Which Minerals Are Right For You?If you are considering adding minerals to your diet, then you are on the rigth path. They are one of the most commonly over-looked supplement and can play an important role in your overall health.Below we will look at several common minerals and the effects that they have on your body. We will also provide a list of foods that will provide good sources of what you need along with the recommended daily amounts that you should be getting.
Calcium Calcium is a very well know to be associated with aging and strong bones (drink your milk and you will have strong bones). Most people understand that as we age, we often need to add calcium to our diets to ensure that our bones remain strong. A supplement of calcium will help to strengthen bones and reduce the occurrence of osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a bone disease in which the bone mineral density is reduced. Osteoporosis is four times as likely to occur in women as it is in men and mostly effects post menopausal women. Calcium has several important functions in the human body in additional to bone structure, although more than 99% of the bodies calcium resides in your teeth and bones. The balance of the calcium in your body is found in your muscles, blood, and fluids and is needed for the contraction and expansion that allow you to move and live. Calcium is also used for hormone and enzyme secretion and allows your nervous system to communicate throughout your body. Unbeknownst to most people, your bones are constantly being broken down and rebuilt. In your early years, the rebuilding process is greater than the breakdown process, thus allowing you to grow. As you reach mid life, the process is balanced, thus your body maintains a status quo. As you grow older, the rebuilding process lessens resulting in brittle, porous bones. This is why our seniors seem to reduce in size and become more prone to broken bones.
Most of your dietary calcium comes from dairy products, namely milk, yogurt, and cheeses. Unfortunately, most dairy products are also high in cholesterol and are the first things that people remove from their diets when trying to reduce high cholesterol. Additionally, people who are lactose intolerant are forced to remove these items from their diets. There are other sources of dietary calcium such as broccoli, and cabbage, but they don’t provide nearly the amount of calcium that dairy products provide. Additionally, there are many calcium fortified foods/beverages that can be added to your diets. The recommended daily amount of calcium intake is 1gram/day for the average adult. This amount is a bit higher (1.2 – 1.3 grams/day) for seniors over 50 and teenagers. The required daily amount for children is a bit less than 1 gram/day.
Chromium is a very important trace mineral that the body must have to maintain its overall health and is by far the most important mineral for preventing and treating diabetes. Chromium plays a critical role in the body’s proper usage of glucose and insulin. So much so, that every adult should be taking a daily chromium supplement. Chromium helps your body’s insulin work more efficiently. And by doing so, it helps regulate your body’s glucose, cholesterol and triglycerides. Keeping these levels in check reduces your risk of heart disease and diabetes.
Unfortunately, not many foods are rich in the types of chromium your body needs (such as organic meats, processed meats, wheat germ and broccoli). The FDA recommends that we each get between 50 and 200 mcg of chromium per day. However, ingesting 200 mcg of chromium daily would require an inordinately large calorie consumption, which makes this impractical. As such, the only logical way to get the recommended amount of chromium is through supplementation. Chromium comes in both industrial (hexa-valent) and dietary (tri-valent) forms. However, most industrial varieties are quite toxic and are not fit for human consumption. The two most common types of nutritional chromium that are used as supplements are chromium picolinate and chromium polynciotinate. Although they may sound similar, chromium polynciotinate has a much higher absorption rate in the body (about three times) than chromium picolinate.
Like chromium, magnesium is another critical mineral that helps the body function at optimal levels. Also like chromium, magnesium is a key to efficient insulin use in the body. Magnesium is used by the body to produce, regulate and release insulin when needed. It acts to keep your cells insulin-sensitive, which means your body is better able to use its available insulin in the most efficient manner. 
Magnesium is also critical in preventing the onset of diseases such as retinopathy and Heard disease. Therefore, a magnesium supplement is a good suggestion to help prevent many common diseases.
Magnesium is commonly found in whole grains, seeds, nuts and leafy vegetables. Unfortunately, processing these foods reduces the amount of available magnesium, so eating these foods in raw form will provide the highest amount of the mineral. The daily recommended amount is 300 mcg for females and 400 mcg for males.
Zinc, like chromium and magnesium, is critical for the proper balance and use of glucose and insulin in the body. Zinc is needed by the pancreas to create insulin. Additionally, zinc helps keep cell receptors sensitive to insulin, thus allowing them to absorb glucose from the blood. As you can imagine, a zinc deficiency has several negative effects. After eating, the body releases insulin to reduce the glucose levels in your blood. A zinc deficiency will not only reduce the amount of insulin available, but will not allow the cells to efficiently absorb glucose. As such, you end up with an excess of both glucose and insulin in your blood, which leads to problems. Inadequate zinc levels in your body can have other negative side effects related to overall health and specifically diabetes. As described above, low zinc levels can create an excess of both glucose and insulin in your body. Elevated insulin results in your body storing fats. Stored fat in your body translates to added weight, which can lead to a host of other heath issues. Another side effect of low zinc in your body is elevated copper. Zinc and copper complement each other in the body by keeping one another in check. Too much of one usually results in too little of the other. Copper plays a key role in your body’s regulation of triglycerides and cholesterol. Too much or too little copper has a negative effect on both. Generally speaking, you will find that most zinc supplements contain some level (although reduced) of copper. Most people do not get the RDA of zinc in their daily diets, so a supplement is almost always needed. The RDA for men is 15 mg and for women it’s 12mg. Foods rich in zinc include oysters, lean meats, fish and poultry. Whole grains and cereals are also a good source of dietary zinc. Note: oysters are by far the best dietary source of zinc (about 30 times better than the next highest source, poultry).
These are just a few of the important minerals that you should have in your diet. We will continue to add to the above lists with time. For many reasons, these are not commonly found in the foods that you eat on a daily basis. As stated above, it you are looking to add a mineral to your diet, you are on the right path to improving the quality of life that you lead. Although supplementing your diet is a great start, it is only a small piece of the puzzle. This web site has other valuable information related to exercise, diet, and eating habits that will further help you to live a better, healthier life.
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