WHY MINERALS ARE VITAL TO LIFE

 

 

 

Where We Have Gone Wrong?

Early 20th century concerns about constipation and poor digestion led in the 1950s to use of wheat bran and a resurgence of whole grain cereals and unrefined foods. Attention then moved to additives and pesticide residues in food and organic agriculture began reasserting itself. Mistrust of frozen and convenience foods started a trend for good supplementation – first vitamins, then minerals and eventually essential fatty acids, amino acids and more recently pre-biotics and pro-biotics.

 

The on-going use of chemical inputs in farming to manage infection and increase harvest still leaves us vulnerable to a lifetime of consuming these chemical residues which both cause aging and damage body functions. Pesticides damage, unintentionally, the rich life of the soil, reducing populations of fungi, bacteria and small insects who drive the organic engine. One job they do is to excavate minerals from the subsoil and digest them into a state that plants can absorb through their roots. The decline in soil organisms has led directly to a corresponding decline in the mineral content of plants and other farm produce.

 

This decline is worldwide. In Britain the food mineral value has been documented rigorously since the 1930s by scientists at the Dunn Nutrition Institute (University of Cambridge). Their research shows that minerals are down by 30% in the past 60 years across the board. Magnesium is particularly affected, down 40%. Minerals are added back to our refined foods but in the form of pure chemical compounds. With very few exceptions, we cannot make effective use of these as foods. They are poorly absorbed, quickly excreted and fail to nourish the tissues effectively. They can deposit in the walls of arteries, the kidneys and gall bladder, forming stones and in some cases arterioschlerosis.

 

 

Our Minerals Need To Be In A form Our Bodies Recognise

This is why supplement companies at the cutting edge place such emphasis on Bio-food and Food-state products. These have been grown into organic tissue, in a replica of the natural soil process, before harvesting and rendering as tablets. These products are accepted by the body, are completely absorbed and retained in every tissue over a long period of time.

 

It is hard to imagine the benefit of a full bodily reserve of minerals because we have been deficient for so long. Some of these minerals, such as calcium, magnesium and iron are required in bulk in the structures of the body. Most are also required in tiny amounts to unlock the enormous potential of enzymes. The results of such deficiencies are commonplace. Below are listed some examples :

 

i) Reduced energy and chronic fatigue – commonly associated with depleted magnesium, which is essential for switching muscles and nerves off after use.

ii) Inadequate immune function – zinc and selenium are essential to facilitate immunity. Their absence weakens the body’s ability to fight infection and creates the appearance of multiple allergy. Intolerance of many different things, usually acquired some time after infancy, is not true allergy and is often cured or greatly alleviated just by getting the mineral balance right.

iii) Susceptibility to cancer is greatly reduced when your immune system is functioning fully. The immune system depends heavily on minerals and essential fatty acids.

iv) Joints degenerate under only moderate use when the bones that form them are insufficiently mineralized. This is why there is such an increase in conditions like osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. These are not just about a deficiency in calcium. A synergistic response is required.

v) Fertility problems arise partly from mineral deficiency – particularly zinc – as well as deficiencies such as folic acid, vitamin E and essential fatty acids.

Replenishment of your mineral reserves may take months but you will begin to feel the benefits within weeks, as hard-pressed enzymes begin to work properly again. As long as you keep your minerals topped up after replenishing them, the benefit is permanent.

 


Also see:  A Prescription for Health and The Importance of Juicing