Minerals are simple-structured substances that play major roles
in many metabolic functions. Many minerals are components of
enzymes, which are catalysts of chemical reactions in the body.
Additionally, minerals regulate and control the normal function of
human and animal tissues, muscles, and organs. For example, sodium
and potassium play a vital role in maintaining proper fluid balance.
Calcium acts as a major structural component of bones and teeth.
Iron carries oxygen throughout the body in blood.
The
importance of minerals to good health has become increasingly
important over the years as the depletion of our soils. Taking any
form of minerals does not ensure that the minerals will be absorbed
into the body and utilized by the tissues.
The tissues of all living things are comprised primarily of four
elements: oxygen, hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen. These four are the
major constituents of fats, proteins, carbohydrates and water, the
major compounds in plant and animal tissue. When plant or animal
tissue is burned, it releases gases. The ash is the rest of the
minerals that were present in the tissues.
Bones, teeth, nails, skin, hair and all other tissues require
these minerals for their formation. These same minerals also play
important roles in the function of the body, such as the production
of energy and the control of body systems. When any of the elements
are lacking, the result will be structural weakness and system
dysfunction or, in other words, disease. The deficient levels of a
particular mineral may not mean that the mineral is deficient, but
rather that high levels of another mineral are depressing levels of
another mineral by interfering with its absorption.
Major Minerals: The tissue requires relatively large amounts of
some minerals such as calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, sodium,
chloride, potassium, magnesium and sulfur. These minerals needed in
larger quantities are called macro-minerals.
Trace Minerals: The remaining minerals that are essential for
good health are known as trace minerals, or micro-minerals. The
trace elements generally recognized as essential to good health are
chromium, cobalt, copper, fluorine, iodine, iron, manganese,
molybdenum, nickel, selenium, silicon and zinc.
Since most people in today's hurried world don't
have time to eat regular nutritious meals, it is important to
supplement our diet with vitamins and minerals. It is especially
important that we receive the highest quality product in a form that
will be quickly and easily absorbed. And it is
difficult to obtain the necessary vitamins and minerals from food
because of mineral-deficient soils that are common throughout the
world today. It only takes 10 years of intensive farming to exhaust
the minerals in any tract of land. The depletion of necessary
nutrients by cooking and processing living foods adds to the
difficulty in obtaining vital minerals and vitamins from our
food. Severe vitamin deficiencies will result in
serious illnesses. Even a modest deficiency in certain vitamins, can
have a profound effect on health.
