TNF and magnesium deficiency: Magnesium deficiency in humans is known to be associated with skeletal diseases, including hypocalcemia and osteoporosis, due to impaired parathyroid hormone (PTH) secretion, renal and skeletal resistance to PTH and vitamin D, and increasing inflammatory cytokines, like interleukin (IL) -1 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) -α (Weglicki et al., 1996; Rude and Gruber, 2004; Rude et al., 2004; Rude and Shils, 2006).