The brain-boosting supplement this neurologist actually recommends
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“It has been shown to help with scores on memory tests, with cognition (feeling sharper) anxiety, depression (naturally, and with sleep), along with headaches. [It's] my favorite recommendation for a vitamin for patients as a neurologist." – Sara Siavoshi, DO
For years, Sara Siavoshi, DO, a neurologist and assistant professor at UC San Diego Health, dismissed every overhyped brain supplement—until one caught her attention.
“I get asked constantly, ‘Doctor, what is the number one supplement or vitamin you can recommend that's going to help me with my brain to make me feel sharper, smarter, and less forgetful?’ And historically, I always said, ‘Nothing. Don't buy into the junk that you see online. Don't buy into the Prevagen. It's all crap. It doesn't work; it’s pseudoscience,’” she said in the video.
Until new magnesium research made her reconsider.
Magnesium and brain health
“In the last few years, there was a specific form of magnesium that came out that was patented for its unique capability to enter into the brain by crossing something called our blood-brain barrier, and because it actually enters into the brain and works in our brain cells, it has been shown to help with scores on memory tests, with cognition—feeling sharper—anxiety, depression, naturally, and with sleep, along with headaches. That is my favorite recommendation for a vitamin for patients as a neurologist,” Dr. Siavoshi said.
Magnesium is found naturally in foods like dark, leafy greens and is also available in supplement form. []
Inside the brain, magnesium helps with sending nerve signal transmissions and protecting the blood-brain barrier []
Related: 5 supplements you should be taking—and whenWhat does the research say?
Magnesium deficiency is believed to be a factor in headaches. People who experience migraines have lower levels of serum and tissue magnesium. []
Related: 'Years of agony: Doctors failed my patient'—a neurologist's take on the debilitating impact of chronic migraineBut research on magnesium supplementation for preventing or reducing migraines is limited.
Three out of four small, short-term studies found that patients who took 600 mg of magnesium daily experienced a modest reduction in migraine frequency.
Taking 300 mg of magnesium twice a day has also been shown to prevent migraines: A meta-analysis of five randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials found that oral magnesium treatment reduced the number of migraines in those studied by 22% to 43%. []
In 2012, the American Academy of Neurology and the American Headache Society ranked oral magnesium a level of “evidence B” for preventing episodic migraine, meaning that it is probably effective. []
Research indicates that magnesium also helps to modulate neuroinflammation, which is believed to be a factor in neurodegenerative diseases. [] Studies have also found that for each 100 mg per day increase in magnesium, the risk for total stroke was reduced by 2%, as was the risk for ischemic stroke. []