Why Minerals and trace elements?

There are 75 mineral elements in nature, some of which our bodies require in larger quantities. These are what we refer to as ‘minerals’. Minerals of which only very small amounts are required are referred to as ‘trace elements’.

Minerals and trace elements fulfill three important functions in the body:

• They provide building blocks for bones and connective tissue
• They provide electrical impulses through the nervous system
• They act as catalysts and auxiliary agents for enzymes in all of the body’s physiological processes.

Minerals and trace elements are disappearing from our food

Paul Berger has collected mineral contents of foods dating back to 1914. The selected data in the figure below shows that in the last century (period 1914 – 1997) the mineral content of foodstuffs decreased on average by a factor of 5. This is due to the emergence of intensive agriculture, in which agricultural lands are selectively fertilized with artificial fertilizers, which contain a limited amount of minerals. As for all other minerals and trace elements, these agricultural lands are slowly being depleted.

Figure: The average mineral content in vegetables in the USA during the last century. The figure shows the added averages of calcium, magnesium and iron in vegetables such as cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes and spinach. (Bergner 1997: The Healing Power of Minerals.)

What is a good mineral formula?

The figure below shows how minerals and trace elements influence each other. It’ s not a good idea to consume a limited number of minerals in higher concentrations as a nutritional supplement, because each mineral can strongly influence the absorption and excretion of many other minerals and trace elements.

Figure: Interactions between minerals The lines show how minerals and trace elements influence each other’s absorption, metabolism or excretion.

(Bergner 1997: The Healing Power of Minerals).

But what does a solid Daily Mineral Formula actually look like?

• A good Daily Mineral Formula is complete and contains all minerals and trace elements
• A good daily mineral formula is not over-powered: we already get a large part of the necessary minerals from our daily diet. Supplementation with a Daily Mineral Formula should be just that: a supplement. Otherwise, we risk causing a major disruption in the existing nutrient balances.
• A good Daily Mineral Formula contains mainly natural ingredients, which can be processed much more easily by the body than foreign, synthetic substances
• Interestingly, the mineral composition of the so-called extracellular fluid (the fluid that surrounds all our cells and makes up 1/5 of all our body fluids) in all terrestrial animals is very similar to that of seawater. Evolutionary biologists see indirect evidence in this that all life forms on land once arose from the sea. It also means that seawater and marine organisms are extremely important sources of nutrition: they contain all 75 minerals and trace elements in the right proportions and in ionic form, which can be absorbed directly by humans.