Gallstones and Magnesium

Our medical dictionary says that the gallstone is a concretion formed in the bladder or the biliary ducts, composed, in varying amounts, of cholesterol, bilirubin, and other elements found in bile.

The biliary ducts are in the liver. In this case also, magnesium is a specific preventive factor in the formation of gall- or liver stones. For one thing magnesium has the effect of reducing the amount of cholesterol in the bloodstream.

The matter is mentioned in a communication to the French Academy of Medicine (June 23, 1931) by Pierre Delbet, M.D., reproduced in his book Politique Préventif du Cancer. He says that when the diet is rich in magnesium it immediately shows up in the bile. In this manner the quantity of the magnesium in the bile can be actually doubled.

This was confirmed by Bretau. Dr. Delbet also mentions clinical work by Drs. Godard and Palios, which showed that such increase in magnesium can have a favorable influence on gallstones.

Dr. Delbet studied human bile in the laboratory and found that the addition of magnesium drove out practically all the cholesterol, and he noted that the addition of magnesium added a pigmentation to the bile, gave it a deeper coloring. Its effect on the bile was to make the cholesterol in it more soluble.

Dr. Delbet then adds that, "It is a clear result of experiments ... on the action of magnesium chloride on the elements that make up calculi [stones] that the addition of a food ration of magnesium in the form of halogenated salts has the power to reduce chance of biliary calculus formation.

Dr Delbet, "cases of the gall bladder being healed by the regular use of halogenated magnesium salts are numerous."

Delbet gives an interesting account of a doctor who used magnesium in connection with difficulties he had with the bile:

"The clinical facts have, for the most part, been observed by chance. My followers take much magnesium chloride. They are enthusiasts propagandizing for it."

"Laborde states that it has a strong action on the secretion of bile. I have no experience on this point, but I have confirmed with de Wades that, introduced into the duodenum, it leads to evacuation of the tube. By this mechanism it can render service in infections of the biliary duct.

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