Magnesium in property and chemical composition is related to managanese but carries differently weighted functions. It is found predominantly in the liver and striated muscle tissue of the body. In serum levels it is important in lactating mothers for the breast-feeding of babies.
Significant levels of magnesium deficiencies are serious, so the element in trace quantities is deemed essential to the human system. A lack of magnesium has been known to cause malabsorption syndromes, chronic alcoholism, hyperirritability, vasodilation, convulsions, and even death.
Magnesium is interrelated with calcium and potassium in the regulation of the human metabolism; and its importance in this area, though not totally measureable, cannot be underplayed.
ref: Silent Healer (pg. 53) by Bill Coats R.Ph., with robert Ahola