[Magnesium deficiency and development of late diabetic complications]

Diabetics have a higher prevalence of recurrent angina, myocardial infarction and hypertension compared with healthy individuals. This is partly due to the metabolic control, and partly to the development of nephropathy, but inherited factors also seem to contribute to their development. Another factor, to some extent inherited, could be magnesium-deficiency. Up to 30% of all diabetics suffer from magnesiumdepletion, which in other disease entities has been related to angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, and changes in blood lipids. Furthermore, magnesium-deficiency might be related to the development of hypertension. In diabetes, magnesium-depletion has been linked with the development of retinopathy, and an increase in abortions and malformations in diabetic pregnancies. No intervention trials with magnesium, to elucidate the question of magnesium depletion and diabetic late complications have hitherto been made. No methods for assessing magnesium-status in diabetes are available as yet, to select patients for this type of trial.