MINERALS, A BASIC INTRODUCTION

By Lawrence Wilson, MD

© October, 2007 by LD Wilson Consultants, Inc.

Everything in the physical world is made of mineral elements. What are they, how do they work, and why are they important for our health?

There are 92 known stable elements. Scientists believe they were formed billions of years ago by heat and pressure as the earth changed from clouds of gases into a solid planet.

There is debate over what the elements really are. Some scientists such as Dr. Brian Andersen believe the elements are frequencies of light, crystallized into form. His book, The Rhythms of Nature, contains an interesting circular table of the elements. According to the quantum theory, elements are composed of sub-atomic particles - electrons, protons and neutrons.

MINERALS FOR LIFE

Life on our planet is built around a number of chemical elements. Important elements include calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, sulfur and phosphorus. These are sometimes called macro-minerals. Blood levels of these elements remain fairly constant. Hair tissue levels vary tremendously, offering more information about them.

Calcium, the structural element, is found mainly in our bones. Calcium also regulates cell membrane permeability to control nerve impulse transmission and muscle contraction. It is important for blood clotting, and it regulates hormonal secretion and cell division.

Good food sources are dairy products such as cheese and yogurt. Smaller amounts are in milk, sardines, egg yolks, almonds, sesame seeds, seaweed and dark green vegetables. Goat cheese is better than cow’s milk cheese for most people because cows are often fed or injected with antibiotics, female hormones and growth hormones.

Magnesium is named after the Greek city of Magnesia, where large deposits of magnesium carbonate were found centuries ago. Magnesium is needed for over 500 enzymes that regulate sugar metabolism, energy production, cell membrane permeability, and muscle and nerve conduction.

Foods high in magnesium include milk, almonds, brazil nuts, cashews, whole soybeans (but not tofu, tempeh or soy protein), parsnips, wheat bran, whole grains, green vegetables, seafood, kelp and molasses.

Most people need more magnesium than they are eating because food refining strips away magnesium. Deficiency causes muscle cramps, weakness, depression and fatigue. Magnesium works closely with potassium and is a calcium antagonist.

Sodium helps regulate blood pressure, fluid balance, transport of carbon dioxide, and affects cell membrane permeability and other cell membrane functions. Deficiency causes fatigue and fluid imbalances such as low blood pressure.

Food sources include sea salt, seafood, eggs, beet greens, swiss chard, olives, peas, and butter. Table salt is a refined junk food. Most of the minerals have been stripped away, and aluminum is often added as a flowing agent. Use natural sea salt instead.

Potassium is needed for regulation of the heart beat, fluid balance and to maintain blood pressure. It is also needed for buffering the blood, and cell membrane effects including nerve transmission and muscular contraction. Deficiency can cause cramps, fatigue and heart irregularities.

Good sources are herring, sardines, halibut, goose, most nuts and seeds, watercress, garlic, lentils, spinach, artichokes, lima beans, swiss chard, avocados, buckwheat, wheat bran, molasses, and kelp. Be sure to drink the water in which you cook vegetables to obtain the potassium from the vegetables.

Phosphorus is required for energy production, DNA synthesis and protein synthesis. It is also needed for calcium metabolism, muscle contraction and cell membrane structure.

Excellent sources include salmon, sardines, mackerel, snapper, whitefish, scallops, carp, herring, liver, turkey, chicken, eggs, kidney, many nuts and seeds, chickpeas, garlic, lentils, popcorn, soybeans, cheese, wheat, and chocolate. Animal-based sources of phosphorus are often absorbed better than grains and beans that contain phytates.

Sulfur is an important element for digestion, joints, detoxification, hair, skin and nails. Most dietary sulfur comes from sulfur-containing amino acids found mainly in animal protein foods. Good sources are eggs, meats, and often smelly foods like garlic and onions. Other sources are kale, watercress, brussels sprouts, horseradish, cabbage cauliflower and cranberries.

Vegetarians can easily become deficient in sulfur if they do not eat eggs. Deficiency can affect hair, nails, skin, joints, energy and the ability to detoxify poisons.

TRACE ELEMENTS

Though needed in small amounts, trace minerals are essential for life. They include iron, copper, manganese, zinc, chromium, selenium, lithium, cobalt, silicon, boron and others. Hair and blood are used to measure these elements.

Iron is required for transporting oxygen in the blood, for detoxification and for energy production in the cells. Iron is found in lean meats, organ meats, shellfish, molasses, beans, whole-grain cereals, and dark green vegetables. Menstruating women and children on poor diets are most commonly low in iron.

Copper, a feminine element, is associated with estrogen. It helps regulate female fertility and prevent miscarriages. Copper is also required for healthy arteries, pigments in hair and skin, blood formation, energy production and for neurotransmitter substances such as dopamine.

Copper sources include organ meats, nuts, seeds, beans, grains and chocolate. People with high tissue copper are often bright, young-looking, creative and emotional. Excess copper is more common than deficiency today, due to the use of copper water pipes, birth control pills, vegetarian diets and stress.

Manganese is called the maternal element, because animals deprived of this element do not nurture their young. Manganese is involved in cholesterol synthesis and bone growth. It is also needed for healthy tendons and ligaments, and for fat and sugar metabolism. Manganese sources are nuts, especially walnuts, bran, corn, parsley, tea and wheat germ.

Zinc, a masculine mineral, is essential for over 50 body functions. These include the sense of taste and smell, vision, growth, sexual development, digestive enzyme production, male potency, prostate gland health, blood sugar regulation and processing of alcohol.

Zinc is very important for the joints, the skin, wound healing, and to prevent birth defects. Zinc helps prevent diabetes, acne, epilepsy and childhood hyperactivity, and helps detoxify heavy metals. Adequate zinc has a calming effect and is needed to regenerate all body tissues.

Refined food is very low in zinc. According to Dr. Carl Pfeiffer, MD, PhD, the entire human population is borderline zinc deficient. Good sources of zinc are herring, oysters, clams, wheat bran, oatmeal, wheat germ, colostrum, liver, beef, lamb, and chicken thighs. Vegetarians run a high risk of zinc deficiency.

Chromium. A desert rodent called the sand rat develops diabetes when fed a laboratory diet. When returned to the desert, the diabetes goes away. Extensive research indicates the problem with the laboratory food is a lack of chromium.

Chromium is essential to for insulin metabolism. It can also help lower cholesterol. Chromium deficiency is very common, especially in middle-aged and older people. Food sources of chromium are brewers yeast, liver, kidney, beef, whole wheat bread, wheat germ, beets, mushrooms and beer.

Selenium is an important trace element. It is needed for protein synthesis, helps the body get rid of toxic cadmium and mercury, and is needed for antioxidant production (glutathione peroxidase). As an anti-oxidant, it may help prevent cancer and birth defects. Good sources of selenium are garlic, yeast, liver, eggs, wheat germ and brazil nuts. Human milk contains six times as much selenium as cow’s milk.

Refined food loses a lot of selenium (and other trace elements). For example, brown rice has 15 times as much selenium as white rice. Whole wheat bread has twice as much selenium as white bread. It is an excellent mineral to supplement.
Lithium has a calming effect on the nervous system. It is found in many natural foods.
Cobalt is essential for life as part of the vitamin B12 molecule. Vitamin B12 is required for the nervous system and blood formation. It is found in animal products. Deficiencies usually only occur in strict vegetarians, those with impaired digestion, and the elderly who have difficulty absorbing vitamin B12.

Iodine is required for the thyroid gland and the regulation of metabolism. Good sources are seafood, sea vegetables and sea salt. Boron helps maintain female hormone production and bone integrity. Boron is found in many foods. Silicon is important for the bones and skin. Food sources include lettuce, parsnips, asparagus, dandelion greens, rice bran, horseradish, onion, spinach and cucumbers, and in herbs such as horsetail.

Trace minerals often work in pairs or triplets. The interaction of minerals in the body is a complex and interesting subject. There are many other trace minerals such as molybdenum, vanadium, bromine, germanium, nickel, tin, cesium, rubidium, strontium, gold, silver, titanium, tritium and others.

The only way to obtain all these elements is to eat natural foods grown on mineralized soil. Dr. Weston Price, DDS, studied healthy native tribes around the world. He found they were eating about 4-10 times the vitamins and minerals of the average American living on refined and processed foods.

TOXIC MINERALS

Toxic metals act like replacement parts that do not measure up to the originals. Imagine you live in a wooden house and over the years the wood rots or becomes damaged. Instead of replacing them with the correct boards, you use whatever is around such as tar paper, cardboard, twigs or tree branches. Your house might still stand for a while, but it will lose its structural integrity. When the body is missing vital minerals in the diet such as calcium, magnesium, potassium and zinc, it absorbs toxic minerals from the environment to keep functioning.

Some minerals have different valences, some of which are toxic. An example is chromium. Hexavalent chromium is beneficial but trivalent chromium is toxic. Still other vital minerals may become toxic if they are in the wrong place or are unusable by the body. This is sometimes called biounvailable. Calcium, for instance, is needed in the bones. When it accumulates in the arteries, joints, kidneys and elsewhere it becomes toxic.

Still other vital minerals may accumulate in the liver and in other organs to balance the sodium/potassium ratio or some other vital mineral ratio. This occurs with iron and manganese. Thus the subject of toxic metals is a bit more complex than just dividing minerals into good and bad ones.

These include lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic, aluminum, fluoride and others. These often function in enzymes to some extent, but not nearly as well as the physiological mineral. All toxic metals are neurotoxic. They contribute to hundreds of health conditions.

Lead contributes to over 100 human conditions, including neuromuscular and bone diseases, fractures, mental retardation, hyperactivity, anemia, and many others. Some historians believe the Roman Empire fell because lead water pipes slowly poisoned the people and decreased their strength and intelligence. Sources of lead include old paint, inks, pesticides, a few hair dyes, solder and other metal products.

Cadmium contributes to high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, fatigue, arthritis, violence, infections, back pain and other conditions. Sources are cigarette or marijuana smoke, refined foods and tap water.

Mercury toxicity is present in almost everyone today. Mercury is found in silver amalgam dental fillings, tuna and swordfish, contact lens solution, vaccines and various other products. Mercury toxicity can contribute to hypothyroidism, impaired immune system, digestive problems such as yeast infections, emotional difficulties, learning disabilities, ADHD and many other conditions.

Aluminum is associated with memory impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. Aluminum is widely used in beverage cans, aluminum foils, antiperspirants, antiacids, and aluminum cookware. Peppermint, spearmint and wintergreen are naturally high in aluminum.

Fluoride contributes to brown staining of the teeth, weakened bones, hip fractures, mental impairment, birth defects and cancer. Fluoride compounds are found in pesticides, air pollution, toothpastes, and are added to many water supplies. Foods processed with water including baby foods and juices often contain too much fluoride.

Large, worldwide studies show little or no benefit of fluoride for tooth decay, contrary to many news reports. Only the United States and Britain continue to add toxic fluoride compounds to drinking water.

Arsenic contributes to liver and kidney damage, weakness, diarrhea, muscle spasms, headaches and other symptoms. Sources include pesticides, beer, tap water, table salt, paints and other chemical products.

MINERAL BASICS

Let us begin with axioms about minerals today:

· Most everyone alive today was born deficient in vital minerals and with excessive levels of toxic metals. This occurs because mothers are deficient and toxic.

· Any woman even contemplating having children some day ought to begin now to replenish her vital minerals because deficiencies and toxicity are so widespread.

· Practically all our food today is lower in trace minerals than it was 100 years ago. This has been documented in books such as Empty Harvest. The reasons have to do with modern agriculture and are explained below. Studies on healthy primitive tribes by Dr. Weston Price, DDS found they were eating 5 to 10 times the amount of minerals than modern people eat.

· When vital minerals are deficient in the diet, the body picks up toxic metals from the environment. Thus, eating plenty of the vital minerals is essential to reduce the buildup of toxic metals.

· Today we are exposed to levels of toxic metals and toxic chemicals never before seen on this planet. This is due to industrialization, mining and environmental pollution.

· Stress causes our bodies to use more minerals. Zinc is eliminated within minutes of a stressful situation. Calcium and magnesium are eliminated in the urine as part of the fight-or-flight reaction. Simplifying your life, slowing down and reducing stress are most important to maintain healthy mineral levels.

DIET AND MINERALS

Minerals, unlike many vitamins and other substances, cannot be manufactured within our bodies. We must eat them daily in our diets. Furthermore, one must eat organic food to even approach the amount of minerals our bodies require for optimum health. A study in the Journal of Applied Nutrition found that organic produce purchased randomly at Chicago health food stores had an average of five times the mineral content compared to conventional produce.

Using sea salt, rather than so-called table salt, helps one to obtain trace minerals. Most of the minerals are refined out of common table salt. Good quality sea salt usually does not raise blood pressure or harm the body in any way. Refined table salt, however, is a junk food. It often contains added toxic metals as well such as aluminum.

Other mineral-rich foods are organic vegetables, especially root vegetables. Whole organic grains, nuts and seeds, fish and good quality meats are other good sources of minerals. Fruits are not as good sources, as they are mainly water, fiber and sugars.

Cooking and Minerals. Eating cooked food is actually much better for obtaining minerals than is most raw food. This is because cooking helps break down the fiber in food, releasing the minerals and allowing better utilization of the food. Also, cooking often concentrates the food, permitting one to eat less and still obtain the same quantity of minerals. Raw foods are excellent to obtain certain vitamins lost in cooking such as vitamin C. However, for obtaining minerals, cooked food is best.

Good quality spring or mineral waters can be excellent sources of trace minerals. Tap water contains minerals, but almost all of it contains many harmful chemicals as well, and is best avoided. Distilled water can help remove toxic substances from the body. However, it does not contain minerals and for this reason I do not recommend it as a long-term drinking water. Reverse osmosis and bottled “drinking water” also contain no minerals and are often more damaged by processing than distilled or spring water.

Demineralized foods to avoid include white flour, white rice, white sugar, refined ‘table’ salt and all artificial or chemical foods. These have been stripped of a significant amount of their trace minerals. Skip them all if you want to maintain adequate mineral levels. Brown or “raw” sugar, honey and maple syrup are better than white sugar, but are still mineral-deficient.

A digestive aid can help assure that food is broken down thoroughly to obtain the most minerals from the food. Excellent digestive aids include betaine hydrochloride and pepsin, vegetable enzymes, pancreatin and ox bile.

MINERAL SUPPLEMENTS

Most everyone today would benefit from a mineral supplement. An excellent and inexpensive one is kelp. It is available in capsules, tablets or granules, though the taste is not great. Kelp not only contains a great variety of vital minerals. It also contains alginates, which bind toxic metals that are found in all sea products. Dulse and other sea vegetables also contain many minerals but contain less or no alginates to protect against toxic metals.

Most people can take kelp. Its high iodine content is wonderful for most people. Occasionally it can cause nervousness if one is hyperthyroid. Other mineral supplements come in pill or liquid form. For example, brewer’s yeast is an excellent source of chromium and selenium. Beware of mineral supplements derived from ‘earth deposits’ as many contain toxic metals.

MINERALS AND THE SOIL

The quantity of minerals in our food is directly related to the soil on which the food is grown. Almost all our food, even organic food, is deficient in minerals for several reasons:

1. Modern agricultural methods often do not replenish all the minerals in the soil. Most modern fertilizers do not contain all the trace minerals.

2. Most crops are bred for higher yields, better taste or appearance, hardiness or bug resistance. However, they are rarely bred for a higher mineral content. High-yield crops produce much more food per acre, but the food is much lower in minerals because the amount of minerals in the soil is the same yet the yield is much greater.

3. Toxic sprays, insecticides and pesticides interfere with microorganisms in the soil that are required to make minerals usable to the crops. This can significantly reduce the amount of minerals available to the crops. Organically produced crops tend to have more minerals in them in part for this reason.

BIOLOGICAL TRANSMUTATION

Most scientists believe that once an element forms, it cannot change into another element except using extreme heat or pressure, as in a nuclear reactor.

Dr. Louis Kervan, a French scientist, performed simple experiments showing that living organisms can change one element into another at room temperature. For example, hens do not eat much calcium in their diet. However, their eggs are rich in calcium. In another experiment, seeds sprouted in sealed containers with only distilled water contain different amounts of elements than unsprouted seeds.

These experiments can be duplicated by any high school student. Dr. Kervan’s book, Biological Transmutations, is fascinating reading. Unfortunately, the ideas are so revolutionary they are ignored in mainstream physics and biology.

PRINCIPLES OF MINERAL NUTRITION

1) To obtain vital minerals, eat fresh, natural foods. Refined and junk foods usually have their minerals stripped away. If you don’t eat plenty of vital minerals, your body will take up toxic metals as substitutes.

2) Eat a variety of foods. It is impossible to get all the minerals one needs on a limited diet. Don’t eat the same food every day. Vary your proteins, carbohydrates and vegetables.

3) Use supplements. Herbs and natural supplements include kelp, dulse, wheat germ, condiments and brewers yeast. Be careful with so-called colloidal mineral supplements from clay deposits. These often contain aluminum, lead and other toxic metals.

4) Avoid sources of toxic metals as much as possible.

5) Women, for healthy pregnancies and happy children, improve your mineral nutrition before getting pregnant. Toxic metals and mineral deficiencies are passed on to children.

CORRECTING YOUR MINERAL BALANCE

We use a number of methods all at the same time to remove toxic metals and help restore your mineral balance. This is the science of nutritional balancing, explained in more detail in other articles on this website. The methods are:

1. Reduce Your Exposure To Toxins. Diet modification, breathing clean air and avoiding toxic products help reduce your exposure to toxins. Other methods are removing dental amalgams and moving to a cleaner home or work environment if necessary.

2. Rest More And Reduce Damaging Stress. Detoxification requires energy. Reducing all strenuous activities, including too much exercise, and getting at least nine hours of sleep per night are most helpful.

3. Enhance The Production Of Energy. The elimination of toxins and absorption of vital minerals are normal body functions that require energy. Low energy is often the most important stumbling block to detoxification, especially for slow metabolizers.

The most important way we enhance the body’s energy efficiency is by balancing the oxidation rate. For those familiar with car engines, the effect of this is somewhat like running an engine at the optimal revolutions per minute. Another analogy is that it is like pedaling a bicycle at the right pace so that one has the maximum power.

All enzymes have an optimal rate and temperature at which their efficiency is greatest. Often detoxification procedures are less effective because energy efficiency is very low, like having a great bicycle but pedaling in the wrong gear. A properly performed and interpreted hair mineral analysis from a laboratory that does not wash the hair can assess the oxidation rate and guide its correction with diet and nutritional supplements. We do not like the other methods used to gauge the oxidation rate that are used by some other health professionals, although they can be somewhat helpful.

4. Support The Eliminative Organs. These are the liver, kidneys, lungs, bowel and especially the skin. We support them with herbs for the liver, kidney and bowels, and saunas and coffee enemas. Other methods may be used as well, such as massage, other nutrient supplements, skin brushing, hot and cold packs, poultices, colonic irrigation by a professional colon therapist, liver flushes, homeopathic remedies and deep breathing.

Massage, meditation, visualization and various healing machines such as the Chi Machine and the electrical foot baths are additional methods.

5. Sauna Therapy. A very powerful therapy for restoring the mineral balance is the regular use of a near infrared lamp sauna. It is, in our experience, the most effective type of sauna. It assists all the eliminative organs and dramatically improves the nervous system and the elimination of all types of toxins from the body.

However, any type of sauna will help to sweat out toxic substances, relax the body and improve circulation. Running or playing tennis in the heat of Phoenix, though, is not the same as sweating while resting in a sauna.

Other natural therapies of many types can help balance and strengthen the body. These include chiropractic, colonic irrigation, energy balancing with acupuncture or acupressure and many others. All may help to improve circulation, oxygenation, digestion and elimination and thus help restore and maintain a healthful mineral balance.

5. Supplement With Chelators. Chelators bind toxic metals to facilitate their removal. They include drugs such as penicillamine, EDTA, DMSA and DMPS.

Vitamin C in high doses of 2000 mg/day or more acts as a chelating agent. So do the sulfur-containing amino acids such as cysteine, methionine and taurine in foods or herbs, or as isolated nutrients. Foods high in sulfur include radishes, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, garlic and onions. Minerals may act as chelators, such as molybdenum for copper toxicity and selenium to some degree as well.

However, chelators must be used very cautiously. They remove some vital minerals, which can upset the delicate balance of the minerals in the body. The drugs, in particular, can have terrible side effects if the body chemistry is not examined carefully beforehand. Therefore, I do not use them, as I find the synthetic chelators unnecessary and not as safe as natural methods such as sauna therapy and nutrient therapy. I also do not recommend Metal-Free and similar stock products for chelation. They, too, are dangerous when used for longer periods of time. They are fine for a short time, say a month to three months, but not for longer, as they too remove some vital minerals and deficiencies can develop very slowly and insidiously. I also do not often recommend high-dose intravenous vitamin C therapy for chelation. It, too, is usually unnecessary for this purpose and can disturb the delicate mineral balance because vitamin C also removes vital minerals including copper, zinc, manganese and others. High-dose vitamin C, however, given intravenously to avoid diarrhea, can be lifesaving for an infection, for example, or for some cases of cancer.

CONCLUSION

Minerals, from calcium and magnesium to the trace elements such as zinc, are perhaps the single most important group of nutrients. They are required for every body function, from activating muscles and nerves, to digestion, energy production and all healing and regeneration of the body.

Restoring your vital minerals is a lifetime work, but does not have to be difficult. Mainly it involves recalling that our food is generally mineral deficient, and our environment contains toxic minerals no matter where one lives.

Healthful habits of living and eating, and simple supplements such as kelp, are a good start to rebuilding your body’s vital minerals.

Other approaches, mainly nutritional balancing science based on repeated properly performed hair tissue mineral analyses, may be needed for a while to rebuild and balance the minerals in the body.

Resources

1. Andersen, B.D., The Rhythms of Nature, Harmonic Spiral, CA, 1999.

2. Ford Heritage, Composition and Facts About Food, Health Research, CA 1971.

3. Jensen, B., The Chemistry of Man, Bernard Jensen, Escondido, CA 1983.

4. Kervan, C. L., Biological Transmutations, Beekman Publishers, Inc., NY, 1998.

5. Kutsky, R., Handbook of Vitamins, Minerals and Hormones, Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., NY, 1981.

6. Pfeiffer, C., Mental and Elemental Nutrients, Keats Publishing, CT, 1975.

7. Price, W., Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation, CA, 1945, 1979.
Albrecht, W., The Albrecht Papers, Acres USA, Kansas City, MO, 1975.

Hall, R., Food For Naught, The Decline in Nutrition, Keats Publishing, New Canaan, CT, 1979.

Jensen, B. and Anderson, M., Empty Harvest, Understanding the Link Between Our Food,

Our Immunity and Our Planet, Avery Publishing, 1990.

Price, W., Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, Price-Pottenger foundation, CA

1993, J. Applied Nutrition, Vol. 45, #1, pp. 35-39.

Wilson, L., “Minerals for Life” article, at www.drlwilson.com

Wilson, L., Healing Ourselves, LD Wilson Consultants, 2000.

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