Nightmare

Bioavailability has a precursor, an opening act. It is called
absorption. Take a mineral supplement pill. Put it in a glass of water
and wait half an hour. If it is unchanged, chances are that the tablet
itself would never even dissolve in the stomach or intestine, but pass
right out of the body. You would be astounded how many mineral
supplements there are in this category.
OK, let's say the tablet or capsule actually does dissolve in the
digestive tract. Then what? In order to do us any good, the mineral must
be absorbed into the bloodstream, through the intestinal walls.
Elemental minerals are absorbed about 1-8% in this manner. The rest is
excreted. Elemental means rocks. Elemental minerals are those found in
the majority of supplements, because they're very cheap to produce. For
the small percentage that actually makes it to the bloodstream, the
mineral is available for use by the cells, or as catalysts in thousands
of essential enzyme reactions that keep every cell alive every second.
Use at the cellular level is what bioavailability is all about.
With this background in mind we can begin to understand that varying
amounts of the seven macrominerals and approximately 14 trace minerals,
in a bioavailable form are necessary for optimum cell activity, optimum
health and would seem to contribute to long lifespan. So besides
epidemic mineral deficiency, what's the problem?
In a word, supplementation. Mineral deficiency has become such an
obvious health concern, causing specific diseases because of a lack of a
single mineral, and general immune suppression with a lack of several,
that the obvious need for supplementation has spawned an entire industry
to the rescue. But in any market-driven industry involving pills, again
we find that often the cures are worse than the original problems. Why?
First off, toxicity. Remember, even macrominerals are only necessary in
tiny amounts. Most trace minerals are necessary in amounts too small to
be measured, and can only be estimated. Toxicity is a word that simply
means extra stuff. When extra stuff gets put into the body, it's a big
deal. All forces are mobilized for removal of the extra stuff, which are
called antigens, toxins, poisons, reactants, etc, but you get the idea -
it doesn't belong there. Toxicity means taking a nonessential
non-nutrient mineral into the body.
Take lead poisoning, for example. If lead gets into the blood, the body
will try to remove it. Since the metal atoms are so heavy compared with
the body's immune forces, removal may be impossible. Lead can initiate a
chronic inflammatory response and can remain in the body permanently,
which is why we don't have lead in paint or gasoline any more.
Most minerals can be toxic if taken to excess. And this excess would not
happen from food; only from supplements. What supplements would be bad?
Well, for starters, any supplement containing more than about 21
minerals, because that's all that have been proven to be necessary for
humans. New toxicities are always being discovered. Aluminum linked to
Alzheimer's is a recent discovery. Beyond these 21 or so it's simply
anybody's guess, no matter what they tell you about the 5 civilizations
where people live to be 140 years old. People who show dramatic
improvements from taking these 60 and 80 mineral drinks generally were
so depleted that they rapidly absorbed the essential minerals in which
they were deficient. But the toxicities from the nonessential, unknown
minerals may take a long time to show up. Why take in anything extra?
Here's an example of an ingredient list from one of these mega-mineral
drinks. I pulled it off the Net: Calcium, Magnesium, Zinc, Vanadium,
Manganese, Potassium, Selenium, Chromium, Phosphate, Iron, Sulfur,
Carbon, Sodium, Barium, Strontium, Cesium, Thorium, Molybdenum, Nickel,
Cerium, Germanium, Copper, Rubidium, Antimony, Gallium, Neodymium,
Lanthanum, Bismuth, Zirconium, Thallium, Tungsten, Ruthenium, Boron,
Iodine, Chloride, Bromine, Titanium, Cobalt, Dysprosium, Scandium,
Samarium, Fluoride, Niobium, Praseodymium, Erbium, Hafnium, Lithium,
Ytterbium, Yttrium, Cadmium, Holmium, Rhenium, Palladium, Gold, Thulium,
Terbium, Iridium, Tantalum, Europium, Lutetium, Rhodium, Tin, Indium,
Silver, Beryllium, Tellurium, and Platinum.
Any questions?