician 

Interviewer: Todd Ackerman 

Notable topics covered: 

• Is magnesium any more important than other minerals and vitamins? 
• The amount of magnesium that men, women and adolescents need daily 
• The best foods to boost your magnesium intake 
• The prevalence and effects of a true magnesium deficiency 
• Are there downsides to too much magnesium supplementation? 
• Studies that found heart and diabetes risks dropped with more magnesium consumption 
• Sulfate, oxide, citrate, glycinate – what’s the best type of magnesium? 
• Can magnesium really help put you to sleep? Improve your mood? 
• Why magnesium is good after exercising  

If you enjoy these kinds of conversations, be sure to subscribe. And for more topics like this, visit our blog at houstonmethodist.org/blog.

Transcript

ZACH MOORE: Welcome to On Health with Houston Methodist. I'm Zach Moore. I'm a photographer and editor here, and I'm also a longtime podcaster.

TODD ACKERMAN: I'm Todd Ackerman, I'm a former medical reporter, currently an editor at Houston Methodist. 

ZACH: And, Todd, how often do you think about magnesium? 

TODD: Well, you know my interest in supplements. 

ZACH: I do. It’s been well documented here on this podcast. 

TODD: I actually take a -- Because I don’t eat dairy products, I take a calcium supplement. And my guidance on calcium was it’s good to take it with magnesium because it helps you absorb the calcium. So, I actually have a pill that I take, very small dose, but a combination calcium, magnesium tablet.

ZACH: Okay. 

TODD: I take that twice a day, like one pill. It’s not that much I'm getting. It’s kinda -- I see it as insurance. 

ZACH: Okay. I was gonna ask you, do you see benefits of that? 

TODD: Well, I take, again, I'm taking it mostly for the calcium because I worry that I don’t, on a daily basis, sometimes get in as much calcium as I should. I was never really thinking about the magnesium that much.

ZACH: Okay. 

TODD: Magnesium is having a moment these days. It’s very trendy, a lot of buzz about it. Have you ever heard of “Sleepy Girl Mocktails?”

ZACH: Sleepy Girl Mocktails. I have not. 

TODD: It’s very big on the -- 

ZACH: Should I have? 

TODD: It’s very big on the TikTok. 

ZACH: Oh, the Tiktok.com?

TODD: Yeah. That’s a George Bush, “The Google.” 

[Laughing]

ZACH: Yeah. 

[Laughing]

The Facebook. It’s all --

TODD: Yes, yes. There's lots of instructionals on TikTok about Sleepy Girl Mocktails, which is a combination of magnesium and cherry juice, tart cherry juice dissolved in seltzer water. And the idea is it’s like a great sleep aid. 

ZACH: It’s a mixology podcast now. This is good. 

TODD: Yeah. 

[Laughing]

 ZACH: Have you tried it?

TODD: I've never tried one. 

ZACH: Okay. 

TODD: No. 

ZACH: I mean magnesium for me, I think about the periodic table, think about high school, I mean that’s…

[Laughing]

That’s as much thought as I've put into magnesium up until this conversation honestly. 

TODD: Well, it is increasingly popular these days. It’s touted for anxiety. One person has a TikTok on magnesium as a cure for anxiety that’s got a billion views. 

ZACH: A billion views? 

TODD: Yes. 

ZACH: Wow. 

TODD: Migraines, it’s touted for. It’s just one of those things that people -- 

ZACH: I mean you've already sold me on it, like in this last two minutes, so. 

TODD: Well, we’ll see if you feel that way at the end of this podcast. 

[Laughing]

ZACH: That’s right. So, who did we talk to about magnesium today, Todd? 

TODD: We talked to Dr. Brotee Rahman, who is a Primary Care Doctor at Houston Methodist. 

Well, greetings Dr. Rahman. 

DR. BROTEE RAHMAN: Good morning. 

TODD: Good to have you here today to talk with us about magnesium. So, quick question before we really dive into this, do you sense a lot of buzz about magnesium these days?

DR. RAHMAN: These days not as much. It comes up when maybe some of the family members get concerned, or, you know, they'll look on the internet about what magnesium deficiencies or overdoses can do to a person, what their diet is like. But I only very rarely see it as a problem or something that I have to check up on. It depends on the patient population particularly, and I have a certain section of patients who I do check it. 

TODD: You see a lot online about it as kind of a wonder supplement, advocates really touting, or marketers at least. You don’t really see that as much with your patients? 

DR. RAHMAN: Not too much. They never ask me. Usually, I'll bring it up first more than anything, at least among the patients that I've been seeing. 

TODD: Alright. Well, so, to start on this, just talk a little bit about magnesium, its essential function, all the roles it plays. I read that it’s responsible for like 350 biochemical reactions and that it’s the fourth most abundantly needed mineral in the body. So, not really sure what that means, but just talk a little bit about it. 

DR. RAHMAN: So, at the very least, in almost every cell in the body, especially in the kidney, magnesium is an important transporter molecule in order to actually activate a lot of the channels. So, without magnesium a lot of channels don’t work and any part of the body where those cells exists, whether it’s the muscle, or the gut, or the kidneys, they will be affected if your body does not have enough magnesium to help activate or turn those channels on. 

TODD: So, it sort of converts your food into fuel?

DR. RAHMAN: It does help. Not just food into fuel but also it helps the kidney to actually filter out the unnecessary toxins you have. So -- And it happens for every organ in the body not just the kidney or the gut but also all your muscles. You're gonna need magnesium in order to have your muscles properly have all those cell channels turn on, especially the more active you are you definitely wanna make sure your magnesium stores are well up to date. 

TODD: Is the list of things it does any more than other minerals or vitamins? I mean, is it sort of a wonder mineral? 

DR. RAHMAN: I don't know about “wonder mineral.” Every mineral in your body is gonna be important whether it’s copper or zinc, magnesium, sodium, vitamin D. Every mineral will have multiple roles. And all these minerals aren’t independent, they all affect each other as well. Magnesium and potassium for example are very closely linked. One of the main reasons I check magnesium in the first place is because usually if I see a person with low potassium levels and if we try and treat it both in the hospital or in the clinic setting, if it’s not coming up then we check magnesium. If a person’s magnesium stores aren’t up to a certain threshold, your potassium won't come up. You have to have your magnesium before your potassium comes up. And that'll extend to other minerals as well such as zinc or calcium. 

TODD: So, does the body produce any magnesium on its own or does it mostly come from food? 

DR. RAHMAN: So, unlike vitamin D or calcium where you can just go out into the sun and your skin can convert it on its own, magnesium does come mostly from food, and these will be including mostly your nuts: Almonds, kidney beans, spinach as well. People who eat a lot of peanut butter as well. Those will easily replenish your magnesium stores. 

TODD: So how much do people need daily, men, women, adolescents? 

DR. RAHMAN: So, men will, on average, need a little bit more magnesium than women just due to having more natural muscle mass. I would say about 300 to 400 milligrams of magnesium in a male, and about 200 to 300 in a female respectively. 

TODD: Adolescents need any more? 

DR. RAHMAN: If they're athletic then I would say so, yes. But not to a significant amount where you have to scale up by two or three times the amount of magnesium. And even if you do eat a lot of magnesium -- A lot of people underestimate how smart your gut and your kidneys are. If you're very, very high magnesium, if you're constantly eating a bunch of beans and supplements over the counter, your body does a pretty good job of filtering it out as long as your gut and your kidneys are working properly.

TODD: Do you absorb a good percentage of the magnesium? I think I read something like just 30 to 50% is actually absorbed. 

DR. RAHMAN: As long as your diet is good enough, even that 30, 50% should be enough to maintain your daily intake of magnesium. 

TODD: And other sources besides the ones you just mentioned? 

DR. RAHMAN: Let me see, I think avocados is a small source. But the main ones is your nuts, almonds, cashews, spinach especially is one. I know spinach is the main one that we tell people to do because that’s also a big part of a lot of diets that a lot of people are trying to go on order to, like, you know, lose weight and improve their cardiovascular health. So, it’s kind of a two birds with one stone. Or you sub out more of your unhealthy food with spinach for volume and that'll also help with your magnesium and your potassium source as well. 

TODD: Are any foods fortified with it like calcium? 

DR. RAHMAN: If you get your multivitamins and they’ll have some in it, as long as you just look at the back of the bottle and see how much magnesium, how much potassium, how much calcium is on there. 

TODD: Okay. A couple interesting studies I came across. One found that just getting 320 milligrams of magnesium daily was associated with a 34% lower risk of cardiovascular disease and other something similar with diabetes. I mean, is it that literal a benefit you're getting from it?

DR. RAHMAN: I don’t wanna say that people who will suddenly chug more magnesium are suddenly gonna see improvement in their heart condition or their cardiovascular condition all around the body. But I would say a lot of that is due to, not causation, but correlation. People who do maintain a healthy magnesium intake probably have other lifestyle factors that result in having a better cardiovascular output with the heart disease. These are probably similar people who, especially if they're eating mostly spinach, they're probably being very careful about how much greens they're eating versus how much unhealthy food their eating. Whether they're already exercising a lot or not, leaves to be discovered. But the fact that spinach and a lot of greens themselves have a lot of magnesium in them, people who eat those are likely already eating healthy as they are. 

TODD: So, what are the effects of a magnesium deficiency? 

DR. RAHMAN: Deficiency, you're definitely gonna feel mainly weakness. And then if you're, like I said earlier, a magnesium deficiency will result in a potassium deficiency. And if you're low in that, that’s when you will start to see muscle weakness, muscle cramps. If your potassium and magnesium go really low, then your heart rhythm may go a little bit haywire as well. But you have to be significantly low on your magnesium counts for all of those to kick in. Like, I will check magnesium levels on patients every now and then as a part of their annual physicals and stuff. And a regular person, magnesium levels should be about 1.5 to 2, give or take. Most people are around 1.6 plus or minus 0.1. Now, every now and then see someone with 1.2, 1.3, no symptoms but I'll tell them, “Hey, eat a little bit more spinach, eat a little bit more nuts just to raise that number when we check back in a year or so. But people who have really low magnesium will often have other comorbidities that’s either contributing or causing that as well 

TODD: So, I was about to ask, what's the cause of -- Is there sometimes something genetic or environmental or is it mostly the result of a medical condition? 

DR. RAHMAN: It would usually be a medical condition. There are other disease processes which affect stuff like copper absorption, iron absorption and storage as well. In terms of magnesium, to my mind nothing comes right away in terms of either a failure of magnesium absorption or storage, but people who have either some sort of absorption disease in their gut such as, like, Crohn’s disease or Ulcerative colitis or people with chronic kidney disease. These are the patients where magnesium absorption, filtering out, becomes an issue, and those are the patients that we check more often than just once a year, the magnesium and the potassium levels. And not just that, these same two organs -- Medications that affect these said organs, so, in terms of the GI tract if you're on either laxatives or antacids for bad reflux or heart burn, or in terms of your kidneys, let's say you're on diuretics for either heart failure or for blood pressure, then yeah, those can also cause some magnesium numbers to go down and cause issues down the road. 

TODD: So how common is the deficiency? I kinda hear doctors say it‘s not common, but I  came across some survey that found nearly half of Americans don’t get adequate magnesium in their diet. 

DR. RAHMAN: Half sounds like a little bit much to me. But like I said, we don’t check it on every single person, it’s not a part of the standard levels we always check. We usually check if we suspect that it’s either going to be a problem or it is a problem. Among the people I do check, I would say maybe only 1 out of 5, give or take, 1 out of 6, have it on the borderline, like I said 1.4, 1.5 maybe. It’s possible that there's maybe half of people who have low magnesium depending on what your sample size on your population is. 

TODD: Could it be that they're just not taking in enough magnesium, but they still don’t really have a deficiency? 

DR. RAHMAN: The intake, especially your dietary intake, and your social determinants can be a big matter as well as to how much you’re actually getting in. 

TODD: So, is it easily tested for? It’s not really that much in your blood, right? Isn't it a lot in your bones, and cells, and tissue? 

DR. RAHMAN: Yeah, but the number we get on the blood is pretty representative of if you have enough or not. Now it’s a pretty easy test. And just like any other bloodwork we can get in, from what I remember it’s not that pricey to add on to someone’s lab values when we send them to go get bloodwork either. But like I said I only check it --  I check it mainly for people who have heart disease, people with kidney disease, and stomach disease, or gut disease really, especially the elderly. Because, you know, elderly people, especially those in like nursing homes or skilled facilities, they often can't get access to food as often as they would like, so their dietary intake in general is already low. Now if that’s already low, everything else might be low too, your calcium levels, magnesium levels, potassium levels, everything’s gonna be in the low end for elderly patients who don’t have access to food as opposed to us who can just walk across to the fridge anytime we want. 

TODD: So, what are symptoms that suggest a deficiency for someone who’s kinda not feeling right and thinks, “Well maybe I have a magnesium deficiency.” What would be the sort of things they should be out on the lookout for? 

DR. RAHMAN: The main thing I see is like some sort of like either muscle weakness or if I get an EKG on them in the office and look at and see something that looks a little bit off on the lines there. And generally a -- Like I said, those with other issues as well. If they're having issues either urinating or either diarrhea or constipation, nausea or vomiting as well, I'll check magnesium. ‘Cause, like I said, it affects every cell that we have, and with regards to the gut and the kidney, the ones that are responsible for absorption and filtering out and getting rid of waste in our body which can include magnesium if you're overdosing. It’s those diseases I'll check the most often. 

TODD: Given all of magnesium’s benefits and the poor way a lot of Americans eat, all the processed food, is there a place for magnesium supplementation in reasonable low doses beyond just people with a deficiency, or are they just wasting their money on magnesium supplements?

DR. RAHMAN: I would say a good population of patients are those who are unable to get food as readily as possible, and that’s not just elderly people. I have a bunch of people who -- my patients are truck drivers. These are people who can't always just eat healthy all the time. You know, they're on the road, they have very tight time constraints with regards to both their job and their eating. And these guys will confess to me that, “Yeah, we’re just mainly eating fast food in our short five, ten minute breaks that we can stop while at the truck stop or at the rest stop to get food.” So, these guys, I'm not surprised every time I check their levels and things are out of control, either their sugar numbers are high, calcium, magnesium, and potassium are low, etcetera. So, it’s these patients who I would say definitely supplement not just with magnesium but other things as well, your calcium, your zinc, a multivitamin. 

TODD: Does a multivitamin provide all the nutrients you need like magnesium, other vitamins or minerals? 

DR. RAHMAN: Yeah, there are many multivitamins especially, you know, some for men, some for women, some for pregnant women, some specifically for elderly, and they all have different percentages of how much they carry. 

TODD: Are there downsides of magnesium supplementation? 

DR. RAHMAN: In terms of overdosing, like I said earlier, your gut and your kidney, in a healthy gut and kidney, they're pretty smart in terms of how much to regulate. It’s not often that someone comes in with a magnesium overdose. Signs and symptoms would be, most commonly, nausea and vomiting, maybe with some abdominal cramps. But otherwise, overdose is really hard to see. It’s only in those patients, like I said, especially your chronic kidney disease patients or patients who are already gone past the point and are on dialysis. Those are the patients I would see maybe high magnesium in case, you know, we’re the ones supplementing them. I would be checking that over and over again to make sure. 

TODD: Any poor interactions with prescription drugs?

DR. RAHMAN: Yes, especially if you have low or high magnesium. Like I mentioned earlier the antacids, the laxatives, there are certain antibiotics that may not work as well if your potassium and magnesium stores are not up to par. 

TODD: How about, like, magnesium spiked water? We did a podcast on probiotics, and it was kind of amazing all the different things that they market now with probiotics. Is there that sort of thing with magnesium too?

DR. RAHMAN: So, I know there's the electrolyte filled waters that especially a lot of people who go to the gym or people who workout drink a lot to replenish, which do, do a good job. Like I said earlier, the more athletic people will need to make sure their magnesium, potassium stores are up to par so that, you know, their muscles can recover quicker, that they don’t go through too much soreness or pain, or weakness. I believe the electrolyte waters do have a good amount of, like, potassium, calcium,  magnesium to replenish their source, ‘cause you know they’ll sweat it out, they go to the bathroom a lot, they may go run a little bit low. So definitely those waters are good to take if you are working out a lot. 

TODD: For those who need to or choose to take magnesium supplements, what are the best types? There's, like, lots of, aren’t there like seven or eight different types of magnesium sulfate, citrate, glycinate. 

DR. RAHMAN: There are many of those, and I see ‘em when I walk by the over-the-counter shelf at the pharmacies all the time. We don’t really have a specific preference for either one. Now, if they have a specific kidney or gut disease that may impair the other half of that supplement, I may defer over to either a nephrologist or gastroenterologist to get their expertise and ask, “Hey, do you think that this one would be safer than this one given their condition? 

TODD: Does the delivery form matter? Is it like gummies, or capsules, or tablets?

DR. RAHMAN: That part no. But I believe they usually come in tablets and capsules. Gummies would be fine too, but no, for the most part absorption should be fine. Now I know you mentioned earlier that your gut only absorbs 30 to 50%. As long as you do take a certain amount, you should be able to absorb the necessary amounts in accordance with how much the supplements say they have. 

TODD: And is there any time of day that’s better to take them, upon waking or before bed?

DR. RAHMAN: I don’t believe so, and that is an important question ‘cause many medications such as statins, thyroid meds, blood pressure meds -- You're right they are very time dependent. When it comes to supplements, if you’re taking it consistently, especially if you're someone who’s working out a lot, it shouldn’t matter which time of day you're taking it. 

TODD: So, let me throw out some specific things I've seen magnesium touted for, I guess mostly in the case of deficiency but some of these not necessarily maybe. Just interested in your thoughts. One that it can improve blood pressure, blood sugar management, heart disease risk. 

DR. RAHMAN: The people who are maintaining a proper magnesium intake, like I said the main foods that you would see it in are spinach and your nuts. People who are on that kind of diet already regularly, it’s often correlated that their lifestyle is already on the right path. You're not gonna find someone with a poor socioeconomic status or a job, or a living situation that doesn’t accompany those still managing to eat only nuts and spinach to maintain their numbers. So, I don’t say there’s direct evidence that increasing your magnesium intake alone will result in a improved blood pressure or blood sugars or your heart disease. 

TODD: If you have a deficiency even. 

DR. RAHMAN: If you have a deficiency then still replenish it ‘cause -- especially for the heart too. The heart’s gonna be very important that your magnesium levels need to be up there, because the magnesium and potassium levels, those I can directly see on an EKG if I suspect those are low resulting in a certain type of rhythm being off on the lines. 

TODD: Improved mood?

DR. RAHMAN: I wouldn’t say that exactly. Patients who have depression, anxiety, I don’t think I've ever recommended just pure magnesium to somebody who’s thinking they’re feeling down whether it’s due to their family or job or situation or whatnot. 

TODD: Migraines?

DR. RAHMAN: I have read about this one, and I've had patients tell me about taking magnesium to see if to can help ease their migraines. It does fit into that same biochemistry with regards to cells needing to go in and out, but like I said, at least in terms of the neurologists I've spoken to, no direct correlation with magnesium improving your migraines like magic. 

TODD: How about as a sleep aid?

DR. RAHMAN: This one I've heard especially with some of the sleep multivitamins like melatonin and such having them. I believe I've seen studies about zinc and magnesium improving sleep, but this isn’t really clinical based evidence as far as we have yet. 

TODD: How about not so much curing constipation but, like, just improving your regularity?

DR. RAHMAN: That part I agree taking magnesium would help. Because, like I said, the -- Every muscle in your body, and your gut is just one giant muscle, lots of muscles, if you're low on your magnesium levels those muscles can't work as well, you can suffer less bowel movements and/ or progress to constipation if your magnesium, potassium aren’t up to par. So, in that case I would say yeah. If someone was coming to me with constipation issues for a long time, I would in fact check magnesium level as one of my first blood works to work on. 

TODD: And, how about that they're -- It’s good for active people, maybe not even those with deficiency but it’s good for active people ‘cause exercise can really deplete the magnesium?

DR. RAHMAN: Yeah, for sure, because the more your cells are active, especially in muscle cells, the quicker you're gonna go through your potassium and magnesium stores. So, I definitely encourage -- Like I said, whether it’s supplements or the electrolyte water, good magnesium intake should be already included in your workout routine or regimen. 

TODD: How about helping you absorb calcium and vitamin D? 

DR. RAHMAN: Calcium and vitamin D work via a different pathway of absorption than through potassium and magnesium. Potassium, magnesium mostly oral intake, whereas your calcium, vitamin D, yes there are supplements and foods that are important for that one such as milk, obviously, but unlike those, you can still get it from being in the sun for a long time. Your body has a nice way of converting your sunlight to vitamin D, into calcium in your body, whereas magnesium and potassium doesn’t, unfortunately, doesn’t have that same mechanism. 

TODD: All right, that’s most of my questions. Any summary you wanna provide? It’s kind of your -- Any take away you would hope to leave the listener with? 

DR. RAHMAN: I would say that with regards to magnesium, the average person, as long as they're eating even semi-healthy on a regular basis, you shouldn’t be too low on it. If you want to maintain even a bare threshold level like I said earlier, nuts and spinach, a good way to keep up. The people who I do think should have at least checked by their regular doctor would be those with either kidney disease or some sort of absorption disease in their guts, or the elderly patients who you're not too sure if they're eating right three times a day at least. 

TODD: Okay, very good. I appreciate your taking time to educate us on this. 

DR. RAHMAN: Likewise. Thank you very much for having me. 

ZACH: So, Todd, has this moved the needle for you on magnesium, this conversation? 

TODD: Moved the needle? Well, he said even positive about it, or non-negative about it that I think I'm fine taking it. 

ZACH: Yeah. 

TODD: One thing he mentioned was your kidney’s very smart at removing any excess amounts. Again, I don’t think I'm taking enough that that would be a concern in the first place. 

ZACH: Yeah. 

TODD: And one thing he mentioned that I liked was it’s good if you're active. So, you know, I work out and I'm not really --

 ZACH: Cleary. 

TODD: Yes, I think we've talked about this…

[Laughing]

Before Zach. And I don’t drink like sports drinks or anything so I'm just there at the gym drinking water between exercises. So, the idea that I'm getting in a little extra magnesium just in pill form couple times is a small amount a couple times a day makes me feel like I'm not -- even if I'm depleting it a little bit working out that I'm still getting it. 

ZACH: Yeah, talking about trying to replenish magnesium if you're not getting it, talking about, you know, nuts and all those sorts of things. That’s good, just, diet advice. I mean I've heard about iron deficiencies. Well, I haven’t really heard a lot of people with magnesium deficiencies. 

TODD: Yeah, I was curious about that. I had wondered if, like, it’s just some people were unlucky and didn’t absorb it that well. But it sounded like talking from, I mean, it’s mostly if you have some sort of condition, GI condition or something like that. 

ZACH: And there's certain foods you can eat to kinda replenish that, you know, like cashews, mixed nuts, that sort of thing. Oh! That’s a good snack for me, a good healthy snack. When I'm being healthy that’s my go to snack, it’s mixed nuts. So, I should be getting more magnesium that way. 

TODD: Right, yes, that’s true. I think his message was as long as you're eating a reasonably healthy, not even ultra healthy, diet you're probably getting all the magnesium you need. Nuts, leafy vegetables, fish, legumes, and beans. 

ZACH: Sounds like the Mediterranean diet, Todd. 

TODD: Yeah, it does. 

[Laughing]

It all comes back to that. 

ZACH: Our favorite diet. 

TODD: Yes. 

ZACH: There's one thing you take away from listening to On Health with Houston Methodist it’s eat a Mediterranean diet. 

TODD: Did he say anything that give you any thoughts about magnesium? 

ZACH: Well, you know, he wasn’t as enthusiastic about it as I might have expected. Like, he wasn’t like waving the banner for “Magnesium for everyone.” But I think you said it best, like he didn’t say non-positive things. 

TODD: He didn’t seem worried about like it’s just gonna hurt you in any way.

ZACH: Right, like there was no pressing need, like everybody needs to go out and take your magnesium. 

TODD: Right. 

ZACH: And unless you have, as you said, a specific condition, a health deficiency. If you're generally healthy and you don’t have anything like that, you don’t need the extra magnesium. It’s not necessarily going to help you either, but it’s not gonna hurt -- It’s for sure not gonna hurt you. 

TODD: Right. I was encouraged he said even if you have too much, the kidney’s smart about --

ZACH: Exactly.

TODD: About getting rid of it so. 

ZACH: It would have to be like such an extreme amount to even affect you, right? 

TODD: Right. 

ZACH: Yeah. 

TODD: So, you know, if you wanna try a sleepy girl mocktail, if you're having issues sleeping, you know, that might be something to try out. But generally, if you feel like you're healthy and you get a reasonably good diet, you’re probably wasting your money taking the supplement. 

ZACH: But you're not?

TODD: No, I'm not. 

ZACH: Okay. 

[Laughing]

TODD: Because it helps me absorb calcium that I might not be getting enough of and because it helps me if I have depleted my magnesium working out. 

ZACH: Now could you take a calcium supplement without the magnesium or…

TODD: Well, you could but my guidance is that it helps you absorb the calcium. 

ZACH: Okay. Great. And every -- You know, everybody’s different, right. Talk to your primary care physician, figure all that stuff out, as we always say. Right, Todd? 

TODD: Yes, yes. 

ZACH: Great. Well, that’s gonna do it for this episode of Oh Health with Houston Methodist. Be sure to share, like, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We drop episodes Tuesday mornings. So, until then stay tuned and stay healthy.