Why Mineral Balance Matters
Minerals are the directors and conductors of our metabolism. Without them, we cannot make and use hormones, create antioxidants, deliver nutrients to tissues, produce ATP energy, and conduct neuronal electricity. The electrolytes are minerals.
Your body maintains tight regulatory systems to maintain mineral balance. Sodium, potassium, chloride, and calcium are often considered the most important to health. These macrominerals, along with magnesium, sulfur, and phosphorous, are the most abundant minerals in the body.
Trace minerals like Iron, iodine, copper, zinc, selenium, boron, chromium, cobalt, fluoride, manganese, and molybdenum are also important for health. We need a much smaller amount each day.
Minerals in Foods We Eat
In a perfect world, we would get all the minerals we need from food. Unfortunately, our modern farming methods have disrupted the ratios and bioavailability of minerals from food.
- Our topsoil has eroded by 33% percent ( 1), decreasing essential minerals in the soil where our food grows.
- Monoculture practices rob the soil of specific minerals that crops need in order to grow ( 2, 3).
- Tilling and synthetic fertilizers disrupt the nutrient uptake of plants ( 4).
- Pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides strongly bind to minerals in the soil, further reducing bioavailability ( 5).
- Each of these practices also depletes the soil of the microbes that aid in plant growth, mineralization, pathogen resistance, and nutrient quality ( 6).
In the 1920s, the food industry began fortifying our foods with synthetic vitamins and minerals to offset and replace the minerals stripped away during food processing ( 8). As a result, we tend to consume large amounts of non-bioavailable iron, phosphorous, synthetic vitamins A, D, B’s, and ascorbic acid ( 9).
We no longer receive adequate amounts of magnesium, copper, and naturally occurring vitamins that our bodies need to thrive ( 10, 11).
Magnesium
Magnesium is essential to over 300 different enzymes in the body. It’s essential for protein synthesis, blood sugar balance, blood pressure and heart rate regulation, kidney health, pH balance, energy production, and much more ( 12).
It’s difficult to get sufficient magnesium from modern foods. Even subclinical magnesium deficiency results in myriad health problems ( 12, 13). In addition, the body burns through magnesium faster when under stress, resulting in even lower levels ( 14).
Copper
Iron is essential for oxygen delivery. What's more important than iron itself is the bioavailability of it. When our body cannot use it properly, it becomes inflammatory, resulting in low energy levels, a weakened immune system, and oxidative stress, among other concerns ( 15).
Copper is essential for the regulation of iron ( 10). Modern foods no longer provide us with the appropriate ratio of copper to iron. Many people consume too much iron and very little copper, resulting in metabolic disruptions, fatigue, and chronic inflammation.
Are Supplements the Answer?
Vitamin and mineral supplements are often implemented with the good intention of addressing these modern issues. Unfortunately, most vitamin and mineral supplements do not provide the proper ratios and forms that our cells recognize.
Supplementing with singular minerals can even cause deficiencies in others. High doses of isolated zinc will deplete copper levels in the body, further exacerbating iron dysregulation ( 16).
A Modern Problem with an Ancient Solution
The true solution to these modern problems can be found in ancestral principles and practices. Our ancestors met their nutrient needs by eating nose-to-tail animals and drinking water from streams, springs, and riverbeds that were also mineral-rich.
Not everyone finds the thought of eating organ meats appetizing. That’s why Formula IQ has created whole food-based supplements to provide the solution to all of these concerns.
Recuperate IQ provides several of the most nutrient-dense foods available today.
- Spirulina is rich in trace minerals, vitamins, and amino acids.
- Beef liver supplies the correct ratio of minerals that our bodies need.
- Turmeric aids in chelating iron out of the tissues and into the blood.
- Copper bysglycinate ensures adequate copper intake.
- Boron enhances enzyme function to boost overall health
Mag IQ provides the most bioavailable form of magnesium for enhanced cellular absorption ( 17, 18, 19).
Proper mineral balance in the body is essential for maintaining good health. Minerals are often the rate-limiting factor to basic cellular functions like ATP-energy production.
They are analogous to the keys of cars driving down the highway. If any of these cars stop for any reason, they will not restart without the key. Traffic would rapidly pile up, and the pace of travel on the highway would be much slower.
We must ensure adequate minerals to keep our bodies from unnecessarily slowing down and running inefficiently. Proper mineral balance provides you with more energy, elevated mood, improved mental clarity, improved immune function, better sleep, and more.
