Magnesium-Induced Diarrhea and New Insights into the Pathobiology of Diarrhea

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Abstract
MAGNESIUM ingestion, usually in the form of laxatives or antacids, can produce diarrhea. Patients who go to tertiary referral centers for evaluation of chronic diarrhea include those who abuse laxatives.1 Among them are patients who surreptitiously ingest magnesium-containing laxatives. They can be identified by the finding of a stool osmotic gap (calculated as the difference between stool osmolality, in milliosmoles per kilogram of body weight, and twice the sum of the stool water concentrations of sodium plus potassium, in millimoles per liter), which should then lead to measurement of the stool water concentration of magnesium.The article in this issue . . .