In metabolism, magnesium binds to ATP and GTP and is a cofactor necessary for the activation of adenyl cyclase and guanyl cyclase, phosphofructokinase and phosphocreatine. Therefore, magnesium is intimately associated with phosphate metabolism and ATP generation and turnover.

All reactions involving the utilization and transfer of ATP, including cellular responses to growth factors and cell proliferation, being thus implicated in virtually every process in the cells. Mg2+ availability is a critical issue for carbohydrate metabolism.

Mg2+ is crucial to maintain genomic and genetic stability, stabilizing the natural DNA conformation and acting as a cofactor for almost every enzyme involved in nucleotide and base excision repair and mismatch repair.