![]() Magnesium works with calcium in maintaining bone density and nerve and muscle impulses. Good food sources of calcium: vegetables, pulses, nuts, whole grains, milk and milk products, mineral water. Serious deficiency causes osteoporosis.Ĭalcium robbers: Lack of vitamin D, alcohol, coffee, tea, lack of stomach acid, high consumption of raw bran, excess phosphorous or fat in the diet, excessive protein consumption. The calcium uptake is improved by vitamin D and by weight bearing exercises, and assisted by available levels of magnesium.ĭeficiency symptoms: muscle cramps, tremors and spasms, lack of sleep, nervousness, joint pain, osteoarthritis, tooth decay and high blood pressure. The ability to use calcium depends not only on how much we eat, but also on how much is actually used by the body, which is usually only about 20-30% of the amount we eat. Calcium is especially important in childhood when the bones are growing and in old age where we loose some of our ability to retain calcium in the bones. No wonder diseases among people are on the increaseįive of the minerals are present in the body in relatively large amounts, namely calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium and sodium.Ī grown up person has almost 1.5 kg of calcium in their bones and teeth alone apart from the lesser amount needed for other body processes. Where does this leave our society? All above minerals are essential for our growth and development in one way or another and we do not get enough of them. Most breast feeding mothers get only half the amount they would need in their daily food for the best development of their babies. As an example - zinc is a mineral that is very essential for most growth processes including intelligence development. Percentage minerals lost in refining wheat flour Mineralsīecause many of us choose to eat the white foods such as white rice, white bread, white pasta etc, where the mineral rich bran and germ has been removed, most modern human beings are mineral deficient. We now need more "good" minerals to protect us from the toxic minerals we get through polluted air, food and water. The poisonous minerals accumulate as we get older, and cause increasing health problems. Consequently the beneficial essential minerals are decreasing in the same samples. These are poisonous minerals that come from pollution and act as "anti-nutrients" as they compete with essential minerals such as magnesium, zinc, chromium, manganese and selenium. Over the last 20 years numerous samples of human blood, sweat and hair has been analysed and without exception has shown increased levels of heavy metals such as cadmium, aluminium, and mercury. This could have been avoided by not removing the nutrients in the first place, but consumers have now become used to white foods, and awareness of the health hazards of such white foods is still quite low. Requirements keep on being added as knowledge increases. This is advertised on the packet as "enriched" or "with added vitamins and minerals". This resulted in wide prevalence of the disease Beriberi before governments got wise and ordered the refined foods to have legal minimum nutrient requirement of especially calcium, iron and Vitamin B added. Refining food to make white rice, white flour and white sugar removes up to 90% of trace minerals. ![]() ![]() Essential minerals are refined out of food.Unfortunately many African soils are fairly poor and depend on constant replenishment of organic matter to stay fertile and productive. Organic and sustainable agriculture technologies improve and maintain soil fertility, but such knowledge is almost getting forgotten with all the promotion of chemical agriculture. The poorer the soils are in the first place, the sooner they get depleted and crops - our food - becomes less nutritious. However plants extract many other minerals as well, eventually emptying the soil of such reserves. Conventional agriculture uses chemical fertilizers that only add the major plant nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous to soils in order to make the plants grow faster.A lot of our modern foods do not have good mineral balances. ![]() Plants take up minerals from healthy soils, and people get minerals from healthy plants or indirectly through eating meat. In some cases, your doctor may recommend a mineral supplement. The best way to get the minerals your body needs is by eating a wide variety of foods. These include iron, manganese, copper, iodine, zinc, cobalt, fluoride and selenium. Your body needs just small amounts of trace minerals. They include calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, potassium, chloride and sulfur. Macro-minerals are minerals your body needs in larger amounts. There are two kinds of minerals: macro-minerals and trace minerals. Your body uses minerals for many different jobs, including building bones, making hormones and regulating your heartbeat. Minerals are important for your body to stay healthy.
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