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We are a 100%-owned family farm, so you can rest assured that everything that bears our name is produced on our farm with the greatest attention to every detail.
You see, we truly care about the health of our family, and we care about yours too.
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Farm Blog
Posted by: Trevor
April 12, 2025
Magnesium affects nearly every function in our bodies, so when we are deficient in it, the symptoms can vary widely --- from severe chronic diseases like fibromyalgia, to weight gain, to insomnia, to insulin resistance, to chronic fatigue --- the list of potential symptoms is endless. Researchers claim that "the vast majority" of the population may be magnesium deficient, and that 75% of the population consume inadequate amounts of the nutrient (DiNicolantonio et al. Subclinical magnesium deficiency... Open Heart. See also Calcium and Magnesium in Drinking Water... Geneva: World Health Organization).
It is likely that most of you who are reading this have tried supplemental magnesium, at least orally, in the hopes of optimizing your tissue levels of Mg. But the trouble with oral magnesium supplementation is that it is poorly absorbed in the gut. This applies to all magnesium supplements. Magnesium citrate, chloride, lactate, malate, taurate, threonate, glycinate, orotate, to name only some. Many of us have tried them all, often with little-to-no effect due to low gastrointestinal absorption.
To make it worse, if our gut microbiome is compromised in any way (this would include most people in industrialized societies) our ability to absorb all nutrients, including magnesium, is reduced. This is especially true for people who have been diagnosed with leaky gut, SIBO, and other chronic bowel problems (Hessov. Absorption of magnesium chloride solution in small bowel disease. Clinical Nutrition. 1983).
What about eating magnesium-rich foods, shouldn't that fix the problem? Only partially --- it turns out that plant-based sources of magnesium can be high in anti-nutrients, like oxalates, which interfere with magnesium absorption (Bohn, Davidsson, et al. Fractional magnesium absorption is significantly lower… British Journal of Nutrition. 2007).
However --- beef and fatty-fish are ideal sources and, as you might have guessed, bone broth is especially excellent. But even these high-quality sources can take months to have therapeutically-discernable effects.
All of this can make it challenging for us to correct a magnesium deficiency. Short of going to the hospital and getting an IV drip, there is no rapid way to optimize tissue levels of Mg. It can take several months of oral magnesium supplementation to return Mg to normal (Fritzen, Davies, et al. Magnesium Deficiency and Cardiometabolic Disease. Nutrients. 2023).
Eating magnesium rich foods is essential, but again --- it could take nearly a year to bring tissue levels up to the optimal range.
The trouble is made worse because time is not on our side with this mineral. Magnesium deficiency, even sub-clinical, is serious enough that it needs to be corrected rapidly (DiNicolantonio et al). Adequate magnesium levels are crucial to almost every aspect of our health.
This has led some people to try supplementing with topical magnesium. Various transdermal products have hit the market, from sprays to lotions to patches. Absorbing magnesium through the skin should, it is thought, avoid the problem of poor GI tract absorption, and deliver the mineral much more rapidly into our tissues. Plus, it avoids the laxative effect that oral magnesium causes in higher doses.
Topical application of magnesium chloride can make a difference, quickly
As these topical products have become more popular, a battle has erupted online with people arguing over whether or not magnesium can be absorbed topically. But there are studies which confirm that, yes, magnesium can be absorbed through the skin --- quite effectively (Shealy. Transdermal Absorption of Magnesium. Southern Medical Journal. 2005. Also see Engen, McAllister et al. Effects of transdermal magnesium chloride… Journal of Integrative Medicine. 2015).
Yet there are caveats.
Topical magnesium can feel greasy, and sometimes sting. It also imparts a filmy feeling to the skin. People with very thick skin may get less effective absorption than those with thinner skin. It can also be a hassle to apply it regularly throughout the day.
But the nice thing about topical magnesium is that, when absorbed, it can impart a relaxed feeling throughout the body, quickly. Increasing the dose can result in a sedative effect. This allows one to rapidly tell if it is working --- the effects are often observed in less than an hour. But it still can take weeks of regular topical administration to optimize tissue levels, requiring multiple daily applications of the spray or lotion (Shealy. See also Engen, McAllister et al).
I am aware of some manufacturers who have tried to improve absorption by mixing magnesium with various carriers, including DMSO. In my experience, DMSO greatly enhances absorption --- I can feel the effects in a few minutes --- however, even without DMSO, I still feel the effect of topically-applied magnesium (as magnesium chloride), just not as fast. If anyone tries topical magnesium chloride and doesn't notice an obvious relaxation response, then perhaps trying a brand with added DMSO will do it.
One thing you might be wondering: If the researchers are right, and most of us are deficient in magnesium, why is that? What is causing this widespread problem?
It could be a number of things. First, soil is often deficient in magnesium, resulting in Mg-deficient crops. This can be due to synthetic chemical-based agriculture which depletes the soil of organic nutrients, or it can be due to soil which is naturally deficient in magnesium due to high rainfall. The soils of the pacific northwest of North America are often low in magnesium because of rain and excessive runoff. Organic, regenerative agricultural practices can correct this, however.
Second, nearly all of us have compromised gut microbiomes which lack certain species of microbes (such as lactobacillus reuteri) which used to be prevalent but now are not --- likely due to antibiotics, glyphosate, and other environmental factors (Lehman, Cady, et al. Low-dose glyphosate exposure alters gut microbiota composition and modulates gut homeostasis Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology. 2023).
This results in negative health effects including reduced nutrient absorption. The negative effects are compounded because, when our magnesium levels are depleted, it causes our microbiome to be further compromised, resulting in a negative feedback loop which causes the magnesium deficiency to get chronically worse (Barone et al. Gut microbiome - micronutrient interaction… Biofactors. 2022).
Third, most of us are isolated from the soil. Traditionally, all of our ancestors had regular physical contact with the earth. They walked, often barefoot, across fields and beaches and forests and deserts. They absorbed nutrients through their skin, including through the soles of their feet. Although it is commonly thought that nutrients don't pass through our skin, there is ample evidence that they can and do (Kretsos and Kasting. Dermal Capillary Clearance… Skin Pharmacology and Physiology. 2005. See also Brown et al. The role of skin absorption as a route of exposure for volatile organic compounds… American Journal of Public Health. 1984).
Fourth, excessive sugar and starch consumption is known to deplete magnesium. Western diets have become so skewed toward sugar and starch that chronic magnesium deficiency is not surprising (Djurhuus, Skott, et al. Insulin increases renal magnesium excretion… Diabetic Medicine).
All these things are symptoms of our modern, highly industrialized societies, which focus on short-term benefits at the expense of long-term sustainability.
But the good news is this: we have solutions. Topical administration of magnesium chloride can provide us with a relatively rapid way to replenish our magnesium levels. Restricting our consumption of sugars and starches will also dramatically help. Repairing our damaged microbiomes by replenishing beneficial microbes and ingesting a variety of prebiotics will also make a big difference. And, consuming magnesium-rich animal products, including bone broth, from healthy organic sources, will help to ensure our magnesium levels remain at optimal levels to support abundant health.
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