This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Knowledge & Support Community

Hey, thanks again for your thoughtful reply! Also I'd love to know your resources. It's clear there's a lot more to learn!

I'm not on any mag depleting meds. As for dietary intake, I'm really starting to like squash so will be incorporating that more into my diet. I also eat a lot of seeds like pumpkin and sunflower. That's really it. As you can tell by my name, I like oysters ;) but I don't eat them as much as I probably should.

I'll let you guys know when the other results come back, but in the mean time just going to try to eat as well as possible. It sucks to learn that I'm at the lower limits for vitamins and minerals and at the upper limits for things I don't want (MCV)!

Thanks again and speak soon. (:

Also that's so interesting that your reference range changed. Did you gain/lose a lot of weight or something? What do they base it off if anyway?

hi ok so do you have a sense of daily mgs of magnesium intake needed from food? average joe is usually well under the daily recommendations.

for those who don't engage in excessive mag depleting activities [eg high stress levels, excessive phosphorus (soft drinks) intake, excessive coffee or alcohol intake, etc), frequent strenuous physical exercise, certain pharma, etc etc] daily amounts can be found here: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/nutrition/ ... bl-eng.php

from the link above, note in particular: "The UL for magnesium represents intake from a pharmacological agent only and does not include intake from food and water." ie over the long term day to day you can have more mag than that but only as long as it's in food.

i like this source for getting mag/serving info:
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tnam ... #foodchart
IMPORTANT: RE DARK LEAFY GREENS THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT DENSE, COOKED SERVINGS (ie boil chard for 3 mins, spinach for 1 min to get a high density serving while minimizing mag loss to the boiling process)

1 minute spinach
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tnam ... e&dbid=101
3 minute chard
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tnam ... e&dbid=100

decent call on the pumpkin seeds and summer squash i recently made my way through a very diverse veg dish full of different things and was a bit surprised to find that my favourite bites contained butternut squash. ALSO i love roasting the seeds of any squash that comes through the door. love local squash season!!!

i don't have one myself but imagine there has to be a decent tracking app out there, that would allow you to set specific nutrient targets and input food servings consumed, so that you can assess your progress through the day.

re the test, no there was no big personal change; the reference ranges aren't personalized. they are settings either taken from a widely acknowledged standard where such exist, or derived locally at each lab.

at my *neighbourhood* lab, it seemed that their local process to establish a range for their machines/printouts meant that a single person's serum zn result (ie mine) could affect their local 'normal' settings. on my test day, i was flagged as quite seriously deficient. the day after my test, any one as low as me would be 'normal'.

i noted a similar scenario when comparing serum zinc ranges at my own local *hospital's* lab (11.5-18.5 umol/l) to a west coast *infectious disease clinic's* range (9-14 umol/L). gave me the same impression - looked like the west coast lab was taking its settings from the people who were tested there; (ie patients at an infectious disease clinic) and it is fairly common knowledge that zinc status is strongly linked to immune function and resistance to infection. why would anyone be satisfied with matching *that* clinic's 'normal'?

whew that ended up being a much longer post than expected! hope you lasted all the way through