Skip to main content
Log in

The Effect of Oral Magnesium Supplementation on Inflammatory Biomarkers in Adults: A Comprehensive Systematic Review and Dose–response Meta-analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials

  • Published:
Biological Trace Element Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This is a comprehensive systematic review and dose–response meta-analysis evaluating the effects of oral magnesium supplementation on inflammatory biomarkers including C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin‐6 (IL‐6), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF‐α) among adults. The major databases including PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Google Scholar were searched for relevant publications until December 14, 2020, using appropriate keywords. The Cochrane Collaboration tool was used to assess the quality of each study. We also performed a subgroup analysis to identify probable sources of heterogeneity. A total of 18 studies with 927 participants fulfilled the eligibility criteria and included in this meta-analysis. Our results indicate that the supplementation with magnesium had no statistically significant effect on serum concentrations of CRP (WMD, − 0.49; 95% CI, − 1.72 to 0.75 mg/L; P = 0.44), IL-6 (WMD, − 0.03; 95% CI, − 0.40 to 0.33 pg/mL; P = 0.86), and TNF‐α (WMD, 0.12; 95% CI, − 0.08 to 0.31 pg/mL; P = 0.24) compared with controls. In addition, based on dose–response assessment, no significant non-linear association was found between magnesium supplementation dosage or duration on serum CRP and IL-6 concentrations. The findings of the present systematic review and meta-analysis did not support the notion that oral magnesium supplementation could have favorable effects on CRP, IL-6, and TNF-α in the adult population.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Gröber U, Schmidt J, Kisters K (2015) Magnesium in prevention and therapy. Nutrients 7(9):8199–8226

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Champagne CM (2008) Magnesium in hypertension, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, and other conditions: a review. Nutr Clin Pract 23(2):142–151

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Fang X, Wang K, Han D, He X, Wei J, Zhao L, Imam MU, Ping Z, Li Y, Xu Y (2016) Dietary magnesium intake and the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and all-cause mortality: a dose–response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. BMC Med 14(1):1–13

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. de Borst MH, de Baaij JH (2020) Low serum magnesium as a risk factor for peripheral artery disease in chronic kidney disease: an open verdict. Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation

  5. Nielsen FH (2018) Magnesium deficiency and increased inflammation: current perspectives. J Inflamm Res 11:25

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Mazur A, Maier JA, Rock E, Gueux E, Nowacki W, Rayssiguier Y (2007) Magnesium and the inflammatory response: potential physiopathological implications. Arch Biochem Biophys 458(1):48–56

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Dibaba DT, Xun P, He K (2014) Dietary magnesium intake is inversely associated with serum C-reactive protein levels: meta-analysis and systematic review. Eur J Clin Nutr 68(4):510–516

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Sobhani AR, Farshidi H, Azarkish F, Eslami M, Eftekhar E, Keshavarz M, Soltani N (2020) Magnesium sulfate improves some risk factors for atherosclerosis in patients suffering from one or two coronary artery diseases: a double-blind clinical trial study. Clin Pharmacol : advances and applications 12:159–169. https://doi.org/10.2147/cpaa.s261264

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Talari HR, Zakizade M, Soleimani A, Bahmani F, Ghaderi A, Mirhosseini N, Eslahi M, Babadi M, Mansournia MA, Asemi Z (2019) Effects of magnesium supplementation on carotid intima-media thickness and metabolic profiles in diabetic haemodialysis patients: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Br J Nutr 121(7):809–817. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0007114519000163

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Moslehi N, Vafa M, Rahimi-Foroushani A, Golestan B (2012) Effects of oral magnesium supplementation on inflammatory markers in middle-aged overweight women. J Res Med Sci 17(7):607–614

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  11. Sadeghian M, Azadbakht L, Khalili N, Mortazavi M, Esmaillzadeh A (2020) Oral magnesium supplementation improved lipid profile but increased insulin resistance in patients with diabetic nephropathy: a double-blind randomized controlled clinical trial. Biol Trace Elem Res 193(1):23–35. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-019-01687-6

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Simental-Mendia LE, Sahebkar A, Rodriguez-Moran M, Zambrano-Galvan G, Guerrero-Romero F (2017) Effect of magnesium supplementation on plasma C-reactive protein concentrations: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Curr Pharm Des 23(31):4678–4686

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Mazidi M, Rezaie P, Banach M (2018) Effect of magnesium supplements on serum C-reactive protein: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Arch Med Sci: AMS 14(4):707

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  14. Almoznino-Sarafian D, Berman S, Mor A, Shteinshnaider M, Gorelik O, Tzur I, Alon I, Modai D, Cohen N (2007) Magnesium and C-reactive protein in heart failure: an anti-inflammatory effect of magnesium administration? Eur J Nutr 46(4):230–237

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Nielsen FH, Johnson LK, Zeng H (2010) Magnesium supplementation improves indicators of low magnesium status and inflammatory stress in adults older than 51 years with poor quality sleep. Magnesium Research 23(4):158

  16. Cosaro E, Bonafini S, Montagnana M, Danese E, Trettene MS, Minuz P, Delva P, Fava C (2014) Effects of magnesium supplements on blood pressure, endothelial function and metabolic parameters in healthy young men with a family history of metabolic syndrome. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis 24(11):1213–1220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.numecd.2014.05.010

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. de Souza MdLL (2014) Magnesium replacement does not improve insulin resistance in patients with metabolic syndrome: a 12-week randomized double-blind study. J Clin Med Res 6(6):456

    Google Scholar 

  18. Asemi Z, Karamali M, Jamilian M, Foroozanfard F, Bahmani F, Heidarzadeh Z, Benisi-Kohansal S, Surkan PJ, Esmaillzadeh A (2015) Magnesium supplementation affects metabolic status and pregnancy outcomes in gestational diabetes: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Am J Clin Nutr 102(1):222–229

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Resatoglu AG, Demirturk OS, Yener N, Yener A (2004) Magnesium decreases cardiac injury in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery. Ann Saudi Med 24(4):259–261

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. Hasan EK, Mshimesh BAR, Khazaal FAK, Aziz LSA, Jasim SY, Jasim GA (2017) Effects of magnesium L-lactate on metabolic syndrome features in a sample of Iraqi women. Int J Pharm Sci Rev Res 45(2):242–250

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Joris PJ, Plat J, Bakker SJ, Mensink RP (2017) Effects of long-term magnesium supplementation on endothelial function and cardiometabolic risk markers: a randomized controlled trial in overweight/obese adults. Sci Rep 7(1):106. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-00205-9

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  22. Razzaghi R, Pidar F, Momen-Heravi M, Bahmani F, Akbari H, Asemi Z (2018) Magnesium supplementation and the effects on wound healing and metabolic status in patients with diabetic foot ulcer: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Biol Trace Elem Res 181(2):207–215. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-017-1056-5

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Picot J, Hartwell D, Harris P, Mendes D, Clegg A, Takeda A (2012) The preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses checklist. In: The effectiveness of interventions to treat severe acute malnutrition in young children: A systematic review. NIHR Journals Library 16:19

  24. Higgins JP, Altman DG, Gøtzsche PC, Jüni P, Moher D, Oxman AD, Savović J, Schulz KF, Weeks L, Sterne JA (2011) The cochrane collaboration’s tool for assessing risk of bias in randomised trials. BMJ (Clinical research ed) 343:d5928, version 5.1.0 [updated March 2011]. The Cochrane Collaboration. Available: http://www.cochrane-handbook.org

  25. Higgins J (2011) Cochrane handbook for systematic reviews of interventions. Version 5.1. 0 [updated March 2011]. The Cochrane Collaboration. www cochrane-handbook org (Accessed on 12th August 2015.)

  26. Kazaks AG, Uriu-Adams JY, Albertson TE, Shenoy SF, Stern JS (2010) Effect of oral magnesium supplementation on measures of airway resistance and subjective assessment of asthma control and quality of life in men and women with mild to moderate asthma: a randomized placebo controlled trial. J Asthma : official journal of the Association for the Care of Asthma 47(1):83–92. https://doi.org/10.3109/02770900903331127

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Rodriguez-Hernandez H, Cervantes-Huerta M, Rodriguez-Moran M, Guerrero-Romero F (2010) Oral magnesium supplementation decreases alanine aminotransferase levels in obese women. Magnes Res 23(2):90–96

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Chacko SA, Sul J, Song Y, Li X, LeBlanc J, You Y, Butch A, Liu S (2011) Magnesium supplementation, metabolic and inflammatory markers, and global genomic and proteomic profiling: a randomized, double-blind, controlled, crossover trial in overweight individuals. Am J Clin Nutr 93(2):463–473. https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.110.002949

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Mortazavi M, Moeinzadeh F, Saadatnia M, Shahidi S, McGee JC, Minagar A (2013) Effect of magnesium supplementation on carotid intima-media thickness and flow-mediated dilatation among hemodialysis patients: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Eur Neurol 69(5):309–316. https://doi.org/10.1159/000346427

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Simental-Mendia LE, Rodriguez-Moran M, Reyes-Romero MA, Guerrero-Romero F (2012) No positive effect of oral magnesium supplementation in the decreases of inflammation in subjects with prediabetes: a pilot study. Magnes Res 25(3):140–146. https://doi.org/10.1684/mrh.2012.0322

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Borenstein M, Hedges LV, Higgins JP, Rothstein HR (2011) Introduction to meta-analysis. John Wiley & Sons

    Google Scholar 

  32. Hozo SP, Djulbegovic B, Hozo I (2005) Estimating the mean and variance from the median, range, and the size of a sample. BMC Med Res Methodol 5(1):13

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  33. Higgins J, Tompson S, Deeks J, Altman D (2003) A meta-Analysis on the effectiveness of smart-learning. BMJ (Clinical research ed) 327(1):p557-560

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Simental-Mendia LE, Rodriguez-Moran M, Guerrero-Romero F (2014) Oral magnesium supplementation decreases C-reactive protein levels in subjects with prediabetes and hypomagnesemia: a clinical randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial. Arch Med Res 45(4):325–330. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arcmed.2014.04.006

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Dmitrašinović G, Pešić V, Stanić D, Plećaš-Solarović B, Dajak M, Ignjatović S (2016) ACTH, cortisol and IL-6 Levels in athletes following magnesium supplementation. J Med Biochem 35(4):375–384

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  36. Sprague AH, Khalil RA (2009) Inflammatory cytokines in vascular dysfunction and vascular disease. Biochem Pharmacol 78(6):539–552

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  37. Aghadavoud E, Nasri H, Amiri M (2017) Molecular signaling pathways of diabetic kidney disease; new concepts. J Prev Epidemiol 2(2):e09–e09

    Google Scholar 

  38. Guerrero-Romero F, Jaquez-Chairez FO, Rodriguez-Moran M (2016) Magnesium in metabolic syndrome: a review based on randomized, double-blind clinical trials. Magnes Res 29(4):146–153. https://doi.org/10.1684/mrh.2016.0404

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Marques B, Klein M, da Cunha MR, de Souza Mattos S, de Paula Nogueira L, de Paula T, Correa FM, Oigman W, Neves MF (2019) Effects of oral magnesium supplementation on vascular function: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. High Blood Pressure & Cardiovascular Prevention 27:19–28

  40. Navarro‐González JF, Mora‐Fernández C, García‐Pérez J (2009) Reviews: clinical implications of disordered magnesium homeostasis in chronic renal failure and dialysis. In: Seminars in dialysis, vol. 22, No. 1. Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Oxford, pp 37–44 

  41. Askarpour M, Karimi M, Hadi A, Ghaedi E, Symonds ME, Miraghajani M, Javadian P (2020) Effect of flaxseed supplementation on markers of inflammation and endothelial function: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Cytokine 126:154922

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  42. Meydani SN, Das SK, Pieper CF, Lewis MR, Klein S, Dixit VD, Gupta AK, Villareal DT, Bhapkar M, Huang M, Fuss PJ, Roberts SB, Holloszy JO, Fontana L (2016) Long-term moderate calorie restriction inhibits inflammation without impairing cell-mediated immunity: a randomized controlled trial in non-obese humans. Aging 8(7):1416–1431. https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.100994

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  43. Furman D, Campisi J, Verdin E, Carrera-Bastos P, Targ S, Franceschi C, Ferrucci L, Gilroy DW, Fasano A, Miller GW, Miller AH, Mantovani A, Weyand CM, Barzilai N, Goronzy JJ, Rando TA, Effros RB, Lucia A, Kleinstreuer N, Slavich GM (2019) Chronic inflammation in the etiology of disease across the life span. Nat Med 25(12):1822–1832. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-019-0675-0

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  44. Tilg H, Zmora N, Adolph TE, Elinav E (2020) The intestinal microbiota fuelling metabolic inflammation. Nat Rev Immunol 20(1):40–54

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  45. Hameed I, Masoodi SR, Malik PA, Mir SA, Ghazanfar K, Ganai BA (2018) Genetic variations in key inflammatory cytokines exacerbates the risk of diabetic nephropathy by influencing the gene expression. Gene 661:51–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gene.2018.03.095

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  46. Kanbay M, Goldsmith D, Uyar ME, Turgut F, Covic A (2010) Magnesium in chronic kidney disease: challenges and opportunities. Blood Purif 29(3):280–292. https://doi.org/10.1159/000276665

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  47. Spiegel DM (2011) Magnesium in chronic kidney disease: unanswered questions. Blood Purif 31(1–3):172–176

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  48. Bachmann G, Bakris GL, Barone JA, Baumann S, Becher T, Behnes M, Birati EY, Boutari C, Cao H, Dimitriadis K, Dobrzynski J (2018) Iatrogenicity: causes and consequences of Iatrogenesis in cardiovascular medicine. Rutgers University Press, pp 370–389

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

Sepide Talebi and Hamed Mohammadi contributed to the conception of research, searched databases and data extraction, and performed statistical analysis. Sepide Talebi and Maryam Miraghajani wrote the manuscript. Hamed Mohammadi and Reza Hosseini contributed to the revision of the manuscript. All authors approved the final manuscript for submission.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hamed Mohammadi.

Ethics declarations

Ethics Approval

Not applicable.

Consent to Participate

Not applicable.

Consent for Publication

All other authors have read the manuscript and have agreed to submit it in its current form for consideration for publication in the Biological Trace Element Research.

Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing of interests.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary Information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (DOCX 19 KB)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Talebi, S., Miraghajani, M., Hosseini, R. et al. The Effect of Oral Magnesium Supplementation on Inflammatory Biomarkers in Adults: A Comprehensive Systematic Review and Dose–response Meta-analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials. Biol Trace Elem Res 200, 1538–1550 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-021-02783-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-021-02783-2

Keywords

Navigation