Research
Micronutrients & recovery
Magnesium supplementation above the Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) of 250 mg/day from supplements can cause mild diarrhea.
Do not exceed 250 mg/day from magnesium supplements, as this can cause diarrhea. This limit applies to supplements and fortified foods, not naturally occurring magnesium in whole foods.
GoodRefutesHIGH confidence
A Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) was determined by the SCF (2001) based on studies in which mild diarrhoea occurred after ingestion of magnesium supplements... a UL of 250 mg/day was established for adults... The UL was established for readily dissociable magnesium salts... but does not include magnesium normally present in foods and beverages.
Why this rating
Based on established SCF guidelines and specific studies on supplement-induced diarrhea.
Source
Scientific Opinion on Dietary Reference Values for magnesium
EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products et al. · EFSA Journal · 2015
DOI 10.2903/j.efsa.2015.4186
clinical_guidelineCited 177×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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