The basic forms of mineral element supplements come as inorganic forms, colloidal forms, and organic chelated forms. I recommend that you use the organic chelated forms for the following reasons.
Inorganic Minerals
The inorganic forms are typified by the calcium supplements derived from dolomite. Dolomite is actually a rock, and ingesting it in any form, even if ground to powder in a tablet, will prove to be far more toxic than beneficial. Inorganic forms of mineral elements, as a general rule, are present in large, high-milligram amounts in the cheaper supplement preparations.
Only a few of the very common elements, such as ionic sodium, potassium, and chloride, can be routinely ingested as simple inorganic salts. Sodium chloride, or common table salt, is a good
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example of such a formulation. The body requires these elements in very large amounts. Because of this, it is difficult (but not impossible) to overdose on them, as can easily occur with other highly ab-sorbable inorganic salt forms of the mineral elements. This is one reason why taking sea salt is not such a wonderful idea. Sea salt presents most of its mineral elements in the inorganic simple salt form. These elements are absorbed very readily, but they are not associated with the carrier food molecules that allow the effective delivery of small quantities of these elements to the target tissues and target cellular sites. Furthermore, sea salt contains trace to small amounts of many of the highly toxic heavy metals. Having a purely "natural" source of mineral elements is no guarantee that the equally "natural" toxic heavy metals are not also present.
Colloidal Minerals
Colloidal forms of mineral elements are becoming increasingly popular. These forms are advertised as being highly absorbable. However, high absorbability does not assure bioavailability. As I mentioned earlier, high doses of highly absorbed minerals can easily become overdoses in the long run. And an overdose is as undesirable as a deficiency. Furthermore, many of the colloidal forms come from inorganic sources, such as clay. Like a ground-up rock, clay also bears little resemblance to the food forms of the mineral elements. And like the example of sea salt mentioned in the paragraph above, most sources of a wide variety of minerals that come directly from the earth's crust will have desirable mineral elements as well as a variety of undesirable toxic heavy metals. Even if such toxins are present in tiny amounts, they will accumulate in the body over time, and a toxic effect can be expected to emerge after the early honeymoon period of improvement.
There is another form of colloidal supplementation that claims to overcome the shortcomings of the inorganically based colloidal
The Importance of Proper Supplementation
minerals, such as are derived from clay. These supplements are touted as coming from "plant" sources, but typically from ancient plants. First of all, ancient plants are not the same as having a fresh plant or vegetable food source. The molecules that supply bioavail-ability versus mere absorption would not predominate in such a preparation. If the ancient plant source is no longer directly edible, it is doubtful that any significant bioavailability remains. Furthermore, many of the plant-based colloidal preparations, like the inorganically based colloidal preparations, contain small amounts of toxic mineral elements. In fact, in the plant-based colloidal forms, these toxic elements are sometimes even more pronounced.
Algae, a plant form that is the source for some of the organic colloidal mineral forms, works with microbes to actively remove toxic metals and other organic chemicals from its surrounding environment, working as a toxin concentrator. It only makes good sense to get your bioavailable minerals with as few associated toxins as possible. It doesn't make sense to deliberately introduce any amount of toxic heavy metals into your body, no matter how small that amount is.
Chelated Minerals
The organic chelated forms of the mineral elements remain your best choices for routine supplementation. These forms present to the digestive tract attached to a variety of different molecules. These companion molecules can include amino acids, small proteins (multiple amino acids complexed together), or other molecules commonly encountered in the natural breakdown of food being digested. In contrast to the inorganic rock-based forms of the mineral elements, organic chelated elements will be present in supplements in very small amounts, and the preparations that contain them will tend to be costlier. Remember, food costs more than rocks.
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When you examine a bottle of supplemental minerals, look for the term chelated, and note whether the label specifies that the mineral is bound to amino acids, proteinates, carbohydrates, or other foodlike forms. For example, some labels might say "zinc (chelate)." This means a form of zinc that is bound to an amino acid. Others might just specify "boron (chelate)," if the boron is bound to something other than an amino acid. Sometimes the label may be more specific. It might say, for example, that the product contains selenium as selenomethionine, which is selenium bound to the amino acid methionine. If s also not a bad idea to get at least some of your supplemental minerals as ascorbate (for example, as magnesium ascorbate), which delivers the mineral with vitamin C.
The milligram or microgram amounts of chelated minerals may be so low in these preparations that you feel you aren't getting your money's worth. But remember that your body requires only small amounts of bioavailable mineral forms on a regular basis. High doses of the more poorly absorbed inorganic mineral forms are never desirable.
Don't be afraid to ask specific questions of whatever company you choose as a supplier of your supplemental needs.
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