3. HEART ACTION IS AIDED
That the human heart is an unbelievably efficient type of
pump, able to push incredible quantities of fluid and to work
continuously, day and night, without ever resting, is a
phenomenon that has long been recognized. Not so long known and
far from universally recognized is the fact that the mineral
nutrient, calcium, is indispensable to the ability of the heart
to keep working. Failure to recognize this might be compared to
understanding that a gasoline explosion turns the drive shaft of
a car but not knowing that the gasoline will not explode unless
it has a spark plug to ignite it.
Dr. Winifred Nayler of the
Baker Medical Research Institute
describes the process in Heart
Journal (March, 1967) as an electrochemical process that
takes places within each cell of the heart. On the outer surface
of each heart tissue cell, there is a thin filament known as
actin. The actin reaches with a
kind of magnetic attraction toward the center of the cell
shortening its length. The result of many cells shortening at one
time is contraction of the muscle. And it is calcium, fed to the
actin by the bloodstream, that provides both the stimulus and the
means by which the actin does its work. A shortage of calcium
must inevitably result in a weakened heartbeat, which can be
speeded up by drug stimulants but cannot be strengthened, as long
as the calcium is deficient. Even this simple explanation, we
believe, points out the folly of treating a weak heartbeat with
drugs, at least until the ability to absorb calcium and the
quantity of calcium in the diet have been checked and
corrected.
To continue our analogy, however, when you understand that it
takes a spark plug to ignite your gasoline, that isn't the end of
the story. It also takes ignition points to direct electrical
energy to the right spark- plug at the right time. And as Dr. Nayler tells us, while calcium is
fundamentally necessary to the heartbeat, the calcium will not do
what it is supposed to do unless it is controlled in its turn by
a sufficient quantity of magnesium in the system.
The reason for this, Dr. Nayler tells us, is that it is
necessary for the actin alternately to absorb and release
calcium. If it could not do both, the heart would either contract
and stay contracted or else refuse to contract at all. For the
heart to keep contracting and relaxing alternately requires that
it be a very busy living chemical laboratory. And it is magnesium
that seems to be the key element that actually regulates the
heartbeat. How does it do
it? By providing the tiny positive electrical charge that repels
calcium, pushing it to the opposite side of the individual cell
and reversing the contraction that has just taken place.
Throughout the body, magnesium seems to be the mineral of basic
importance in controlling the manner in which electrical charges
are utilized to induce the passage of materials in and out of
cells.
Nor is the heart the only portion of the circulatory system
that is affected and, in effect, controlled by whether we obtain
enough magnesium in our diets.
Blood Vessels Improved
Throughout our systems, all muscular tissues are designed to
be able both to contract and to relax, and if either function
fails, there is trouble. Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is caused by an
excessive contraction of or inability to relax the muscles
surrounding the walls of arteries. It was reported fix the Journal of the American Medical Association
(February 22, 1965) by Dr. B. H.
Seller that magnesium salts
induced these muscles to relax and had therefore been found
effective as a treatment for high blood pressure.
Similarly, in experimenting on the cellular metabolism with
possible treatments for arteriosclerosis (hardening of the
arteries), Dr. T. Shimamoto
reported in the American Heart Journal in 1959 that he
was able to reduce swelling and consequent constriction of
arterial walls with magnesium salts. According to Dr. Mildred Seelig (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, June,
1964), there is a direct relationship between the amount of
magnesium in the diet and ability to avoid high blood pressure.
Dr. Seelig regards the difference in magnesium consumption as an
important reason why there are far fewer heart attacks among
Orientals than there are in the Western countries.
The study of magnesium and its many roles in human metabolism
is only in its infancy. Until very recent years, this was the
forgotten mineral. It was known to be essential, but nobody had
any idea what it really does within the system nor did anyone
seem to care much.
Today it is a different matter. As the new science of biochemistry gets under way,
scientists have come to realize how important is the long-known
fact that our bodies are constantly generating tiny electrical
impulses and discharging them. These minute electrical charges
have long been regarded as a curiosity of no great significance,
but it has been discovered that they are an essential part of the
processes of life. Every movement, external or internal, is
triggered by such impulses transmitted along nerves. Without our
electrical systems, there could be no life whatsoever. And so,
today, we are compelled to recognize that if magnesium is the
primary regulator of the electrical activity within our bodies,
then magnesium is obviously of far greater importance to health
and life itself than anybody had guessed even 10 years ago. This
being so, what chance is there that you are getting enough
magnesium in your regular diet?
Dr. Mildred Seelig, previously cited, calculated that the
average American falls short by 200 milligrams a day or more of
the optimal amount of magnesium one should consume for good
health. Present in many foods, magnesium is unfortunately
extremely sensitive to heat and easily lost during the processing
of foods. People who eat raw and unprocessed foods probably get
enough. How many in America do? How many in America even find it
possible?
Therein, perhaps, lies the answer to the riddle of why so many
Americans have heart attacks, high blood pressure, and strokes,
and why these diseases are on the increase in western Europe. Nor
is the circulatory system the only group of organs you will be
giving a health boost if you are careful to add more magnesium to
your diet. Even among essential nutrients, this one seems just a
bit more essential.
NEXT CHAPTER:
Chapter 4. The Blood
This page was first uploaded to The Magnesium Web Site on
January 3, 2001
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Healthy Water
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