Age and muscle function are more closely associated with intracellular magnesium, as assessed by 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy, than with serum magnesium

Total serum magnesium is a common clinical measurement for assessing magnesium status; however, magnesium in blood represents less than 1% of the body’s total magnesium content. We measured intramuscular ionized magnesium by phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy (31P-MRS) and tested the hypothesis that this measure better correlates with skeletal muscle function and captures more closely the effect of aging than the traditional measure of total serum magnesium. Data were collected from 441 participants (age 24–98 years) in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA), a study of normative aging that encompasses a broad age range. Results showed that intramuscular ionized magnesium …