JUST AS YOUR body needs certain vitamins to strengthen your immune system, minerals are also vitally important for proper functioning. Mineral deficiencies are even more common in the standard American diet than vitamin deficiencies; it is common for women to get too little iron and calcium in their diets. Minerals will help build, strengthen, and heal your body. Every living cell depends on minerals for proper function and structure. The balance of your body depends upon proper levels and ratios of different minerals. Minerals are crucial for proper nerve function, regulation of muscle tone, formation of blood and bone, and composition of body fluids. The entire cardiovascular system relies heavily on proper mineral balance.
To give you an idea of how minerals boost your health, here are several examples of just some of their benefits:
• Calcium: Provides strong bones, teeth, and muscle and nerve function; aids in blood clotting
• Chloride: Aids digestion; works with sodium to maintain fluid balance
• Chromium: Provides proper carbohydrate metabolism
• Copper: Aids in formation of blood cells and connective tissues
• Iodine: Maintains proper thyroid function
• Manganese: Aids calcium, phosphorous, and magnesium metabolism; provides essential support for healthy bones
Even though you can get minerals from some food sources, it is sometimes necessary to use mineral supplements to obtain sufficient amounts for your body’s needs. Here is where a multiple vitamin plays a crucial role in strengthening your body since it contains minerals as well as vitamins. As mentioned in chapter 7, a daily multiple vitamin is a basic ingredient in a good health regimen. One reason is that it contains trace amounts of minerals that are vital to the functioning of your immune system.
Why is it necessary to take a multiple vitamin and other supplements? The outdated theory of mainstream medicine that holds that you can get all of the vitamins and minerals you need from your diet is slowly dying out. More and more physicians realize that, while it may have been true that your grandparents received all the nutrition they required from their foods, this is simply not the case in the modern generation. Mineral-depleted soils and chemical agribusiness farming and marketing methods almost guarantee that you will not get anywhere near the ideal nutritional value that you need for health from the foods you buy at most supermarkets.
Instead of nourishing your body, traditionally grown and processed, “devitalized” food actually abuses your body. When foods have been grown in nutrient-poor soil, they may look pretty, but that’s about all. When our soil has been robbed of important minerals and nutrients, the food it produces will be nutritionally poor as well.
MAGNIFICENT MINERALS
One of the minerals in a multiple vitamin is selenium, which is important for building and maintaining superior immunity. Selenium deficiency causes a reduction in T-cell activity and antibody production. It can also lower your resistance to developing viral and bacterial infections. Selenium supplements significantly enhance the body’s production of white blood cells—especially T-cells and natural killer cells. You should take approximately 200 micrograms (mcg) of selenium a day; check the information panel on your multivitamin for the dosage it includes.
Zinc is another element and is important for the immune system. In fact, it’s the most important mineral to the thymus gland. Zinc is required for cell-mediated immunity. A deficiency in zinc will cause a decrease in T-cells, natural killer cells, and thymic hormone; in addition, zinc has been found to prevent cold viruses from reproducing themselves. However, too much can cause harmful effects; 15 to 30 mg daily is sufficient (the amount found in most multiple vitamins).
A study on zinc throat lozenges found that when subjects who were developing cold symptoms dissolved zinc lozenges in their mouths every two hours, they recovered much faster.1 Those who took the lozenges recovered in an average of 4.4 days compared with 7.6 days for those who were given a placebo.
Most American diets are low in zinc. Some experts believe our low zinc intake is the reason so many of us have immune problems. Nevertheless, all zinc is not equal. Zinc gluconate or zinc acetate is preferred to zinc picolinate or zinc citrate. Make sure that your zinc throat lozenges do not contain sugar, citrate, or tartrate fillers, since zinc binds to these fillers and becomes less available. Zinc is also available in a nasal gel called Zicam. Research suggests that the length and severity of a cold may be cut in half when treated with zinc nasal spray within two days of the onset of symptoms. Whether you elect to use zinc nose spray or zinc throat lozenges, it’s important that you begin within twenty-four hours of the first sign of symptoms for the maximum benefit.
Your body also needs between 300–400 mg of magnesium a day. Americans commonly don’t get enough magnesium in their diets. Although most multivitamins only provide a portion of the recommended daily allowance, you should be able to get the rest you need through eating a varied diet with green vegetables and whole grains.
Magnesium is a cofactor used in more than three hundred different enzyme reactions. Magnesium also helps to manufacture DNA for protein synthesis, fatty acid synthesis, and removal of toxic substances. Therefore, it is critically important for the liver to have adequate amounts of magnesium so that the liver can continue to perform its other roles of protein, carbohydrate, and fat metabolism.
OTHER STEPS
In addition to a multivitamin, there are other healthy supplements and substances that you can take that either contain minerals or move them around.
Eat royal jelly (2 teaspoons daily)
This jelly is known to be a blessing for the body against asthma, liver disease, skin disorders, and immune suppression. This is because it is rich in vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and hormones. In addition, it possesses antibiotic and antibacterial properties. It is interesting to note that it naturally contains a high concentration of pantothenic acid.
Drink pure water
While you likely rarely think of water’s mineral capacity, this should be a daily priority. First of all, it helps keep you hydrated and helps all of your body’s systems to work more efficiently. In addition, water promotes proper elimination, removes toxins, and lessens arthritic pain. It also helps to transport proteins, vitamins, minerals, and sugars for assimilation. Water helps the body work at its peak.
Enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables
These foods are enzyme rich and full of vitamins, minerals, and fiber. They are also packed with phytonutrients and antioxidants that prevent cancer, heart disease, strokes, osteoporosis, and most other degenerative diseases.
Try juicing
In addition to water and easily absorbed protein and carbohydrates, juice provides essential fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and phytonutrients. Fresh juice is loaded with minerals. There are about two dozen minerals that your body needs to function well. Minerals, along with vitamins, are components of enzymes. They make up part of bone, teeth, and blood tissue, and they help maintain normal cellular function.
Minerals occur in inorganic forms in the soil, and plants incorporate them into their tissues. As a part of this process, the minerals are combined with organic molecules into easily absorbable forms, which makes plant food an excellent dietary source of minerals. Juicing is believed to provide even better mineral absorption than whole vegetables because the process of juicing liberates minerals into a highly absorbable, easily digestible form.
Eat organic
Organic foods promote good health because they are in their raw, natural state. They are not sprayed with pesticides, chemicals, fungicides, or other harmful substances. Organically grown food also has much lower quantities of toxic trace minerals, such as lead, mercury, and aluminum. Plus, various studies have shown that organic food contains much more iron, potassium, magnesium, and calcium than conventional crops. Most studies show organic food has up to ten times the mineral content of conventional foods.
Typical diets that include processed foods—white flour, sugar, coffee, and soft drinks—cause a pH imbalance in the body and become too acidic. Too much acid in one’s body will decrease the body’s ability to absorb nutrients and minerals, decrease the energy production in cells, and make the body more susceptible to illness and fatigue. Therefore, maintaining a healthy pH balance is necessary for optimal health.