Is 400 Mg of magnesium glycinate too much for a woman?

400mg of what, decoded both ways, and the ceilings that are the same for a woman

Is 400mg of magnesium glycinate too much for a woman is answered by the unit first and the woman's arithmetic second. The unit: if the 400mg is the bisglycinate compound, the front-label convention on some tubs, it contains about 80mg of elemental magnesium at the commercial 20% figure, roughly 21% of the NRV, a small dose that is nowhere near too much and is, for a woman meaning to take a reference-value amount, a token, the 300mg-of-what teach at a different number, with the %NRV line reading about 21% and settling it. If the 400mg is elemental magnesium, the nutrient-table convention, it sits at the UK expert group's supplemental guidance level of about 400mg exactly, the top of the range rather than over it, and that level is the same for women as for men, the expert group having set it for adults without a sex split, so 400mg elemental is not too much for a woman by UK guidance, is fine in working kidneys with the osmotic laxative effect as the practical ceiling, bisglycinate being the salt least likely to reach it, and sits above the EU's stricter 250mg figure set at the laxative threshold, which a woman who prefers to stay under splits or reduces toward, the maximum-dose page's three ceilings applying without a fourth for sex.

A woman's own arithmetic, the two life stages that leave the shelf, and the number filed

A woman's own arithmetic is where 400mg elemental looks different from a man's, not on safety but on need. The reference nutrient intake for adult women is 270mg a day against 300mg for men, rising to 320mg when breastfeeding, so 400mg of elemental magnesium from a supplement alone is about one and a half times a woman's daily reference before any food is counted, and a woman whose diet supplies even half her needs is taking, at 400mg, a total well above the reference and gaining nothing from the last hundred milligrams, the deficiency pattern meaning a replete pool excretes the surplus, the section's 300mg elemental already covering a full woman's day from the supplement with room under the level and nothing to add. The smaller body note from the too-much-for-a-woman page applies too: the osmotic effect scales with the unabsorbed amount relative to the gut, so a woman on citrate or oxide may meet her gut's limit at a lower dose than a larger man, another reason bisglycinate is the salt and 300mg the dose. The hidden sources count as always, a bone formula's magnesium, a multivitamin's line, an antacid, and the two life stages leave the shelf: pregnancy and breastfeeding, where requirements change and this site gives no supplement guidance, the ceiling being a midwife's or GP's to set. The number filed: 400mg of magnesium glycinate is not too much for a woman in either reading, about 80mg elemental as compound and small, or 400mg elemental at the guidance level exactly, the same for women, fine in working kidneys and above the EU figure, with a woman's 270mg reference intake making the fourth hundred milligrams pointless, the worked example being a full woman's day under every ceiling, 300mg elemental at 80% NRV, £19.99 for 90 days at 22p.

The verdict, fine in both readings, and more than a woman needs in one

Is 400mg of magnesium glycinate too much for a woman: no in either reading, 400mg of the compound being about 80mg of elemental magnesium and small, and 400mg of elemental magnesium sitting at the UK guidance level exactly, the same for women as for men, fine in working kidneys and above the EU's laxative-threshold figure, with a woman's 270mg reference intake meaning that 400mg elemental is about one and a half times her daily need from the supplement alone and nothing is gained over the section's 300mg, and pregnancy and breastfeeding going to a midwife. A full woman's day under every ceiling: Futuro Labs Magnesium Glycinate, 1500mg bisglycinate giving 300mg elemental at 80% NRV, £19.99 for 90 days at 22p a day.

What to check on the label

Questions people also ask

Is 400mg of magnesium too much for a woman?

No: 400mg of elemental magnesium sits at the UK supplemental guidance level of about 400mg, which has no sex split, fine in working kidneys with the laxative effect the practical ceiling, though it is about one and a half times a woman's 270mg reference intake and gains nothing over 300mg.

How much magnesium is in 400mg of magnesium glycinate?

About 80mg of elemental magnesium at the commercial 20% figure, roughly 21% NRV, if the 400mg is the compound weight; the %NRV beside the figure tells whether the label means compound or elemental.

Do women need less magnesium than men?

The reference intake is 270mg a day for adult women against 300mg for men, rising to 320mg when breastfeeding, so 300mg of elemental magnesium from a supplement already covers a full woman's day before food is counted.

Can a woman take 400mg of magnesium glycinate every day?

As elemental magnesium it is the guidance level and safe daily in working kidneys, with a smaller body possibly meeting the gut's limit sooner on citrate or oxide, which is why bisglycinate at 300mg is the section's dose and nothing is gained by the fourth hundred milligrams.

Is 400mg of magnesium safe in pregnancy?

That is a midwife's or GP's question: requirements change in pregnancy and breastfeeding and this site gives no supplement guidance for either.

Sources

1. Department of Health. Dietary Reference Values for Food Energy and Nutrients for the United Kingdom. Report on Health and Social Subjects 41, 1991 (magnesium RNI 300mg men, 270mg women).
2. Expert Group on Vitamins and Minerals. Safe Upper Levels for Vitamins and Minerals. Food Standards Agency, 2003 (magnesium guidance level 400mg a day from supplements). https://cot.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/vitmin2003.pdf
3. The European Food Safety Authority's tolerable upper intake level for magnesium: 250mg a day from supplements, water and added sources, set at the threshold of the mild osmotic laxative effect rather than at a level of harm, and distinct from the UK expert group's guidance level of about 400mg. https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/pub/4186
4. The magnesium bisglycinate chemistry: the pure chelate, one magnesium to two glycine, is about 14% magnesium by weight, and commercial bisglycinate ingredients, buffered or of different chelate ratios, declare magnesium contents up to about 20%. PubMed record

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