The Root Of All Disease - Condensed
Manuscript of E. G. Heinrich's Book
What would you say if many of the
world’s most respected health organizations have suggested that a lack of
minerals may be the “Root of all Disease”? Would you be alarmed or maybe
skeptical or would you want to learn more of the facts so you could make your
own decision? Regardless of your reactions, it is necessary for you to
understand the importance of minerals in relation to good health.
Minerals,
as we know them, are locked in the crust of the earth. As land dwellers, our
main link with minerals is through a diet of plants, which are able to extract
and assimilate metallic minerals from the soil as they grow. Our secondary link
is from meats of animals that eat plants. Minerals are extremely important for
our well-being, yet they have always been taken for granted, and few of us have
given them a second thought. Until a few years ago, no one knew of or cared
about the importance of these essential building blocks. Now that minerals are
enjoying tremendous success in the marketplace it is only prudent that users
learn more about them. Mere knowledge of minerals and their differences may shed
new light on how you perceive minerals.
In order for us to understand the importance of minerals, we need to first
understand how minerals are composed. Vitamins, carbohydrates, proteins and
lipids are all compounds of the chemical element known as carbon. Minerals from
the earth are elements which are not carbon and which are not bound to carbon.
These minerals participate in a multitude of biochemical processes necessary for
the maintenance of health in human beings and animals which inhabit our planet.
Nearly everything on our planet is comprised of minerals. Your lamp shade,
furnace, wallpaper, flooring and your automobile would not exist if there were
no minerals. There would be no life without minerals! Minerals control millions
of chemical and enzymatic processes which occur in the human body at all times.
This knowledge should make us aware of the importance of minerals for mankind’s
survival.
Although most of them are very rare, there are more than 100 mineral elements
found on earth. Four of these, oxygen, hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen, make up
96% of our body. The remaining 4% of our body is basically made up in part of
the other 70 or more minerals which are no longer readily available to us, as I
will demonstrate further on.
The scientific community grouped minerals into two categories. Those that are
considered to be required in our diets in amounts greater than 100 milligrams
per day are called major minerals. Those that are considered to be required in
our diets in amounts of less than 100 milligrams per day are called trace
minerals. There are only seven major minerals. They are calcium, magnesium,
potassium, phosphorus, sulfur, sodium and chlorine. Our bodies should contain
significant amounts of each! Trace minerals, on the other hand, are present in
the body in very small amounts. It is thought that each makes up less than
one-hundredth of one percent of our body weight.
The nutritional experts who represent world governments point to 12 or 13
minerals as being necessary for average health and to another 8 or 10 minerals
as possibly providing some benefit. I have always wondered why we have never
studied the probable necessity of the other 70 or more minerals on earth! Is it
possible these other minerals were overlooked because they just aren’t available
from the soil in any kind of quantity? In my opinion, this is a very interesting
question and one which could be answered with a positive “yes”!
When you think about it, minerals are bound to play an important part in our
lives. After all, rocks are the parent material for soil which is the main
source of nutrition for plants, animals and ultimately humans. While
deficiencies of a single mineral are quite common, what happens if we are
marginally low in a number of minerals? The effects can be easily seen when
studies are conducted on those persons who are pure vegetarians, those who
consume a large amount of junk food in absence of mineral supplements, or those
with poor diets in the absence of mineral supplements.
Also, it is a known fact the absorption of many minerals declines with old age.
Additionally, stress and exposure to environmental pollution raise our
requirements for minerals, especially zinc, calcium, iron and sulfur. In my own
personal research I found and am amazed at the number of people who are not
aware of the importance of minerals relative to good health. Most of them seem
to have resigned to the fact that you’ve lived a full life if you die at the
average age of 76 after suffering from several diseases for years prior to
death.
In my estimation, less than one fourth of the people in the world are aware of
the important part minerals play for ultimate health, and they are likely not
getting an adequate amount without consuming a full spectrum of mineral
supplements. This stems from the lack of minerals in our present day foods. To
grow and reproduce, crops take up minerals from water and soil, as plants have
done for millions of years. According to science, millions of years ago the soil
near the earth’s surface, where our plants are grown, was saturated with dozens
of minerals. At least 84 minerals were available nearly everywhere and some
areas of the planet did contain 100 minerals. Science has proven the plants of
prehistoric times were rich in minerals because there was an abundant supply for
them to feed upon from the soil.
Man developed chemical
fertilizers in the early 1900s by making or mining concentrated forms of
nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium rather than using living compounds as they
exist in nature. These living compounds include manure or humus, a rich,
variegated blend of bacteria, fungi, molds, yeasts, algae, worms, insects and
other tiny organisms. Without an abundant supply of these compounds our soils
can become barren and in some cases can barely sustain life. The health and
survival of all plants, domestic or wild, depends on the health of the soil and
its ability to provide a constant supply of minerals.
When man began adding artificial fertilizers—nitrate, phosphate and potash—to
the soil, it was learned that crop yields could be greatly increased. But what
appeared to be a blessing has turned out to be a curse. According to the
Complete Book of Minerals for Health by Rodale Press, man-made fertilizers upset
the delicate balance of minerals and organisms in humus rich soil by killing off
the beneficial bacteria, and lacking in the naturally occurring minerals they
are less available to plants. Chemical fertilizers can also saturate plant roots
with too much of one nutrient, making it difficult for plants or crops to pick
up and absorb other minerals they need so much.
Where can we get the minerals we need if they are not available in our food
supply? Well, about the only method available is to initiate a program of
mineral supplementation. That is, take food supplements containing a large
number of minerals. Various mineral supplement formulations can be purchased
from hundreds of suppliers under literally thousands of labels. However, what
the industry considers a large and adequate supply of minerals usually is no
more than 12 or 13 minerals at best!
Most of the more popular mineral formulations available today contain no more
than 10 to 15 minerals because they are derived from clay, ground up rock and
soil, and ancient sea beds, like the Great Salt Lake in Utah. This type of
mineral is known as a metallic hydrophobic mineral! Basically, it will not
interact with water because it is not water-soluble. The type of mineral which
comes from a plant and has been assimilated or digested by the plant is known as
a water soluble, plant derived, hydrophilic mineral.
The few metallic minerals which come directly from the earth are hard to digest
or assimilate. Many nutritional experts believe no more than 5% to 8% of
metallic minerals (or those from the earth) are actually assimilated by the
human body. This lack of assimilation occurs because the hydrochloric acid in
our stomach isn’t strong enough to totally dissolve metals during the short 15
to 21 hour digestive cycle. The balance, or up to 92%, merely passes through the
waste system without benefit.
Minerals, even if they are metallic, are of significant value to balance and
metabolize our bodily functions. However, you could not live on soil or rock
because it is not alive or enzymatically active like plant derived minerals from
raw plants. Plant derived minerals, which have not been destroyed by heat or
altered by man-made chemicals are, from a medical standpoint, enzymatically
active or living minerals.
What about vitamins? Most of us have been hearing about vitamins since we were
children. And even today we hear authoritative sources say, “Be sure to take
your vitamins!” Vitamins are sometimes expected to do far more than they are
capable. Our bodies can go far longer suffering with a deficiency of vitamins
than they can with a deficit of minerals. Did you know all the vitamins in the
world would do us little good without minerals? The minerals in our bodies are
so important that the body goes to complicated, even desperate lengths to
maintain their balance. If a cell is deficient in a single mineral, it will
suffer from a loss or imbalance of several minerals.
A vitamin can be broken down into its basic elements which are carbon, oxygen
and hydrogen. Basically, vitamins are a group of chemically unrelated organic
nutrients that are essential in small quantities for normal metabolism, growth
and physical well-being. Vitamins must be obtained through diet since they are
either not synthesized in our bodies or are synthesized in inadequate amounts.
Many people have been misled or have a misconception about vitamins. Thousands
have told us they will only use food supplements with “natural vitamins.” The
so-called natural vitamins do not exist in supplements. Natural vitamins only
come in plants. All supplement vitamins are synthesized in a laboratory.
Therefore, they cannot be called “natural vitamins.” Don’t believe anyone who
tries to convince you otherwise.
There is a harmony between vitamins and minerals and even though vitamins are
nearly ineffective without minerals, they both are necessary. Minerals are quite
different from vitamins in their structure and the work they do, but the two
enjoy an excellent working relationship. According to Rodale’s Complete Book of
Minerals for Health, “minerals create a healthy environment in which the body,
using vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates and fats, can grow, function and heal
itself.” What is a complete spectrum of minerals? I believe a mineral
composition or a mineral solution cannot be considered a “complete spectrum of
minerals” unless it contains at least seventy minerals. This large number of
minerals has to include many of the “rare earth” minerals or there would not be
a total of seventy.
Recently, we’ve begun to hear a lot about enzymes and anti-oxidants and their
importance. Enzymes are extremely important for our metabolic functions, but
again they do us little good without minerals. Conversely, some enzymes and
vitamins are helpmates to minerals. Some minerals are eager workers, but to
perform best they need an enzyme or a vitamin or two to stir them into action.
As an example, vitamin C can triple iron absorption. Calcium absorption is
impossible without vitamin D. Many minerals act as coenzymes, the so-called
catalysts in chemical reactions with vitamins. This means they function as spark
plugs, getting chemical reactions going in our bodies’ giant chemical
laboratories where billions of chemical reactions take place every day.
At this point you may ask
yourself a question. Is all this publicity about mineral deficiencies and the
lack of minerals really true and if so, which minerals and what kind of minerals
should I be taking? In my opinion, at least part of your question can be
answered with this little story.
Many movies have been made about the migration of the American settlers in the
early 1800s. We all know they had to cross the great plains of the United
States. What we don’t know or realize is that few of these people settled in one
place for a long period. Every few years, they would have to pick up and move.
They’d start a small farm in the Midwest such as Iowa, Missouri, Kansas or
Nebraska with a milk cow, a couple of pigs, maybe some sheep and a few children.
After a few years the children would always be sick, Dad would get constipation
and the cow would quit giving milk. The cucumber plants, tomato plants and farm
crops wouldn’t grow, so they would almost starve. If they were lucky enough to
make it through the winter, they’d load all their belongings into a covered
wagon and move West with the milk cow in tow. When they found a suitable place
they started another farm. In a few years, the children would always be sick
again. Mom would get constipated this time. The crops, cucumbers and tomatoes
would quit growing and the cow would again quit giving milk. And, if they
survived the winter, they’d load everything in a wagon and move farther West
again.
What was the problem? The soil was being depleted! Crops and plant growth took
minerals out of the soil. The only way to eliminate this problem was to own a
piece of bottomland near a river. Only the lucky people farmed the bottom land.
When it flooded, they’d get new topsoil and silt and sometimes additional
minerals from miles upstream. So, if they were fortunate enough to have bottom
land they didn’t have to move. Why? Because the fertilizer would come to them
during the flood. But if they were out on the prairie with no river or bottom
land they would be required to move, otherwise the entire family would become
malnourished and nearly starve.
This settling and moving process occurred many thousands of times during the
last 175 years. This was necessary because the early settlers were actually
strip-mining the nutrients from the soils.
Commercial fertilizers were introduced in 1908. Was the soil depletion problem
solved? Not by a long shot! Study any commercial fertilizer by reviewing the
ingredients listed on the package. You will see nitrogen, phosphorus and
potassium (NPK) and most times, nothing more. It’s a known fact that you can
raise most crops and plants with what little nutrients are still in the soil,
and NPK. Most farmers never put back more than 6 minerals. In the first place,
more than 6 minerals would be nearly impossible to obtain. Secondly, if they
were obtainable and if farmers attempted to put that many back into the soil
they would soon be bankrupt.
According to Gary Price Todd, M.D., the human body requires at least 60 minerals
for optimal health. But, according to dozens of tests we have had run over the
years on a wide range of foods, only about 15 minerals are available in any kind
of quantity in most of the food we eat today. We know plants can make vitamins,
amino acids and varying amounts of fatty acids if they are healthy from being
grown in soils containing abundant minerals.
If at this point, if you still do not grasp the fact minerals play an important
role in our lives, you might ask the question: what are minerals like calcium,
copper and iron from rocks in earth’s crust doing in our living, breathing,
active bodies? A lot. Let me mention a few examples. Calcium is essential for
all organisms and is found in the cell walls of plants, all calcareous tissues
and the bones of all mammals. Calcium is the fifth most abundant mineral element
in the earth’s crust. Calcium is also the most abundant mineral in the human
body comprising approximately two percent of the adult body weight. Calcium is a
construction worker so to speak. It is a builder. Calcium gives bones and teeth
their strength and rigidity, and also helps nerves to function properly. As a
construction worker, it builds strong bones. It is important to know that
calcium, to be absorbed, must be in water-soluble form by the time it reaches
the small intestines. Calcium needs acid for proper assimilation. Without the
proper strength acids, calcium is not dissolved and cannot be utilized. This is
one reason a complete spectrum of minerals, with a low pH, is so important. But
even more importantly, if utilized properly and in early stages after the
foundation is firm, calcium will help build strong bones which will endure a
life of havoc. To save your daughter or granddaughter from bone crippling
osteoporosis in old age, you should begin giving her extra minerals and
especially calcium between five and ten years of age. That startling advice
comes from new research by pediatrician Steven A. Abrams at Children’s
Nutritional Research Center in Houston, Texas.
It’s critical that young girls get lots of minerals and extra calcium several
years before they reach 11. That’s because “most bone-forming activity occurs in
the years just before and just after the start of puberty,” which on average is
age 10, says Dr. Abrams. Menstruation begins two or three years later. By age
15, most bone-forming activity has come to a halt, he says. The higher the bone
mass, the lower the odds of osteoporosis later in life. As we get older and
become less active, bone density becomes a problem. Being inactive accelerates
bone loss contributing to osteoporosis. Although it’s regarded as a woman’s
condition, 20% of osteoporosis sufferers are men. Men tend to develop
osteoporosis a few years later than women, because initially they have more bone
mass. So extra minerals are necessary for everyone at all ages. Remember to
supplement your calcium intake with adequate amounts of Vitamin D because
calcium absorption is nearly impossible without Vitamin D.
Let’s mention Iron! Iron is part
of a substance called hemoglobin which carries life-sustaining oxygen to our
cells. Iron, along with copper, appears to have participated very closely
together in the evolution of aerobic life, maybe as long as three billion years
ago! Iron is rather poorly absorbed and the condition most commonly associated
with iron deficiency is iron deficiency anemia. Personally, I believe iron is
very important regardless of what some health officials and the media reports
say, especially if the iron comes from plants. Iron is stored in the bone marrow
and liver. Symptoms of iron deficiency include listlessness, fatigue, memory
problems and heart palpitations.
Copper, zinc and cobalt, among other minerals are necessary for enzyme
activities such as food digestion. Copper also plays a significant role in
respiration. Some research suggests that copper, like zinc, may be involved in
healing. It is necessary for hair, skin and cell growth. Copper deficiencies
have also been linked to lowered resistance to colds.
Sulfur may be one of the most important minerals for humans. It is a
non-metallic mineral, widely distributed in nature. It is an important
structural atom in many proteins and small organic molecules. Sulfur is involved
in the quality and maintenance of many types of tissues and structures within
the body including hair, fingernails and skin. It combines with nitrogen, carbon
and hydrogen and oxygen to build protein, a main ingredient of muscles, skin and
organs. It has been called the “beauty mineral” because it enhances those body
externals. Sulfur also plays an important role in the production of insulin. My
strictly personal opinion is that none of us gets enough sulfur and I believe
the RDA should be increased by at least thirty times. Look for foods and mineral
products that contain high amounts of sulfur.
Sodium and potassium regulate water balance and aid in digestion. If it were not
for these two minerals we would bloat or swell up with water or we would
dehydrate, dry out or die.
Phosphorus is an extremely important essential major mineral, but it receives
little attention from many nutritionists because, supposedly, it’s abundantly
available in all foods. Our bodies contain about two pounds of phosphorus which,
when tied to calcium, helps give strength and rigidity to bones and teeth. It
also controls energy release. Phosphorus has more functions in the body than any
other mineral.
Some people are able to lose weight naturally after they begin to consume a full
spectrum of 70 or more minerals on a daily basis. Minerals aid digestion, and
people don’t eat as much when they digest their foods better. Better digestion
means less constipation, more energy, less sluggishness, more motivation, better
attitude, etc. Minerals can help to make it happen!
Our body is made up of about 100 trillion cells, each one bustling with
activities that depend on magnesium. Magnesium is essential to all living
creatures and has electro-chemical, catalytic and structural functions. In fact,
next to potassium, magnesium is the most plentiful mineral inside each cell.
Magnesium is closely related to calcium in regulating and controlling nerve
impulses, especially the heart beat. Magnesium helps deliver energy by
activating the production of a special substance called adenosine tri-phosphate
which extracts energy from the foods we eat and delivers it to each and every
one of those billions and billions of cells in our bodies, whether they are in
the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, blood or bone. Magnesium is one of the most
important major minerals.
Chlorine is another one of the major minerals! Chlorine’s intended use from
Mother Nature was not to disinfect our water or swimming pools, but to help
digest our foods. Chlorine is found in virtually all of our foods. As a part of
hydrochloric acid, chlorine rallies the digestive juices of the stomach to help
digest proteins. A combination of hydrochloric acid and powerful digestive
enzymes gobbles up food particles, mashing them into a semi-fluid pulp called
chyme, which is squirted into the upper intestine for final digestive breakdown.
Here is something of importance relative to chlorine. Chlorine in water is
entirely different than chlorine in food. The chlorine used to disinfect water
is an activated form of chloride with absolutely no nutritional value and the
chlorination of water may, in fact, cause some serious health problems.
The previous review of some of the more recognizable minerals is important, but
we must think about some of the rare earth minerals most people don’t recognize.
Just because few, if any, tests or studies have been conducted, they should not
be overlooked. I truly believe these “unheard of” minerals play a very important
part in overall good health. There are about 15 rare earth minerals and they are
all available in a good plant derived mineral supplement.
According to our government, the trace elements that are required for human
health are iron, iodine, copper, manganese, zinc, molybdenum, selenium and
chromium. My experience with minerals over the last twenty years has basically
proven we need many more minerals than those proposed by our government. I
believe all of the rare minerals are extremely important for protracted health.
However, they are not available from 99% of the mineral supplements on the
market today!
Minerals initiate, regulate and
control every organ and function in our bodies. Heart and blood pressure
stabilization is directly related to minerals. Although other factors play a
part in high blood pressure, minerals are the key to regulation. When the body
or any organ becomes stressed out, it will require more nutrients and oxygen to
keep it going. Minerals help the body better utilize the oxygen it receives.
When stressed, the heart has to pump blood more forcefully to supply enough
blood to the organ that needs it. The stronger the heart is required to pump the
higher the systolic blood pressure will be. The diastolic pressure may also go
up. To get a true reading, medical professionals require you to be relaxed or at
rest. The blood pressure in a relaxed or rest state is called “basal” blood
pressure. People in the hypertension state usually have the average systolic
pressure above 140 and the diastolic pressure above 90.
When a person takes in excessive amounts of salt, the body may have to remove
the excess to avoid poisoning. The body will need to collect more water because
the salt has to be dissolved in liquid. The kidneys will have an additional
workload in order to get rid of all the excess salt and water. This means the
kidneys will need more energy and nutrients, especially minerals to keep them
functioning properly. During the salt and water elimination process the systolic
pressure will go up because more blood has to be pumped out of the heart. If the
kidneys cannot perform properly due to a lack of nutrients, even when the blood
pressure is raised, the body stores the salt water and the ankles or legs will
swell. Also, all the excess body tissue, especially fat, will require more
energy to feed the extra fat in the body.
Mineral-insufficiency and trace-element-insufficiency problems are actually more
likely to occur than are vitamin-insufficiency situations. Those at increased
risk of such insufficiencies include people who eat low-calorie diets, the
elderly, pregnant women, people on certain drugs (such as diuretics),
vegetarians and those eating foods from areas where the soil is extremely
deficient in certain minerals. The soil of Alaska, for example, is very rich in
selenium, while the soil in certain parts of China and New Zealand is very poor
in selenium. Thus, you can eat foods from those areas, eat a perfectly
“balanced” diet, take the average mineral supplement, and still develop severe
mineral deficiencies or trace-element deficiencies that can only be averted
through dietary change and supplementation with a complete spectrum of minerals.
Sub-optimal intake can be due to factors other than soil depletion. These
factors are as diverse as the effects of acid rain and the over-refining,
over-processing of foods.
Our vulnerability to even minute dietary imbalances in minerals can be
appreciated by comparing, to begin with, our daily mineral intake (about 1.5
grams) with our total intake of carbohydrates, proteins and lipids (about 500
grams). Thus our mineral intake represents only about 0.3 percent of our total
intake of nutrients, yet minerals are so potent and so important that without
them we wouldn’t be able to utilize the other 99.7 percent of foodstuffs and
would quickly perish.
There has been a strong tendency on the part of some dietetic and medical
professionals to discourage people from taking more than the RDA’s (Recommended
Daily Allowances) daily values of minerals which can be obtained, they say, in
the typical American and European diet. Unfortunately, numerous studies have
shown repeatedly, that many, possibly most, people on earth are not getting the
RDA’s for the minerals in their daily diets. Again, this is because most of our
raw foods lack minerals and even become more superficial when they are over
processed and over cooked. A lack of minerals can place stressful situations
upon our resistance to disease. Supplementation, therefore, seems advisable.
As you’ve already heard, plants can make vitamins and naturally from our mineral
experience during the last twenty years, I believe we should be using plant
minerals. However, as stated previously, plants cannot make minerals! So, where
do we get them? One source could be mineral supplements. We have studied the
effects of our minerals for nearly twenty years. We have received thousands of
phone calls and letters from our mineral users who proclaim great and unusual
benefits from the minerals. FDA and FTC regulations do not permit us to publish
information from personal testimonials since you may experience nothing close to
the results reported by other persons. However, our trial and error tests and
observations of the reactions of thousands of people have convinced us that
nothing is more beneficial than a complete spectrum of pure plant derived
minerals, especially minerals with a low pH and lots of sulfur. Sulfur aids in
the utilization of calcium. It is my opinion that we may not require nearly as
much calcium as assumed if we supplemented our diets with a complete spectrum of
minerals which come from plants.
Have I captured your attention since the beginning of this article? If so, maybe
you can help answer this question. Just how important are minerals for good
health? And, do minerals prevent disease? Let me recite a now famous statement
from Dr. Linus Pauling, two time Nobel Laureate. Although the following has
never been formally published anywhere, I once personally attended a seminar
given by Dr. Pauling in which he said, in his opinion, “one could trace every
sickness, every disease and every ailment to a mineral deficiency”. If his
statement is true, and I believe it is, then The Root of All Disease could be a
lack of minerals!
Nearly everybody, especially many
so-called nutritional experts, misunderstand or don’t appear to know anything
about plant derived minerals. They group plant derived minerals with metallic
minerals which come from oyster shell, calcium carbonate, limestone, soil and
clay and sea salts. Supposedly too much of some of these metallic elements have
toxic effects on the body. Again, according to Dr. Todd, the human body is not
designed to absorb or assimilate and use metallic minerals. The health food
industry recognized the metallic mineral absorption problem, of no more than 8%,
in the mid 70’s. Chelated minerals were developed in the laboratory. This
process involved wrapping amino acids or protein around metallic minerals to
help the body metabolize them. This did help the problem because these added
dissolvers did increase the assimilation to about 40%. However, chelated or not,
the fact remains, they are still metallic minerals.
We all know about toxic metals (toxic minerals) and most people have been led to
believe the so-called toxic minerals are bad regardless of their source. This is
not necessarily true. Let’s take aluminum as an example. Aluminum, as found in
the earth is a metallic mineral. It has always bothered me to learn that so many
of our supposed leaders, intellectuals, doctors and nutritionists know so little
about the element. It has been criticized beyond belief. For example, it has
been suggested although not proven that metallic aluminum may be extremely
harmful. But what about aluminum from food? Did you just have a knee jerk
reaction? You’re probably asking yourself, “Did this stupid fellow say foods
contain aluminum?” Don’t be surprised because the answer is yes!
In the first place, all aluminum which comes from food is preassimilated by the
plant, and it is naturally tied to hydrogen in the form of sulfate. Plant
derived minerals are naturally rich in sulfate. Naturally occurring aluminum
sulfate minerals are called alums which are used in styptics and antiseptics. We
all know aluminum hydroxide is used extensively as food additives throughout the
world. Therefore, if the aluminum you get from plants is harmful, why have you
lived so long, and why is it used in food processing or as ingredients in
deodorizers, antacids, and face makeup and nearly without exception in many
municipal water systems throughout the world? Alum sulfate increases stomach
acidity and improves digestion and the absorption of nutrients, stimulates
gastric and pancreatic secretion and has a mild diuretic effect. Incidentally,
the World Health Organization estimates that the average adult dietary aluminum
intake ranges between 10 and 15 milligrams (mg) daily. See if you agree after
you hear what I’m about to say!
Aluminum is one of the most abundant minerals on earth, second only to silica.
It is in virtually everything we touch, most of the air we breathe, most water
we drink and in most food we eat. I am particularly alarmed to learn government
officials in some countries either are not aware of or want to suppress the fact
that aluminum is also one of, if not the most abundant minerals in many of our
foods! The country of Sweden says it is unlawful to consume more than 2 mg of
aluminum per day, regardless of the source! We spoke to several well-known
laboratory and food chemists about Sweden’s legal limits. Needless to say they
all had a belly lurching laugh over this. Can you imagine an entire country, in
this advanced age, being so uninformed about food? Apparently, the U. S.
government is aware of aluminum in food because the U. S. does not have an
established limit. If we did, we would have a hard time staying alive. This
makes me wonder what foods the Swedish people eat.
We were able to obtain copies of the results of lab tests for aluminum in
certain plant foods. The results came from the A & L Laboratory Agronomy
Handbook used by many agronomists worldwide. The page headings state “Plant
Analysis Guide Nutrient Sufficiency Ranges.” I understand the tests are made on
plant petals, vines or even the fruit or nut, depending on the type of plant
bearing the food. The amounts are listed in parts per billion (PPB). Before I go
any further, let me say that PPB and MCG/L (micrograms per liter) are considered
one and the same. The test results have a low amount and a high amount which
were obtained from different tests on the same food or plant species. Here is
what we learned from these tests.
I suppose you are surprised as I
was the first time this was brought to my attention. I was even more astounded
recently when I was made aware of a book published by the Japanese FDA (JFDA),
listing the minerals in every conceivable food. (This book is available. Contact
your local bookstore and ask for ISBN #1-56959-904-1). The categories in this
book include many species of fish, all edible animal meats, nuts and berries,
fruits, vegetables, and all types of beverages. All total, there are more than
two thousand listings and every one contained aluminum. Many also contain
arsenic and lead. The amounts in this book are relative to micrograms per only
three and one-half ounces (3 ½ oz.) of each item.
JFDA Aluminum Amounts in (3 ½ oz) Foods
Plant or Food Aluminum in MCG
It is interesting to note that a glass of skim milk contains as much aluminum as
one half ounce of pure, plant minerals which are leached with only pure,
contaminant free water. And what about the teas? Today everyone is touting the
benefits of tea. Note, that three ounces of Bancha Green tea contains more
aluminum than one quart of pure plant derived minerals which are leached with
pure, contaminant-free water. The most interesting fact is all of the
consumables listed contain minerals which are negatively charged by Mother
Nature. All metallic minerals, including those “washed in” minerals from the
sea, have a natural positive charge from Mother Nature. This zeta potential is
easily verifiable and indisputable.
The way I calculate the amounts listed on the JFDA Report, people allowed no
more than 2 mg per day could not eat more than one thin slice of a banana each
day. People allowed 4 mg could eat no more than a very small portion of a potato
each day. And what about salads? Apparently, plant derived aluminum is not
harmful, don’t you think?
I had the opportunity to speak to many people while participating in a National
Health Foods show in Anaheim, California in early 1995. I directed a simple
question to more than forty people on an individual basis. Several had a PhD in
food chemistry, at least eight of them were certified nutritionists, two were
medical doctors, four were chiropractors and the balance were health food store
owners. My question to each was “would you eat food if you knew it contained
aluminum, arsenic, lead or nickel?” Without hesitation each person replied
“absolutely not!” I was shocked to learn that so many supposedly well-schooled
nutritional people were unaware that these minerals can be found in nearly all
the foods we eat.
Nearly all plants contain aluminum, and if your mineral supplement contains
little or no aluminum, it is not plant derived. If it is not plant derived, it
is also not negatively charged. Therefore, it probably is not very well
assimilated or absorbed. According to food chemistry, plant derived minerals are
100% absorbable, so comparing colloidal metallic minerals to plant derived
minerals would be like comparing sawdust to oatmeal. Pure plant derived minerals
are the result of plants converting hydrophobic metallic minerals to hydrophilic
(water soluble) minerals through the root system by a process known to science
as assimilation through plant synthesis. By this process the metallic mineral is
assimilated or digested by the plant, therefore it can be more easily
assimilated by the human body. This side steps the normal digestive time of from
15 to 21 hours as required for the small amount of metallic minerals actually
utilized.
Plant minerals like those obtained from tomatoes, broccoli, potatoes, oranges or
any other food grown from the earth are different than metallic minerals. Their
size and molecular weight is much smaller than metallic minerals and in most
cases the plant minerals are attached to an additional molecule even though they
possess the same name.
Dr. Ranville of the Colorado School of Mines particle-sized plant-derived
minerals. The results are available to anyone upon request. Basically Dr.
Ranville found the plant derived minerals to be anywhere from 10,000 to 200,000
smaller in size than metallic minerals which can be scooped out of the earth.
These minerals are only slightly larger than a water molecule. The small size
and water solubility is one of the reasons so many nutritionists believe plant
minerals are much easier to assimilate or absorb than metallic minerals. The
small size of a plant mineral gives it much more surface area. Therefore, the
Hydrochloric Acid in the stomach comes in contact with considerably more surface
area allowing for much more and possibly 100% assimilation.
The average plant derived mineral is less than 0.00001 micron in size which
could conceivably be 1/10,000th she size of a red blood cell. It has been
calculated that the plant derived minerals in just one teaspoon would have a
total surface area of approximately 55 acres. That’s billions of tiny
electrically charged minerals. And tests have proven all plant minerals have a
natural negative zeta potential or natural negative electrical charge.
In order for minerals to be
quickly and properly absorbed through the intestinal membrane, they must be
negatively charged. When you eat plants or a plant’s fruit you are eating plant
derived minerals in an already combined and electrochemically neutralized form.
These negatively charged, water-soluble minerals from plants are non-toxic in
reasonable dosage. For example, iodine in plant derived form is one of the
elements for good health. And this is really interesting; if you drank even 2
grains of free iodine, it would kill you. But in its plant derived form, iodine
is not only harmless, it is beneficial. The same is true for plant derived
arsenic, lead, aluminum and other minerals considered toxic in their metallic
form.
According to science, the surface of the earth has changed significantly since
its inception. One of these changes apparently occurred approximately 70 million
years ago in an area of the United States which is now known as Emery County,
Utah. Supposedly, a glacier or other causes of earth movement buried a large
quantity of vegetative matter which may have been a dense growth or a washed in
bog of numerous plants which is believed to have accumulated over a 600-year
period. Today, The Rockland Corporation controls three leases, which encompass
800 acres of humic shale. They opened the original Rockland Mine in 1986. The
company opened the new Rockland Mine in 2002 and it produces a much stronger
composition of plant derived minerals than the original mine. On average, the
humic shale is about 30 feet thick, providing reserves of approximately 30
billion metric tons which is sufficient to produce at least 1 trillion gallons
of liquid minerals. Basically, this humic matter is a prehistoric deposit of
plants which was or still is under great pressure from the earth. All of the
moisture has been compressed out of the humus (referred to as humic shale) and
what remains is nothing more than prehistoric plant derivatives.
According to scientists, humic shale was formed about 70 million years ago when
earth’s fertile, mineral-rich soils produced lush green forests and wholesome,
succulent, wild fruits and vegetables. This was the era when the soils near the
earth’s crust contained at least 84 minerals. The numerous mineral elements
available at the time may explain why the plant eating Brontosaurus reached a
body weight of 70,000 pounds, yet had a mouth no larger than a horse.
The prehistoric deposit of humic shale was discovered in 1926. By 1930, trial
and error tests revealed that minerals could be extracted from the humus with
water through a natural leaching process. Continued tests over the years also
revealed that the humus contained numerous minerals, which came from prehistoric
plants rather than normally recognized metallic minerals which come from ground
up rocks and soil.
Chances are good you and your family lack minerals so daily mineral
supplementation may be advisable. I would recommend you consider adding minerals
to your family’s daily diet, especially to the daily regimen of the young girls.
Of course, always check with your own personal health care practitioner before
starting on a regimen of dietary supplements. This goes for both adults and
children alike. I’m convinced osteoporosis can be prevented if an adequate
amount of full spectrum minerals are consumed at a young age. Ask your doctor
whether he agrees with me. And while you think about all this, you might recall,
according to Dr. Linus Pauling, “The root of all disease” may be directly
related to a lack of minerals.
Minerals,
as we know them, are locked in the crust of the earth. As land dwellers, our
main link with minerals is through a diet of plants, which are able to extract
and assimilate metallic minerals from the soil as they grow. Our secondary link
is from meats of animals that eat plants. Minerals are extremely important for
our well-being, yet they have always been taken for granted, and few of us have
given them a second thought. Until a few years ago, no one knew of or cared
about the importance of these essential building blocks. Now that minerals are
enjoying tremendous success in the marketplace it is only prudent that users
learn more about them. Mere knowledge of minerals and their differences may shed
new light on how you perceive minerals.