Recently a client contacted me excited about a new product that listed 72 different mineral elements as ingredients. She wanted my opinion as a Dr. of Nutrition about this new product regarding the ingredients listed on the nutritional supplement label.

I was quickly alarmed as she read the ingredients to me. Several had no nutritive value. Other ingredients were known to be listed in toxicology reference books. Government agencies have placed environmental restrictions on these toxic ingredients. Science and medical reports have proven that ingredients such as: beryllium, thallium, tellurium, aluminum, lithium, gold, silver, mercury, lead, arsenic, tin, nickel, should be removed and avoided at all cost - not added to the diet.

Over time science and medical research have discovered that there are specific mineral elements essential to the health and nutritional support to the human body. An essential nutrient must be ingested because the body can not synthesise and make it. These types of elements are commonly called mineral nutrients.

There are three categories of nutritive value

Macro Minerals: Calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, potassium, sulfur, and chloride.

Trace Elements: Iron, zinc, iodine, selenium, copper, manganese, fluoride, chromium, molybdenum, and vanadium.

Ultra Trace Elements: Boron, Silicon, and Cobalt.

For all practical purposes there are only 17 minerals or elements of substantiated nutritional value. There are 63 other elements that are all questionable. For example, lithium is a well known toxic element but under medical prescription is used in managing bipolar/manic depression.

It’s important to look at food labels, supplement labels, and informational sheets that accompany medication prescription drugs. In a nutritional consultation I inform my clients that in the United States, herbs are pharmaceutically classified as drugs and operate and function in the drug pathway of the body.

As a reminder, all minerals are not created equally nor does the body treat them equally. The intelligence of the body is created to identify minerals that are natural, organic, and bioavailable for supporting the body's function and needs at the highest efficiency and effectiveness. The form the body recognizes is called an amino acid mineral chelate. This is a patented process that duplicates the body’s metabolism for converting a natural, inorganic mineral into this molecular structure form. Taking an amino acid mineral chelate bypasses traditional metabolism and digestion and processes thru direct transport to the cells.

My client thanked me for the information regarding true nutritional elements that support the body and it’s health versus marketing hype and inferred impressive benefits that are not substantiated and documented as safe all in the name of nutritional supplements.