Minerals Nutrition

No Minerals, No Health

When the intake of minerals in our system becomes unbalanced or depleted, it draws from stores laid down in the muscles, the liver and even the bones.

Mineral nutrients consist of two classes: the major elements such as calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, iodine, and potassium; and trace elements such as copper, cobalt, manganese, fluorine, and zinc. All of these must be supplied in our diet because the body is unable to manufacture its own and can only maintain its mineral balance for short periods of time.

Our ancestors long ago recognised the value of minerals in their diet, particularly those derived from the sea (as opposed to mine salt from the earth), although they had none of the sophisticated knowledge about natural biology or physiology that we have today. Instinct alone was their guide.

Minerals provide the spark for many of the body's cellular processes and keep them running efficiently. Without these finely-tuned chemical reactions no organism could function. Inorganic mineral nutrients are also essential in the structural composition of hard and soft body tissues, and are necessary in processes such as the action of enzyme systems, the contraction of muscles, nerve reactions and the clotting of blood. Humans need a wide range of minerals to maintain good health and we need them in the right amounts and relations to each other (coaction). A variation of as little as one per cent in established limits will cause noticeable pathological states to occur.

Whenever a dietary deficiency of trace elements occurs, the cell loses its ability to control its ions - with dire consequences for humans. Even a minute loss of ion equilibrium causes cells to burst, nervous disorders, brain damage, or muscle spasms, as well as a breakdown of the cell regenerating process and growth.
Seasalt's Hidden Powers, Jacques de Langre, Ph.D, Happiness Press 1994

The biological demands of the human body require mineral salt concentrations in the blood and the body fluids to be maintained at a constant level. Too little salt, or consumption of only refined salt, activates a hormonal mechanism that compensates by reducing the excretion of salt in the urine and from sweat glands. On a completely salt-less diet, small amounts of salt are lost via the kidneys and perspiration. The body then attempts to adjust to this situation by accelerating its secretion of water so that the blood's salt concentration is maintained at the level vital for survival. If this process continues the result is gradual desiccation, dehydration and finally death, which is often preceded by a loss of rational thinking (dementia). The cells literally die of thirst.

Conversely, a lack of water consumption will activate the body to retain water in order to maintain the salt concentration in the blood. In this case the hormonal control mechanism works in reverse. It attempts to reduce the secretion of water and increase the salt secretion to maintain the correct salt level. The body's normal craving for salt and for water strives toward the same vital need: a balanced and healthy internal saline fluid.

Every second of every day our bodies rely on ionic minerals and trace minerals to conduct and generate billions of tiny electrical impulses. Without these impulses not a single muscle, including the heart muscle, would be able to function. The brain would be unable to function and the cells would be unable to use osmosis to balance water pressure and absorb nutrients. In fact, many vital body processes depend on the movement of ions across cell membranes.

Recent research has indicated that minerals may play a significant role against a variety of degenerative diseases and processes. They may also prevent and reduce injury from environmental pollutants, enhance the ability to work and learn, and protect the body from the effects of minerals that may become toxic at high concentrations.
Mineral Absorption

The form that different minerals take also plays a key role in how well they are transported through the circulatory system and absorbed by the aqueous microenvironment of the cells. Inter-relationships of minerals and trace minerals in their non-soluble form are not nearly as effective as those of soluble minerals.

No matter what the nutritional potential of a food it might as well be non-existent if it doesn't pass the test of absorption. Minerals that the body is unable to break down to their ionic form are likely to pass from the body as though they were never consumed.

Minerals that are absorbed in ionic form are in true liquid solution and have either positive or negative charges. They also have unique properties that distinguish them from each other and allow them to play a special role in biochemical communication throughout the body. These communications help nutrients work synergistically and enable them to move to areas of the body that need them most. Imbalances of any of these ions or certain trace ions in the body can lead to dysfunction in the conduction of electrical messages.

Much recent research indicates that the physiological reactions of our bodies are blocked and cannot utilise trace elements properly (mainly due to poor diet, pollution, stress and so on). This malfunction can lead to anything from simple deficiencies to the establishment of chronic illness.