Chicken is an excellent source of protein, but our company’s chicken is absolutely sensational. It comes from chickens with two legs and two wings, which makes it very special. On top of that, our chicken contains 99.98% chicken. Sound ridiculous? That’s exactly how several well-known social media influencers are marketing the new “miracle products” from the Kontamo product line.
If you’ve been scrolling through social media lately, you’ve probably seen ads for “pico-ionic” magnesium, potassium, or other minerals. In Estonia, these products are marketed by Kontamo, and there are several faces behind the ads—Ott Kiivikas, Fitlap, and several other influencers whom people have come to regard as health and nutrition experts. The topic was also recently discussed on TV3’s show *Laser* and ETV’s show *Impulss*. So let’s take a closer look at these products to see what the people you consider to be health influencers are leaving out.
The sales pitch is powerful: “revolutionary technology,” “absorbed directly into the cells,” “99.98% absorption.” Ott Kiivikas claims in an ad that 80% of the processes in our bodies involve magnesium. He also claims that the absorption rate for the oxide and “hydrochloride” forms sold at pharmacies is 4%. Estonia’s largest healthy eating platform has published a sales article about this product on its blog, and what’s more, from November 2025 through March 2026—nearly half a year—it has run paid Facebook ads to drive people to read this post on their blog. Does this mean that faith in the product is that strong? Or is the affiliate commission on offer just that sweet? We’ll talk about the money later; first, let’s take a look at the products.
What exactly is “pico-ionic”?
“Pico-” is an order of magnitude of 10⁻¹² in the SI system, or one trillionth. “Ion” is an electrically charged particle, such as the potassium ion K⁺. It’s 1,000 times smaller than a nano and a million times smaller than a micro. Put together, “pico-ionic” sounds technical and scientific.
The problem is that this term doesn’t exist in chemistry, physics, or nutrition science. It is not a standard term. If you look it up in a textbook, you won’t find anything. It’s a word that Carolyn Dean made up to market her product line. More on her shortly.
Since 2015, the company RnA ReSet has been selling products such as ReMag, Pico Potassium, Pico Silver, Pico Selenite, and others. According to their definition, a “pico-ionic” mineral is one that is “pico-meter in size, smaller than the ion channels in the body’s cells, and is therefore absorbed directly into the cell.” This might sound convincing if your last encounter with chemistry was back in high school.
A quick shout-out to our high school chemistry teacher—let’s recall what they taught us
How big are the ions in a substance, anyway? You may remember, and if not, you probably already guessed—given the way the question is phrased—that they’re quite small. The size of all ions is measured in picometers. This isn’t some technological achievement by a dietary supplement manufacturer—it’s a fact of physics.
Some numbers:
Magnesium ion Mg²⁺ — radius approximately 72 picometers
Potassium ion K⁺ — radius approximately 138 picometers
Calcium ion Ca²⁺ — radius approximately 100 picometers
A magnesium ion is exactly 72 picometers—always, everywhere, in every bottle, in every apple, and in every nut. Advertising “picometer-sized magnesium” is like advertising “wet water” or “a round circle.”
Now, if we were to imagine making these ions about 100 times smaller—say, exactly 1 picometer in size—that would be impossible, because if we break an ion down into atoms, it is no longer that substance—it would no longer be magnesium or any other mineral.
Do smaller ions get absorbed better?
ReMag’s marketing claim that smaller ions are absorbed better because they “fit through cell channels” is pure marketing nonsense. Biological ion channels do not work like kitchen strainers. The potassium channel selectively allows K⁺ (138 pm) to pass through and blocks Na⁺ (102 pm), even though sodium is smaller. This selection is based on chemical affinity, not on what fits through and what doesn’t. American scientist Roderick MacKinnon received the 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for this work. The “smaller is better” argument is biologically incorrect. It doesn’t work that way. Magnesium ions enter cells through magnesium ion channels, which recognize their specific target, and that target is always the same size.
What’s actually in that bottle?
If you look at the ingredients, these products are essentially just ordinary mineral salt solutions:
ReMag = magnesium chloride in reverse osmosis water
Pico Potassium = potassium citrate in water, with preservatives
ReCalcia = calcium solution
These are well-studied substances that have been in use for decades. You can get magnesium chloride at a pharmacy—or, in most cases, even from food—for a fraction of the price. When you dissolve magnesium chloride in water, the result is already in the form of ions. That’s high school chemistry. No “patented 18-step process” changes that fact.
A magnesium ion in water doesn’t care what “revolutionary” steps were taken with it along the way. It was boiled, frozen, electrolyzed, filtered through cheesecloth, stored for 12 months in an oak barrel, and charged with positive energy using a pendulum. Whatever those 18 patented processes may have been, the magnesium ion remains the same. Unlike cells, ions have no memory—not even their own. The only thing that matters is the composition listed on the label—MgCl₂ and reverse-osmosis water. In the body, it works exactly like any other MgCl₂ solution; the history of the ions is completely irrelevant.
Does the liquid form have no advantages at all?
In the interest of honesty, we must admit: there is actually one valid argument in favor of liquid magnesium. With a tablet, the body has to do the work itself. The tablet must break down in the stomach, the salt must dissolve, and only then do the ions separate. In a liquid solution, this work has already been done: the magnesium is immediately present as free Mg²⁺ ions and ready for absorption in the digestive tract.
This is an advantage for people with low stomach acidity (older adults, users of proton pump inhibitors). For them, a tablet may dissolve less effectively. However, this advantage applies to the liquid form in general, not specifically to ReMag. You’ll get the same result if you dissolve any magnesium salt in water before drinking it. And well-formulated magnesium citrate tablets dissolve quickly in the stomach anyway, since citrate is highly soluble. The difference in bioavailability is more like 35% vs. 45%, not 4% vs. 99.98%. Certainly not enough to justify a multiple-fold price difference.
What’s true and what’s false in the ads?
Let’s take a closer look at what influencers are saying in their ads for these products. Ott Kiivikas makes two claims in his ad that are worth analyzing in more detail.
Claim: “Magnesium is the body’s primary mineral, and 80% of bodily processes rely on magnesium.”
Partially true, but greatly exaggerated. Magnesium is indeed very important. According to various sources, it acts as a cofactor in 600–800 enzyme systems. However, the 80% figure comes directly from RnA ReSet’s own marketing materials, not from scientific literature. In reality, thousands of enzymatic reactions take place in the human body. 600–800 of them is a significant number, but 80% is a massive exaggeration.
Is it the primary mineral? Calcium is present in the greatest quantity in the body (bones, teeth). Potassium is the most abundant cation intracellularly. Magnesium plays a major role, but calling it “primary” is clearly an exaggerated marketing claim.
Claim: “Pharmacies sell magnesium oxide and magnesium hydrochloride with a bioavailability of 4%, but the ReMag product has a bioavailability of 99.98%.”
If I told you that from the gasoline you put in a Volkswagen’s gas tank, you effectively get 25% of the energy needed to power the car, but the fuel in a BMW’s gas tank is 100% gasoline, what would you make of such a comparison? Does it seem reasonable, or as if I’d just compared a codfish to a ping-pong paddle?
Two completely different figures have been deliberately mixed up and placed side by side.
First, a small detail: the “magnesium hydrochloride” mentioned by Ott Kiivikas does not exist. Kiivikas is likely referring to either magnesium chloride (MgCl₂) or magnesium hydroxide (Mg(OH)₂). This is not a trivial detail or a mere slip of the tongue, because, ironically, magnesium chloride is precisely the same raw material from which ReMag itself is made.
Now, let’s look at the numbers—where does this 4% come from? This figure comes from a 2001 study (Firoz & Graber), which indeed showed very low bioavailability for magnesium oxide. However, this is the worst figure from a single study. A meta-analysis of several studies puts the bioavailability of magnesium oxide at about 23%, which is still lower than that of other forms. The absorption of magnesium salts has been measured in various studies to range from 30% to 68%. For example, citrate has an absorption rate of ~30–65%, which is comparable to that of chloride (30–68%). The advertisement deliberately chooses the worst figure from a single study, rather than the average result from various studies. You get three guesses as to why.
But where does the magical 99.98% bioavailability come from? This number has nothing to do with absorption at all. RnA ReSet’s own materials state: the company purchases 99.98–99.99% pure magnesium ingots. This refers to the purity of the raw material—that is, what percentage of the ingot is magnesium versus impurities. If a gold bar is “99.99% pure,” that refers to the chemical purity of the gold, not how well your body absorbs it.
In the ad, however, these two numbers are juxtaposed in a way that gives the impression that the difference in bioavailability is 4% versus 99.98%. “25× MORE EFFECTIVE!!! MUCH WOW…." In reality, one number pertains to chemistry and the other to physiology, and they cannot be compared.
Furthermore, no independent scientific study has shown that ReMag is absorbed at a rate of 99.98%. The company itself even claims “100% absorption at the cellular level,” but does not provide a single peer-reviewed study to support this. And biologically speaking, 100% absorption is extremely unlikely. No dietary supplement, in any form, can achieve this.
Are these products safe?
Most are, but not all. It’s worth distinguishing between them.
Relatively safe: Pico Potassium, ReMag, ReCalcia, and other simple mineral products taken in normal doses. The risk is the same as with any other mineral supplement. A magnesium overdose causes diarrhea; a potassium overdose is dangerous for people with kidney problems, etc. However, the doses are usually low, and the product itself is not toxic—provided the correct doses are taken.
Actual risk: Pico Silver (colloidal silver). This is a product from the same company that is marketed as an “immune system booster.” Silver supplements can cause argyria with long-term use—an irreversible bluish-gray skin discoloration resulting from the accumulation of silver in the skin. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not recognize colloidal silver as safe or effective for any condition. The European Food Safety Authority has not approved it as a dietary supplement. Argyria is not fatal, but its consumption has lifelong and cosmetically catastrophic consequences.
Note: Pico Selenite (selenium). Selenium has a narrow therapeutic window. The safe daily upper limit for adults is approximately 400 micrograms, and chronic overconsumption causes selenosis (hair and nail loss, nerve damage). Taking it from multiple sources at the same time poses a real risk and can lead to unpleasant consequences.
User feedback is positive—are customers lying?
Honestly: probably not. Many people who buy ReMag really do feel better. But why?
First of all, a magnesium deficiency may have been a real problem for them. It’s estimated that up to one-third of adults in the Western world don’t get enough magnesium from their diet. If you start taking 300 mg of magnesium a day, you’ll definitely see benefits —regardless of whether that magnesium came from an 85-euro “pico-ionic” bottle or a 7-euro over-the-counter magnesium supplement. Magnesium is magnesium. The client attributes their improvement to ReMag, but in reality, it was simply the fact that they started taking magnesium that helped them. The same result would have been achieved with a pharmacy product—only at a fraction of the cost.
Second, the placebo effect is strong. If you pay €85 for a product, have read convincing material about “cellular-level absorption,” and an influencer you trust has assured you that it’s 25 times more effective, then you expect results. The brain is very good at giving you what you expect. The placebo effect is well documented scientifically and has a particularly strong impact on subjective symptoms such as fatigue, muscle tension, and sleep quality. Perhaps these are exactly the reasons why people buy magnesium. A 7-euro tablet from the pharmacy doesn’t produce this placebo effect, because no one has told you that it’s special.
Third—selective feedback. People who paid a lot of money for a product are motivated to believe that it works (known in psychology as the confirmation bias of purchase decisions). Those who publicly share their positive experiences receive more feedback—and perhaps even a new bottle at a discounted price. Those who didn’t notice a difference rarely write reviews, and the seller doesn’t publish them.
Therefore, positive feedback does not prove that ReMag is better than magnesium from a pharmacy. It proves that taking magnesium helps and that human psychology works.
Who is Carolyn Dean?
Carolyn Dean graduated from Dalhousie Medical School in 1978. In 1995, the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons revoked her medical license after reviewing the treatment of 36 of her patients. The reasons cited included the use of unscientific diagnostic methods such as hair analysis, iridology, and reflexology, as well as medically unsubstantiated treatments such as homeopathy, coffee enemas, and colon hydrotherapy. Dean did not contest the charges and did not appear at the hearing.
He later received a conditional license in California, contingent upon passing a special exam and completing continuing education. He has written books promoting anti-vaccination views and cholesterol denialism. Quackwatch and other publications focused on scientific skepticism have criticized him for years as a promoter of pseudoscience.
This does not automatically mean that every one of his products is bad. But when someone invents “revolutionary” terminology that doesn’t actually exist in science and sells it at 5–10 times the pharmacy price, it’s good to know who came up with it and what their background is.
Why is it a problem that influencers are promoting this?
When Ott Kiivikas, Fitlap, or some other well-known health influencer recommends “pico-ionic magnesium,” many people view it as equivalent to an expert’s recommendation. But let’s look at what’s actually happening. The influencer repeats the manufacturer’s own marketing claims without verifying them and gets paid for it. They haven’t looked up or verified these figures from studies themselves. They come from RnA ReSet’s promotional materials. The influencer’s authority in the health field makes these claims seem credible to the average person—after all, who among us has the time to stay up to date on everything ourselves? But why do they do this?
Let’s take a peek into influencers’ wallets
In affiliate marketing for health products, it’s common for an influencer to earn 15–25% of every sale made through their promo code or link. Bigger names often receive a fixed fee on top of that for creating content. In the Estonian market, a single video or post campaign can pay an influencer 500–3,000 euros, depending on their number of followers. Ott Kiivikas is such a well-known figure in Estonia that his rate tends to be closer to the upper end of that range.
Let’s see what this means specifically for ReMag.
A 480-ml bottle of ReMag costs €85 in their online store. This price does include VAT, meaning approximately €16.50 goes to the state treasury. A larger 5-pack costs €340 (with one “free” bottle included, representing a 20% discount). The product itself consists of magnesium chloride and water—meaning the cost of raw materials is measured in cents—and the total production and logistics costs are likely €3–5 per bottle. This leaves a gross margin of approximately 65 € per bottle, which is more than enough to cover a generous commission for the influencer and a nice profit for the company.
For the influencer, it looks something like this:
One 480 ml bottle sold (€85) → the influencer earns €12–21
One 5-pack sold (€340) → the influencer earns €51–85
Add to that a fixed fee for the video → totaling thousands of euros per campaign
Of course, we don’t know the exact amounts or terms of the agreements. These are rough estimates based on market averages. If they wish, the parties involved can clarify their own figures, but looking at it from the outside, even Mati Alaver would say, “Not bad.”
The “Charging Cycle” as a Well-Designed Business Model
In its promotional videos, Kiivikas recommends that customers start with 100 mg and work up to 300 mg over a “loading cycle” of 3–6 months. 300 mg per day means that one 480-ml bottle lasts about 3 months. A six-month course = two bottles = €170. For athletes, Kontamo recommends even higher doses—800–1,200 mg per day for an 80-kg person, meaning one bottle lasts only about 5 weeks, and a six-month course requires up to 5 bottles, or 340 € (if purchased all at once at a 20% discount; buying them separately would cost 425 €).
Each customer isn’t just a one-time sale, but a repeat buyer for several months. The “loading cycle” is a brilliant sales pitch: it sounds scientific and explains why you can’t just try one bottle and stop. You have to finish the course; otherwise, you won’t see results. Doctors recommend the same thing to people with a proven mineral deficiency, but with supplements that are many times cheaper.
A Comparison with the Pharmacy: What Are You Actually Paying For?
There are many magnesium supplements available at pharmacies. Most are blended with other beneficial micronutrients, but to make the comparison as fair as possible, we’ll make it as straightforward as possible. Pharmacies sell Tervisepüramiid Magnesium Citrate, which is nearly pure magnesium citrate with minimal excipients (anti-caking agent, stabilizer, and so on). One tablet contains 1,300 mg of magnesium citrate, which corresponds to 187.5 mg of elemental magnesium. There are 30 tablets per package, and the price is about 6–8 € (this also includes taxes and the retailer’s profit). No vitamins, extracts, or other additives—just magnesium. Just like ReMag, which contains only MgCl₂ and purified water.
Magnesium citrate is a well-studied form with high bioavailability—according to the scientific literature, it’s in the same class as magnesium chloride (~30–65% vs. ~30–68%). No one can claim here that “the one from the pharmacy is that poor-quality oxide variant that’s less well absorbed.” Citrate is one of the more readily absorbed forms of magnesium. Let’s compare the numbers side by side. We’ll use a daily dose of 375 mg of elemental magnesium (2 tablets of Tervisepüramiid vs. 6.25 ml of ReMag):
Tervisepüramiid Mg Citrate | ReMag (Kontamo) | |
|---|---|---|
Mg form | Magnesium citrate | Magnesium chloride |
Bioavailability (studies) | ~30–65% | ~30–68% |
Elemental Mg per day | 375 mg | 375 mg |
Additional vitamins | No | No |
Price for a 6-month course | ~84 € | ~255 € |
Price per 1 mg | 0.0012 € | 0.0038 € |
The same amount of magnesium, essentially the same bioavailability, both without additives. It’s just that ReMag is three times more expensive. That ~170 € difference over six months is purely for “pico-ionicity” and influencer commissions. The only argument left is “but ReMag has undergone an 18-step process”—a claim for which there is no independent study proving that it makes any difference.
The pharmaceutical industry is supposed to be mega-profitable, so how come magnesium is so cheap at the pharmacy?
That’s a very good question. The profit margins in the pharmaceutical and dietary supplement businesses are quite good, and there’s already a hefty profit built into that €84 price. Let’s dig a little deeper. At a depth of about 1,600 meters, there’s a 250-million-year-old salt layer from the Zechstein Sea. The Dutch factory NedMag extracts magnesium chloride from there and sells this raw material to, among others, Nurme, an Estonian company that manufactures health products. Nurme neatly packages this raw material in its own packaging and sells MgCl₂ flakes for foot baths at Prisma in 700-gram packages for €8.18, which works out to €11.69 per kilogram. This price also includes the profits of the retailer, packager, and manufacturer, as well as government taxes.
However, Nurme doesn’t know how to run this business properly, because if they were to dissolve the same raw material in water, they would say it’s pico-ionic and recommend consuming it in small amounts internally, rather than pouring it liberally into foot bath water; then they could charge €248 for that 700 g package of stuff dissolved in water (a 700 g package of Nurme magnesium foot bath powder could make 2.9 bottles of a solution identical to the ReMag product). Apparently, they’d have to pull off another 18 tricks to claim that this is a product made using an exceptionally unique method, but there’s no need to go to such great expense. The result is the same as if Kirsti Timmer were laying out tarot cards on top of that tub. So, they could make 30.3 times more money off this package.
The packaging for Nurme’s product says “for external use only,” but that’s not because it’s not the same magnesium—it’s simply a legal requirement that cosmetic products carry that label. Furthermore, this product is not formulated for oral consumption but is in a concentrated form. It is up to reputable dietary supplement manufacturers to fine-tune the formulation so that the quantities do not have harmful effects. Therefore, we do not recommend consuming foot bath salt as a dietary supplement; we simply provided this example to illustrate just how much the “pico-ionic” label adds to the price—the same substance, but 30 times more expensive.
Why don’t Fitlap and others recommend pharmacy-brand magnesium?
The answer is simple: pharmacy-brand magnesium usually doesn’t have an affiliate program. No one will pay you a 15–25% commission if you say in a Facebook video to buy a 7-euro magnesium citrate from the pharmacy. But if you tell people to buy the 85-euro “pico-ionic” magnesium and enter the promo code “Fitlap” in the discount code field, you’ll earn a commission on every sale. This creates a situation where an influencer always recommends the more expensive product—not because it’s better, but because the cheaper product doesn’t make them any money, and after all, many of them are in the influencer game to make money.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that every influencer is consciously lying. Perhaps they sincerely believe that ReMag is better. But even in that case, their opinion is based on the manufacturer’s marketing materials, not on independent research they’ve conducted themselves. The financial incentive to recommend this specific product—rather than a cheaper alternative from the pharmacy—is real, just well-hidden.
Estonian advertising law requires that paid collaborations be labeled with the hashtag “#collaboration” or “#ad.” But even if that label is present, it doesn’t tell you anything about the influencer’s motivation behind their promotional work.
So what should you do if you want a mineral supplement?
First of all, most people who eat a varied diet don’t need mineral supplements at all. You can get magnesium from fruits, nuts, and whole-grain products. Potassium comes from bananas, potatoes, and beans. Calcium comes from dairy products or leafy greens. A dietary supplement is a solution only if there’s a specific medical reason, such as a chronic deficiency, kidney disease, side effects from certain medications, etc.
If the recommendation comes from a doctor or if you know for certain that you have a deficiency, then:
For magnesium, well-studied forms include magnesium citrate, magnesium glycinate, and magnesium malate. Available at the pharmacy at standard prices.
As for potassium, dietary supplement doses (up to 100 mg) are small anyway compared to the daily requirement (~3,500 mg), so it’s generally easier to get it from food.
The same goes for calcium—food comes before supplements.
Unless you have an irresistible urge to make room for new bills in your wallet, don’t pay extra for “pico-meter size.” That’s a physical property that every ion in the universe has had since the beginning of time. Charging extra for it is like charging extra for the fact that a bicycle has round wheels.
