The words of Linus Pauling enforces the seriousness of this article on Magnesium and high blood pressure. Twice a Nobel Prize winner, he once said, "You can trace every sickness, every disease and every ailment to a mineral deficiency."How often have you read that statement? 10 times, 50 times, 100 times? But who’s taking it to" heart"!Do we think as time moves on, somehow, somewhere, someone will invent a synthetic substance compatible with the make-up and wonderful design of the living cell, or replenish the soils around the globe with all the minerals that our bodies need?Linus Pauling uttered those words years ago. Has anything changed? This article is a reminder that it hasn’t and that there is a link between low magnesium and high blood pressure.You may find the information timely in your case because the Western World is suffering a crisis and the rest of the nations are catching up. High blood pressure, coronary heart disease and heart attack are almost reaching epidemic proportions. Some would argue that they have already.Am I exaggerating? Certainly not! This is a real problem that touches almost everyone and its high time we sat up and took notice. Contrary to popular believe we need as much as 420mg of magnesium a day for men and 320mg for women, but some of us are not even getting half that amount.Taking charge of your own health will serve as a protection, if you are careful not be distracted by all the misleading noise out there that gives high blood pressure a twist to its label "the silent killer". What will it cost us to stop and listen to that wee, small voice trying to be heard amongst all the clatter, understand what’s being said and take action? A little of our time and the price of a few hamburgers each month compared to the rising cost of medical treatment or our very lives if we fail to act soon enough.Magnesium and High Blood Pressure - The Missing Link?People with hypertension should be familiar with sodium and potassium, the two most talked about minerals in connection with the condition. They interact with each other, helping regulate, several systems in our bodies which include blood pressure and hydration. If we get the balance wrong then a chain reaction of events can throw our systems into chaos. The irony is, we are not juggling with all the balls needed in this nutritional balancing act.Magnesium is also a very important component, but the fact is, its importance has been dampened down. A few dedicated scientists and doctors are totally frustrated by the sheer apathy they receive when trying to convince not only the individual, but whole nations to pay attention to this most important but ignored nutrient. Paul Mason is a fine example. He has shown over and over again with the proof of many scientific trials that magnesium is "a", if not "the" missing link to controlling heart disease and high blood pressure.Magnesium and High Blood Pressure - Examples of how Magnesium Affects Blood PressureSyndrome X is a complication of several symptoms all related to one another. Magnesium is essential for calcium and potassium assimilation. Muscles in the arterial walls will contract If the calcium level within the cell is too high, whereas magnesium causes these muscles to dilate. Doctors call it "Nature’s Calcium blocker" because it does the same job that Calcium channel antagonists do, modulate vascular tone. It also stimulates nitric oxide, a mechanism at work when we exercise, helping to relax and dilate blood vessels.High levels of calcium but low levels of magnesium can cause persons to become obese especially concentrating most of the weight gain around the stomach. These people are highly likely to develop high blood pressure, diabetes and insulin secretion, known factors contributing to heart attack.Part 2The second part of this article will discuss other causes of magnesium deficiency and finding a source of magnesium to compensate the diet.Copyright 2007