Should You Take Magnesium On An Empty Stomach?

Taking supplements without eating food first can be fine, but it can also turn into a total tummy disaster. To lower your chances of gastric discomfort and nausea (which can happen when you introduce certain supplements to your growling stomach), you need to know whether or not it's recommended to take your preferred supplements on an empty stomach. And that includes magnesium, an important mineral with a host of potential health benefits.

Magnesium supplements tend to come in some familiar forms, such as capsules, gummies, tablets, pills, and powders. However, some types of magnesium (e.g., magnesium citrate, which is known for its laxative effects) are available in liquid form as well.

Regardless, you can usually take magnesium without food if you want. (Be sure to follow the upper limit suggestion of no more than 350 milligrams daily, however. Anything more and your body may not be able to absorb the extra.) 

That said, your gut and body may benefit if you consume magnesium on top of at least a little bit of food. Why might you prefer to top off your breakfast, lunch, dinner, or a snack with magnesium? For one, you might bypass digestive distress. Some people have more sensitive gastrointestinal systems. Others have conditions like colitis and Crohn's disease that make it harder for them to even eat some foods without feeling yucky, let alone supplements. Consequently, they're more likely to feel queasy or experience diarrhea after taking high doses of magnesium without food. You probably know if you fit that description based on how your tummy responds to other vitamins and supplements, or to any kind of medications (and some foods). If you typically feel better when you take all other pills, gummies, and suspensions after eating, you might want to do the same when you take magnesium.

Another practical reason to consume magnesium with food is that it has been shown to increase the bioavailability of the mineral. On its own, magnesium isn't always efficiently absorbed by the human body. Even when it's in food, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) suggests that just 30% to 40% of the magnesium that enters your body will be used.

Yet by eating food along with magnesium, you may be able to boost those absorption rates. That's what happened during a 2002 study that was discussed in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The researchers studied the effects of taking high-magnesium mineral water with and without food in women who were otherwise healthy. The results showed a significantly higher increase in both magnesium absorption and retention rates when the subjects took mineral water with food.

To improve absorption further, choose your magnesium supplements based on both their benefits and how easily they're converted by your body. For instance, magnesium citrate, magnesium glycinate, magnesium malate, and magnesium lactate are known for their bioavailability. But since they have different advantages, you may want to work with a healthcare provider to figure out which one is best-suited to help you achieve your health objectives.

Even if you're not too concerned about gut irritation or bioavailability, you may find it easier to incorporate your magnesium supplementation into a meal. Here's why: One of the critical elements to seeing any health benefits from taking supplements is consistency. If you're not taking your supplements regularly, you're not giving them a fair chance to make a difference. Therefore, if you tend to forget to take your vitamins and supplements, you might want to just make them part of your daily eating routines. 

Doing so could also help regulate how the supplements work for you. For example, if you take magnesium in the morning, you may find that it puts you in a calmer state heading into your day. Alternatively, if you're using magnesium to get better rest at nighttime, taking your supplement after dinner or after a light nighttime snack may be more suitable. Either way, more magnesium may enter your system since you're not taking it on an empty stomach.