Background: A number of studies have reported the association between
magnesium (Mg) and diabetes. However, the various conclusions were
inconsistent and the data on the Chinese population was limited. The
objective of this study was to evaluate the association among dietary
Mg, serum Mg, and diabetes in Chinese adults. Methods: A
cross-sectional study that contained 2904 subjects was conducted.
Biochemical test results and dietary intakes of subjects were collected
for analysis. The adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and the corresponding 95 %
confidence intervals (95 % CIs) were used to determine the relationship
between Mg status and diabetes by logistic regression. Results: The
prevalence of diabetes of the investigated population was 10.1 %.
Dietary Mg intake was not significantly correlated with diabetes (P
> 0.05). The significant negative association between serum Mg and
diabetes existed, and the multivariate adjusted OR was 0.34 (95 % CI
0.24, 0.49) in model 3 for the highest quartile of serum Mg compared
with the lowest. The P values for trend were all less than 0.001 for
the relationship between serum Mg and diabetes. Dietary Mg intake and
serum Mg were not significantly correlated in the diabetes population
(P = 0.936). Conclusions: Dietary Mg was not significantly correlated
with diabetes, while serum Mg was inversely correlated with diabetes in
the Chinese population. Meanwhile, dietary Mg intake and serum Mg were
not significantly correlated in the diabetes population