What Is the Pancreas?

The pancreas is an organ found in our stomach region. It is part of our digestive and endocrine systems. The pancreas produces enzymes that help to digest food, and hormones that help to regulate our blood sugar levels.

What Is Pancreatitis and Pancreatic Injury?

Acute pancreatitis (AP) is when the pancreas becomes inflamed. Of all the problems that happen in our digestive system, pancreatitis is one of the most common to cause a person to go to hospital. About 2 in 10 people develop a severe pancreatitis, and in a very small number of people this can lead to death.

What Causes Pancreatitis?

Gallstones and drinking too much alcohol are the most common causes of pancreatitis. It can also happen as a complication after surgery or other invasive investigations.

What Is Magnesium?

Magnesium is a mineral found naturally in our body. It is important for healthy chemical processes (enzyme reactions and metabolic activity) in the body, to make our body function. An adult human body contains approximately 24 g of magnesium. It is found mostly in the bones, but also especially in body parts that have high chemical and energy exchange processes such as the heart, liver, and muscles.

What Does Magnesium Have to Do with Pancreatitis?

Magnesium seems to be involved in several important mechanisms in our body. One of these is to act against a chemical process that can cause the activation of the inflammation that leads to pancreatitis. This is called the calcium signalling pathway.

What Is the Calcium Signalling Pathway?

A signalling pathway is a term that describes a series of chemical reactions between cells, or how cells communicate with each other. Calcium is another important mineral found in the body. There is a signalling pathway with calcium that can lead to the development of the inflammation in pancreatitis.

Magnesium seems to act against this calcium signalling pathway and can therefore block the development of the inflammation.

What Is Magnesium Deficiency?

Magnesium deficiency is when a person does not have enough magnesium in their body. This means they could be at risk of developing pancreatitis. It is thought that taking replacement magnesium may help to prevent the development of pancreatitis.

What Did the Article Investigate?

The authors carried out what is called a systematic review. They searched research databases for all research on the topic of taking magnesium to prevent pancreatitis. The authors screened a total of 1,426 records, and found 12 suitable studies. There are international guidelines for how to do this in the best way: such as using special databases, employing particular search words and following logical processes to carefully review and categorise what is found. The aim is to use statistical methods to combine the study results and come to a strong conclusion.

What Did This Study Show?

The authors describe the studies in detail. The studies were all quite different from each other (known as heterogeneity), and so it was difficult to make a conclusion about their joint results. However, all of the studies did have consistent results, which can still be used to better understand prevention and treatment of pancreatitis. The authors determined that if a person takes replacement magnesium this can probably prevent pancreatitis developing in specific situations such as after surgery. The authors recommend that further studies and research are carried out to confirm this.