Manganese is an essential trace mineral that several enzymes need to work, including enzymes involved in metabolism, bone formation and clearing reactive oxygen. The body holds only about 10 to 20 mg, and deficiency is very rare.
Also known as: manganese gluconate, manganese sulfate, manganese bisglycinate.
ODS lists an Adequate Intake of 2.3 mg a day for men and 1.8 mg for women 19 and older (2.0 mg in pregnancy, 2.6 mg while breastfeeding). The adult Tolerable Upper Intake Level is 11 mg a day. Multivitamins that contain manganese typically provide 1.0 to 4.5 mg; most manganese-only products contain 5 to 20 mg.
It is sold in the US as a dietary supplement. Under the 1994 dietary supplement law (DSHEA), FDA does not approve dietary supplements before they are marketed, and the maker, not FDA, is responsible for safety and labeling. ODS says data suggest most people get enough manganese from food (whole grains, shellfish, nuts, legumes, leafy vegetables, tea) and no groups are known to be at risk of low intake.
What studies show: no trial has tested manganese alone for bone health. In a 2-year trial in 59 postmenopausal women, calcium plus zinc, copper and 5 mg of manganese a day was the only group whose spinal bone density differed from placebo (+1.48% versus -3.53%), so the effect of manganese itself cannot be separated (Strause 1994). Studies linking blood manganese to diabetes point in both directions, and ODS says trials in people are lacking.
Safety, per ODS: manganese toxicity mainly affects the nervous system (tremor, muscle spasms, mood changes and, in time, problems like Parkinson's disease). It has occurred in welders and miners who breathed manganese dust and in people drinking water very high in manganese; ODS found no evidence of toxicity from diet. Iron deficiency raises manganese absorption, and people with chronic liver disease clear it poorly and are more at risk. Manganese has no known clinically relevant drug interactions.
We could not find a single published half-life or time to peak for manganese that applies to a supplement dose, so we do not list one. ODS says people absorb only about 1% to 5% of dietary manganese, and more than 90% of absorbed manganese leaves through bile.
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