14. ALCOHOLISM
After going through many medical articles on the subject, one
comes to the definite opinion that a deficiency of magnesium is
one of the principal causes of alcoholism. In
Nutrition Reviews (July, 1960), "Magnesium Balance in
Alcoholics," appears the following (p. 200): "Chronic alcoholics
as a group possess a wide spectrum of nutritional deficiencies
because they obtain their caloric needs mainly from drinks which
are deficient in most nutritional substances except alcohol,
water and carbohydrate." Another article in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
(June, 1963), comprising a study of three experiments with
various numbers of people at the Veterans Administration
Hospital, at Minneapolis, Minnesota, gives the following: "The serum magnesium content in patients with
nutritional cirrhosis is also frequently low. This has been
attributed to inadequate dietary intake ... magnesium depletion
contributes significantly to the tremor, twitching and tetany, as
well as the psychiatric disturbances occurring in chronic
alcoholism." It states also: "Magnesium excretion induced by
alcohol ingestion as well as poor dietary intake probably
contributes to magnesium deficiency in chronic alcoholism ...
Following alcohol ingestion under varying dietary conditions, the
urinary excretion of magnesium increased strikingly in six of the
twelve subjects."
We found a corroboration of this in several other medical
papers. In other words it would seem that alcohol is quite a
disturbing element when it enters the body. We know that every
drink of alcohol removes some of the body's store of vitamin B.
Now we see that it also removes some of the magnesium. The
question is, what effect does it have on other important vitamins
and minerals?
In a paper published in The New England Journal of
Medicine (February 20, 1964), "Metabolic Effects of Alcohol
on the Liver," there is a separate discussion on magnesium metabolism in which it is confirmed
that in chronic alcoholism the level of magnesium in the blood is
low. But the following is important: "The evidence relating some
manifestations of chronic alcoholism to magnesium depletion
includes the favorable response to magnesium administration and
the positive magnesium balance during the recovery phase of
chronic alcoholism." It also mentions the fact that very low
levels of magnesium in the blood can lead to hallucinations and
delirium tremens. It states further that the authors as well as
three other groups of investigators have found that there is a
serious loss of magnesium in alcoholism. But the important thing
about their work is the favorable effect the taking of magnesium
has on the alcoholic.
The final statement in this section of the article is, "The
current evidence suggests, therefore, that in addition to poor
dietary intake, the hypo-magnesemia [low magnesium] of the
alcoholic patient may be due to increased urinary magnesium
excretion." In other words, alcoholism probably begins in a diet
very low in magnesium, and this can happen easily on a diet of
white bread and other refined food
products.
An article on magnesium in Annals of Internal Medicine (47:956, 1957), in
which alcoholism and magnesium are discussed, contains the
following summary: "A clinical
syndrome characterized by muscle tremor, twitching and more
bizarre movements, occasionally by convulsions and often by
delirium, has been described and is considered to be a
manifestation of magnesium deficiency. The evidence for this
concept is the many similarities to experimental animal magnesium
deficiency, the occurrence of low mean serum magnesium
concentrations for a group of patients, a positive magnesium
balance during treatment, and, finally, the frequently gratifying and sometimes dramatic response
to therapy with magnesium salts."
In conclusion, here is a quote from a newspaper column, by
Dr. H. L. Herschensohn, in the
Arizona Republic, sometime in 1958: "For years Epsom salts was given to persons suffering
from acute alcoholism. The good effect was partially due to its
cathartic action, but it was also due to the fact that Epsom
salts, being magnesium sulphate, makes up for the deficiency of
magnesium characteristic of alcoholism.
"In animal experiments, when the magnesium in the blood is
decreased, tremors occur similar to delirium tremens ...
magnesium is an important part of every cell in the body. It is
possible that its deficiency, even in non-alcoholics, may
account for some ailments which are difficult to diagnose."
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Chapter 13. The Prostate
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