We will skim through the article for you, our comments being in parentheses. Magnesium has been accepted as an essential nutrient for the rat since 1932. A deficiency of magnesium is dangerous for the nervous system, heart and kidneys. Grass staggers of cattle, and the convulsions of calves fed only whole milk, were similarly found to be associated with low blood magnesium levels, and to be preventable by feeding magnesium supplements. Neuromuscular and mental symptoms, ranging from tremor, nervousness, and clouded sensorium through delirium, hallucinations and convulsions, were often most severe in patients with the lowest plasma magnesium levels . . .
Patients lose a great deal of magnesium after operations.
Hanna and MacIntyre have found mental depression and muscle weakness as a result of low magnesium in the body. Magnesium requirements should be reconsidered in the light of findings that indicate the likely development of negative balance on magnesium intakes below 6 mg. per kg. per day. Additional work should be carried out to ascertain, with more certainty, the optimal daily intake of magnesium . . . A prolonged dietary insufficiency of magnesium may contribute to the development of chronic disease. On the basis of 105 balance periods in men and 146 in women, totaling 658 and 781 days respectively, it appears that negative balances are likely to develop in either sex on magnesium intakes under 4 milligrams per kilogram per day.