Found throughout the entire body, primarily in bones, muscles, and non-muscular soft tissue, magnesium is an essential mineral with many roles in the body. Even though it helps carry out many bodily functions, roughly 50% of people in the United States do not consume enough of it daily. Failure to consume enough in your daily diet can increase the risk of developing high blood pressure, osteoporosis, diabetes, and heart disease.
Benefits Of Magnesium
Magnesium is part of a group of helper nutrients, including fiber, potassium, and antioxidants. These nutrients help protect blood vessels and work to improve insulin resistance. Magnesium also helps the body convert vitamin D into an active form that the body can use. It helps the kidneys and liver metabolize vitamin D. Being deficient in magnesium actually reduces the body’s ability to use vitamin D, which ultimately impacts calcium absorption. Magnesium also assists with:
- Energy production
- Muscle and nerve function
- Bone density
- DNA repair
- Protein synthesis
- Blood sugar control
- Blood pressure regulation
Although almonds contain a good amount of magnesium, among other minerals, there are other foods that offer more magnesium. Continue reading to learn more about them.Â
Legumes And Pulses
Legumes and pulses include chickpeas, lentils, peas, beans, soybeans, peanuts, green peans, and snap peas. Most legumes and pulses have less magnesium per serving than almonds, but others provide more than double. As a quick note, the body absorbs about 30% to 40% of magnesium from food. Some foods, such as legumes and pulses, have molecules that make it harder for the body to absorb magnesium. Soak your legumes to increase magnesium absorption. Consider the following amounts from different legumes and pulses:
- Soybeans: 148 milligrams (mg) per cooked cup
- Lima beans: 126 mg per cooked cup
- Black beans: 120 mg per cooked cup
- Adzuki beans: 120 mg per cooked cup
- Edamame: 99.2 mg per cooked cup
- Navy beans: 96.5 mg per cooked cup
Chickpeas: 78.7 mg per cooked cup
Whole Grains
Providing fiber, vitamins, and minerals like magnesium, whole grains can be great additions to your diet. Whole grains, unlike refined grains, contain all three parts of the grain (bran, germ, and endosperm), which are removed from refined grains during processing. Milling reduces the magnesium content, which explains why white rice has about 20% of the magnesium that exists in brown rice. The following whole grains offer the most magnesium:
- Amaranth: 160 mg per cooked cup
- Teff: 126 mg per cooked cup
- Quinoa: 118 mg per cooked cup
- Brown rice: 85.8 mg per cooked cup
- Buckwheat groats: 85.7 mg per cooked cup
Leafy Greens And Vegetables
There are not too many vegetables that contain a lot of magnesium. Researchers agree that some leafy greens and select vegetables have more than almonds offer per serving. Green vegetables are highly versatile, as they can go into omelets, smoothies, salads, stir-fries, soups, or stews. Some great magnesium-rich vegetables include:
- Spinach: 157 mg per cooked cup
- Swiss chard: 150 mg per cooked cup
- Beet greens: 97.9 mg per cooked cup
- Acorn squash: 88.2 mg per cooked cup
Nuts And Seeds
Besides almonds, there are other nuts and seeds that offer good amounts of magnesium, in addition to zinc, selenium, and vitamin E. There are also nut butters and flours that contain magnesium. Use nut flours in place of standard all purpose flour to get more magnesium for your buck. And while most nuts and seeds contain some magnesium, the following ones provide more per serving than almonds do:
- Hemp seeds: 210 mg per one ounce
- Pumpkin seeds: 168 mg per one ounce
- Brazil nuts: 107 mg per one ounce
- Chia seeds: 95 mg per one ounce
- Pilinuts: 85.6 mg per one ounce
- Cashews: 82.8 mg per one ounce
Vincent Stevens is the senior content writer at Dherbs. As a fitness and health and wellness enthusiast, he enjoys covering a variety of topics, including the latest health, fitness, beauty, and lifestyle trends. His goal is to inform people of different ways they can improve their overall health, which aligns with Dherbs’ core values. He received his bachelor’s degree in creative writing from the University of Redlands, graduating summa cum laude. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.
