The Problem With Mineral Supplements...

Our soil and therefore our food are deficient in minerals because of the industrialization of agriculture. How can we eat well and meet our nutritional needs? Growing our own organic food might be the answer but not practical for most people. Even if we could grow or buy enough organic fruit and vegetables, preparing and eating enough is a challenge. Can mineral supplementation make up for this shortfall in nutrition?

The answer is 'maybe' but there are problems with mineral supplements on the market: they vary in what minerals they include and in what quantities. Even if a mineral is present in the supplement, it may not be enough to be biologically effective. Even if it is present in sufficient quantity, the body may need other minerals and nutrients in order to absorb it - minerals work as a team.

Take calcium as an example: calcium is the most abundant mineral in our bodies and is almost all found in our bones. Roger Mason in 'The Minerals You Need' notes the irony that Europeans and North Americans eat far more calcium than other peoples. They are the only populations that take in the 1,000 mg per day of calcium recommended by the government (the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA)) yet they have far more bone and joint disease, especially arthritis and osteoporosis, than Asians, Africans and people from Latin cultures. He explains that this is because calcium can only be absorbed if other minerals and vitamin D are present. He finds that it is not so much the amount of calcium that is the key to maintaining health bones as it is the intake of calcium alongside other minerals and vitamins such as magnesium, boron, strontium and vitamin D. Other possible contributing minerals are manganese, zinc and silicon. In his book, he constantly conveys the message that minerals work together as a biological team.

The reverse may happen: the presence of another mineral may inhibit absorption. Even a person's general state of health, the anti-perspirant they use or the water they drink can affect absorption.

A web article 'Testosterone Production  The Elemental Facts, An Interview With Victor Conte' by Nelson Montana at http://www.t-nation.com describes how calcium inhibits absorption of other minerals by up to 60-70% and needs to be taken separately, at least two hours before or after taking other mineral supplements.

Moreover, manufacturers use extra calcium in capsules in the form of either dicalcium phosphate or calcium sulfate as a filler. I took two mineral supplement bottles from my kitchen cupboard and they both list dicalcium phosphate as an 'Other Ingredient'. This has been an industry standard for over 25 years so taking any mineral supplement that uses this calcium filler may not help as much as it could.

Drug Digest at http://www.drugdigest.org states that calcium salts remove potassium and magnesium from the body. An article in the American Journal Of Clinical Nutrition (Vol. 82, No. 3, 589-597, September 2005) finds that calcium also inhibits absorption of iron.

Other examples of minerals that you should not take at the same time are iron and zinc. Iron is less well absorbed when taken with zinc; see the Drug Digest web site. Extra iron should only be taken under the advice of a health care professional. Taking zinc with copper, iron or phosphorous supplements inhibits absorption; again, see the Drug Digest web site.

Environmental factors may inhibit absorption. For example, per Conte and Montana, anti-perspirants contain aluminum chlorohydrate and hard water is often treated with sodium aluminate to prevent the build-up of calcium and magnesium deposits in the pipes. So there is aluminum in our environment and aluminum inhibits absorption and utilization of magnesium.

We also need to discuss how efficiently the body absorbs minerals. They are mostly absorbed in the small intestine. Conte and Montana mention another factor which may inhibit absorption of minerals: antacids inhibit digestion by reducing hydrochloric acid in the stomach so that it cannot break down and absorb nutrients

I might also add that old fecal matter in the large intestine inhibits absorption of minerals - only colon cleansing such as colon hydrotherapy can help this.

For all these reasons, a regular multi-mineral supplement from the store may not compensate for the deficiency of minerals in our soil and food. Conte and Montana discuss how to achieve the best absorption of minerals:

* Take them on an empty stomach

* Do not take them all at once in order to reduce competition for absorption between minerals:

* Take calcium by itself

* Take chromium and copper together

* Take iron and selenium together

* Take zinc and magnesium together (just before bedtime)

Zinc and magnesium are often put together in well-absorbed forms in a product referred to as 'ZMA'. ZMA-using athletes increased free and total testosterone levels by about 30%, and experienced IGF-1 increases, when they might otherwise have expected reduced levels because of the strain on their bodies. The ZMA-using athletes experienced strength gains that were 2.5 times greater than a non-ZMA control group.

We may have to accept for now that mineral supplements are far from perfect but better than not taking anything. To the extent that you can, split up what you take as described in this article and try to find ones that do not use dicalcium phosphate or calcium sulfate as fillers.

We have seen the difficulties in trying to formulate a mineral supplement. As the supplement manufacturers Biotest point out, biological systems are extremely complex and nobody really knows what nutrients we need in what quantities and combinations, so trying to copy nature may not be the answer.

The alternative may be to take organic fruit and vegetables extracts that have been freeze-dried such as the new product from Biotest called Superfood. I am a very satisfied customer of Biotest but have no financial interest in them. If we cannot reconstruct nature artificially, let's take natural produce and condense it into a form that we can easily consume. Let's use technology and nature to offset the effects of industrial agriculture.