02/10/2025
Not Many Are Talking About This:
Magnesium supplementation (please read to the bottom) may shape the gut microbiome in ways that influence colore**al cancer risk.
Study
A double-blind, precision-based randomized controlled trial tested the effects of magnesium glycinate supplementation on gut microbes linked to colore**al cancer prevention.
- n = 240 adults with history of colore**al polyps
- 12-week intervention
- Dose personalized to lower calcium:magnesium ratio (lower ratio tied to less risk) to ~2.3:1 (baseline ~3.7:1)
- Magnesium provided as oral magnesium glycinate
- Primary focus: Carnobacterium maltaromaticum and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii abundance in stool, re**al mucosa, and re**al swabs
Findings
- In participants with normal “magnesium gate”:
- C. maltaromaticum ↑ +23%
- F. prausnitzii ↑ +2%
- Effects strongest in women, suggesting hormonal modulation of magnesium uptake.
Mechanistic context
Magnesium is a cofactor in vitamin D metabolism and bacterial enzymes. C. maltaromaticum produces vitamin D precursors, while F. prausnitzii converts them into active metabolites that activate colonic vitamin D receptors and may inhibit tumor initiation. TRPM7 (the gene studied here), a magnesium channel, determines whether supplementation increases or decreases these bacterial populations.
Limitations
Short duration (12 weeks), relative rather than absolute abundance data, lack of strain-specific resolution, and modest sample diversity (older White adults, Tennessee). F. prausnitzii effects weakened after multiple-comparison correction.
Personalized magnesium supplementation shifted gut bacteria toward potentially protective profiles in women and in those without TRPM7 variants. These findings support a precision nutrition approach, but long-term and more diverse RCTs are required before clinical recommendations.
