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A promising finding

Magnesium beat placebo for depression. The evidence is 325 people

Magnesium lowered depression scores well below placebo, across seven trials and 325 adults in total. An effect that large from so few people is usually what missing trials look like.

Magnesium

Magnesium is sold for sleep and cramps, so a mineral beating placebo on depression reads as a breakthrough. Pooled trials do put it well ahead, in 325 adults altogether. An effect that large from a base that small is the signature of small trials that found nothing and were never published — which is why the reviewers called for bigger ones. And it was only ever set against placebo, never a prescription antidepressant, so this is a number waiting to be tested properly, not a rival to treatment.

The findings behind this

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Mood & wellbeingMagnesium beat placebo on depression scores, in seven small trials

Across seven randomised trials in 325 adults with depression, magnesium lowered depression scores substantially further than placebo. It is a large effect resting on a small pool.

★☆☆Contested — the evidence disagrees with itself, or the finding carries a caution. A caution or conflict always shows one star, however strong the sources are.CautionSeven trials and 325 people is a thin base, and the authors ask for larger, better ones before anybody draws a clinical conclusion. An effect this big out of a pool this small is also the pattern produced when small trials that found nothing never reach publication. Magnesium was compared with placebo, never with a prescription antidepressant.Click to keep this openSupport moodMagnesium

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