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.
