Minerals

What are Minerals?

Minerals are naturally occurring substances formed through geological processes that have a characteristic chemical composition, and specific physical properties. Every living cell on this planet depends on minerals for proper function and structure. Like vitamins, they are necessary for life itself and combine with other basic components of food to form enzymes. Minerals are needed for the proper composition of body fluids, the formation of blood and bone, the maintenance of healthy nerve function, and the regulation of muscle tone including that of the heart.

Why do we need Mineral Supplements?

Normally, we would be getting all of the nutrients our bodies need from our regular intake of food. However, this is often difficult and close to impossible in the age we live in. In our chemically polluted and stress-filled world, our nutritional requirements have been increasing, but the number of calories we require are decreasing, as our general level of physical activity and energy we expend has declined. So now, we are faced with getting more nutrients into our bodies from less food. In addition, with the increases in cooking and processing of foods, which destroys most of the nutrients, we are hardly capable of getting even the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of nutrients. With this said, it is now necessary to get our required nutrients in the form of mineral supplements.

How can I take Minerals?

Minerals come in many shapes, sizes, colors, amounts, and combinations. They usually come in multivitamin or multimineral formulas. They come in tablet, capsule, powder, lozenge, and sometimes in liquid forms. Some minerals come in chelated forms meaning the minerals are bonded to protein molecules that transport them to the bloodstream and enhance their absorption. How you take most minerals is up to you, however, due to variations in how rapidly the supplements are absorbed and assimilated in the body, sometimes one form is better than another.

Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a standard for the daily amounts of vitamins and minerals needed by a healthy person instituted the Recommended Daily Allowances over 50 years ago in the US. Unfortunately, the amounts they came up with give us only the bare minimum required to be able to ward off deficiency diseases such as rickets and scurvy. The RDA’s on bottles of vitamins do not recommend the amount needed to maintain maximum health. When we are talking about a particular mineral in this section of wellness4everyone.com, we will give you the recommendations that we believe are better for good health. Do you have to follow the RDA or our recommendations? No, you may have to make judgments on your body weight, previous experience with a mineral, and or the recommendations of a health care professional. This will also depend on the mineral if there is a risk of toxicity in the body if too much of the mineral is taken. Usually toxic levels of minerals only occur if massive amounts are ingested for a long period of time.

Types of Minerals

Minerals are usually divided into two main groups: bulk minerals and trace minerals. Bulk minerals include calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, and phosphorus. These minerals are needed in larger quantity in our body than trace minerals. Trace minerals are needed only in smaller quantities in our bodies but are just as important to our overall health. Trace minerals include boron, chromium, copper, germanium, iodine, iron, manganese, molybdenum, selenium, silicon, sulfur, vanadium, and zinc.

What are the Main Minerals?

Boron

 Calcium

Chromium

Copper

Germanium

Iodine

Iron

Magnesium

Manganese

Molybdenum

Phosphorus

Potassium

Selenium

Silicon

Sodium

Sulfur

Vanadium

Zinc

More Information on Minerals

More information on the Minerals can be found in the Nutrition area of www.wellness4everyone.com or following the links above.