For Strong Bones: Magnesium, Not Calcium!

Don’t let the dairy promoters fool you: Calcium does not make strong bones. It provides mass, but magnesium is what you want for bones that don’t break easily. But, experts say, our diets are notoriously short on magnesium. That’s a pity. Magnesium could do so much for us: It’s a relaxant, lessens hyperactivity in kids, helps them get off brain-numbing Ritalin, quells nervousness in adults, and acts as a laxative, as in Milk of Magnesia. Bones, of course, contain many different minerals, and calcium is one of them. But calcium doesn’t even work without magnesium.

The recommended daily amount of magnesium is 300 milligrams (mg) per day. Just whom they judged that by, I don’t know. Probably that’s an average. It’s very hard to get that much, magnesium into your menus day after day, though.  Also, calcium and magnesium need to be in balance. Milk, cheese, cottage cheese and ricotta all yield calcium, but no magnesium.

For foods that give us both calcium and magnesium, try almonds. They give you 332 mg of calcium and 386 mg. of magnesium per cupful.  A mere ounce (22 almonds) yields 81 mg of magnesium. Pistachios are popular at my house for snacking. Shelled, one-fourth cup yields about 43 mg. of calcium to 51 mg. of magnesium.

Other good sources of magnesium: Oat bran, 96.4 mg. per half cup; Peanuts, raw, 3 Tablespoons (roughly 1 ounce) 49.8 mg; All Bran cereal, ½ cup, 128.7 mg.; Brown Rice 1 cup cooked, 83.8 mg; Navy Beans, ½ cup cooked, 107 mg. Lima Beans, ½ cup cooked 62.9 mg.; Spinach, chopped and cooked, ½ cup 78.3 mg.; Swiss Chard, chopped, ½ cup cooked, 75.2 mg.; Molasses, blackstrap, 1 Tablespoon, 43 mg; Banana, 1 medium, 34.2 mg.

Dark rye flour has a generous 317 mg. magnesium per cupful. Whole wheat flour: 1 cup, 136 mg.; white enriched flour, only 28 mg. Buckwheat is an excellent magnesium source, too. A half-cup of buckwheat groats gives you a goodly 131 mg. of magnesium with only 14 mg. of calcium.

Make some buckwheat pancakes and plop some cottage cheese on each to bring up the calcium balance. I haven’t got the figures for buckwheat flour, but believe three of the pancakes below would give you around 150 mg. of magnesium. The amount of buckwheat flour in the recipe below would produce about 225 mg. magnesium spread among six to eight pancakes. Skip the syrup. Like everything else sugar based, it’s an anti-nutrient. It uses up nutrients from other foods just being metabolized. If you must have sweetening, drizzle a little honey or light molasses over your portion of pancakes. If never heated, honey yields some enzymes and traces of vitamins from flowers. Molasses contains small amounts of magnesium and calcium.

 Buckwheat Pancakes
         Makes 6 to 8
1 ½ cups buckwheat flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 cup milk or orange juice
1 egg
1 Tablespoon olive oil or melted butter
1 Tablespoon light molasses, optional

Beat all ingredients together with fork or wooden spoon. Oil spray and then heat a heavy skillet or griddle.
Bake pancakes on medium high heat. When you see bubbles around their edges and their tops loose their shine, turn them over. When they stop steaming, they are done