What About Taking Extra Minerals?
Mineral salts found in the earth’s soil and rocks are classified as inorganic, and must be incorporated
within the structure of plants in order to be useable by your body. Most mineral supplements are
inorganic, and their consumption causes serious problems, as they commonly end up deposited in your
various tissues. This can result in serious health problems including arthritis, Alzheimer's, and
arteriosclerosis. Calcium supplements are notorious for this. Your best source of all usable organic
minerals is fresh vegetables, with fruit providing your second best source. Some nuts and seeds are also
abundant with minerals, such as in the case of sesame seeds, which supply a whopping 1160 milligrams
of calcium per 100 grams. The super-grain, Chia seeds, is packed with numerous minerals. (It is widely
available on the Internet, such as this web site: http://www.chiaforhealth.com.))
Unlike vitamins, minerals cannot be synthesized by plants. Plants take up mineral salts (inorganic
compounds) from the soil and convert them into colloidal minerals (organic compounds). The inorganic
minerals, also called metallic minerals, are very difficult to be absorbed by a healthy digestive system,
and even more so if the small intestine is impacted with toxic waste material. In the case of a very healthy
adult, the absorption rate for metallic minerals is 3 to 5 percent; the rest merely passes through the body
system without benefit, but often not without causing harm. Although these minerals now come in
chelated form, i.e., amino acids or protein are wrapped around them to improve assimilation, they are still
inorganic and of very little use to the cells of the body. Ionic minerals, on the other hand, have an
absorption rate of 98 percent, which indicates that only minerals in its organic (angstrom size) form are
meant to be used by the human physiology.
If the soil is not replenished with minerals after harvesting, it becomes increasingly mineral deficient.
Modern methods of agriculture don’t include putting minerals back into the soil. Before the era of
continuous soil depletion, the topsoil consisted of as many as 90-100 different minerals. The great rivers
such as the Nile in Egypt and the Ganges in India caused extensive flooding every year, bringing new
minerals from the glaciers and mountains to the land, automatically fertilizing it. The people living in
these areas were generally in perfect health and lived on average 120-140 years. The situation changed
with the erosion of forests and building of dams. Today, there are merely 12-20 minerals found in plant
foods.
Whatever is contained in modern chemical fertilizers (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) may be
sufficient to raise normal-looking crops; yet the healthy-looking plant foods are short of minerals, which
is reflected in their poor taste. This may cause some mineral deficiencies in the body. We are consistently
missing out on the majority of minerals. And if the digestive system does not function efficiently, a health
crisis may arise. Almost every disease today is linked with or caused by a deficiency of one or several
minerals or trace minerals.
Taking supplements consisting of metallic minerals is not only inefficient because of their relatively
low absorption rate but also because of their non-physiological value. Large quantities of metallic
minerals can even be toxic to the body, as seen in people who, for example, take iron tablets. The iron
may make them sick, a natural response by the stomach against the toxic metal. Iron oxide is nothing
other than “rust.” New research has shown that taking extra iron can triple one’s risk for heart attacks.
Taking calcium tablets may weaken the bones by causing zinc deficiency. High dosed mineral
supplements consisting of metallic minerals can block the absorption of other bio-usable minerals, which
can upset the body’s entire biochemical balance. Most of the metallic minerals are derived from oyster
shell, limestone, soil, clay, calcium carbonate, and sea salts. In fact, taking metallic minerals can lead to
serious mineral deficiencies.