Magnesium bisglycinate

Tier 1 — strong evidence · Sleep · Anxiety · Bioavailability

Magnesium bisglycinate is the same compound as magnesium glycinate (magnesium chelated to two glycine molecules — bis = two). It is the best-tolerated oral magnesium form for people who experience diarrhea with citrate, oxide, or sulfate, because the glycinate chelate resists dissociation in the gut, reducing osmotic and irritant effects. Oral magnesium supplementation improved sleep onset latency by 17 minutes in the 2021 Mah meta-analysis (3 RCTs, PMID 33865376). Glycine, the chelating amino acid, independently promotes sleep at 3 g/day (Inagawa 2006) and activates inhibitory glycine…

Dose: 200–400 mg elemental magnesium as bisglycinate before bed. Check label carefully: a 1,000 mg bisglycinate capsule typically provides only 100–200 mg elemental magnesium. Target elemental dose, not total salt weight.