Magnesium deficiency may be indicator of prediabetes

People with prediabetes seem to have lower circulating levels of serum magnesium than healthy counterparts, a new meta-analysis has found, suggesting that magnesium deficiency may be an easy indicator of prediabetes risk.

The researchers retrieved 10 eligible studies from the online databases of PubMed, Embase, Scopus and Google Scholar, yielding a total sample of 13,455 individuals. Of the participants, 2,979 had prediabetes while the remaining 10,476 were designated as healthy controls.

Random-effects meta-analysis found that those with prediabetes had significantly lower circulating levels of magnesium than healthy controls (weighted mean difference [WMD], –0.07 mmol/L, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], –0.09 to –0.05; p<0.001).

However, while evidence showed a high degree of heterogeneity (I², 95.6 percent; p<0.001), subsequent subgroup analyses according to study design, year of publication, and sample type (serum vs plasma) could not isolate the source of such heterogeneity.

Nevertheless, methodological quality could have affected the findings, as studies without or incomplete adjustment for covariates tended to show lower magnesium concentrations in prediabetics (WMD, –0.74 mmo/L, 95 percent CI, –1.08 to –0.40) than those with complete adjustments (WMD, –0.53 mmol/L, 95 percent CI, –0.91 to –0.15).

“Assessment of magnesium levels in [patients] with prediabetes and improvement of possible deficiencies may prevent its progression to diabetes. Further prospective cohort studies with larger sample size and robust designs are warranted to confirm present findings,” the researchers said.