Muhammad Shafique, Mushtaq Ahmed, Khawaja Muhammad Fayyaz, Sajjad Hussain.
Beneficial effects of magnesium supplementation in diabetes mellitus – an animal study.
Pak J Med Res Jan ;41(2):73-6.

The study was carried out on alloxan – induced diabetic rabbits to demonstrate the effects of oral magnesium salt on metabolic homeostasis. Eight days after alloxan administration to rabbits, sufficient hyperglycemia (259 + 26mg/dl) was detected. With the passage of days, we observed severe hypomagnesemia and as well as hypokalemia in diabetic placebo group. Serum calcium levels, however, remained within the normal limits. Supplementation of oral magnesium salt upto 10 days, corrected the abnormal deficiencies of the electrolytes. Compared with 5mg magnesium, 10 mg magnesium/kg body weight/day was found to be the better oral dose for normalizing the mineral homeostatis. Clinically the lipid profile was also improved significantly by magnesium supplements. Furthermore, the highest glucose concentration (301 + 35 mg/dl) was found in diabetic placebo group in the end of the study. However, in groups of diabetic animals receiving magnesium salts, though the glucose levels could not be controlled but did not increase and remained within constant moderate hyperglycemic states as had been observed in the beginning after alloxan administration. The study concludes that oral magnesium has beneficial effects on biochemical homeostasis and should be supplemented in hypomagnesemic diabetics along with classic hypoglycemic agents.

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