Magnesium is a mineral that the human body uses for a wide range of functions, so magnesium deficiency can cause a wide range of problems. Magnesium is used by the skeletal system, the cardiovascular system, and the digestive system. The difficulty is that the symptoms of low magnesium can be general enough that they do not always point to magnesium as the initial problem. If left untreated, low magnesium levels can lead to chronic illnesses such as diabetes, celiac disease, epilepsy, migraines, and more.The body tends to exacerbate a low magnesium condition by stripping magnesium and calcium from the bones to make up for the deficit in other areas. That means that the sufferer is prone to the problems that go along with weak bone mass as well as the potential chronic illnesses associated with a lack of magnesium. The best way to take in more magnesium is through a diet that includes foods rich in the mineral, such as peanut butter, salmon, whole grains, spinach, milk, bananas, and beans. While low magnesium, also known as hypomagnesemia, is common in the United States, very few of the people who suffer from the problem have been diagnosed and treated for it.
