Foundation for Integrated Medicine - Magnesium Deficiency

Foundation for Integrated Medicine - Magnesium Deficiency: "Magnesium Deficiency in the Pathogenesis of Mitral Valve Prolapse
Leo D. Galland, Sidney M. Baker, Robert K McLellan
Gesell Institute of Human Development, New Haven, Conn., USA
Abstract
Idiopathic mitral valve prolapse (MVP) is the commonest valvular disorder in industrialized nations. It is predominantly a familial condition, showing Mendelian dominance with delayed and variable penetrance. Although hyperkinesis and hypertrophy of the left ventricle have been described in MVP, its histopathology, somatic morphology and genetics support the leading theory that MVP results from a hereditary disorder of connective tissue. Latent tetany (LT) due to chronic Mg deficit (Mg-D) occurs in over 8 5 % of MVP cases; MVP complicates 26% of LT. Mg-D can explain many clinical features of the MVP syndrome which are not easily explained by its genetics. Mg-D hinders the mechanism by which fibroblasts degrade defective collagen, increases circulating catecholamines, predisposes to cardiac arrhythmias, thromboembolic phenomena and dysregulation of the immune and autonomic nervous systems. Mg therapy provides relief of MVP symptoms.
Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) is the commonest and most controversial vaivular abnormality presently encountered in industrialized nations. Variations in diagnostic criteria and subject selection have produced very different ideas on its general prevalence [62], but the present consensus suggests an overall prevalence of about 5% in the US. MVP may occur as a secondary event in several cardiac and connective tissue diseases, but the large majority of cases are idiopathic. Among these, familial occurrence has been demonstrated repeatedly [62]. Three separate studies [21, 87, 95] have found evidence of autosomal dominant inheritance with about half the first-degree relatives"