Archive for the ‘Minerals’ Category

For over 30 years I have been concerned about the minerals in our soil. Or I should say the lack of them. Back in the days when a farm was self-sustaining it was not much of a problem. The farmer would rotate the crops; maybe corn one year and wheat the next. The third year it may lay fallow or hay would be mowed. The farm animals would fertilize the soil and nature made a complete cycle.

Today with a one crop farm or a mechanized animal feed lot it takes away the balance of nature. Plants absorb around 70 to 80 different minerals from the soil during their growth. The majority of fertilizers used today by commercial growers contain only five or six types of minerals. The problem is immediately evident. But when you look at that fruit or vegetable in the store it “looks good” and our naked eye cannot see minerals. Is it any wonder that with fast food, food with most of the minerals lacking, food filled with chemical pesticides and growth chemicals sprayed on them, that our food is not satisfying our body’s requirement for healthy growth? We may feel full but wonder why we are growing fatter.

For more of the story go to Better Life Unlimited http://betterlifeunlimited.com

Chloride
Chloride is a chemical the human body needs for metabolism (the process of turning food into energy). It also helps keep the body’s acid-base balance. The amount of chloride in the blood is carefully controlled by the kidneys.

Sodium
The American Heart Association says that healthy American adults should eat less than 2,300 mg of sodium a day. This is about 1 teaspoon of sodium chloride (salt). A teaspoon of baking soda is 1,000 mg.
Table salt is sodium chloride and it’s about 40 percent sodium by weight. Many packaged foods are very high in salt. The word “soda” refers to sodium bicarbonate or baking soda. Some drugs have high amounts of sodium.
You can reduce the sodium in your diet by choosing fresh, frozen or canned items without added salts.Cut out chips an pretzels. Use unsalted broths or soups. Spices and herbs can be substituted to enhance the taste of your food.
Sea salt is obtained by the evaporation of seawater and is said to be the better choice for eating.

Sulphur
Sulfur is essential to life. It is a minor constituent of fats, body fluids, and skeletal minerals.
Sulphur is found in meteorites, volcanoes, hot springs, and as galena, gypsum, Epsom salts, and barite. It is recovered commercially from “salt domes” along the Gulf Coast of the USA.
Sulphur is a pale yellow, odourless, brittle solid, which is insoluble in water but soluble in carbon disulphide. Sulphur is essential to life. It is a minor constituent of fats, body fluids, and skeletal minerals.

Phosphorus is the second most abundant mineral in the body (after calcium), and up to 1 ½ lb of it are found in the average person. Eighty-five percent of phosphorus is concentrated in the bones and teeth, the rest distributed in the blood and various organs, including the heart, kidneys, brain, and muscles.
One major benefit of phosphorus is teaming up with calcium to build strong bones. It also acts as a kind of biological escort, helping a variety of nutrients, hormones, and chemicals in doing their job. Without phosphorus, the body could not convert the proteins, carbohydrates, and fats it absorbs from food into energy.
Phosphorus serves as a cell to cell messenger. It works in muscle contraction, nerve impulses from the brain to the body and the secretion of hormones.
Since phosphorus in found in so many foods, the need for supplements is almost unnecessary.
The greatest risk with phosphorus may be in getting too much. Never take phosphorus supplements without your doctor’s recommendation.
Source: GUIDE TO DRUGS AND SUPPLEMENTS, Reader’s Digest, 2007

Today we will get back to looking at some the minerals the body needs and uses.
Magnesium appears to be one of the most important health-promoting minerals and the average person’s body only contains an ounce of magnesium.
When people rely too much on processed foods they may end up short of adequate stores of magnesium. Also magnesium levels are also easily depleted by stress, certain medicines or medications. Highly intense physical exercise will also deplete this mineral.
Studies suggest that besides enhancing about 300 enzyme-related processes in the body, magnesium may also help prevent or combat many chronic diseases from asthma and fibromyalgia to heart disease.
Magnesium is one of the most versatile minerals; magnesium is involved in energy production, nerve function, muscle relaxation, and bone and tooth formation. Along with potassium and calcium, magnesium regulates heart rhythm and clots blood.
Some research shows that the risk of cardiac arrest is lower in areas where there is hard water, which contains high levels of magnesium.
Because magnesium relaxes muscles it’s useful for sports injuries and fibromyalgia. Apparently it helps ease PMS and menstrual cramps and may increase bone density in postmenopausal women, helping stem the time of osteoporosis.
The RDA for magnesium is 400 mg a day for men 19 to 30, 310 mg for women, 420 mg a day for men over 31 and 320 mg for women. But higher doses are required for disease prevention or women taking oral contraceptives.
A word of caution, if you have a medical condition, talk to your doctor before taking supplements.
Besides supplements, good sources of magnesium are whole grain, nuts, legumes, dark green leafy vegetables, and shellfish.
This information taken from GUIDE TO DRUGS AND SUPPLEMENTS, Reader’s Digest, 2007

In addition to the vitamins our body needs are the minerals. However minerals are in our body in small amounts. They only comprise about 4 percent of our body weight. Yet these inorganic substances found in the earth’s crust as well as many foods are esential. They are necessary in bone formation as well as digestion and normal functioning of the heart.

The body contains more than 60 different minerals, but only 22 are thought to be essential. Then seven of these–including clacium, chloride,magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium and sulfur–are usually called macrominerals. The other 15 minerals are called trace minerals, or microminerals, because the amount the body needs is extremely small.

Today we’ll look at calcium.

Calcium is essential for many bodily functions. This includes the transmission of nerve impulses, the regulation of muscle contraction and relaxation, blood clotting, and various metabolic activities. Calcium is most known by the average person for making strong bones. So with taking calcium for preventing osteoporosis vitamin D is included to help in the absorption of calcium.

There are numerous forms of calcium supplements: calcium carbonate (the most common and inexpensive), calcium citrate (the best absorbed but relatively expensive), calcium phosphate, calcium lactate, and calcium gluconate. Since calcium carbonate and calcium phosphate are hard to absorb the other calcium products are preferable.

Although it’s the most abundant mineral in the body, most adults get only half of what they need each day. The majority of the body’s calcium is stored in the bones and teeth. The small amount in the bloodstream helps move nutrients across the cell membranes. If there is not enough calcium in the bloodstream it will steal calcium from the bones.

Newer studies have increased the daily intake for men and women up to age 50 at 1,000 mg and 1,200 for people over 50.

If you get too much, say 2,500 daily from food and supplements, it may hinder the absorption of zinc, iron and magnesium.

For more information on calcium you can check: Guide to Drugs and Supplements, Reader’s Digest, 2007