Did you know…
Subclinical magnesium deficiency is not a fringe supplement-industry claim. It is the subject of a peer-reviewed statement in a BMJ journal that names it a public health crisis. The paper was published in 2018. In 2025, a global review confirmed that 2.4 billion people, 31% of the world’s population, still do not meet the recommended magnesium intake.
The claim, in the words of a peer-reviewed BMJ paper
James DiNicolantonio, cardiovascular research scientist at Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute, published in Open Heart (BMJ) in 2018 a paper whose title carries the conclusion: “Subclinical magnesium deficiency: a principal driver of cardiovascular disease and a public health crisis.” The core sentence of the paper reads:
“Subclinical magnesium deficiency increases the risk of numerous types of cardiovascular disease, costs nations around the world an incalculable amount of healthcare costs and suffering, and should be considered a public health crisis.”
— DiNicolantonio et al., Open Heart (BMJ), 2018
The same authors, in the same paper, wrote the diagnostic diagnosis that has been ignored by every reference laboratory that continues to print the old ranges:
“Because serum magnesium does not reflect intracellular magnesium, the latter making up more than 99% of total body magnesium, most cases of magnesium deficiency are undiagnosed.”
— DiNicolantonio et al., Open Heart (BMJ), 2018
What the cost estimate looks like
In the United States, one analyst calculated that the cost of inaction on magnesium deficiency exceeds $86 billion per year. In Israel, a Taub Center study estimated that simply adding magnesium to desalinated water could generate savings of 83 to 253 million shekels per year by reducing type 2 diabetes and ischaemic stroke. Magnesium supplementation costs a few cents per day.
Why nothing has moved
The 2018 paper called it a public health crisis. No national screening policy has been created. In 2025, the global review documented 2.4 billion people short of the recommended intake. The official public-health message across most jurisdictions remains: eat a balanced diet.
This entry is a companion to Right to Optimal Magnesium Status.