We studied plasma magnesium, plasma ultrafiltrable magnesium, erythrocyte and platelet magnesium in 28 non-insulin dependent (NIDDM) patients and 28 age and sex matched non-diabetic control subjects. The plasma magnesium concentration was significantly lower in the diabetic subjects as compared with the control subjects (0.67 +/- 0.09 mmol/l versus 0.72 +/- 0.07 mmol/l, P < 0.05) as was plasma ultrafiltrable magnesium (0.43 +/- 0.06 mmol/l versus 0.47 +/- 0.05 mmol/l, P < 0.01. Similarly, erythrocyte magnesium was lower in the diabetic subjects than the non diabetic controls, (0.17 +/- 0.03 nmol/10(6) cells versus 0.19 +/- 0.02 nmol/10(6) cells, P < 0.01. Platelet magnesium was higher in the diabetic subjects (48.3 +/- 19.1 umol/g platelet protein versus 36.6 +/- 22.2 umol/g platelet protein, P < 0.01). There was no significant difference between the % plasma ultrafiltrable magnesium with respect to total plasma levels between the diabetic and normal subjects (64.7 +/- 4.7% versus 65.8 +/- 3.2% respectively). There was no significant correlation between any of these parameters and systolic or diastolic blood pressure of HbA1C in the diabetics. Nor were there any significant differences in these magnesium parameters in patients with or without diabetic complications.