[Oxidative stress and magnesium]

The generation of reactive oxygen species and other free radicals during metabolism is a necessary and normal process that ideally is compensated for by an elaborate endogenous antioxidant system. However, due to many environmental, lifestyle, and pathological situations, excess radicals can accumulate, resulting in oxidative stress. Oxidative stress has been related to cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other chronic diseases that account for a major portion of deaths today. Antioxidants are compounds that hinder the oxidative processes and thereby delay or prevent oxidative stress. In this sense, magnesium is one of the physiological, efficient antioxidant. Magnesium plays a role in more than 300 enzymatic reactions and is critically involved in energy metabolism, glucose utilization, protein synthesis, fatty acid synthesis and breakdown, ATPase functions, and virtually all hormonal reactions. This article summarizes the process of oxidative stress and the pathways by which it relates to magnesium.