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"MINERALS-YOUR BODY'S
BUILDING BLOCKS"
Minerals are the main components in your teeth and bones, and they serve as building blocks for other
cells and enzymes.
Minerals also help regulate the balance of fluids in your body and control the movement of nerve impulses. Some minerals also help deliver oxygen to cells and help carry away carbon dioxide.
* Major minerals.
Calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, potassium, sulfur and chloride are considered major minerals because adults need them in larger amounts — more than 250 milligrams (mg) a day.
* Trace minerals.
Chromium, copper, fluoride, iodine, iron, manganese, molybdenum, selenium and zinc are considered trace minerals because your body needs them in smaller amounts — fewer than 20 mg a day.
Since the mechanization of farming and the growth of the size of our farms, it has become more difficult for farmers to replenish the minerals that the crops take out of the soil. None of the commercial fertilizers contain all the minerals.
Therefore, many areas of farm land have become depleted of the natural minerals that are necessary to produce healthy crops.
For this reason, most people fail to get the required minerals from the food they eat, and more and more are turning to mineral supplements.
Many alternative health practitioners are realizing that one reason for our alarming amount of heart attacks in this country is that we have a deficiency of magnesium. The latest research is finding that we need to consume equal amounts of magnesium and calcium.
Some are recommending 1000 mg. of each/day.
Alternative Dr. Nan Fuchs has explained that magnesium helps the bones to be more flexible, rather than brittle. She uses the illustration that chalk is pure calcium and breaks easily, but ivory is combination of magnesium and calcium and is much more resistant to breakage |
