The study started by identifying a common issue with lower-than-recommended dietary intakes of magnesium in Western countries. The focus was on migraine patients, as low brain magnesium and impaired magnesium metabolism had been reported in migraine cases. A non-invasive and sensitive test to detect these deficiencies was sought. Magnesium, being an intracellular cation, was tested in 29 migraine patients and 18 control subjects. The tests were for total magnesium in plasma, erythrocytes, lymphocytes and ionized magnesium in lymphocytes.

The analysis found that there were lower concentrations of total magnesium in erythrocytes and ionized magnesium in lymphocytes of migraine patients compared to controls. These findings indicated a notable overall difference between the migraine patients and the controls, despite there being overlaps in some individual values.

The researchers then subjected the migraine patients to a 2-week intake of a mineral water rich in magnesium. An increase in all intracellular magnesium concentrations was observed, with no effect on plasma magnesium. This increase demonstrated the bioavailability of magnesium from the mineral water. Interestingly, the most sensitive index of magnesium deficiency turned out to be ionized magnesium in lymphocytes, which saw the most significant increase after the intake of the magnesium-rich mineral water.