Magnesium Metabolism

Abstract

Magnesium Metabolism of ManMagnesium has been known to be present in the human body for at least a hundred years; indeed, in 1859, Oliver Wendell Holmes included magnesium in a humorous poem that incorporated a list of the elements of which he thought man to be composed, though his "evidence" is not given.¹³⁶ An accurate measurement of the human body content of magnesium was not made until almost a hundred years later.¹³⁷ It is now known that the adult body contains from 21 to 28 gm. of magnesium, or about 43 mg. per kilogram of fat-free tissue. At birth, . . .