The Alternative Health Gazette

Minerals Introduction

Minerals are very much like vitamins: They are essential for the proper functioning and health of the human body. Vitamins need to be replaced regularly though, where as minerals stay in our body and make up the actual structure of the body too.

Minerals “turn over” though, meaning a little of them must be replaced or renewed continuously in order for us to stay healthy.

Minerals are essential for our bodies to activate, assimilate, and use vitamins properly though. Minerals are absorbed by plants through the soil, and animals and humans get the minerals from those plants. There are many essential minerals we know about, can identify, and know what their importance is. There are also trace minerals though, which are found in plant life too, and these are also needed by our bodies even though scientists don’t have much information on them yet.

In most cases, vitamins and minerals work together within our body. Calcium and Vitamin D are excellent examples, because the body needs enough Vitamin D to be able to absorb and use calcium.

Chelated (key lated) minerals are required for our bodies to be able to use them. Chelation happens when a mineral is wrapped in molecules of protein, and chelation is needed in order for the blood stream to accept the minerals. If a mineral is not chelated, then both it and the vitamins associated with it will pass through the body without providing any benefit.

This is one of the reason it’s usually suggested that you take a vitamin or mineral with a meal. Because the proteins from your meal will help your body chelate the minerals and absorb and use them properly, along with the vitamins too.

Before the body can chelate a mineral though, is must dissolve it first. Once it has dissolved the mineral, it then uses protein to chelate it for proper use. Now, if you don’t eat enough protein of course, you’re going to have a problem utilizing both minerals and vitamins in your body. And if you take vitamin supplements, they may be in a form which is difficult for your body to dissolve properly, which of course would make them unusuable as well.

These are reasons to use natural herbal supplements for adding vitamin and mineral content. Herbal sources contain high amounts of both vitmains and minerals, including the trace minerals too. Herbal supplements are often purchased in crushed or powdered form too, so these are much easier for the body to readily dissolve and put to use within us.

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