Nutrition Geeks Magnesium Glycinate 3-in-1 review: the letterbox supplement

I started taking magnesium after a physio suggested it for calf cramps that kept waking me up. I picked this one because it is UK made, vegan, and the packaging fits through a letterbox so I did not have to trek to the sorting office for a bottle of pills.

One quick honesty note before the detail. I am not a doctor, and this is not medical advice. Magnesium has authorised health claims in the UK for contributing to normal muscle function and to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue. Anything beyond that is me describing my own experience. If you take medication or have a kidney condition, ask a pharmacist first.

What is in the capsule

Each two-capsule serving gives you 1000mg of magnesium glycinate, 400mg of magnesium malate and 400mg of magnesium citrate. That adds up to 1800mg of magnesium compounds, which sounds like a lot until you learn that only 384mg of it is elemental magnesium. That figure is the one that matters, and it works out at just over the daily reference value.

The three-form approach is the selling point. Glycinate is the gentle one that most people tolerate well. Citrate is the one you find in cheap supermarket tablets and it can loosen your bowels if you take too much. Malate is the one with less research behind it but a reputation among gym people. Blending them means you get most of the dose from glycinate and only a small amount of citrate, which for me meant no stomach trouble at all.

Taking them

The capsules are a standard size, not the horse pill some magnesium tablets turn into. No smell, no taste. I take both with dinner. The pack of 90 is 45 servings, so a pack lasts a month and a half at the stated dose.

The cramps eased within about two weeks and have not come back. I cannot promise that was the magnesium rather than the stretching the physio also gave me. I have kept taking it because stopping for a fortnight in the summer, when I ran out, brought one cramp back. That is a sample size of one, and I am telling you so you can weigh it.

The packaging

It comes in a slim cardboard pack with the capsules in a resealable pouch inside. Nutrition Geeks makes a point of the lower plastic and the letterbox delivery, and I like both. The pouch seal is fine for a month but I decant the second half into an old pill bottle because the pouch gets scruffy in a kitchen drawer.