Supplement evidence

052 / 575Mineral form

Magnesium citrate

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The short answer

Provides magnesium and acts as an osmotic laxative at product-specific doses.

Evidence and scope: Established for an indicated use
This status does not grade the ingredient for every goal, outcome, or person.
Important limitation: The benefit is tied to the stated indication, dose, and population; it is not evidence of broader disease prevention or longer life.
Before deciding: Key concern: Avoid chronic laxative use or kidney impairment without medical guidance; separate interacting medicines.

01 / PRACTICAL GUIDE

Dose, absorption, and combinations

These are indication-specific reference or studied ranges—not a personalized prescription. Start with the objective, then check the form, label, medicines, and health conditions.

Reference range by objective

Meeting usual needs100–350 mg/day elemental magnesium

Reference or studied range—not a personalized prescription. The product label or a clinician may specify a different dose.

Dose source ↗

ConstipationUse the labeled laxative dose short term

Reference or studied range—not a personalized prescription. The product label or a clinician may specify a different dose.

Dose source ↗

More is not automatically better. A clinician or product label may specify a different amount.

Absorption / solubilityWater-soluble

Water-soluble or readily water-dispersible. This does not mean excess is always harmless.

How it is commonly taken

Take with water; food may improve tolerance.

Do not combine casually

Avoid chronic laxative use or kidney impairment without medical guidance; separate interacting medicines.

Dose and use source ↗

Dose and use links lead to primary or official source material. Search links are discovery tools, not proof that every returned paper applies.

02 / EVIDENCE

What the research says

We keep supportive, mixed, negative, safety, and contextual findings together. The headline never replaces the underlying papers.

4research papers in this ledger

4unique primary studies represented

305unique participants represented

These are audited counts for this JIVANA collection, not search-result totals. Participants are counted once when multiple papers use the same cohort; review papers are not added again to participant totals.

Open the research timelineResearch timeline

Entries are ordered by publication year. A study period appears only when the source reports it.

2022

Does not support the tested claimPMID 35253448 · NCT03632590

Effects of Magnesium Citrate, Magnesium Oxide, and Magnesium Sulfate Supplementation on Arterial Stiffness

Citrate increased plasma and urinary magnesium, but none of the three forms significantly changed arterial stiffness or blood pressure versus placebo. Better exposure did not produce the proposed cardiovascular surrogate benefit.

Published: 2022Duration: 24 weeksn=164 participants

Study design and methods

Design: Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled formulation-comparison trial
Population: 164 adults with overweight or mild obesity; mean age 63
Intervention: 450 mg/day magnesium as citrate, oxide, or sulfate, versus placebo
Outcome: Carotid-femoral pulse-wave velocity, blood pressure, and magnesium biomarkers

Open research record ↗

2019

Supports a specific usePMID 32162607

Assessment of bioavailability of Mg from Mg citrate and Mg oxide by measuring urinary excretion in Mg-saturated subjects

Citrate increased urinary magnesium and produced higher plasma concentrations than oxide at 4 and 8 hours. The very small, male-only, single-dose study measured absorption rather than health benefit.

Published: 2019Duration: Single dose after 5-day magnesium saturationn=14 participants

Study design and methods

Design: Randomized crossover bioavailability trial
Population: 14 healthy men
Intervention: 400 mg magnesium as citrate or oxide
Outcome: 24-hour urinary magnesium and plasma magnesium through 24 hours

Open research record ↗

2003

Supports a specific usePMID 14596323

Mg citrate found more bioavailable than other Mg preparations in a randomised, double-blind study

Citrate produced the strongest absorption signals and greater 60-day urinary magnesium excretion than oxide; oxide did not differ from placebo. These biomarkers establish relative exposure, not better clinical outcomes.

Published: 2003Duration: 60 daysn=46 participants

Study design and methods

Design: Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled parallel trial
Population: 46 healthy adults
Intervention: 300 mg/day elemental magnesium as citrate, amino-acid chelate, or oxide, versus placebo
Outcome: Urine, serum, erythrocyte, and salivary magnesium measures

Open research record ↗

1996

Supports a specific usePMID 8792038

Prophylaxis of migraine with oral magnesium

Attack frequency fell 41.6% with dicitrate and 15.8% with placebo in weeks 9–12; migraine days and symptomatic medicine use also favored magnesium. Diarrhea occurred in 18.6% and gastric irritation in 4.7%.

Published: 1996Duration: 12 weeks after a 4-week baselinen=81 participants

Study design and methods

Design: Prospective multicenter randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial
Population: 81 adults aged 18–65 with migraine
Intervention: Trimagnesium dicitrate providing 600 mg magnesium daily or placebo
Outcome: Migraine attack frequency, migraine days, symptomatic medicine use, and tolerability

Open research record ↗

Unscreened discovery appendix—not evidence175 candidate publicationsSearch run: Aug 21, 2026

Complete for the displayed PubMed query at the search timestamp—not for all databases or every possible synonym. Candidates can be irrelevant, duplicate the same study, or report negative findings. They are never summed as evidence or participants until screened.

03 / SOURCES

Start with the source material

Official evidence overviewPubMed bounded human-evidence search Live PubMed discovery searchNational Library of Medicine

The live search is for discovery only. Search-result counts change and are not included in the audited totals above.

Recent PubMed discovery recordsDirect links to the first 12 records returned by the reproducible search. These are discovery candidates—not reviewed summaries or a count of supportive findings.

04 / EXPERT CONTEXT

Expert context—not evidence

Expert positions are dated context—not scientific evidence. They never raise the evidence status or become consensus by repetition.

No direct, source-verified endorsement is currently recorded. Research authorship or discussion alone is not treated as endorsement.