Minding the Minerals

Minerals are components of body tissue and fluids that work in combination with enzymes, hormones, vitamins and other vital transport substances.

Unless you have been keeping company with Rip Van Winkle over the past months, I am sure you have read many reports concerning the health benefits of antioxidants, phytonutrients, glucosamine sulfate, fish oils, CoQ-lO, lutein, soy, and a host of other products, supplements and dietary regimens. While all of these nutrients have their place in the ever-changing framework of nutritional science, we may be looking frantically in the wrong place to find the biological keys to health and longevity. Scientists have always known that we can live for an extended period without food, but not without water. This is because water contains minerals, a source of life-giving nourishment for the body.

In the 1930s, vitamins were discovered and everyone forgot about minerals. Today, in many respects, minerals are still ignored. Vitamins as well as many other important nutrients play their part, but minerals liberate the vitamins to do their work. Lacking vitamins, the system can make use of the minerals, but lacking minerals, vitamins are useless. It is the minerals in their dissolved state (known as electrolytes or ionized minerals) that are responsible for creating and maintaining a healthy internal environment which allows the other nutrients to flourish and do their jobs. Because of this, minerals should be given first consideration in the maintenance and restoration of health. In fact, minerals play a significant role in the continuation of life processes. without proper levels of minerals, our bodies could not function.

What are minerals?

Carbohydrates, proteins, lipids (fats, fatty acids, cholesterol) and vitamins are all organic (pertaining to or derived from living organisms) substances. Although the above organic nutrients play a major role in the preservation of health, many inorganic (nonliving) chemical elements are responsible for initiating the action of their organic counterparts. In essence, in the body, they act as control agents and contribute to energy production, bodybuilding and maintenance. These inorganic catalysts are widely distributed in nature and are known as minerals.

Minerals are inorganic (not produced by plants or animals) elements that are vital for human life. Elements are substances that cannot be broken down into simpler substances. They are the basic components of all larger compounds. Due to the varying degrees of need and content in the body, minerals are referred to as macro elements--also known as the major or macro minerals. These minerals are needed in the body in dosages exceeding 100 mg. Minerals needed in minute quantities (usually less than 100 mg.) are referred to as the trace elements, trace minerals, microminerals, or inorganic micronutrients. All of these names are interchangeable.

Minerals and health

Minerals are components of body tissue and fluids that work in combination with enzymes, hormones, vitamins and other vital transport substances. Some minerals are co-factors (helpers) for enzymes, which are catalysts for every reaction that occurs in the body. Many of these minerals participate in nerve transmission; muscle contraction; the maintenance of cell permeability, tissue rigidity and structure, and acid-base balance; blood formation; fluid regulation and movement across cell membranes; protein metabolism; and energy production.

Ionized sodium and potassium (atoms having a positive or negative electrical charge) maintain a balance of body fluids inside and outside the cells. Calcium and phosphorus provide structure for the framework of the body. Oxygen-hungry iron composes hemoglobin (protein that gives red blood cells their color). The mineral iodine is a constituent of thyroid hormone, which, in turn, controls the overall rate of metabolism.

Based on past and present data, researchers are just beginning to have a broader appreciation and understanding of the critical roles of these inorganic elements. By no means are these minerals static. They are major players in the maintenance of the body's internal equilibrium known as homeostasis.

Investigations into the interactions of minerals within the human body have substantiated the effects of mineral imbalances. If there is too little or too much of one reaction of mineral, all other minerals are affected, starting a chain reaction of imbalances and illnesses. In other words, when minerals are in balance and are in their proper ratios, they neutralize the potentially harmful effects of their counterparts--sort of a check-and-balance system.

Many minerals have similar physical and chemical properties. As a result, when there is a deficiency of certain essential minerals or an overabundance of some of the more toxic minerals, the more toxic ones, like cadmium, silver, arsenic, and lithium, can actually take the place of similar, more essential minerals. For example, cadmium may replace zinc, silver may replace copper, lithium may replace sodium, and arsenic may replace phosphorus. When zinc is not present or cadmium is more abundant, cadmium can inactivate zinc enzymes, which are involved in controlling numerous metabolic processes.