Serum Magnesium is Inversely Associated with Body Composition and Metabolic Syndrome

Abstract

Purpose Magnesium is vital to maintain normal physiological functions. We aimed to identify the association between serum magnesium and different measures of body adiposity among Qatari adults. We hypothesized that the association was mediated by depression and sleep duration. Patients and Methods The study included 1000 adults aged 20 years and above who attended the Qatar Biobank Study (QBB) between 2012 and 2019. Body adiposity was assessed using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). Serum magnesium concentration was measured. Sub-optimal magnesium was defined as magnesium concentration less than 0.85 mmol/L. The association was examined using linear regression. Results The mean age of the participants (n=1000) was 35.8 (SD 10.3) years. More than half of the participants had sub-optimal magnesium concentrations (60.2% in men and 52.3% in women). Serum magnesium was inversely associated with different types of fat mass. In the fully adjusted model, per 1 SD increment of serum magnesium had standardized regression coefficients of −0.09 (p 0.005) for total fat mass, −0.08 (p 0.008) for trunk fat, −0.09 (p 0.003) for gynoid fat and −0.08 (p 0.008) for android fat. There was no gender difference in the association. The inverse association between serum magnesium and fat mass was significant in those with sleep duration ≥7 hours but not in those <7 hours. Depressive symptom and sleep did not mediate the association between serum magnesium and fat mass. Serum magnesium was inversely associated with metabolic syndrome (per 1 SD increment had an odds ratio (OR) of 0.70 (95% CI 0.57–0.85)). Conclusion There was an inverse association between serum magnesium and fat mass, especially among those with an adequate sleep duration and without chronic conditions including diabetes, hypertension and depression.

A case-control study on asthma and obese patients: Influence of lifestyle patterns, serum trace elements, heavy metals, and total antioxidants

“…Indeed, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 3 study demonstrates that Mg2+ deficiency is more common in obese people [ 58 ]. Al Shammaa et al , reported that obese people have decreased levels of magnesium in their bloodstream [ 59 ]. In this study, serum levels of Mg were significantly lower in obese males and females.…”

Association of serum magnesium with metabolic syndrome and the role of chronic kidney disease: A population‐based cohort study with Mendelian randomization

“…In line with our findings, a recent cross-sectional study including 1000 adults, found that a 1-SD increment of serum magnesium was associated with reduced odds of MetS (OR: 0.70 [95% CI 0.57-0.85]). 28 Additionally, a meta-analysis including 3487 individuals found that serum magnesium was approximately 0.19 mg/dL lower in participants with MetS compared to those without MetS, although significant heterogeneity between studies was observed. 10 Notably, there is currently no evidence for the relationship between serum magnesium and incident MetS.…”

The Association Between Short Sleep Duration and Metabolic Syndrome: A Case-Control Study

“…However, this question has been used in previous reports from QBB and similar questions have been used to assess similar outcomes to this study. [34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41] It is important to note that this method of assessment may be subject to recall bias and misclassification of cases and controls. However, it can be assumed that this misclassification is non-differential so would not bias our results but would instead weaken the associations.…”