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Dietary magnesium intake is inversely associated with serum C-reactive protein levels: meta-analysis and systematic review

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 68, page 971 (2014)Cite this article

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We thank Somdat Mahabir for his insightful comments and the clarification of a number of points related to our work.1

We agree that biomarkers should have been used for the assessment of body magnesium status. However, biomarkers of magnesium are not routinely collected in large-scale epidemiological studies. For example, cellular magnesium is suggested as the preferable marker of magnesium status,2 but it is rarely used in large epidemiological studies due to budget constraints. Serum magnesium, though suggested to respond to dietary manipulation,3 is narrowly controlled in a state of homeostasis and may not represent the body’s magnesium status very well.4,5 Although the bioavailability and measurement error are inevitable limitations, dietary and supplemental magnesium intakes are widely used in epidemiological studies to rank participants and calculate the relative risk.

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References

  1. Dibaba DT, Xun P, He K . Dietary magnesium intake is inversely associated with serum C-reactive protein levels: meta-analysis and systematic review. Eur J Clin Nutr 2014; 68: 510–516.

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  2. Elin RJ . Magnesium metabolism in health and disease. Disease-a-month DM 1988; 34: 161–218.

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  3. Witkowski M, Hubert J, Mazur A . Methods of assessment of magnesium status in humans: a systematic review. Magnesium Res 2011; 24: 163–180.

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  4. Elin RJ . Assessment of magnesium status for diagnosis and therapy. Magnesium Res 2010; 23: S194–S198.

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  5. National Institute of Health. Magnesium. Office of Dietary Supplements, 2013: http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Magnesium-HealthProfessional/ (updated 4 November 2013; cited 21 April 2014).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health—Bloomington, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA

    D T Dibaba, P Xun & K He

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  1. D T Dibaba
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  2. P Xun
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  3. K He
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Correspondence to K He.

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Dibaba, D., Xun, P. & He, K. Dietary magnesium intake is inversely associated with serum C-reactive protein levels: meta-analysis and systematic review. Eur J Clin Nutr 68, 971 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2014.111

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