Crusador Interviews Christopher Barr

March 13, 2008

Crusador:  Thanks again for your time, Chris. Our readers can’t seem to get enough of the priceless health information you’ve been sharing with us. After each interview I say to myself, “There’s no way he can top the last one.” Amazingly, you have proven otherwise each time and I’m sure this one will be no different.

It has been very gratifying to finally find one such as yourself bold enough to put out the little known but well documented and profound nutritional, healthful truths that I have uncovered through four decades.  Very gratifying also are the thankful notes received from readers as well as the great reports of results from so very many.

The following recently received response sums up the many very well …

“Thank you for bringing the important information regarding chromium, selenium, silica, and magnesium to our attention.  I've seen positive results already and I wanted to thank you for sharing your research and expertise.”

Crusador:  In this interview I want to cover magnesium. What role does magnesium play in our bodies and why do you feel this mineral is so important for us to have in adequate amounts in our body?

Well, Greg, fully answering that one question would take up the space of a lengthy interview.  Briefly, magnesium enters into many basic functions of living such as a primary importance to muscle actions and therefore a primary importance to cardiovascular health, as the heart is a large muscle.

It is most amazing how many basic functions of living are assigned to other nutrients that are more accurately the domain of magnesium.  Functions such as bone health for which calcium is most often cited as important, though the mineral silicon is of primary importance, and magnesium of secondary importance, with calcium, relatively speaking, of little importance at all in the big picture.

Magnesium is also of great importance regarding healthy hormonal activity.  For this reason women have a greater need for magnesium than men due to their greater hormonal operation as compared to men.  In light of this the tendency of women to be drawn more readily than men to salad greens and whole grains that are rich in magnesium should be no surprise.

Additionally, magnesium is an underlying factor or co-factor to a host of other health issues including diabetes and high blood pressure.

Crusador:  We have been taking each interview with you based on the order of importance you hold them in. First it was chromium, then selenium, then silica, and now, magnesium. Why do you have magnesium ranked 4th in order of importance and not 1st since it seems to play such a major role in so many bodily functions?

Part of being – as you have put it – ranked 4th has somewhat to do with a matter of degree of deficiency.  More than 90 per cent of chromium, selenium and silicon are removed from whole wheat normally rich in these nutrients during its processing into the white, bleached, refined flour that constitutes 20 per cent of Standard American Dietary (S.A.D.) choices according to recent U.S. government assessments.  About 75 per cent of magnesium is removed by the same processing and though that is a substantial removal, it is nonetheless a less substantial removal.  Add to this whole sugar normally rich in chromium having 98 per cent of it removed during the processing into white, bleached, refined sugar helping chromium along to a number 1 ranking as to its nutritional and healthful importance.

Yet sometimes problems created by deficiencies of one or more nutrients moves up the importance of magnesium even to the top of the rankings in certain circumstances.  A couple of “for instances” …

Heart disease occurs because of deficiencies of chromium, selenium and silicon more so than due to magnesium deficiency.  Yet once this problem is created then the mineral magnesium will help with the symptoms more readily while reparations are made through restoration of the otherwise more important minerals chromium, selenium and silicon.

In like manner, high blood pressure occurs because of excessive toxic cadmium build-up due to white, refined, bleached flours and sugars (and a host of other sources including cigarette smoke) along with deficiencies of selenium and zinc.  Yet also in like manner once this problem is created the mineral magnesium will help with the symptoms more readily while reparations are made by restoration of the otherwise more important mineral selenium and to a lesser extent zinc.

Crusador:  I’ve read articles and reports that say magnesium helps prevent heart disease, cancer, blood pressure, kidney stones, and high triglycerides. It also improves energy and sleep and promotes higher levels of HDL, or good cholesterol. Can one mineral really have this much of an impact on your health and if so, why?

Most of these items you have cited are those in which the importance of magnesium is elevated due to a combination of deficiencies of other nutrients, and excesses of S.A.D. choices, including increased levels of toxic substances.

The kidneys are one item you mentioned that are very important to magnesium nutrition.  The kidneys are very important to magnesium retention and therefore to the kidneys in general, and specifically for kidney stones.

Heart disease is one of those conditions where the importance of magnesium is elevated because of the condition that has developed more because of deficiencies of chromium, selenium and silicon.  Magnesium will address the symptoms more quickly than restoration of the other minerals indicted as causative.

It has now been 50 years since magnesium was shown to dramatically reduce follow-up heart episodes in those presenting with angina or thrombosis.  About 20 years later mad doctors of medicine got the foolish idea that aspirin would help.  The first several studies testing this crazy idea had no results.  It was only when they used buffered aspirin that positive heart benefits were recorded.  The buffering agent was a significant dose of magnesium.

High blood pressure is yet another of the conditions where the importance of magnesium is elevated because of the condition that has developed more because of deficiencies of selenium and zinc in combination with excesses of the heavy metal cadmium.  Magnesium will address the symptoms more quickly than restoration of the other minerals indicted as causative.

Crusador:  Is it true that magnesium is very important for hormonal health and is extremely important for pregnant, post partum, and menopausal women?

Yes, and you can include premenstrual problems on that list as well.

This has been established through several decades by way of the monumental work of Dr. Guy Abraham, M.D., an obstetrician and gynecologist, as well as former professor at the University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine.  His very great, quite extensive research has been widely published in medical and scientific journals yet very sadly remains very little known.

The work of Dr. Abraham is one of the foundations upon which my successes with others has been based.  Abraham was one of the pioneers who helped establish premenstrual syndrome (PMS) as not “just in your head”.  His work established specific nutritional protocols regarding PMS and every other female hormonal issue of which magnesium is a central tenet.

One woman shared her magnesium success story after the birth of her 5th child.

First she noted that the leg cramps common during her previous pregnancies were eliminated by magnesium with “2, sometimes 3 whole food magnesium each day”.

Her most astounding report was with regard to afterbirth pains.  I can’t do any better than to just read her own words:

“Within the first hour after delivery, I began taking 2 whole food magnesium every hour for the first day.  Then I took 1 every 2 hours the second day and never had any after birth pains.  If I had not have had a newborn baby in my arms, I would not have believed that I had had a baby-I felt that good.  There was very little pain or discomfort through the whole pregnancy and after.  I recovered quicker than ever. Whole food nutrients, taken in big enough amounts make a world's difference!”

Crusador:  Tell us more about Dr. Guy E. Abraham, M.D., and his research with magnesium and what he discovered?

The work of Dr. Abraham also established the biochemical “whys” and “wherefores” for the superior need of magnesium over calcium for bone health which included detailing how increasing calcium intake actually impedes bone health.

In short, increased magnesium intake stimulates the production of calcitonin which causes calcium to be deposited into bone.

High magnesium intake with low calcium intake encourages deposition of calcium into bone, whereas higher calcium than magnesium intake discourages deposition of calcium into bones.

Increased calcium intake stimulates the production of parathyroid hormone which causes calcium to be deposited into soft tissue.

There is not much need for calcium in soft tissue which is what happens if you increase calcium intake – as almost all of the so-called experts of both medicine and nutrition recommend.  Is it any wonder that osteoporosis continues to spiral out of control?

There are some names for excess calcium in soft tissue.  Atherosclerosis and arteriosclerosis or hardening of the arteries as well as the condition called arthritis.

More scientific sense about the greater importance of magnesium than calcium can be made with a little common sense and logic.  Magnesium is more abundant than calcium in the environment.  It is only natural that magnesium would be more important than calcium.

Crusador:  According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, studies show that as many as two thirds of all Americans do not consume enough magnesium. The latest government study shows a staggering 68% of Americans do not consume the recommended daily intake of magnesium, which is set way too low, meaning these statistics are understatements. Even more frightening are data from this study showing that 19% of Americans do not consume even half of the government’s recommended daily intake of magnesium. Can you expound on this further?

The primary dietary sources for magnesium are whole grains that hardly anybody eats very much of and dark leafy greens that used to be very commonly consumed and now are consumed less and less by more and more.  Growing numbers of people rarely – if ever – eat dark leafy greens.  So it is no wonder that magnesium consumption is so low.

However, I would say that the recommended daily intake of magnesium is not “set way too low” nearly so much as that the recommended daily intake of calcium is set way, WAY too high.  When people follow the calcium recommendation more than following the magnesium recommendation, as is very common, then the problems of magnesium deficiency are even more greatly exaggerated.

Crusador:  What are some of the symptoms of magnesium deficiency that people should look for?

One symptom to look for is sensitivity to stress and another often associated with that is not sleeping well.  These are especially noteworthy if these are more evident with women during typically hormonal times whether prior to and/or at the beginning of menstruation, as well as with pregnancy or menopause.

Also pretty much anything commonly associated with calcium deficiency such as leg cramps and bone problems is more likely a magnesium deficiency.

Crusador:  OK, then let’s get into that controversial topic that will definitely get the dander up on the so-called “experts” in both the medical profession and the health food industry. Let’s call it “The Case of The Calcium Controversy.” Why is calcium promoted so heavily as being far more important than magnesium and why do you believe it should be the other way around?

Part of it is ignorance of simple truths that are readily available, and part of it is the simple truth of “love is blind” such as in the case of “the love of money” that Scripture instructs is the root of all evil that results in promoters preferring cheap options to real solutions that cost a bit more.

The economic and business model prevalent in American dietaries is based upon high protein commodities – which is a major health problem all by itself though that is a story for another time.  High protein foods are also high calcium foods.  There’s a whole lot more money to be made in meat (and to a lesser extent dairy) than in veggies and whole grains.

When it comes to supplements chalk is cheap and chalk (calcium carbonate) is the primary source of calcium supplements that is also substantially controlled by Big Pharma.

The primary science supportive of calcium is neither nutrition or health sciences but rather the science of economics.

Crusador:  In your stint working for a major newspaper in Orange County, California, you witnessed deception and trickery first hand with regard to the calcium/magnesium controversy. Tell us a little bit about this episode and why you believe there is an agenda to promote calcium while silencing the more important role of magnesium?

Yes, Greg, I worked more than 10 years for The Orange County Register -- one of the biggest newspapers in the world.  It is a daily newspaper that is a multiple winner of the coveted Pulitzer Prize. This newspaper published a story with the headline "Higher calcium standard outlined" on 8/14/97. It noted "new standards … that increase the recommended daily allowance of calcium" according to "a panel of nutrition experts … convened by the Institute of Medicine, a branch of the National Academy of Sciences".

The same newspaper published another story exactly one week later, 8/21/97, about a study from the New England Journal of Medicine of the same date. It revealed that calcium supplementation in the exact amount of the newly proposed increased recommendations in fact DID NOT prevent bone loss.

Subsequently, I telephoned Dr. Abraham. He lived in the county next to where the newspaper was located. He expressed a willingness to be interviewed for a story about calcium though he also told me that it would never happen due to the advertising pull of the powers that be.

I put the information about calcium, magnesium and Dr. Abraham through the appropriate channels and prodded the newspaper to provide a balanced approach for a feature story. A front cover story was published not very long after that about "the need" for more calcium. Dr. Abraham was never interviewed. There was no mention of magnesium.

So much for the vaunted journalistic objectivity of a "prestigious" newspaper.  The stories I could tell. I actually went to work there “undercover”.  My goal was to work my way up so as to get nutrition truths into the mainstream.  I started at the very bottom as a typist and rose through the ranks eventually becoming an editor. As it became very clear that they were not going to promote nutrition truth no matter how big and how well documented the story was I left in disgust.

Crusador:  Do you feel people should be supplementing with calcium at all?

Oh, boy, Greg, you are troubling the waters with that one.  Calcium is one of the sacred cows of nutrition.

It is not a matter of what I “feel”, Greg, but truth established through research and clinical observations based upon the research.  I have never known an individual that needed to supplement with calcium if they met their actual nutrient needs and reduced intake of unhealthful items like refined, bleached white sugars and flours as well as their excessive protein intake.  The things that calcium is recommended for are in every case more readily taken care of by other nutrients.

Bone health is primarily a matter of the mineral silicon and secondarily a magnesium issue.

In the case of osteoporosis the cultures around the world with the lowest rates of osteoporosis are those with the lowest intake of calcium, and in the converse those cultures with the highest rates of osteoporosis are those with the highest intake of calcium – like the good ol’ U.S. of A.

Crusador:  Is there a proper ratio between calcium and magnesium that should be taken together?

OK, Greg, here we have to expose another calcium myth and it gets a little tricky.

The general belief has been for a 2 to 1 ratio of calcium to magnesium.  As in the case of most any myth there is a basis in reality.

The blood has a 2 to 1 ratio of calcium to magnesium which is the primary basis for the general belief of a nutritional intake in the same amount.

However, the blood maintains that ratio as a matter of homeostasis.  Homeostasis is when the body maintains certain levels in order to maintain life.  The blood must maintain a fairly rigid pH and if it becomes over acidic then death follows in a short space of time.  Therefore the calcium to magnesium ratio in blood is not a good indicator for actual nutritional need.

Eating habits common to Americans such as consumption of refined, bleached white sugars and flour as well as excessive protein intake do cause increased acidity.  The body does then pull calcium from bone to offset this acidity.  However, the correct response is not more calcium but rather less – and preferably no – white sugars and flours or excessive protein intake.

There is further evidence to the folly of the so very commonly held myth of 2 to 1 calcium to magnesium ratio.

Calcium is not very readily metabolized.  Calcium is only metabolized at about half the rate of magnesium.  Simply put, that means that intake of a 2 to 1 ratio of calcium to magnesium only results in about a 1 to 1 absorption.

In short, magnesium is much more readily available than calcium in a varied diet for optimal health even as magnesium is much more readily available than calcium in the environment.  Magnesium is a great need and calcium is not much of a need at all.  The truth is that calcium supplementation is much more likely to get in the way of good health than it is to provide benefit.

Honestly, Greg, I’ve never met anyone that needed a calcium supplement. Again, magnesium is a great need and calcium is not much of a need at all.

Crusador:  Does Vitamin D help magnesium work more effectively and if so, should people consume more of this vitamin while supplementing with magnesium?

Vitamin D has been getting a lot of press lately.  Yet one of the early things that I learned about nutrition is how vitamin D is added to so many commonly consumed items, and furthermore, how easy it is for the body to make its own if you provide an average of 30 minutes of sun exposure daily to just the face, hands and back of the neck.

The positive effects ascribed to vitamin D of late are due to a lack of total nutrition.  In other words, with optimum nutrition there is no need for supplemental vitamin D.  In fact, vitamin D supplementation is more likely to be of harm long term than of actual value.  We don’t have time or room to get into that.

I heard a nutrition researcher almost 30 years ago – who was a big believer in supplementation – say that the only one who needs vitamin D supplements is a dark skinned nun living in the far north.

I have never recommended vitamin D supplementation for anyone through four decades of my personal experience.

Crusador:  What can you tell us about the various sources of magnesium; why is one good or bad, what form you recommend, and why?

Well, Greg, nutrients should be grown so that they are in a living form.  There is a difference and your body knows the difference between nutrients in the form The Almighty made them versus the form that man makes them.  That is why I recommend the Innate Response 100% Whole Food Magnesium.

Crusador:  With the Innate Response Whole Food Grown Magnesium the tablet dosage and daily recommendation is much lower than what is often recommended with other magnesium supplements. Why is that and why are you seeing such incredible results with lower dosages?

Accessory nutrient factors are present with 100% Whole Food Magnesium and that combined with the superiority of whole food magnesium magnifies the effectiveness.  Doctors who have been big believers for a long time in magnesium are commonly very amazed at the greater results they see with this magnesium even though using much smaller amounts.

Part of the reason for such incredible results that I see is due to the specific way I recommend people take it.

Crusador:  What is the best way to take magnesium as far how many times per day, what time of day, what amount, etc.?

The best way to take magnesium is last thing before you go to bed at night and first thing in the morning with a glass of water.  Magnesium intake is intensified when not having to compete with other nutrients or with digestive processes.

Normally I have people take just one night and morning, or two at night and one in the morning.  The most I have ever recommended was three at night and three in the morning and that has only been for short intervals.

Crusador:  What kind of results have you witnessed or heard reported back first hand from the countless people you’ve put on this form of magnesium?

The most common response is that people sleep better.  Often they sleep soundly for the first time in a long time.  Cramps and muscle spasms are very often noted to subside and disappear.

Less problems with stress is another aspect often noted.  In one instance last year a 12 year old girl was determined by school officials to be ADHD at mid year.  Her grades had fallen suddenly from top scores to consistently failing scores.  School officials wanted to medicate.  The parents chose the 100% Whole Food Magnesium.  They gave just 1 at bedtime and 1 in the morning.  There was almost immediate improvement.  Within two weeks the little girl was asking for her pill every night and every morning.  She could tell the difference herself.  Within one month her grades were back to A’s and B’s again.

Kidney problems very often respond very well to this magnesium.  Magnesium is very important for kidney function.

If you have magnesium issues – and this is a fairly common issue – then 100% Whole Food Magnesium is the way to go.

“There is a difference and your body knows the difference between nutrients in the form The Almighty made them versus the form that man makes them.”

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