Essential Minerals

Another of our daily nutrition requirements would be essential minerals.
Click here to see all five daily requirements.

But which of the minerals are essential?

Before we can identify which minerals are essential we need to understand what a mineral is.

Chemically speaking, a mineral is merely an inorganic element found in nature. However in nutrition, we refer to a mineral as a dietary element, not of animal or plant origin, which is essential to life processes.

Minerals are essential for many body processes such as:

• oxygen transport,
• muscle contraction,
• nerve impulse conduction,
• acid-base balance of the blood,
• proper immune function,
• blood clotting,
• maintenance of body water supplies and
• normal heart rhythm

Although minerals are not a source of energy, their presence is essential for the functioning of metabolic enzymes which do provide energy. (Enzymes are unable to function without their presence)

Minerals are the building blocks for body tissues such as teeth, bones, and muscles, and some are important components or activators of several enzymes and hormones.

Where can you find Minerals?
Plants obtain them from the soil and use them in the growing process. Animals then eat the plants for the nutrients they provide and of course humans can obtain them from both plant and animal food.

Since essential minerals are eliminated through normal bodily functions they must constantly be replaced. Failure to replenish these nutrients can result in a variety of disorders such as:

• diabetes,
• cancer,
• anemia,
• high blood pressure,
• tooth decay and
• osteoporosis

What does this mean to you?
It means that you need a healthy assortment of essential minerals in your diet for health, energy, and physical well being.

OK, now you are thinking, “I get all the minerals I need from the food I eat, don’t I?”

Well, not really! Our lifestyle and cooking habits no longer provide for adequate nutrition and good health. Our soils are depleted and don't provide the same volume of essential minerals they did years ago. As if that’s not enough, the way we cook and process our foods destroy most of what is left of the essential nutrients our bodies require.

Because we are finding it harder and harder to eat a well balanced diet and obtain adequate amounts of nutrients to maintain good health, additional supplementation is required. Hence the current demand for nutritional supplementation we are experiencing today.

But, which supplements should you buy and what are the essential minerals they should contain?

Not all minerals are necessary for good nutritional health so the nutrients you should be considering fit six criteria:

• Present in the healthy tissue of all living things.
• Fairly constant concentration from one animal species to the next.
• Withdrawal from the body induces the same abnormalities, regardless of species studied.
• Re-introduction reduces or prevents these abnormalities.
• The abnormalities are always accompanied by specific biochemical changes, such as reduction in activity of a specific enzyme.
• The biochemical changes can be prevented or cured when the deficiency is prevented or cured.

The 21 minerals that meet these criteria are

calcium phosphorous magnesium sodium manganese molybdenum arsenic

zinc potassium chloride iron fluoride nickel boron

copper Selenium chromium Iodine silicon vanadium cobalt

• There are no deficiency problems with phosphorous, sodium, chloride, nickel, silicon or arsenic
• Potassium and iodine are readily available in sufficient quantities
• Cobalt is only an essential nutrient in humans as vitamin B-12.
• Supplementation with fluoride is not considered prudent because its level of requirement is too close to the level at which toxicity occurs.

the only minerals which deserve extra attention are:

• calcium,
• magnesium,
• iron,
• zinc,
• copper,
• selenium,
• chromium,
• manganese,
• molybdenum,
• vanadium and
• boron

When considering supplementation, include these 11 essential minerals to ensure your body receives all the nutritients needed for optimal health.

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Would you like to know what I recommend in a complete mineral complex?

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