Magnesium—A Potential Key Player in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases?

Abstract

The altered magnesium status in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients may have a significant clinical imprint considering its role in cell signaling and genomic stability, as well as its involvement in IBD patients’ fatigue. Our study pioneers the investigation of magnesium hair concentration patterns in an adult population of IBD patients. The hair magnesium concentration in IBD patients is compared to healthy controls in order to identify correlations between the magnesium status and relevant parameters related to disease activity, psychological status, and sleep quality. We report a significantly lower hair magnesium concentration within the IBD group compared to healthy controls (95%CI: 0.006–0.062; p = 0.017) and lower levels in CD compared to UC (95%CI: −0.061–−0.002; p = 0.038). We identified a borderline statistical significance between the hair magnesium concentration and UC disease activity (95%CI; −0.679–0.008; p = 0.055) and a significantly lower magnesium concentration in patients who reported increased sleep latency (95%CI −0.65–−0.102; p = 0.011) or decreased sleep duration (95%CI −0.613–−0.041; p = 0.028). Our results advance several hypotheses with substantial clinical impact to be confirmed in future studies. Magnesium levels appear to be modified in IBD patients, which suggests it either plays a primary role in disease pathophysiology or a is result of the disease’s evolution. Magnesium could be used in predictive models for clinical/subclinical disease activity. Moreover, magnesium supplementation may improve IBD evolution and sleep quality for patients with a deficit of this mineral. However, confirmatory evidence-based studies are needed to generate specific dosing, time of supplementation, and optimum monitoring of magnesium status in IBD patients.

Inhibitory Effect of Dietary Defatted Rice Bran in an AOM/DSS-Induced Colitis-Associated Colorectal Cancer Experimental Animal Model

“…Magnesium plays an important role in many biological processes, including inflammation, DNA replication and repair, cell proliferation, and signaling transduction, all of which are related to carcinogenesis [ 57 ]. Previous studies have reported that magnesium deficiency is common in patients with active IBD and in rodent colitis models [ 58 , 59 , 60 ], and there is evidence showing that magnesium supplementation could reduce colonic inflammation. Trapani et al found that DSS-treated hypo-magnesium (30 mg/kg Mg) mice exhibited exacerbated colitis.…”

Analysis of the Nutritional Value of Diets and Food Choices in Polish Female Ulcerative Colitis Individuals Compared with a Pair-Matched Control Sample

“…For magnesium, the low level of this nutrient is typical for inflammatory bowel diseases [ 59 ], which may result from the commonly lower intake than for healthy individuals [ 60 ]. Taking into account that in the animal model, magnesium is associated with alleviating colitis [ 61 ], it is indicated that it may play a role in preventing exacerbations of inflammatory bowel diseases [ 62 ].…”

Adjunctive therapeutic effects of micronutrient supplementation in inflammatory bowel disease

“…Calcium is closely related to osteoporosis in IBD patients, so it is important to pay attention to the serum calcium level in the group of patients treated with steroids ( 85 ). The research on magnesium is still in the exploratory stage, with preliminary evidence suggesting that magnesium levels may affect sleep as well as psychological status ( 89 , 90 ). While a series of animal experiments have suggested that manganese is essential for the maintenance of intestinal homeostasis ( 95 , 96 ).…”

“…In addition, the study also focused on the relationship between magnesium levels and sleep status in patients with IBD. The authors found that hair magnesium concentration was significantly lower in patients with increased sleep latency and in those with decreased sleep duration ( 89 ). It has also been previously shown that hypomagnesemia is associated with depression in patients with IBD ( 90 ).…”