An inverse relationship between cumulating components of the syndrome and serum magnesium levels Angelos A. Evangelopoulos a , Natalia G. Vallianou b, ⁎ , Demosthenes B. Panagiotakos c , Aikaterini Georgiou b , Georgios A. Zacharias b , Andri N.Alevra a , Georgia J. Zalokosta a , Evangelos D. Vogiatzakis a , Peter C. Avgerinos b a Department of Microbiology, Polykliniki General Hospital, 10552 Athens, Greece b Department of Internal Medicine, Polykliniki General Hospital, 10552 Athens, Greece c Department of Nutrition Science - Dietetics, Harokopio University, 17671 Athens, Greece Received 9 May 2008; revised 14 July 2008; accepted 22 July 2008 Abstract Metabolic syndrome has been defined as the presence of abdominal obesity combined with 2 of the following factors: hypertension, dyslipidemia, and impaired glucose tolerance, or diabetes mellitus. Magnesium is an essential cofactor for more than 300 enzymes involved in carbohydrate and lipid metabolism. In this study, we enrolled 117 consecutive overweight and obese patients and we measured serum magnesium levels together with fasting serum glucose, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triacylglycerols. A strong inverse relationship between magnesium levels in serum and the presence of metabolic syndrome was noticed. Moreover, magnesium levels decreased as the number of components of metabolic syndrome increased. Also, there is an inverse relationship between serum magnesium levels and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein.We concluded that decreased levels of serum magnesium are associated with increased risk for metabolic syndrome, perhaps by a low-grade inflammation process. © 2008 Published by Elsevier Inc. Keywords: Metabolic syndrome; Obesity; Magnesium; Humans; Risk factors; Metabolism Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; HDL-C, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; IDF, International Diabetes Federation; hs-CRP,high-sensitivity C-reactive protein 1. Introduction Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of metabolic disorders including obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia and impaired glucose tolerance or diabetes mellitus [1,2]. Magnesium is the second most abundant intracellular cation [3]. It is a critical cofactorfor morethan 300 enzymes and also adirect antagonist of intracellular calcium [4-7]. There is growing evidence that magnesium intake has a great effect on insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and hypertension [ Magnesium is a component of grains and is found in the fibrous component of cerealplants [10-13].In fact, magnesium is found primarily in bran and germ, mostof which are removed in refined grain, and therefore, magne- sium content is higher in whole grains that in refined gr Experimental studies suggest that magnesium may regu cellularglucosemetabolism and may influence insulin secretion by interacting with cellular calcium homeostasis [11].Epidemiologic studies also confirm that magnesium intakeimproves insulin sensitivity [14]. The levelsof magnesium among people with metabolic syndrome ha already been assessed, and low levels have been found Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Nutrition Research 28 (2008) 659 – 663 www.nrjournal.com ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +30 210 6925702, +30 6974648692 (Mobile). E-mail address: natalia.vallianou@hotmail.com (N.G. Vallianou). 0271-5317/$ – see front matter © 2008 Published by Elsevier Inc. doi:10.1016/j.nutres.2008.07.001