Dietary Magnesium and Genetic Interactions in Diabetes and Related Risk Factors: A Brief Overview of Current Knowledge

Abstract

Nutritional genomics has exploded in the last decade, yielding insights-both nutrigenomic and nutrigenetic-into the physiology of dietary interactions and our genes. Among these are insights into the regulation of magnesium transport and homeostasis and mechanisms underlying magnesium's role in insulin and glucose handling. Recent observational evidence has attempted to examine some promising research avenues on interaction between genetics and dietary magnesium in relation to diabetes and diabetes risk factors. This brief review summarizes the recent evidence on dietary magnesium's role in diabetes and related traits in the presence of underlying genetic risk, and discusses future potential research directions.