Original title: Magnesium in Diabetes Mellitus and Diabetic Kidney Disease
Magnesium helps cells use energy and respond to insulin. In type 2 diabetes, about one-third of people have low magnesium in pooled observational studies, and low levels are more common with diabetic kidney diseaseKidney damage associated with diabetes.. The kidneys may waste magnesium when insulin signals are weaker and a magnesium-transport protein called TRPM6A protein in kidney cells that helps move magnesium. is less active, though this explanation is mainly based on cell and experimental studies. Low blood magnesium predicts worse outcomes, but no trial has tested whether replacing it slows kidney disease.
Imagine checking the oil in a car that keeps developing engine trouble. A low reading may show that the car is at greater risk, but it does not prove that adding oil will prevent the trouble. In this paper, low blood magnesium is the warning reading, and the unresolved question is whether replacing magnesium changes the course of kidney disease.
For people with type 2 diabetes and kidney disease, a low magnesium level may help flag greater risk of kidney failure and other complications. But knowing who is at risk is not the same as knowing that supplements will prevent those outcomes.
The abstract describes many findings from observational cohorts, which cannot establish that low magnesium causes complications. The proposed kidney-wasting mechanism is mainly characterized in cellular and experimental systems. Genetic evidence has instrument limitations, and the apparent cardiovascular benefit of prescribed replacement needs randomized confirmation. Trials have not tested kidney-disease progression.
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Magnesium in Diabetes Mellitus and Diabetic Kidney Disease — Guido Gembillo, Luca Visconti, Luca Soraci et al. — Journal of Clinical Medicine — doi:10.3390/jcm15197723
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper.