Researchers who analyzed data from 5,474 men and women and 787 children enrolled in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2021-2023 estimated that chronic latent magnesium deficiency affected two-thirds of adults. Compared with metabolically healthy individuals, the study found lower average magnesium concentrations in adults with chronic kidney disease, type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure.

In the current investigation, girls and adult females had lower average magnesium levels than boys and men. Chronic latent magnesium deficiency was estimated to be present in 67.8% of adults. While prevalence of the condition in metabolically healthy adults was 66.6%, chronic latent magnesium deficiency was estimated to occur among a respective 71.1%, 78.3% and 68.5% of adults with chronic kidney disease, type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure.¹

The normal serum magnesium range for individuals six years of age and older is 1.5–1.7 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) to 2.3–2.5 mg/dL, depending upon the laboratory used. Even though serum magnesium may fall within this range, tissue magnesium may be low. “Although clinical manifestations of magnesium deficiency are thought to be relatively uncommon, chronic latent magnesium deficiency (CLMD), a condition in which serum magnesium concentrations may remain within conventionally defined reference intervals despite progressive depletion of magnesium stores, is a common occurrence that is higher among older adults,” authors Keyi Jiao of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and colleagues wrote. “Chronic latent magnesium deficiency is generally indicated by a serum magnesium concentration of less than 2.06 mg/dL.”

Jiao and colleagues noted that the magnesium content of vegetables and fruit has declined during the past five decades and that approximately 80% of magnesium in food is lost during processing. They remarked that low average serum magnesium levels and a high prevalence of adults with or at risk of chronic latent magnesium deficiency are likely to reflect less than optimal magnesium intake. “This study provides contemporary population-based reference intervals for serum magnesium for children and adults and suggests that a substantial portion of the U.S. population is at risk of chronic latent magnesium deficiency,” they concluded.