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Urinary excretion of an intravenous 26Mg dose as an indicator of marginal magnesium deficiency in adults

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 60, pages 147–154 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

Background:

Measurement of magnesium (Mg) status is problematic because tissue Mg deficiency can be present without low serum Mg concentrations.

Objective:

To evaluate a modified version of the Mg retention test using stable isotopes for the assessment of Mg status in general, and the detection of marginal Mg deficiency in particular.

Design:

A modified version of the Mg retention test using a small dose of 26Mg was evaluated for assessment of Mg status in 22 healthy subjects. Muscle Mg concentration was used as reference for Mg status. A muscle biopsy was taken from the lateral portion of the quadriceps muscle from each subject. After 2 to 4 weeks, 11 mg of 26Mg (as MgCl2 in 14 ml water) were injected i.v. over a period of 10 min and all urine was collected for the following 24 h. Excretion of the isotopic label was expressed as percentage of the administered dose excreted in urine within 24 h.

Results:

Mean±s.d. Mg concentration in muscle was 3.85±0.17 mmol/100 g fat-free dried solids. Mean±s.d. excretion of the injected dose within 24 h was 7.9±2.1%. No correlation was found between muscle Mg concentration and excretion of the isotopic label (r2=0.061, P=0.27).

Conclusions:

In this study, urinary excretion of an intravenous Mg tracer was not influenced by muscle Mg concentration and its usefulness for the detection of marginal Mg deficiency could therefore not be demonstrated.

Sponsorship:

Swiss Foundation for Nutrition Research and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the subjects for their participation in the study. Also, we thank C Zeder (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich) for the TIMS measurements, S Renggli (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich) for helping with the subjects, N Hurrell for helping with analysis, M Krähenbühl and B Hahnel (University Hospital, Zurich) for drawing the blood samples and injecting the isotopic labels, D Fetz for preparing the sterile injection solutions (University Hospital, Zurich), and K Grieder for the measurements with the ICP-OES (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research, St Gallen).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Human Nutrition, Institute of Food Science and Nutrition, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland

    M K Wälti, T Walczyk, M B Zimmermann & R F Hurrell

  2. Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (EMPA), St Gallen, Switzerland

    G Fortunato

  3. Department of Visceral Surgery and Transplantation, University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland

    M Weber

  4. Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes, University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland

    G A Spinas

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  1. M K Wälti
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  2. T Walczyk
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  3. M B Zimmermann
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  4. G Fortunato
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  5. M Weber
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  6. G A Spinas
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Correspondence to M K Wälti.

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Guarantor: M Wälti.

Contributors: MKW, TW, MBZ, GAS and RFH all contributed to the study design. Data collection was performed by MKW and MW. MKW, GF and TW completed and/or supervised the laboratory and data analysis. The statistical analysis was carried out by MKW. The paper was written by MKW, TW, MBZ and RFH, and edited by GF, MW and GAS.

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Wälti, M., Walczyk, T., Zimmermann, M. et al. Urinary excretion of an intravenous 26Mg dose as an indicator of marginal magnesium deficiency in adults. Eur J Clin Nutr 60, 147–154 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602278

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