What are Trace minerals 2015.08.25

Balance is important to all areas of our lives and nutrition, but it is particularly crucial when it comes to minerals and trace minerals:

There are 92 elements found in nature and an additional 22 theoretical and/or observed elements. In addition, there are hundreds of isotopes of the elements, any one of which may play an as yet undiscovered role in human health. . . It becomes increasingly evident when studying the relationship of minerals to human health that keeping the level of minerals in balance in every tissue, fluid cell and organ in the human body may be the key to maintaining human health.1

Keeping minerals in proper balance throughout the body while providing all of them insufficient quantities needed for optimal health is complex. This is further complicated when using a bullet approach based on the latest research that finds specific deficiencies and then supplements the diet with just that particular nutrient:

The complexity of the mineral imbalance problem is apparent. It is apparent that our understanding of the mechanisms of mineral imbalances is fragmentary. New inter-relationship sare constantly being discovered. We are presently recognizing and correcting only a small fraction of the mineral imbalance problems plaguing animals and men.2

Imbalanced interactions cause many problems when we consistently consume single processed or refined minerals that are out of proportion with the other minerals and trace minerals. This is particularly evident when it comes to the most commonly refined mineral that Americans take into their diet, sodium chloride and it’s effects on hypertension:

Clearly, nutrients function interactively both in the body and in their impact on blood pressure regulation. Whenever the consumption of a single nutrient is significantly altered, an entirely new dietary pattern is created.. Nutrients occur in clusters in the diet and may therefore act synergistically to alter physiologic variables such as blood pressure. 3

These relationships can, however have an equally profound benefit on human health when minerals are consumed in proper ratios. Certain minerals and trace minerals, when found in proper balance, can serve additional non-classical roles such as acting as antioxidants. Minerals and trace minerals can also help each other in the process of assimilation and add additional safety buffers for minerals that have the potential of being toxic to human health. 1

However, inter-relationships of minerals and trace minerals are not nearly as evident when they are found in a dry or a non-soluble form. For instance, powdered copper and zinc could be mixed up in ratio of a billion parts of copper to just one part of zinc. Additionally, other minerals and trace minerals in powder form could be mixed up in similar ratios without causing a reaction to occur, but if they made it into the blood stream in those same ratios, the results would be devastating to the body.

Within the blood stream, lymphatic fluid, cells and extracellular fluid, minerals and trace minerals can be found completely dissociated into solution , which can also be called electrolyte or ionic form. 4 In this state, they all have specific positive or negative electrical signatures that cause a dynamic equilibrium to take place. The body can use minor changes in this equilibrium to create proper osmotic pressure and move nutrients to the areas that need them most and create electrical impulses that run the entire nervous system. 4

This same equilibrium can also be found in the seas around the world where minerals and trace minerals have collected and concentrated in liquid ionic form for millions of years. It is astounding to realize that the dynamic equilibrium that takes place with liquid ionic minerals and trace minerals has created the same basic balance in sea water that is found in healthy blood plasma and lymphatic fluid.

As you can tell, the dynamic equilibrium of minerals and trace minerals found in sea water is incredibly complex and has worked itself out over millions of years using natural forces which as of yet are not fully understood by scientists. Scientists, working in the laboratory have never been able to create sea water from scratch and even if it were possible it would cost thousands of dollars a bottle.

Utah’s Great Salt Lake, where Trace Minerals Research harvest Low Sodium ConcenTraceTrace Mineral Drops, is the largest body of concentrated sea water in the world and is particularly rich in certain minerals and trace minerals like magnesium, selenium, lithium, and boron which are vitally important to human health. “The Great Salt Lake [has] concentrated many of the same minerals found in the sea through geothermal and evaporative processes. These natural sources of the elements can provide a rich source of minerals compatible to human physiological needs.” 1 Also, because of it’s high concentration, the dynamic equilibrium has caused the Great Salt Lake to be uniquely low in certain toxic, heavy metals:

. . . The total soluble concentrations of heavy metals in the water are extremely low. The heavy metals in the lake, along with clays, organic materials and carbonates, are precipitating to the sediments and deep brines where anaerobic conditions and sulfides formed by sulfate reducing bacteria immobilize the metals. The lake thus avoids accumulation of heavy metals in the lake water and is non-toxic and self-cleansing. The unique saline condition of [the] Great Salt lake determines the precipitation and immobilization of heavy metals in the lake.” 5

Today, Trace Minerals Research uses the naturally balanced, naturally occurring minerals and trace minerals from Utah’s Great Salt lake as the basis for all of their products. These products have been developed to work with the body and its natural balances to provide many nutrients that may be lacking in modern diets.

References

1. Schauss, Alexander. Minerals and Human health: the Rationale for Optimal and BalancedTrace Element Levels. Life Sciences Press: 1995, pp. 1,5.
2. Hoekstra, W.G. Federation Proceedings. National Academy of Sciences: Washington, D.C.(Sept./Oct., 1964).
3. Reusser, M.E., McCarron, D.A. Nutrition Review, 1994: 52; 367-375>
4. American Medical Association. The American Medical Associations’s Encyclopedia ofMedicine. Ed. Charles b. Clayman. Random House: 1989, pp. 396,605,752.
5. Utah Geological and Mineral Survey. Bulletin 116., University of Utah: 1980, p. 198.