mineral · for anxiety
Magnesium Glycinate
Settles the body’s stress response and quietens the brain signal that keeps you wired.
Say that in clinical terms
Magnesium regulates the HPA axis stress response and modulates NMDA glutamate receptors, preventing excitotoxicity. The glycine moiety provides additional inhibitory neurotransmitter activity, enhancing anxiolytic effects.
How strong is the research?
1 paper read, 1 supporting.
Who was studied: Studied in women with PMS, new mothers, and people with high blood pressure. No trial has tested glycinate for anxiety specifically.
How much to take
daily (evening preferred)
200–400 mg
Glycinate form provides calming glycine alongside magnesium. Evening dosing supports relaxation. Can be taken with or without food.
Before you take it
- NIH ODS Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) for supplemental magnesium is 350 mg/day for adults; the principal adverse effect above the UL is osmotic diarrhea; hypermagnesemia is rare with intact renal function but possible with chronically elevated doses.
- Tetracycline antibiotics (e.g., doxycycline, demeclocycline) and quinolone antibiotics (e.g., ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin): take the antibiotic at least 2 hours BEFORE or 4-6 hours AFTER magnesium supplementation, per NIH ODS. Note: this timing requirement is asymmetric.
- Bisphosphonates (e.g., alendronate): magnesium reduces oral bisphosphonate absorption; take at least 2 hours apart, per NIH ODS.
- Antihypertensive medications (ACE inhibitors, ARBs, calcium channel blockers): magnesium may potentiate blood-pressure-lowering effects; blood pressure should be monitored when these are combined.
- Loop diuretics (furosemide) and thiazide diuretics increase renal magnesium excretion; potassium-sparing diuretics decrease magnesium excretion — both are clinically relevant interactions in common patient populations.
- Long-term proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use reduces intestinal magnesium absorption and causes hypomagnesemia independent of dietary intake.
- Renal insufficiency and chronic kidney disease: impaired renal magnesium excretion substantially increases hypermagnesemia risk; supplementation requires medical supervision.
- The antacid effect seen with magnesium hydroxide, carbonate, and oxide forms is form-specific and does not apply to magnesium glycinate at typical supplement doses.
When to take it
Best taken: evening
What we make of it
The underlying review called its own evidence "suggestive but inconclusive", and no trial used glycinate.
The detail
The paper we cite is a narrative review rather than a pooled analysis. The systematic review beneath it was partly funded by a pharmaceutical company and concluded only that the evidence was suggestive but inconclusive for mild anxiety, citing weak trial designs and large placebo responses. No trial has tested magnesium glycinate for anxiety — the ones that exist used lactate, oxide or other forms. The claim about glycine adding a calming effect comes from research on glycine taken alone.