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Updated: Sep 18, 2025

Assessment of Vascular Function in Patients With Chronic Kidney Disease
Published on: June 16, 2014
Relationship between magnesium intake and decline in kidney function, incident chronic kidney disease and incident
Javier A Neyra1,2, Ronit Katz3, Stephen Kritchevsky4
1Division of Nephrology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
Insights
Higher dietary magnesium intake is linked to a reduced risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and kidney function decline in older adults. However, magnesium intake did not show a significant association with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk.
Area of Science:
- Gerontology
- Nutritional Science
- Nephrology
Background:
- Previous research indicates higher magnesium (Mg) intake correlates with reduced risks of stroke, heart failure, and mortality.
- Data on the association between magnesium intake and kidney disease outcomes are limited.
- This study investigated the relationship between dietary Mg intake and the incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD), chronic kidney disease (CKD), and kidney function decline in older adults.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the hypothesis that increased dietary magnesium intake is associated with a lower incidence of CVD, CKD, and kidney function decline.
- To evaluate the independent associations of dietary Mg intake with kidney and cardiovascular outcomes in a cohort of community-dwelling older adults.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from the Health, Aging, and Body Composition Study, an observational cohort of 3075 older adults.
- Dietary Mg intake was assessed using validated dietary surveys.
- Kidney outcomes included a ≥30% decline in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) or incident CKD. Incident CVD was defined as coronary disease, heart failure, stroke, or cardiovascular mortality.
- Multivariable Poisson regression and Cox proportional hazards models were employed to analyze the associations.
Main Results:
- Analysis included 2682 participants with a median daily dietary Mg intake of 278 mg/day.
- Higher Mg intake was independently associated with a lower risk of a 30% eGFR decline (IRR per SD: 0.79; 95% CI: 0.66, 0.93).
- Higher Mg intake was also associated with a lower risk of incident CKD (IRR per SD: 0.84; 95% CI: 0.73, 0.96).
- No significant association was found between Mg intake and overall incident CVD (adjusted HR: 0.98; 95% CI: 0.85, 1.13).
Conclusions:
- Higher dietary magnesium intake is associated with a reduced risk of kidney function decline and incident chronic kidney disease in older adults.
- The study found no significant association between magnesium intake and the risk of incident cardiovascular disease.
- Further research is warranted to explore the impact of magnesium supplementation on kidney outcomes.
Background And Hypothesis:
Higher magnesium (Mg) intake is associated with a lower risk of stroke, heart failure and mortality, while there are limited data with kidney disease outcomes. We hypothesized that higher dietary Mg intake would be associated with a lower incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD), chronic kidney disease (CKD) and kidney function decline.
Methods:
The Health, Aging, and Body Composition Study is an observational cohort of 3075 community-dwelling older adults. Dietary Mg intake was estimated using validated dietary surveys. Kidney outcomes included ≥30% decline in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) cystatin or incident CKD, which was defined as a subsequent eGFR <60 mL/min/1.73 m2 and at least 1 mL/min/year decline from baseline. Incident CVD was defined as incident coronary disease, heart failure, stroke or cardiovascular mortality. Multivariable Poisson regression and Cox proportional hazards models were used to evaluate the association of Mg intake with kidney and cardiovascular outcomes, respectively.
Results:
After excluding missing data, 2682 individuals were available for analysis. The median daily dietary Mg intake was 278 mg/day (11.4 mmol/day) (25th-75th percentile: 214-350 mg/day). Among 1871 individuals without baseline CKD, 522 developed incident CKD, while within the whole cohort, 394 (14.7%) had a ≥30% decline in eGFR over 10 years. Higher Mg intake was independently associated with lower risk of 30% eGFR decline [incidence rate ratio (IRR) per standard deviation (SD) higher Mg intake = 0.79 (95% confidence interval 0.66, 0.93)] and with a lower risk of incident CKD [IRR per SD higher Mg intake = 0.84 (95% confidence interval 0.73, 0.96)]. Among 1968 individuals without baseline CVD, 634 developed incident CVD. There was no association between Mg intake and overall incident CVD [adjusted hazard ratio 0.98 (95% confidence interval 0.85, 1.13)].
Conclusions:
Higher Mg intake was associated with a lower risk of 30% decline in eGFR and incident CKD but not with incident CVD in a large cohort of older adults. The impact of Mg supplementation on kidney outcomes warrants further investigation.
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