The following magnesium compounds have sufficiently low stability that they offer very high absorption and are well tolerated. Magnesium acetate, chloride, citrate, gluconate, glycinate, lactate, malate, succinate and sulfate are all very good, ionizable sources of magnesium. Intravenously, hospitals give magnesium sulfate. Magnesium chloride would be best, but it is very hygroscopic and difficult to properly package, but it makes a wonderful oily skin lotion when present in more than 25% concentrations in water and is readily and beneficially absorbed. I like the"Ancient Minerals"magnesium chloride product sold by LL's Magnetic Clay. It is supposed to be from an ancient European mineral deposit called the "Zechstein magnesium salt bed" in Europe.

===Obviously,neurotoxic-to-us ligands (glutamate and aspartate)and oxides and hydroxides must be avoided if they are used for dietary supplement purposes.===On the other hand, maybe for some special people, magnesium oxide could be just what the doctor ordered. Here are the facts. Some people can't absorb ionizable magnesium compounds since they have intestinal problems, such as candida albicans infection and other problems perhaps of a medical nature, and they develop diarrhea with relatively small doses of ionizable magnesium like magnesium chloride, citrate, lactate, glycinate and so on. I believe they can't absorb ionizable magnesium since ionizable magnesium first feeds candida albicans fungus or other infective agent in the guts, thus worsening intestinal health and diminishing absorption. I don't know if this condition is rare or common, but suspect it is rare in well people but more common in sick people such as depressives. Perhaps leaky gut syndrome is present. There are fascinating tidbits of information that suggests magnesium oxide will not be absorbed by candida albicans (my intuition only - no facts here), yet the human gut absorbs it. However, the amount of magnesium oxide needed to effect a benefit in treating depression may be as high as 2,000 to 4,000 milligrams a day (split the doses please)! Whoa! That much magnesium citrate or other ionizable compounds might cause serious health problems (or death?), so it greatly worries me that people may not remember that these huge doses are very tentatively described ONLY for magnesium oxide and such doses may or may not cause severe side effects. Benefits? Maybe! Why am I taking this position now? Last year I worked on magnesium throat lozenges for asthma, see the articlehere. Although I did not expect magnesium oxide to work, it did, but much larger doses were required compared to ionizable forms. Therefore, I had some personal evidence that magnesium oxide could be absorbed and could be useful in treating human diseases. Was it very convincing? NO! There are other tidbits of information too. In this1986 unpublished article by Vinson, he shows that magnesium oxide produced urinary levels of magnesium in excess of that produced by magnesium glycinate. That means that for those several people in the Vinson study, magnesium oxide was absorbed better than magnesium glycinate. Look at this2006 articleinGut, a journal associated with theBritish Medical Journal, it shows with clear laboratory evidence that a woman having had part of her intestinal tract removed from a previous surgery, absorbed magnesium oxide but not other forms of magnesium. Are these three tidbits convincing? NOT YET, but I am convinced that there must be a simple solution to the problem of absorption of magnesium for those people that are having trouble absorbing ionizable magnesium compounds. Therefore, with considerable humility, I suggest that as a last ditch effort to make magnesium work, try magnesium oxide, and let me know your progress. I will publish your results here.===

"I know you get a ton of mail so I will keep this brief (love the site, btw). My intention is not to challenge your findings but to find the truth for myself. I have tried three different types of magnesium for anxiety (malate, citrate, and oxide) and, believe it or not, only oxide helps. Before you dismiss this email, let me provide you with some background info. When I take malate or citrate (bound to magnesium, of course) in daily doses larger than 600 mg (divided into 4 separate doses), I get terrible diarrhea and cramps and no relief for my anxiety. However, I can consume 2500 mg (or more) magnesium oxide without any repercussions and it further cures my anxiety completely. I have found a few reputable links that report that on RARE occasions, some individuals actually absorb magnesium oxide better than other chelated forms (the links are below). The vast majority of the research I have done reaches the same conclusion that you do - magnesium oxide is garbage. Please give me your feedback on this - I can't explain why oxide works best for me, it just does."

The links he mentioned are the two links about magnesium oxide that I have in my above text. Thanks, Ryan H. Had he not written, I would not have given any credibility to my magnesium oxide for asthma data, and would not have made the leap that there are gut issues here that may be positively influenced by low bioavailability magnesium compounds such as magnesium oxide. If you want to know how ionizable any given magnesium compound is, and don't mind a bit of chemical nomenclature seethis page. However, I warn Ryan and anybody that will listen, that if your body changes, and you suddenly are able to easily absorb magnesium oxide, you could be in for a major overdose. See thisinternal linkfor signs and symptoms of magnesium toxicity. I think I would prefer people to use "non gut" methods of a taking magnesium, such as shots, IV, rectal, or topical describedbelowrather than to overdose on magnesium oxide.

George,So far, I only seem to have a positive response to magnesium oxide in very high doses(over 10 grams, > possibly 14+). Do you know the best way to get this without taking tons of pills & how to counteract that with > > taurine or anything else? It definitely overstimulates bowels-so I get to feel good only I can't be around others. I've suffered from severe chronic depression my whole life & eat an extremely healthy raw vegan diet. I have tried tons of supplements & natural remedies all of which has done nothing. I had tried magnesium taurate previously & it didn't do anything, probably because I needed much higher doses.i appreciate your assistance.Thank you,Lori

Ahhhhhhh!!! You guys and gals are really scaring me! Those could be toxic doses if it were any compound other than magnesium oxide! WARNING!!!!!===Cottage cheese, low in calcium and very high in taurine (1700 mg per cup), is a good food source. Taking taurine supplements along with various ionizable magnesium compounds (such as magnesium acetate, chloride, citrate, gluconate, glycinate, lactate, malate, succinate, sulfate, tartrate), seems to do the trick, because both often result in perfect poop.==Loose stools normally attendant with daily 1200 mg magnesium dosage (split into 200 to 300 mg doses given 4 times per day), appeared completely preventable by taking six times the dosage of taurine with the magnesium doses (for example: for each 100 mg magnesium dosage, about 600 mg of taurine is ingested). Taurine is a conditional essential amino acid for humans, well known to be essential in human infants, but not in adults (except in aging, where its absence may be responsible for vast morbidity and early mortality). Its other main function is in preventing cardiac arrhythmias and palpitations, and regulating cardiac rhythm generally, by supporting potassium metabolism too. Since I have had an increasingly severe problem with cardiac arrhythmias (PACs), such is the reason I experimented with taurine. Although the arrhythmias were slowly benefited over a one month period and nearly disappeared, the poop issue became immediately evident the first morning after my initial taurine dosage.===Additive taurine also is a potent sleep enhancer.===However, in those individuals who develop stomach ulcers with aspirin, for instance, large doses of supplemental taurine may be contraindicated. Some people may have side effects from too much taurine, and there is a possibility that excessive taurine (6 grams or more per day) over a long time could cause histamine issues, perhaps resulting in increased - to greatly increased - respiratory mucous production, sort of a super allergy -type reaction.===More on taurinein foods by H. Pasantes-Morales in "Nutrition Reports International", Oct. 1989: Taurine is converted from methionine and cysteine, and with help from sulfur, sodium and chloride changes to taurine. The highest concentration of taurine was found in clams and octopus (41.4 micromoles/g and 31.2 micromoles/g), followed by shrimp and fish (12.4 micromoles/g and 9.1 micromoles/g). Beef, pork and lamb meat contain taurine in concentrations ranging 3.5-4.0 micromoles/g. Taurine concentration in chicken leg was 6.6 micromoles/g and in chicken breast was 1.4 micromoles/g. No taurine was found either in hen eggs (yolk or white) or in dairy products or in honey. Taurine was undetectable to trace amounts in fruits and vegetables to include rice, corn, oatmeal, pumpkin, rye, wheat, barley, sesame seed, coffee and cacao, black beans, chick peas, peanuts, walnuts, almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, pinenuts pistachios. All analysis were carried out in uncooked samples, and cooking greatly reduced taurine content of most foods.===Anti-Candida Albicans Agents - Ways to Increase Magnesium AbsorptionCoconut oilHelpful and safe, but works only for a week. GarlicHelpful and safe, but works only for a week. IodineVery helpful but may not be safe - thyroid issues KefirHelpful and safe, and should be taken every day as our main source of calcium (greatly helps with magnesium wasting perhaps due to high content of inulin). Indole-3-Carbinol)Helpful and extremely safe, and is my main anti-fungal, anti-cancer agent and anti magnesium wasting agent. It also seems to greatly reduce diarrhea and improve bowel function particularly with use of high-dose magnesium. Bacillus coagulans plus biotinWhoa! This is the cat's meow! Finally some real efficacy! This is what I like the best. Read the link and see why. ===Warning! Too much magnesium has been known to cause diarrhea for at least 100 years. Each magnesium ion will attract about 800 molecules of water, which is usually believed to be the cause of the diarrhea. However,too much magnesium exponentially stimulates the growth of Candida yeast cellsin vitro, which was preventable by added calcium. Consequently, large doses of magnesium without calcium may stimulate intestinal Candida overgrowth in the human. Consequently, magnesium should be taken using several antifungal agents, and especiallygarlicwithcoconut oil. Also, Indole-3-Carbinol will greatly help in detoxifying the intestines and inducing immunity to Candida, thus reducing diarrhea and reducing magnesium wasting. These antifungals will also amplify the absorption of magnesium and greatly accelerate recovery butmay increase toxicity of magnesiumdue to increased absorption. Consequently, when magnesium (without calcium) and antifungals are being used therapeutically,potential for overdoseshould be considered.===Magnesium supplementation is well known toterminate palpitationswhich are accompanied by mitral valve prolapse. In this same article, they showed that 54% of patients with emotional symptoms (anxiety and depression) had these symptoms resolve using magnesium. The literature does support the concept of imbalances between calcium and magnesium as causal for many episodes of cardiac palpitations and most more serious and deadly heart conditions. In my case, my cardiac magnesium status was adversely affected by my long-term use of powdered sodium bicarbonate while brushing teeth to de-acidify my mouth in the interest of preventing caries. As soon as I stopped using pure baking soda, my cardiac problems stopped.===