Manganese glycinate
(Mn glycinate)
Evidence: Reasonable
Potential Benefits: Low
Safety: Reasonable
TABLE OF CONTENTS
What is manganese glycinate?
Manganese glycinate is a supplemental form of manganese, an essential mineral necessary for making cholesterol, protecting our mitochondria, burning food for energy, and more. Manganese glycinate supplements are most helpful if you are deficient in the nutrient. If you already get enough from food, you should not need to take it as a supplement. However, it can still improve some aspects of your health beyond the baseline. This article is about the main benefits of manganese glycinate, its potential side effects, the best time to take it, and more.
What does manganese do?
Manganese has many crucial functions in the body. This mineral is necessary to protect mitochondria from oxidative stress, burn food for energy, create collagen, convert lactate into glucose, clean up ammonia (a toxic byproduct of too much protein), make cholesterol, and more.
If you are not getting enough of this mineral, your body will not be able to perform many of these functions optimally. For example, a deficiency can drop your cholesterol levels too low and worsen your skin quality because of impaired collagen production.
Potential benefits
It is important to note that all of the potential benefits mentioned below are dose-dependent. Generally, the higher the dose, the more pronounced the effects are. However, they do reach a plateau at a certain point. We will discuss the best dosing protocol later in this article.
Many possible benefits fall under the umbrella of ‘correcting a deficiency’ and are therefore not mentioned in the article. If you are deficient, manganese glycinate can affect your cognition, performance, and overall health in a remarkably positive way.
Major benefits
Minor benefits
Possible side effects
These side effects are dose-dependent. The risk for them increases (often linearly but sometimes exponentially) as you increase the dose. Some of the side effects only apply to very high doses.
Who should not take manganese glycinate?
You should probably avoid taking the supplement if you:
Who will benefit the most?
You should consider taking the supplement if you:
Types of manganese
The different types of manganese supplements include:
While these types differ in bioavailability to some degree, their effects are virtually identical. All of these options are fine.
Symptoms of manganese deficiency
The most common signs of deficiency include:
Keep in mind that these signs are just indications of a deficiency. If you experience some or even most of them, it does not necessarily mean you need more Mn. On the other hand, some people may be deficient even though they are completely asymptomatic.
With that said, if you experience many or most of these symptoms, there is a high chance that you are not getting enough manganese. The more of these symptoms you have and the more severe they are, the more likely you are to have a deficiency.
How much manganese glycinate should you take?
3 mg/d is a great target for most people.
The AI (adequate intake) for this nutrient is 2.3 mg/d for men and 1.8 mg/d for women. This should be enough to avoid symptoms of deficiency. The AI for pregnant and lactating women is 2 mg/d and 2.6 mg/d, respectively. Infants only need about 3 mcg/d (0.003 mg/d) since they cannot utilize manganese and high amounts could be harmful to infants less than 6 months old.
While the amounts above are enough to prevent symptoms of deficiency, they may not be enough for optimal health.
For most adults, 3 mg/d appears to be the best amount to shoot for. Adolescent girls may need about 3.6 mg/d. This is more than most people consume (the average is about 2 mg) but even 3.6 mg is very easy to get if you eat a diet rich in whole plant foods. Most WFPB (whole-food, plant-based) people get about 11-20 mg/d.
We only absorb 2-5% of manganese from food and about 8% of manganese from supplements. This means that 1 mg of manganese from a supplement is about equal to 2 mg from food.
If you only get manganese from food and do not take supplements, inhale it, or drink contaminated water, you do not have to worry about exceeding the upper limit. If you do fall into one of these categories, beware that high amounts of this mineral can be toxic.
Severe neurotoxicity has been documented in people who drank water contained with 14-28 mg/L. In Greek villages where the water contained 1.8-2.3 mg/L, people who drank more contaminated water had mild motor deficits. This doesn’t mean that consuming these amounts from food leads to neurotoxicity since manganese in the water is much more bioavailable than manganese in food.
Taking high amounts of manganese glycinate can lead to symptoms similar to Parkinson’s disease and other health and neurological problems. To prevent this from happening, do not take over 2 mg/d (equivalent to about 4 mg in food) unless you have a great reason to consume more.
Food sources of manganese
Manganese is found in very high amounts in most whole, plant-based foods. Meat and animal products contain little to no manganese, with a few exceptions.
Legumes, grains, nuts, and seeds, typically provide enough manganese (3 mg) in a 100-200 gram serving. If you eat these foods regularly, you are almost certainly getting more than enough Mn. Most types of veggies should provide 3 mg or more in 300 grams (measured fresh). However, some don’t contain a reasonable amount.
Manganese in vegetables is about 2 times more bioavailable than in grains, nuts, seeds, and legumes because of phytic acid in these foods. You can increase the absorption of Mn from these foods by soaking, sprouting, and fermenting them.
Per gram, tea and spices are by far the richest sources of this mineral. As little as 6 grams of some tea and spices will give you enough manganese for the day.
About 37% of manganese people consume is from grains. Another 20% comes from tea and 18% from vegetables.
The only animal food that contains a reasonable amount of manganese is mussels. If you are on a carnivore diet, you can also get enough Mn by eating high amounts of one of these rare types of fish: fresh-water bass, trout, walleye pike, burbot, drum, perch, rainbow smelt, sunfish, and sucker.
The easiest way to find out how much manganese you are getting in your diet is with Cronometer.com – this free app allows you to track all vitamins, minerals, and more
Best time to take manganese glycinate
Manganese glycinate is water-soluble, which means you don’t have to take it with food to absorb it well. Taking the supplement with food is better if it causes stomach upset when you take it on an empty stomach.
It is slightly better to take this form in the evening rather than in the morning. Manganese doesn’t impact your sleep in any negative way and the glycine part may increase sleep quality.
Interactions with other supplements
Where to buy manganese glycinate
Amazon seems to be the best option for ordering manganese supplements in most countries. They offer some very affordable products backed by many positive reviews. Also, you can choose from a wide range of brands without having to search through other markets on the internet.
Beware some brands display the dosage per serving instead of per pill or capsule. Therefore, you may accidentally buy something less potent than you intended. Do not fall for this marketing trick.
FAQ
References
Most of the information provided in this guide is supported by scientific research that can be found and verified in the PubMed medical library. We highly encourage you to use the library to verify anything said in this article. We excluded from consideration studies that are either confounded or have a high conflict of interest.
We hope this guide has helped you determine if you should add manganese glycinate to your stack and how to do it right.
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