Could higher magnesium intake reduce fatal coronary heart disease risk in women?

A new prospective study based on data from the Women's Health Initiative found a potential inverse association between dietary magnesium and fatal coronary heart disease in postmenopausal women. The study, which also showed a trend between magnesium and sudden cardiac death in this population, is published in Journal of Women's Health.

Charles Eaton, MD, Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and a large team of researchers from various institutions, coauthored the article entitled "Association of Dietary Magnesium Intake with Fatal Coronary Heart Disease and Sudden Cardiac Death: Findings from the Women's Health Initiative." The researchers examined magnesium intake at baseline for more than 153,000 postmenopausal women and identified the development of fatal coronary heart disease and sudden cardiac death over the subsequent 10.5 years of follow-up. The data revealed that higher magnesium intake was associated with statistically significant risk reduction in fatal coronary heart disease and a reduction in risk of sudden cardiac death.

Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Women's Health and Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health, Richmond, VA, states: "If the findings of this study are confirmed, future research should test whether high-risk women would benefit from magnesium supplementation to reduce their risk of fatal coronary heart disease."