Calcium is the "little darling" of all the minerals. But magnesium‘s just as important. In fact, according to a new study, men who get plenty of magnesium cut their colon cancer risk by more than half.

For this observational study, Japanese scientists recruited nearly 90,000 middle-aged men and women. They asked the participants to fill out a survey about the kinds of foods they ate and what kind of vitamins they took. Turns out that over the course of eight years, most of the men and women only received about 280 mg per day of magnesium through diet and supplements.

But the men who received just a bit more each day of this undervalued mineral got a big return on their investment. In fact, the men who got at least 327 mg per day of magnesium cut their risk of colon cancer by 52 percent!

That‘s an astounding improvement, especially when you consider that the RDA for magnesium is just 320 mg for women and 420 mg for men.

Unfortunately, in this study, the women didn‘t reap the same protective benefits as the men when it comes to colon cancer. Still, that‘s no reason for women not to get plenty of magnesium, as it has other vital benefits. Magnesium is great for your heart and as I noted in last month‘s GTGH, and has been proven to improve lung function in asthmatics.

You can get magnesium into your diet by eating plenty of green, leafy vegetables like kale and spinach. You‘ll also find it in nuts, whole grains, and meat. You may even find a little magnesium in your multivitamin. However, you should always take calcium with equal parts or magnesium and quality manufacturers will actually pair these two minerals together in equal amounts for you to receive the maximum benefit.