How Does Magnesium Get in Via Skin?

Article published in Australian Traditional Medicine Society Journal (winter edition 2024)

Magnesium Deficiencies Can Be Corrected with Absorption Via Skin

It was a time of great stress in the community when the Global Financial Crash hit in 2007-8. It was a time when excessive workloads, menopause and lack of sleep to meet deadlines caused a massive depletion in my magnesium levels, with severe heart arrhythmia and consequent diagnosis of Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism.

My cardiologist had put me through rigorous testing and summed up that there were no medical treatments available for me due to my low blood pressure, and that if he gave me heart slowing drugs, they could cause a heart attack.  He said the heart muscle was in good condition, but I had a twitch in the left ventricle, like a twitch in the eye or a cramp in the leg, and that I should, “Just put up with it like everyone else.”  He said, “You would be amazed at how many people have this problem.”

I was very perplexed at this response because I expected the specialists to have the answers.  I was relieved that there was no drug or surgery treatment possible, but annoyed at the prospect of having to ‘put up with it’.  A voice inside me said, “Not this little black duck.”  So, I started to research the science of what could be causing this condition. 

Over 100 years of magnesium research

There it was:  over a hundred years of magnesium research all pointing to magnesium deficiency as the root cause of these muscle, electrical and cardiovascular issues.  I was dumbfounded because the cardiologist did not mention magnesium to me, even once, as a possible adjunct therapy to alleviate the symptoms (even partially).

In 2008 I read books about magnesium and followed the cited studies until I understood the problem of magnesium deficiency better.  I couldn’t tolerate the tablets or powders due to digestive issues via my hypothyroid condition. Even taking digestive enzymes did not help me to get enough magnesium from oral forms.

Magnesium chloride was cited as the most bioavailable form of magnesium, with the skin being able to absorb it well in a bath. No matter where I looked however, I could not find it to purchase from any store shelf or pharmacy in Australia. Finally, in 2008 I found a source of magnesium chloride flakes in Europe.  It proved to be a very expensive exercise in those days as the 4kg package cost more in freight than the product itself, but it worked well to help me recover, with no more symptoms of heart arrhythmia after six months of regular weekly magnesium bathing.  I know now that I could have sped up this recovery with stronger and more frequent soaking. I’m also happy to report that my recovery did not involve medications.

I kept thinking about what the cardiologist had told me, that many people have these issues.  That meant that many people have magnesium deficiency, and probably many could also not tolerate the oral supplements of magnesium. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I had to bring food grade magnesium chloride to Australia, and so began my journey in 2009 to found the Elektra Magnesium brand.

Note that we specialize in importing only food grade magnesium chloride, which is independently tested in Australia to 10ppb with no lead nor mercury found. Australian sources of magnesium chloride flakes are industrial grade and may contain a number of contaminants from agricultural runoff, mining operations, PFOS (fluoride) contamination from firefighting, or other sewage pollution where contaminants can seep into the body of water used to extract the salts.  Only about 15% of global production of magnesium chloride is food grade, which is mostly purchased by tofu manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies (who further refine it to make pharmaceutical grade).

Barriers to regular magnesium soaking

As many people had been familiar with bathing with Epsom salts (magnesium sulphate), all we had to do initially was convince them about the greater benefits of magnesium chloride. Basically, the differences are: 1) magnesium chloride has a higher amount of elemental magnesium, and 2) the sulphate component makes skin feel dry and itchy after frequent bathing in magnesium sulphate, as sulphates deplete the protective oils in the skin barrier (which is not so with magnesium chloride). 

Another downside of magnesium sulphate is that the body has to absorb the whole dissolved compound of magnesium sulphate rather than select the individual elements.  As it doesn’t need too much sulphate, the absorption stops when the body has had enough sulphate, but it then loses the opportunity to take up the rest of the magnesium attached to the sulphate not being absorbed.

The body can, in contrast, absorb a lot of magnesium chloride because chloride, being the most abundant negative ion widely used in the body, is taken up readily (with the magnesium). The majority of people tended to enjoy magnesium chloride soaks and found them very effective to satisfy deficiency issues.

After a while however, many people tended to get a bit lazy with magnesium soaking after their aches, pains and cramps had dissipated and the enthusiasm had waned. Some got too busy after their energy levels improved. Invariably, the cycle of magnesium deficiency symptoms would return because of excessive stress, combined with lower magnesium supply via poor diet or digestion and absorption issues, and their need for increased magnesium soaking would thus return. The body needs magnesium every day.  It’s as important as regular intake of water for cellular function.

I realised that we needed to find a way to incorporate magnesium supplementation into easy lifestyle practices.  To counteract this ‘yo yo’ bathing system we created a range of transdermal magnesium products for skin and muscle care, all made with natural and organic ingredients, infused with food grade magnesium chloride.  The range caters for all skin types and age groups so that people can select products that they like to use every day, that increase their magnesium uptake and that provide anti-ageing skin care at the same time.

This was a very important pathway in that it offered psychological benefits for the user, as they did not experience any sticky, itchy or irritating residue on the skin, as is often experienced with pure magnesium oil. This strategy made it much easier to incorporate transdermal magnesium into daily lifestyle habits.  

By about 2012 we started to see some competitors emerging in the marketplace, supplying magnesium oil, which is a solution of magnesium chloride and water.  Their promotional message was relief of cramps and pain.  So, people purchased those products and duly alleviated cramps and pain.  But what did they do next?  They left the bottle in the cupboard, along with their aspirins, and waited for the next case of cramps and pain to emerge.  They treated magnesium oil like a medication.

Why magnesium chloride?

We treat magnesium chloride in solution as food that the body can absorb either via the intestinal lining or via skin. It’s mineral water that we can both drink and bathe in.  The research has consistently shown that magnesium chloride salt is the most bioavailable form of magnesium.  Inside cells the most common electrolytes are potassium, magnesium and chloride. Magnesium chloride, once dissolved, is already in the right form for cellular uptake without further digestion.

The difference in uptake relies on; 1) the concentration of magnesium chloride, and 2) the membrane surface sensitivity where it is absorbed (colon or skin).  Let’s look at how magnesium is absorbed via the colon. When you drink magnesium mineral water, a common magnesium food, it has a light concentration of magnesium salt which easily passes across the gut wall.

If you had about 80mg of magnesium per litre of drinking water and drank 3 litres over 24 hours, you would get the majority of the magnesium accessing the interior of the body. However, if you consumed all of the 240mg of magnesium in one bolus, most would be lost in the toilet due to the sensitivity of the gut mucosal lining – which can feel especially irritated in cases of leaky gut, Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis.

In an intestinal absorption study of 2017, researchers concluded, “The relative Mg2+ uptake is higher when the mineral is ingested in multiple low doses throughout the day compared to a single large intake of Mg2+.” ¹

Of course, if the goal of drinking a high concentration of magnesium is to loosen stool and alleviate constipation, then that is an appropriate treatment, but remember that most of that magnesium will not be making it to the interior.

The digestive system is a very complex tract where food has to be digested and broken down, with the nutrients separated from what we don’t need, and absorbed from the gut to the interior of the body. There are a lot of areas where this complex machinery can have malfunctions – most particularly under stress, because stress suppresses digestion.

The more you look into the research the more you will find that stress is a fundamental precursor to all disease states, and the more stress and trauma, the more magnesium is lost in the urine, with consequent depletion of health. This applies to any kind of stress: both physical and emotional.  Athletes, pregnant women, night shift workers, or those prone to chronic anxiety can all become particularly magnesium deficient and may need to replenish with much higher than normal amounts – as much as two or three times the average recommended intake, or well over 1,000mg per day. Oral doses at these higher rates can, however, present potential problems for the gut.

Those with kidney issues also lose alkali salts (including magnesium) too quickly, making it difficult for the body to balance pH, leading to acidosis, which is always associated with low magnesium reserves. Transdermal magnesium absorption offers the safest way to replenish magnesium for those with high-end needs, including those with kidney dysfunction, because the body self regulates uptake via skin.

How do those with high-end magnesium needs recover their cellular cache?

This is one of the biggest challenges facing those recovering from illness. Our food supply has become magnesium depleted over time, with less than half the magnesium content in most supermarket foods that we used to have in the 1960’s. As stress and illness suppress digestion, and the food supply has less magnesium, it is almost impossible now to get enough magnesium to cater for high-end needs. Although, on rare occasions, say, in the middle of a heart attack, hospitals may administer intravenous magnesium chloride to relax the heart and cardiovascular system.

However, do we need to let the situation deteriorate into an acute crisis before we get can a big dose of magnesium?  The answer is no.  We can use the skin to deliver large amounts of magnesium very safely and effectively in order to avoid crisis and maintain optimum magnesium status.  The skin, being the largest organ of the body and part of the integumentary system (skin, hair, nails, bones, teeth), can act as a reservoir to store magnesium where the body may draw from it what it needs in a self-regulating manner. 

Getting magnesium in via skin

The gentlest way to absorb magnesium transdermally is via bathing. When we have a bath or foot soak with magnesium chloride, the absorption process takes about half an hour and then subsides. If you need to soak for a longer duration, you may get wrinkly skin from too much water ingress, without the benefit of much extra magnesium.  Magnesium soaks are a great way to not only absorb magnesium, but also to detox, as the skin also uses the opportunity to release wastes. Another welcome benefit of magnesium soaking is that it helps to promote deeper and more restful sleep.

Magnesium is absorbed effectively into the epidermis with bathing because hot water helps to open up the pores. The heat partly melts the cermides (solid fats in the skin), some of which are lost in the bath water, along with any dust particles and wastes that happen to be present in that outside layer. The epidermis then takes up the magnesium in solution until no more can enter.

You may notice that with profuse perspiration, the same ceramide (skin oil) loss happens and the skin becomes more sensitive as a result. After heating of the skin barrier and consequent loss of skin oils, fatty barrier protection needs to be restored. Younger people with naturally oily skin will find this replenishment relatively easy, but those with a dryer skin type will need some help from plant fats to restore skin barrier protection.

Even when applying pure magnesium oil to dry skin without the help of the hot water of bathing to open skin channels, magnesium deficiency symptoms can be alleviated. A study by Chandrasekaran using only magnesium chloride solution on skin found that it increased hydration, recovery and resilience of the epidermis with significant magnesium uptake into the skin barrier:

“Magnesium ions can penetrate through healthy skin with intact stratum corneum, with significant contribution from hair follicles. At high magnesium concentrations the permeation of Mg²⁺ into the epidermis increases with time and is significantly higher than the baseline concentration of Mg²⁺ in the epidermis of untreated controls after 15 minutes of exposure… Magnesium treatment also increased the redox ratio of cells in granulosum and spinosum layer indicating changed metabolic activity.”²

However, there is also a lower threshold of uptake compared to magnesium bathing because of skin’s resistance to taking up all the dissolved magnesium of the magnesium oil. This is why people report magnesium oil as leaving their skin with an itchy sticky residue, which can often deter them from using transdermal magnesium regularly. 

Magnesium ‘oil’ is not a lipid fat, as are plant oils.  It is a water-based solution which has been called ‘oil’ because magnesium chloride in solution, which structures water molecules in a liquid crystalline formation, feels slippery.  Some of the magnesium oil will find lipid partners that are naturally present in the skin, which help to absorb it (and you are lucky if you have the oily skin to do this), but a large part of it encounters skin resistance without enough lipid help, leaving a salty residue on the surface.

To achieve an optimal uptake of magnesium oil via skin it needs to be combined with lipids in the right proportion to suit skin type.  As the skin takes up the plant fats with infused magnesium chloride, the nutrients sit inside the skin reservoir until the body takes them up in its own time.  The amount of magnesium and lipids able to be taken up by the epidermis will depend on the collagen structure of the skin. 

If the skin is very dry, thin and depleted, it becomes overly sensitive to salt stimulation, as with the higher magnesium concentrations. Absorption is limited until the collagen rebuilds and strengthens. In extreme cases of sensitivity, we recommend using more magnesium bathing for the first month, followed up with a fatty magnesium cream (and milder magnesium concentration) to protect the skin barrier.

Not only have researchers found that magnesium ions are transported into the skin layer via pores and hair shafts, but recent studies have also found a cell to cell (transcellular) transport system via the membrane protein channel TRPM7. This means magnesium can travel quickly in the body and is not limited to transport via blood supply. It makes sense because only 1 percent of total body magnesium is in the blood, and 99% is located in cell storage of muscle and bone. Magnesium needs to be able to be moved efficiently to access the mitochondria of tissue cells for making ATP (adenosine triphosphate) in metabolism.

The tissue cells, holding most of the body’s magnesium reservoirs, can even sacrifice their magnesium to the blood to maintain critical levels for cardiovascular electrolyte support, leaving tissue storage levels low, while blood tests can show magnesium levels in the normal range.  Care must be taken not to let the cell storage tanks get too low!

‘Chanzymes’: Cell membrane channel gatekeepers (TRPM7) that are sensitive to magnesium

The enzyme protein channels in the cell membrane that open and close, facilitating the transcellular movement of magnesium, are now referred to as ‘chanzymes’.  They are sensitive to the presence of magnesium when it comes knocking, and are associated with the resting state. When magnesium becomes depleted, or adrenalin pushes in more calcium which overtakes magnesium, the channels switch to the tension, or ‘squeezed’, state of contraction.

Interestingly, if you can get enough magnesium uptake it can control the excess calcium of hypercalcaemia. Without enough magnesium, calcium becomes the bully with brute force – stiffening, hardening and cramping muscles (including the smooth muscles in the endothelial linings of blood vessels).

Researchers confirm that; “intracellular Mg²⁺ binds to this site and stabilizes the TRPM7 channel in the closed state, whereas the removal of Mg²⁺ favours the opening of TRPM7. Hence, our study identifies the structural underpinnings through which the TRPM7 channel is controlled by cytosolic Mg²⁺, representing a new structure-function relationship.” ³  Another study found that; “TRPM7 is essential for the control of cellular and whole body Mg²⁺ homeostasis.” ⁴ 

What happens when optimal magnesium is available and the body is in a calm state is that, the cell membrane (via TRPM7) maintains its electrical charge potential to hold in the magnesium and potassium ion.  When there is a stress response and adrenalin is released, it pulls out magnesium and pushes calcium into the cell membrane channels of muscle fibres, which has a dehydrating and tightening effect for quick action of the muscles and cardiovascular system.

When calm is restored, calcium is once again moved out of the membrane channels, allowing magnesium back in for relaxation of the muscle. As magnesium brings with it water molecules, it increases hydration inside the cell, consequently relaxing and restoring internal cell transport (nutrients in and wastes out). Magnesium also donates electrons, which assists the antioxidant system to neutralise free radicals.

I am convinced that transdermal magnesium saved me from debilitating symptoms of hypothyroidism and heart arrhythmia, and helped me breeze through menopause without the stress, hot flushes or sleeplessness commonly reported by women in menopause.  It has rejuvenated my energy levels, muscles and skin complexion with amazing anti-ageing results and I now understand why many researchers have referred to magnesium as the ‘fountain of youth’.  Getting more magnesium in via skin is easier than you may realise. Try it and feel the difference.

REFERENCES:

(1)        Schuchardt, J. P.; Hahn, A. Intestinal Absorption and Factors Influencing Bioavailability of Magnesium-An Update. Curr Nutr Food Sci 2017, 13 (4), 260–278. https://doi.org/10.2174/1573401313666170427162740.

(2)        Chandrasekaran, N. Effect of Topical Magnesium Application on Epidermal Integrity and Barrier Function, The University of Queensland, 2016.

(3)        Schmidt, E.; Narangoda, C.; Nörenberg, W.; Egawa, M.; Rössig, A.; Leonhardt, M.; Schaefer, M.; Zierler, S.; Kurnikova, M. G.; Gudermann, T.; Chubanov, V. Structural Mechanism of TRPM7 Channel Regulation by Intracellular Magnesium. Cell Mol Life Sci 2022, 79 (5), 225. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-022-04192-7.

(4)        Ryazanova, L. V.; Rondon, L. J.; Zierler, S.; Hu, Z.; Galli, J.; Yamaguchi, T. P.; Mazur, A.; Fleig, A.; Ryazanov, A. G. TRPM7 Is Essential for Mg2+ Homeostasis in Mammals. Nat Commun 2010, 1 (1), 109. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms1108.