Essential, inorganic, organic, chelated, elemental, ionic, colloidal, trace. Which of these terms to describe minerals do you really understand? While 96% of the body is created of just 4 essential elements: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, what makes up the rest? In part – minerals.

Here’s how to understand which ones you need and how to get them.

Along with fats, carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, and clean water, we need minerals to enjoy good health. Minerals can be divided into two groups – macro-nutrient minerals, and trace minerals.

Macro-Nutrient Minerals

Trace Minerals

(Charts courtesy of emedicine.health.com)

Other trace nutrients known to be essential in tiny amounts include nickel, silicon, vanadium, and cobalt.

There are many reasons that we don’t get the minerals we need, whether they are macro or trace, organic, or ‘non-essential.’ Some of us don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables grown in soil that is packed with sufficient minerals that then become part of the plant’s structure. This is partly due to modern agricultural methods of farming. Needless to say, we desperately need to repair the soil.

GMOs are also a culprit. It has now been proven that GMO seed varieties yield plants, which chelate important nutrients, including minerals, from our bodies. Dr. Don Huber has studied plant pathology for more than 35 years, and is considered an expert on GMOs. He explains that glyphosate is like an antibiotic; it kills important healthy bacteria in soil that allow our bodies toassimilate nutrients:

“Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, Enterococcus faecalis—these are organisms that keep you healthy either by providing accessibility to the minerals in your food or producing many of the vitamins that you need for life. They’re also the natural biological defenses to keep Clostridium, Salmonella, and E.coli from developing in your system.

When you take the good bacteria out, then the bad bacteria fill that void, because there aren’t any voids in nature. We have all of these gut-related problems, whether it’s autism, leaky gut, C. difficile diarrhea, gluten intolerance, or any of the other problems. All of these diseases are an expression of disruption of that intestinal microflora that keeps you healthy.”

Chelation of minerals can also be a confusing topic. In this case, chelation of minerals by GMOs is unwanted. It means they take what we need out of the food we consume, but chelated minerals themselves can be very beneficial. Allow me to explain.

Many minerals in their unaltered form can impede the absorption of other nutrients and vitamins we need. Chelated minerals are already in a form the body can more readily absorb. They are bound or ‘chelated’ to an amino acid so your body can metabolize them better.

Here are some examples of minerals interfering with the absorption of other nutrients:

• Zinc can block iron absorption

• Calcium can block zinc

• Iron can block calcium and vitamin C

• Many macrominerals block Vitamins C, B, and A, or downgrade their efficiency

When we eat sufficient amounts of healthful foods, we get all the vitamins and nutrients we need, but most of us don’t. (There is a chart of foods that provide each of these mineralshere.)

The US Senate discovered in a study conducted in 1936 that our food was largely depleted of its nutrients:

“…most of us are suffering from certain diet deficiencies which cannot be remedied until deplete soils from which our food comes are brought into proper mineral balance.The alarming fact is that food…now being raised on millions of acres of land that no longer contain enough…minerals are starving us, no matter how much of them we eat.”

The report even stated that without enough minerals, vitamins were useless.

Here is how our mineral deficiencies stack up.

Deficiencies– % of U.S. Population

• Magnesium – 75%
• Iron – 58%
• Copper – 81%
• Manganese – 50%
• Chromium – 90%
• Zinc – 67%
• Selenium – 60%

There is also an important distinction between nutrient-dense and nutrient-rich. Nutrient-dense refers to the overall value of nutrition when compared with a different food. For example, broccoli is more dense nutritionally than other vegetables. In contrast, nutrient-rich means that one broccoli plant has a higher level of nutrients than another.

Aside from taking numerous supplements to get the minerals we need, there are also rare earth minerals in substances like Shilajit. Not only is it full of vital minerals, it also helps to remove pesticides from the body. Porous fulvic and humic acids in Shilajitcarry herbal compounds deep into the tissues of the body.

You can also eat foods that are known to have higher mineral density, but certainly steer clear of GMOs whenever you can. And of course the better solution is to buy produce and legumes from gardeners who have replaced minerals to their soil, such as with sea minerals, and other natural additives.

The very best way get the utmost nutrition is to grow your own nutrient and mineral-dense food in a healthy soil ecosystem.