Magnesium as a potential contributor to diabetes in Indigenous Australians
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Diabetes accounts for a significant part of morbidity and mortality among Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islands populations. Research over the past decade has provided evidence of a clinical correlation between diabetes, low magnesaemia, and/or low dietary magnesium intake. This study was aimed to examine the case for magnesium as a potential contributor to diabetes among aboriginal Australian populations. Queensland age-standardized death rates due to diabetes were correlated with the magnesium content of drink water, maximum average temperature, rainfall, unemployment rate, proportion of population with post-school qualification, weekly income, and the percentage population identified as Indigenous. Estimated dietary magnesium intakes of 100 indigenous patients were compared with Australian National Nutrition Survey estimates. Data analysis revealed that diabetes mortality was significantly correlated to water magnesium levels and to average maximum daily temperature in the population identified as indigenous. Furthermore, the average daily magnesium intake in an indigenous cohort was significantly less than intakes observed in the 1995 Australian National Nutrition Survey (P<0.001). Based on these results, the authors hypothesise that low magnesium dietary intake, compounded by inadequate magnesium replenishment in drink water and increased loss through sweating, may increase the risk of hypomagnesaemia and be a potential contributor to diabetes in Australia, especially among indigenous people.
Abstract
