LONDON — Once a quiet corner of the supplement aisle, magnesium has suddenly become the mineral of the moment, hailed as a cure for sleepless nights, frazzled nerves, sluggish digestion, and overworked minds.
But as demand surges and social media drives a boom in the £3 billion global market, experts warn the hype may be racing far ahead of the science.
Inside a small factory tucked in the Yorkshire Dales, workers in hazmat suits weigh and pour magnesium citrate into gleaming steel containers, while a pill-press machine spits out thousands of white tablets every minute.
“We are sending our supplies all over the world — Australia, Asia, the Middle East,” says Andrew Goring, managing director of Lonsdale Health. “It’s one of our biggest sellers and the market just keeps growing.”
When asked why magnesium has suddenly gone mainstream, Goring doesn’t hesitate: “Influencers. Social media. That’s what’s pushing it.”
Dietitian Kirsten Jackson isn’t convinced the craze is justified. “Clever marketing schemes,” she says with a sigh. “Magnesium is involved in areas people are willing to invest in — their sleep, digestion, mental health. But that doesn’t mean supplements automatically improve them.”
Magnesium is indeed vital — the body stores about 25 grams of it, less than one percent of our total mass, yet it powers over 300 biochemical reactions. It regulates blood pressure, stabilizes blood sugar, and supports the rhythm of the heart. It even helps nerve cells communicate — one reason magnesium is often linked to mood and sleep.
But Jackson stresses that for a supplement to work, the person must be deficient in magnesium to begin with — and testing for deficiency is difficult because most magnesium is stored in bones and tissues, not blood.
For some, however, the results feel real. Katie Curran, a communications specialist, says magnesium glycinate — a combination of the mineral and the amino acid glycine — changed her nights. “It would take so long to get to sleep, my brain was racing,” she says. After two weeks on 270mg daily, “the noise in my head started to quieten.”
While research shows that magnesium deficiency can disrupt sleep, the evidence that supplements improve it for everyone remains weak. Social media, meanwhile, overflows with confident claims — many tagged “commission paid.” Influencers tout magnesium threonate for brain health, citrate for digestion, and chloride for muscle cramps.
Nutritionist Kristen Stavridis warns such claims often outpace reality. “There isn’t enough strong evidence that these different magnesium supplements benefit healthy people,” she says. “And even if they did, you’d need to be deficient to notice a difference.”
Stavridis says the first solution should always be dietary. Seeds, nuts, leafy greens, whole-grain bread, and fruit are rich in magnesium — and come bundled with other vital nutrients. “If you’re not eating those, you’re probably missing vitamin C, fibre, and prebiotics too,” Jackson adds. “One magnesium supplement isn’t going to sort all that.”
Experts also caution against over-supplementing.
Excess magnesium is usually flushed out by healthy kidneys — “expensive urine,” as Stavridis puts it — but can cause diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting. For people with kidney disease, it can trigger dangerously high magnesium levels that may lead to paralysis or coma.
So should you take magnesium? “Start with food,” says Jackson. “Then, if you still think you need a supplement, take half the dose on the packet and see how you feel.”
Magnesium may indeed be having its moment. But like most wellness trends, the real magic — it seems — lies in balance, not in a bottle. — Agencies
