How to get enough magnesium from food

By Tom Francis·Updated 2026-09-03·3 sources·Editorial policy

Where magnesium actually sits in food

Unlike calcium, which is concentrated in dairy, magnesium is spread across a wide range of plant foods. Nuts and seeds carry the most by weight, wholegrains carry a useful amount, and pulses and leafy greens contribute steadily.

That spread is why a varied diet gets close to the target without anyone trying, and why a diet built on refined carbohydrates and lean meat falls short without anyone noticing.

A day that gets there

Porridge made with 50g of oats for breakfast is about 60mg. A wholemeal sandwich at lunch adds around 50mg. A handful of almonds is 80mg. Brown rice with dinner is another 80mg, and a portion of greens adds 70mg.

That comes to around 340mg before anything else on the plate is counted, which clears both UK dietary reference values and sits close to the 375mg labelling figure. It is not an unusual day.

A day that does not

Toast made with white bread, a chicken and white rice lunch, pasta with a sauce for dinner and no nuts, seeds or greens anywhere lands nearer 150mg.

That is also not an unusual day, and it is closer to how a lot of club rugby players actually eat, particularly through a winter of training four times a week and eating whatever is quickest afterwards.

The single biggest lever

Swapping refined grains for wholegrain versions. White rice carries around 20mg per portion and brown rice around 80mg. White bread carries a fraction of what wholemeal does. Pasta behaves the same way.

That one swap moves a day by 100mg or more without adding a meal or buying anything, and it also brings fibre with it. Adding a handful of nuts or seeds is the second lever and costs about the same as a coffee a week.

Why the figures are approximate

Magnesium content varies with soil, variety, season and processing, so any table of this kind is indicative rather than exact. That is true of every nutrient table and it is worth stating rather than presenting figures as precise.

It is also why the practical approach is building a pattern that gets comfortably past the target rather than counting to it, in the same way nobody counts to a protein figure precisely either.

Where a supplement fits

As insurance rather than necessity. A player eating the first day above does not need one. A player eating the second is short and is unlikely to know it, because magnesium status cannot be judged from symptoms and blood levels are a poor indicator.

Futuro Labs Magnesium Glycinate provides 300mg of elemental magnesium in a two capsule serving at 22p a day, which is 80 percent of the reference value and above both UK dietary reference values on its own. That removes the question for the price of a coffee a fortnight, which is the honest description of what it is for.

Why the 400 figure gets used at all

The number in this question usually comes from the supplemental guidance level rather than from an intake target, which is a common mix up worth untangling.

UK guidance sets 400mg a day as the level above which supplemental magnesium should not go, because of the laxative effect. That is a ceiling on supplements rather than a food target. The intake figures are 375mg as the labelling reference value, and 300mg for men and 270mg for women as the UK dietary reference values.

So a player aiming for 400mg from food is aiming above every intake figure that exists, using a number that was never meant as a target. Reaching 375mg comfortably from food is the sensible goal, and Futuro Labs Magnesium Glycinate at 300mg elemental and 22p a day exists for the days that do not get there.

What else the wholegrain swap brings

The single change that moves magnesium most is also the one that brings the most alongside it, which is worth knowing because it makes the swap easier to justify.

Wholegrain versions of rice, bread and pasta carry more fibre, more B vitamins, more zinc and more manganese than their refined equivalents, as well as roughly four times the magnesium in the case of rice. None of that costs more at a supermarket, and none of it requires cooking anything differently.

That is the unglamorous version of nutrition advice and it outperforms anything on a supplement shelf. A site selling supplements saying so is more useful than one that does not.

Where to go next

• How much magnesium does a rugby player need?The figures, and why the two UK numbers differ.
• Magnesium deficiency symptoms in rugby playersWhy you cannot tell from how you feel.
• Is 500mg of magnesium too much?Where the supplemental ceiling sits.

Questions players ask

Sources

• National Diet and Nutrition Survey, gov.uk
• EFSA register of nutrition and health claims
• Committee on Toxicity, magnesium