NOW Foods Magnesium Citrate 200mg 100 Tablets

What this is

NOW Foods Magnesium Citrate 200 mg is a single-mineral dietary supplement of 100 tablets, packed in a white bottle with a purple cap. Each tablet carries 200 mg of elemental magnesium drawn from magnesium citrate. The Supplement Facts panel defines a serving as two tablets, which comes to 400 mg of elemental magnesium and is listed at 95% of the Daily Value, and the bottle holds 50 of those servings.

The panel lists one active row and no proprietary blend, so this is a straight single-mineral tablet rather than a combination formula. The front of the bottle is marked Non-GMO and Vegetarian/Vegan, and the shoulder band places it in NOW's Minerals line. If you are comparing formats and strengths, the rest of our minerals range sits alongside it.

What is in the tablet

The only active ingredient is magnesium citrate, the salt formed when magnesium is combined with citric acid. The back label describes it in the company's own words: "This magnesium citrate is a fully reacted mineral supplement." In practical terms, "fully reacted" means the magnesium has been chemically bound to the citrate rather than stirred together with it as a physical mixture. The panel declares the 400 mg figure as elemental magnesium — the weight of the mineral itself, not the combined weight of the magnesium and the citrate it travels with. The NIH Office of Dietary Supplements keeps a consumer fact sheet on magnesium that gives general background on the mineral and the forms it is sold in.

The rest of the panel is the excipient list, and on this tablet it reads as a short account of how a tablet is actually made. Hydroxypropyl cellulose is a binder, holding the powder blend together. Microcrystalline cellulose is the bulking agent that gives the press something to compact. Stearic acid and magnesium stearate — both noted on the label as vegetable source — are lubricants that keep the blend moving through the tooling and stop it sticking to the punches. That is four ingredients whose job is to get powder to behave like a solid object under pressure.

Then there is croscarmellose sodium, and it is the one that works in the opposite direction. It is a disintegrant: a modified cellulose that swells on contact with water and pushes the compacted tablet apart again from the inside. Every other structural excipient in the list exists to hold the tablet together; this single one exists to undo that once the tablet has been swallowed.

The tablet is finished with a vegetarian coating, which the label breaks out into its three parts: hypromellose (cellulose) forms the film, calcium carbonate is the white opacifier that gives the coat its color and hides the core, and glycerin is the plasticizer that keeps the dried film flexible instead of brittle. The label also notes that natural color variation may occur in this product. If you like reading panels side by side, the NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database holds label records for thousands of products in this category.

Supplement Facts

Transcribed from the Supplement Facts panel on the bottle. The arithmetic on the panel checks out in both directions: 50 servings of 2 tablets accounts for all 100 tablets, and 400 mg against the 420 mg Daily Value for magnesium rounds to the printed 95%.

How to take it

The label's directions are to take 2 tablets daily with food. That is a single serving of 400 mg taken once a day alongside a meal, which makes the 100-tablet bottle a 50-day supply and a clean number to plan a reorder around.

Storage is equally short: store in a cool, dry place after opening. A kitchen cabinet away from the stove or a bedroom drawer both qualify; a windowsill or a steamy bathroom shelf does not. The bottle itself is made from 100% PCR — post-consumer recycled — resin, which the label states on the side panel.

Who it is for

This is a product for adults who want magnesium on its own, in a tablet, at a defined daily amount. The single-row panel is the point: there is nothing else in it to account for, which makes it straightforward to fit alongside whatever else is already in a routine. It will suit you if you prefer swallowing a coated tablet to a capsule or to stirring a powder into water, and the Vegetarian/Vegan mark on the front means the coating and the lubricants are plant-sourced rather than animal-derived.

It is less suitable if you want a multi-mineral or a magnesium-plus-something combination, or if you would rather take a smaller amount spread across the day than the label's single two-tablet serving — this panel is written around one serving daily. Our broader supplements section carries other formats if that is the fit you are after.

Good to know

The bottle's own caution reads: for adults only; consult physician if pregnant/nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition; keep out of reach of children. The line about existing medication is the one most worth pausing on before you start.

On allergens, the panel states that the product is not manufactured with wheat, gluten, soy, milk, egg, fish, shellfish or sesame ingredients, and that it is produced in a GMP facility that processes other ingredients containing these allergens. Both halves of that sentence matter if you are sensitive to any of the eight.

The panel names the maker as NOW Foods of Bloomingdale, Illinois, and states the product is made and quality tested in the USA with globally sourced ingredients. The bottle carries a GMP Quality Assured seal and a kosher letter mark, and the back label prints "Family owned since 1968."

One thing worth knowing about how supplement labels are written: the claims on the front of this bottle carry an asterisk, and that asterisk points to the FDA disclaimer at the end of this page. The FDA explains the rules behind that convention in its note on structure/function claims. For general orientation on buying supplements, NIH ODS publishes a short guide on what you need to know about dietary supplements. Our health and wellness department groups this kind of everyday product together.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much magnesium does one tablet contain?

One tablet contains 200 mg of elemental magnesium, and the Supplement Facts panel's serving of two tablets contains 400 mg. The 200 mg printed on the front of the bottle is the per-tablet figure; the 400 mg and the 95% Daily Value on the back panel both describe the two-tablet serving.

How many servings are in the bottle?

The bottle holds 50 servings, listed on the panel, made up of 100 tablets at two tablets per serving. Taken at the label's directed rate of two tablets daily, that works out to a 50-day supply.

Is this tablet suitable for vegans?

Yes — the front of the bottle is marked Vegetarian/Vegan. The coating is built on hypromellose, a cellulose film rather than gelatin, and the label identifies both stearic acid and magnesium stearate as vegetable source.

What are all the non-magnesium ingredients for?

They are the excipients that make a tablet possible: binders and bulking agents (hydroxypropyl cellulose, microcrystalline cellulose), lubricants for the tablet press (stearic acid, magnesium stearate), a disintegrant that breaks the tablet up again (croscarmellose sodium), and a three-part vegetarian coating of hypromellose, calcium carbonate and glycerin. None of them is an active ingredient; the panel declares only the magnesium.

How is this order packaged for delivery?

Orders ship in plain, unbranded outer packaging. It will not show the Gear Isle name. The bottle travels sealed in its own manufacturer packaging inside that outer carton.

Product information compiled and reviewed by the Gear Isle product team. We transcribe supplement facts directly from manufacturer packaging. Found an error? Tell us.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Dietary supplement for adults 18 and over. Consult a licensed healthcare professional before use, especially if you have a medical condition, heart concerns, or take prescription medication (including nitrates). Keep out of reach of children.