Trends in dietary and total magnesium intake of Hispanic Adults, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999 – 2014

Purpose Magnesium is an essential mineral that plays important roles in hundreds of physiologic activities; however, intake of magnesium has been histologically low in Americans. The 2015-2020 Dietary Guideline for Americans particularly identified magnesium as one nutrient of concerns. The purpose of this study is to report trends in magnesium intake from foods and total magnesium intake (from foods and supplement) between 1999 and 2014 among US Hispanic adults, overall and stratified by gender, race, age, family income level, and education level. Methods Data on 9,690 Hispanic adults aged 20 years or older from eight National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) cycles (1999 – 2014) were included in this study. The sample size per cycle ranged from 957 to 1,651. In NHANES, daily dietary magnesium intake was collected through 24-hour dietary recalls, and supplemental intake of magnesium was obtained from a dietary supplement questionnaire. For each survey cycle, survey-weight, energy-adjusted average dietary and total magnesium intakes were estimated, and the prevalence of dietary and total magnesium intake below the Estimated Average Requirement (EAR) were estimated using the National Cancer Institute (NCI) method. Linear regression was used to test trends in mean intake and prevalence of inadequacy over time. Results Among Hispanic adults, overall both dietary and total magnesium intake increased significantly between 1999 – 2000 and 2013 – 2014, from 269 mg/day to 285 mg/day for dietary intake and from 289 mg/day to 305 mg/day for total intake (p-quadratic trend p trend Conclusions Our results indicate mild improvements in magnesium consumption level among U.S. Hispanic adults between 1999 and 2014, while the prevalence of magnesium inadequacy remained high, which suggesting the necessary to improve magnesium intake in this population through appropriate public health educations on nutrition and supplementation.