Trace minerals

Minerals, the Universe and You

What are minerals, anyway? Minerals are nothing more than elements - the very same elements that graced the periodic table inside you chemistry text book. Chromium, magnesium, iron, zinc and so on. They are the elements that comprise the entire Universe, this Earth and everything in it, including you.

Your body is a masterpiece, formed from these elements. As such, it is important to constantly replenish your body with the elements it expends on a daily basis. Chemical and electrical processes are occurring within your body at every moment. Processes that can only function correctly if the proper balance of minerals are continually being supplied to your system. Iron for your blood, sulphur for your muscles, calcium for your bones and an aggregation of many other elements in balanced trace amounts to ensure the proper function of your body.

The Stripping of Mother Earth

Traditionally, eating fresh grains, fruits and vegetables, grown in nutrient rich soils have been the primary supply for the full spectrum of ionically charged minerals. In today's world, naturally occurring, nutient-rich soil is unfortunately becoming more and more rare. Aggressive modern farming techniques have brought many of the Earth's minerals to the surface, where they have been washed away. Synthesized fertilizers are routinely applied to fields where minerals are depleted, but man-made fertilizers provide only enough mineral substance to support basic plant life. Numerous trace minerals, essential to human life, aren't replenished.

Where Have All the Minerals Gone?

Many of the trace elements once abundant in our soil have been washed into the oceans. There, they are found in their proper proportions - the same basic proportions that are found in healthy bodies. Even today, these life - sustaining sea waters cannot be recreated by science; all elements necessary to support human life are ionically charged and in perfect balance - prime for being absorbed into the cells of your body.

In a few surviving inland seas, such as the Great Salt Lake in western North America, these essential elements exist in highly concentrated, salubrious proportions. The fact that the minerals are in a similar proportion to healthy living matter is a key and this intricate balance of every mineral and trace element in sea water is why it is so beneficial to the human body.

What Are Ionically Charged Minerals?

An ionic mineral is an element that has a charge, either positive or negative. On the molecular level, that means that the element has either one too many or one too few electrons. This unstable ionic state allows the element to bond readily with water, making it possible for the body to absorb it. In this state, an element has specific positive or negative electrical signatures that cause a dynamic equilibrium to take place. The body can then facilitate changes to move nutrients to the areas that need them.

A New Plague; Mineral Imbalance

Because your body requires nearly two thirds of all the elements known to man in order to maintain health, keeping these minerals in balance is a complex, yet incredibly vital task. The events of everyday living demand a continual ingestion of minerals. With 92 known elements and hundreds of isotopic variations, it's no wonder that scientists are only now beginning to discover the complex effects and inter-relationships of minerals in our systems, how minerals maintain a healthy balance and what adverse effects are created by a mineral imbalance.

Experts estimate that 90% of us suffer from mineral imbalance and deficiency to some degree. If this includes you - whether because of frequent exercise, stress or a diet of overly refined, nutrient-poor foods, your body will make futile attempts to correct the situation, usually resulting in food cravings, muscle cramps and general fatigue.

The Importance of Ionic Minerals

Every second of every day, your body relies on ionic minerals and trace minerals to generate and conduct billions of tiny electrical impulses. Without these impulses, not a single muscle, including your heart, would be able to function. Your brain would not function and the cells would not be able to use osmosis to balance your water pressure and absorb nutrients. To ensure you are getting the ionically charged electrolytes your body needs, you should choose only ionic mineral supplements.

The Key Role of Absorption

You cannot benefit from minerals unless you can absorb them. The absorption of minerals takes place primarily within the small intestine. As food passes through, minerals transfer into the blood stream through the walls of the intestine. This can only happen if the minerals are ionically charged. Although stomach acid helps to ionize the minerals in foods, a mineral supplement should already contain naturally ionized minerals to be fully absorbed.

The Secret of Life in a Dead Inland Sea

Western North America's Great Salt Lake is the world's oldest inland sea. A remnant of the last great Ice Age, it has been collecting and concentrating the minerals and trace elements of the surrounding Rocky Mountains for tens of thousands of years. The result is nutrient rich waters which contain over 70 ionically charged minerals and trace elements, eight to ten times more concentrated than normal seawater - and in precisely the same proportion as healthy human fluids. It is from this source that Trace Minerals Research harvests the elements and trace minerals that go into every product.

What Can You Do?

You can start by making sure that you're getting enough minerals in your diet; eat organically grown fruits and vegetables, whole-grain breads and fortified cereals. In addition, take a good multi-vitamin and mineral supplement. That's a good start, but even these measures are likely to leave your body wanting for the full spectrum of properly proportioned, ionically charged, bio-available minerals and trace minerals.

ConcenTrace Ionic trace mineral drops

The most concentrated liquid trace element in the world

ConcenTrace originates from the isolated waters of the north arm of the Great Salt Lake, Utah, USA. The Great Salt Lake itself covers some 6,000 square kilometres and represents a terminal collection of the rivers and streams. This drainage system covers an area of 90,000 square kilometres of the Rocky Mountains. The rocks and soils that comprise the drainage basin represent all the major lithologies - igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary - and cover the entire time span of the Geological Record - from Pre Cambrian to Recent. Consequently the waters of the Great Salt Lake contain within them - rather like the Sea itself - in a dissolved ionic form, all the elements present in the Periodic Table.

To obtain ConcenTrace the brine of the Great Salt Lake is concentrated further in evaporation ponds to dramatically increase the concentration of dissolved elements. As a result of exposure to the natural elements of the sun, wind, rain and frost, 98% of the water originally placed into the ponds is evaporated and 99.5% of the Sodium Chloride is removed via natural precipitation from what becomes a super saturated solution.

ConcenTrace, then, is a highly saturated, ionic, brine solution. It is a homogenous 'true solution' with all particles in their dissolved ionic state having radii between 27 (Be2⁺) and 220 (I^-) picometers. It contains 78, and possibly more, naturally occurring elements in a saline and charge balanced form.

The ConcenTrace Analysis Summary sheets list the minerals present in order of concentration, their average concentration in ppm and the actual ranges found during analytical testing. It should be noted, however, that the mean of the ranges does not necessarily correlate with the actual average of all the test values. We have committed an extensive amount of resources to find and utilise the world's foremost analytical laboratories in order to determine and validate the composition of ConcenTrace.

Supplementary Concentrace Image (no importance)Analytical methods include: Ion Chromatography, Cold Vapour Atomic Absorption, Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption, Atomic Absorption, Titration, Induced Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometry, Induced Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometer, Flame Photometer, and Specific Ion Electrodes.

Seasonal variation contributes somewhat to the broadness of the ranges given, but more significant than this is the variation experienced between laboratories. The later variation is due to interferences caused by the complexity of the brine solution and also differences in methodology of the analytical protocol. Therefore, we are open to results of future analytical work and retain the right to change and refine this document without notice. The information presented has been reviewed and approved by a team of professors from Weber State University, Utah, USA.

Contaminants

We test our ponds regularly for a broad spectrum of contaminants, including tests during every major harvest period. Contaminant tests include organic and petroleum chemicals, agricultural chemicals and pesticides, and heavy metals. Heavy metals testing also provides some data on additional trace elements.

ConcenTrace offers in 30 drops the mineral content equivalent of one third of a cup of sea water with 99.5% of the sodium removed. This product was specifically designed to contain a minimal amount of sodium. Most Europeans have an unnaturally large intake of sodium, of which only 5% comes naturally in the foods we eat. It has been estimated that most people consume twice as much sodium as potassium, while an ideal diet should consist of 5 times more potassium than sodium.

Indications for use

This product is intended to be a comprehensive mineral and electrolyte supplement, that can be confidently used as a complement to all alternative/complementary therapies to provide a complete, full spectrum trace mineral support.

Supplementary Concentrace Image (no importance)Formulation ConcenTrace offers the versatility of an electrolyte replacement drink, while nourishing the body with a complete blend of essential minerals. The body is constantly working to stay in a state of balance. This product helps you take a step in that direction. ConcenTrace also provides the appropriate physiological balance of trace minerals that your body needs.

Potassium, sodium and chloride are all considered electrolytes. They function in the maintenance and distribution of water within the body. In addition, they serve the role of controlling acid-base balance, heart contractility, kidney and adrenal function, and vital neuromuscular activity.

As a guide, a daily supplement per person would be one drop per 2.7 kilograms (6 pounds) of body weight per day. Ideally this would be best taken in three equal amounts during the day i.e. before breakfast, lunch and evening meal. However, twice a day would suffice and having a convenient, handy bottle of 28ml would allow 5 drops to be taken 5 to 6 times a day with an ever present glass of water. It would be appropriate to err on the side of caution for someone with M.E. type symptoms, as you can provide too much too soon; 1 or 2 drops two to three times a day would be appropriate to begin with: gradually increasing the number of drops as the person concerned feels is appropriate.

Due to its "salty" taste it is best taken either as a few drops (4 or 5) taken regularly during the day with a glass of water or in a larger amount with a fruit juice or herbal tea to taste.

1.85ml (30 drops) supplies the following:-

Plus the following in naturally occurring trace amounts - consult the analysis sheets for more quantitative information.

Lithium, Boron, Carbonate, Calcium, Bromide, Fluoride, Silicon, Nitrogen, Selenium, Phosphorus, Iodide, Chromium, Iron, Manganese, Titanium, Rubidium, Cobalt, Copper, Antimony, Arsenic, Molybdenum, Strontium, Zinc, Nickel, Tungsten, Germanium, Aluminium, Scandium, Tin, Lanthanum, Lead, Yttrium, Barium, Silver, Cadmium, Uranium, Gallium, Zirconium, Vanadium, Beryllium, Tellurium, Bismuth, Hafnium, Terbium, Europium, Gadolinium, Samarium, Cerium, Cesium, Gold, Mercury, Dysprosium, Holmium, Lutetium, Thulium, Erbium, Ytterbium, Neodymium, Niobium, Tantalum, Thorium, Thallium, Rhenium, Indium, Palladium, Platinum. Plus other minerals naturally found in sea water.

Our Lost Minerals - a Case for the Need for Mineral Supplementation

David Thomas D C

There are many questions asked by practitioners and members of the public alike regarding the supplementation of micro-nutrients. The following are among the most often asked. "Don't we get sufficient minerals, vitamins, trace elements, digestive enzymes, probiotics from the foods we consume? " "If not, and supplementation is recommended, what form should it take?" "What amount of each nutrient should be taken?" "Could they prove toxic?" "When is the best time to take supplements?" "By taking only specific minerals and vitamins couldn't potential imbalances be created?"

Unfortunately the answers to these questions depend on the nutritional reference/s you personally have access to and the recognition that we are all different and have different nutritional requirements at different stages during our lives.

Even our science of diagnostics is not 100%. What samples are most appropriate to send in for analysis? Hair, urine, sweat, faeces, blood, lymph? All of them? Or just a few? With regards to the results, different laboratories can provide different analytical results on the same sample and unless there are tight 'control' procedures the same laboratory could produce different results using the same batch of samples. All of which often leave the practitioner confused. I would, therefore, like to tread the philosophical path, with a little science thrown in, to argue the case for supplementation based primarily on my own clinical experience and recent research on the historical deterioration of the mineral content of our foods.

Over the past fifteen years I have used, as an adjunct to Chiropractic, a variety of herbs, vitamins, minerals and complex homeopathic remedies. As I originally studied and qualified as a geologist my personal preference has always been towards mineral supplementation since minerals and trace elements may be considered the fundamental building blocks of which we are made. In fact all life could be considered as an amalgam of the stuff of the earth and a quality called 'life force'. Also, being imbued with a strong chiropractic philosophy, it just makes sense (to me) that without the correct amounts and ratios of all the appropriate elements, trace elements and ultra-trace elements our innate intelligence cannot possibly operate at its optimum. Once deficiencies are present to the degree that the body is unable to compensate adjust and adapt, symptoms will manifest.

My initial use of mineral supplementation was with the Blackmore's Mineral Colloid Therapy; this is based on Dr Schussler's homeopathic tissue salt concept where he hypothesized that all diseases could be interpreted as the result of definitive mineral salt deficiencies. Later I was introduced to a liquid trace element product called Beres Drops Plus. This product was developed by a Hungarian bio- chemist, Dr. Beres, who was given the research task by the Hungarian government to ascertain why there had been successive potato crop failures in a certain part of Hungary. Dr Beres's conclusions were what many gardeners could have told him - the health of the crop depended on the health of the soil. He discovered there were a number of what he considered to be essential trace elements missing: on replacing these, healthy crops were grown.

As a result of these insights Dr Beres turned his attention to human diseases and formulated the Beres Drops Plus which contain seventeen trace elements 'blended' together with organic carrier molecules. His product is not available in the U.K. but has many enthusiasts world-wide.

Last year I was introduced to an American Herbalist Paul Bergner. He came to the U.K. to help me promote a naturally derived, full spectrum, liquid, trace element supplement called ConcenTrace ®. Professionally he had observed that the successful protocol he had used with his patients over a 20 year period, i.e. a wholefood diet together with appropriate herbal tinctures, had become less effective over the past 10 years. As the tinctures had not changed he decided to research the 'wholefood'. What he discovered was a dramatic decrease in many of the minerals and trace elements present in the vegetables, fruit and meats available to the American public, now, in comparison to twenty to thirty years ago.

I decided to conduct a similar research project on the foods available to us in the U.K. Data obtained from 'The Chemical Composition of Food published in 1940 by the Medical Research Council' was compared with later updated editions including the 5th edition entitled 'Composition of Food' published in 1991 under the auspices of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Foods. These publications contain the 'official' statistic regarding the composition of food, including their mineral content. A summary of the results of this work is tabulated below and a full report can be obtained on request.

Source - The Healing Power of Minerals. Paul Bergner 1997 Benefits demonstrated in animals but not necessarily humans.

If Copper and Zinc have become significantly depleted - by the often exclusive use of Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium (NPK) fertiliser - then the likelihood is that there has been a similar degree of depletion of all the other trace minerals listed above. Also what about all the other trace and ultra trace elements which 'science currently does not give any relevance to? Perhaps they also may yet prove to have an essential physiological role to play.

What a dilemma we have got ourselves into over the past 50 years! If these statistics were not alarming enough, the question has to be asked 'How much fresh fruit, vegetables and meat do we consume?' The answer is often precious little; modern convenience diets invariably consist of refined, processed, manufactured foods and drinks made from de-natured ingredients which incorporate artificial additives, flavorings, colourings, preservatives, sweeteners etc. Can there really be any reasonable doubt that there is a link between this circumstance and the ever more prevalent incidence of chronic disease conditions such as osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, asthma, emphysema, eczema, MS, ME, rheumatoidarthritis, AIDS, leukaemia. breast cancer, prostrate cancer, etc?

That's not all: what about how diet / lifestyle / lack of nutrients affect or psyche? Research has indicated that the nervous system stimulants - which includes stress, coffee, alcohol and cigarette smoking - deplete our reserves of magnesium as well as many other nutrients. Yet the lack of magnesium (for example) has been directly linked to many disorders including anorexia, anxiety, depression, disorientation, hallucinations, hyperactivity, insomnia, irritability, mental confusion, nervousness and vertigo.

It was in the 1960's that Dr Richard MacKarness first wrote his book "Not all in the Mind" which detailed his research link between poor diet and psychotic illness in an American Sanatorium. I personally find it disturbing that a basic, fundamental, mineral supplement like ConcenTrace® is recommended by the HyperActive Children's Support Group as well as the Autistic Society because it can help improve the quality of the life of those children who have these conditions: what inferences should we draw from this?

Those of you who have read the work of Weston Price D.D.S. written in the 1930's will recall the very strong link that he demonstrated between the incidence of poor dentition and full arch development and the ingestion of modern foods by peoples of "primitive" cultures. Similarly, Alan Gaby MD has put forward compelling evidence regarding the incidence of degenerative disease conditions and the link to lack of micro-nutrients in our diet. He also puts forward the hypothesis that although we are manifestly getting less of the vital nutrients in our diet, we actually need more than we historically have ever needed. Why? Because the body uses these micro-nutrients to help neutralise anti-metabolites (environmental pollutants) that inhibit the normal bio-chemical functions of these very same micro-nutrients!

So where do we go from here? OK so we can supplement but what? When? And for how long? Well, despite the results of the work Paul Bergner and I have conducted, I would always recommend people eat a wholefood diet, preferably organically or bio-dynamically derived. But we are all exposed to environmental pollutants and it is unlikely that the majority of us during our day to day way of life will not have the occasional biscuit, cigarette, cup of coffee, piece of chocolate, pizza, cake, alcoholic drink etc. Consequently the reality (for me) appears to be to educate people about the reasons why there is a real need to return to food which has been grown on healthy soils and to eat foods that are less processed and less contaminated by pesticides, herbicides, preservatives, fungicides etc. In reality educating people is a slow process, one that will take a significant amount of time and yet there is a dire need, right now, to at least give the body a chance, by going some way towards providing a full complement of the basic building blocks.

Once the decision to supplement is made, however, further considerations present themselves. Most of us recognise that our diets need to contain sufficient water, protein, carbohydrate and essential fatty acids, but what should the correct configuration of the extra vitamins and minerals be? The debate goes on. If you take too much calcium it can affect the magnesium levels: if you take too much zinc it will upset the copper balance, etc. Also if supplements are taken in an inappropriate form there is a possibility the supplement will go unchanged from one end of the alimentary canal to the other! Or, it maybe so rapidly assimilated it could prove toxic.

Soil, Minerals and Immune System Dysfunction

by David E Marsh

Plants can't make minerals without minerals, vitamins don't work.
"Apparently we can no longer think of food as having a fixed value: for such value varies with the soil type".
- Dr Henry Bailey Stevens

The Origin of the Minerals

Soil The minerals in our bodies were forged in the nuclear furnace of the sun. The (so called) periodic elements were distributed in varying amounts and at different levels among the earth's crust. Our planet, a broken off piece of the sun, went through its hot period, followed by gradual cooling. Because minerals cooled and solidified at different temperatures so, as with gold, they can be found in pockets or seams in different parts of the earth's crust and mantle.

On cooling, the minerals were later luxuriantly distributed with water in the oceans, mountains and rock flows of geological tides. Our soils today are the results of untold ice ages. Ice floes physically crushed mountains, grinding their rocks slowly for aeons over the land surfaces to produce the rich clays and loams and the multiplicity of soil types we find across the globe.

There were abundant amounts of minerals in the early soils, as there are still now in afforested areas out of reach of the chainsaw, plough and cultivator.

Since trees have deeper roots than cereals or other arable crops, they can tap the sub soils, getting more minerals from the earth, passing them up to their leaves, then shedding them on to the soil beneath, thus recycling the minerals: the perfect cycle. So the food from trees their nuts, fruit and leaves in general have a more reliable mineral spectrum than, for example, cereals grown on inorganic soils, which are increasingly depleted (thinner). The only fertilizing many prairie farms undertake is nitrogen, phosphate and potash (N, P, K) with the odd application of lime in the form of basic slag, which interestingly also contains selenium sadly a practice less used than it was.

The philosophies of the organic and the inorganic grower vary in a distinctive way. The organic grower focuses on feeding the soil and the soil microflora within it, which need humus (dark coloured, amorphous colloidal material that constitutes the organic part of the soil: it supports an abundance of micro organisms and small animals e.g. earthworms) as well as minerals.

By feeding the soil well, plants can take up all their nutrients and thus have strong immune systems. The plants simply don't get diseases. Doubters should visit the HDRA gardenS3 or Higbgrove. This strategy should be taken on board by medical doctors, who have difficulty with the theory having been drained, sorry, trained by various arms of the pharmaceutical industry. However, some are now getting the drift.

The one great message that comes with organic produce, apart from being free of the thousands of chemicals now in use commercially, is that it stands a much better chance of containing the minerals and trace minerals that (probably) most of our bodies have been starved of for years unless the crop was grown hydroponically within sufficient nutrient (and this does happen).

Inorganic growing is based upon supplying the crops (not the soil) with the right nutrients for growth and yield, and blitzing any diseases or weeds with chemicals; the residues of which are commonly found in our foods, particularly in delicate salad crops like lettuce.

Our minerals have come to us from the nutrition of our mother and father, and our own lifetime's consumption of food (together with industrial pollutant metals aluminium, cadmium, lead, mercury, etc. from living in a polluted environment) and they are the only bits of us (except perhaps our DNA) that will continue to exist after our physical death.

Recent Research

Within the space limitations of this article, we can only take a few examples in any depth, and selenium makes a good example. There are other minerals such as zinc, magnesium, manganese, calcium, phosphorus or copper which convey parallel stories. We are only just beginning to be aware of certain lesser known mineral trace elements, or how different man made chemicals react with the naturally occurring minerals of our soils.

Soils in different parts of the world, and in different localities within specific areas, have higher or lower amounts of certain minerals. Indeed, testing our mall garden in Sussex for minerals, we found considerable variation from one part to the other Specific disease patterns present themselves in definite areas, such as Keshan's disease in China. Keshan's is a form of heart disease suffered by people living in a broad swathe across China, running from the south west up to the north east which is an area of known selenium deficiency.

Fossil FishMore and more food is being imported from China, so some of these foods, such as garlic (an important provider of selenium) could be selenium deficient. Closer even to home is our bread, which used to be imported from hard Canadian wheat is rich in selenium. It now comes from the EU where many soils are selenium deficient. There are 60 specific minerals and trace minerals found in human blood. It has been deemed reasonable by senior biochemists that all 60 have some function in the body. We will be looking at a few examples, such as selenium and zinc. These minerals are present in well tended, fertile soil.

As we can only obtain minerals through food and drink, William A Albrecht was right in 1944 in describing food as "fabricated soil fertility".I Considering this was known and widely published, read and quoted over 50 years ago, what on earth went wrong?

Justus von Liellig

As a young man in the early decades of the 19th century Monsieur le baron Justus von Liebig travelled to Paris, which was then the centre of the scientific world, to study chemistry. From 1822 24 he studied with the great chemists, physicists and physicians of the scientific world.

He particularly picked up on the ideas of the brilliant chemist Lavoisier, who, although guillotined in 1794, had left his ideas of life as a chemical function firmly embedded in the human consciousness, opening up the promising concept of chemicals interacting with human beings themselves. Liebig was not slow to develop these ideas and run with them.

As a young genius of 22, von Liebig was appointed Professor of Chemistry at the University of Ceissen in Upper Hesse, being given a free hand and new laboratories, built to his specific requests. Students flocked from all over the world to study with him. He thus left his thoughts firmly sown for future generations.

"Towering over his contemporaries" (the story is beautifully told by Barbara Griggs in her superb book The Food Factor), he became the big daddy of chemistry in the 1840s, convincing people with his excessive zeal and nimble cranial footwork that plants only needed nitrogen (N), phosphate (P), potassium (K) and calcium (Ca) to grow.

Plant This he had deduced by incinerating plants and discovering the residues of N, P, K and Ca. He then demonstrated this, first with an inorganic mix based on bird droppings, known as guano; and then founded a company to supply it. Artificial fertilizers were born.

Whilst the initial mixture lacked nitrogen, it worked. It was soon discovered that the more nitrogen that was applied, the more the crop yield increased. This was a great discovery for farmers and chemical companies manufacturing fertilizer; so now we have excess nitrates in our drinking water.

What is only just becoming known is that on certain soils, excess nitrogen combines with selenium (see Thomas Stockdale below) thereby making selenium unavailable to plants and those animals and us who eat them.

It was in 1840 that von Liebig put his (by then) famous name to the new Annual Report of the Progress of Chemistry and the Allied Sciences, which publication would be the first death knell to the centuries old practice of putting farmyard manure, seaweed, compost or industrial waste (soot, shoddy, etc.) back on to the soils, to replenish those minerals, trace minerals, humus and soil microflora that had been removed by previous crops.

Mineral deficiencies in the soil, and consequently in the crops grown on those soils, translate into other deficiencies in the human body; which include preventing our immune systems from performing at full efficiency thereby weakening our defences (and our birds' and animals' defences) against disease. Deficiencies of selenium, magnesium, iron and zinc, amongst other minerals, are known to impair immune response.

It is an interesting arena in these days of epidemics and near epidemics such as heart disease and cancer which are now affecting younger and younger age groups, together with new version Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (nvCJD) and animal disasters such as BSE and foot and mouth disease (FMD). There is a wealth of published evidence that selenium is implicated in all of these diseases: that selenium, zinc, magnesium and other minerals are required for a healthy immune system.

Laurence Harbige, from the Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas's Hospital London, links protein energy malnutrition with deficiencies of vitamin A, dietary lipids, zinc, selenium and copper to depression of the immune system. He goes further by suggesting that all autoimmune diseases are nutritional deficiency diseases. Harbige suggests,
"Understanding the molecular and cellular immunological mechanisms involved in nutrient interactions will increase our applications for nutrition of the immune system in health and disease."

Thomas Stockdale

Inorganic chemist and retired farmer Thomas Stockdale, Chairman of the Scottish McCarrison Society for Nutrition and Health (formed in the memory of the late Sir Robert McCarrison, research doctor and nutritional pioneer), writing on the selenium problem in Scotland explains that where soil is acidic it is unsuitable for nitrogen fertilizers, which were formulated for the arable calcareous soils of south east England. He describes how only the best soils in Scotland are suitable for the use of high nitrogen fertilizer.

"Scottish soils", he continues, "are naturally low in selenium, and the problem was masked by the use of basic slag used for 60 70 years as a calcium fertilizer, which contained significant amounts of selenium. Now this practice has been largely discontinued, more and more land is deteriorating into low fertility.

"Livestock which are selenium deficient suffer from ill thrift (poor health), as do people who consume the milk and the wheat produced upon low selenium land. "The selenium problem in Finland has been addressed by adding the element to fertiliser... but... here the problem is being ignored." We will return to Stockdale's letter later.

David Thomas

Tables 1&2 David Thomas, a geologist by training and a chiropractor with 20 years experience, whose primary work is the physical manipulation of the osteo cranial frame, believes that nutritional, and especially mineral, deficiencies play a very large part in today's ills. In a recent research project, described recently by the Daily Mail in some detail, Thomas charts the reduction of minerals in our food.

Analysing various editions of McCance and Widdowson's widely referred to work Composition of Foods, Thomas describes how many of our ordinary everyday foods have taken a huge dip in mineral content over the last half century. Indeed, in the last three decades the zinc content of seven common foods fell by 59%.

Between the beginning of the Second World War and 1991 the mineral content of vegetables analysed dropped as shown in Table 1. The corresponding figures for fruit are shown in Table 2.

Suggesting that it would be curious to think that trace elements hadn't suffered a similar decrease, Thomas is categoric that "... trace minerals play a huge role in human physiology to help maintain homeostasis. The significant loss of these essential trace minerals within the vegetables available to us again highlights the need to supplement with a well balanced, naturally derived product".

As a practitioner of chiropractic and witnessing first hand for two decades the results of prescriptions on his patients, his views seem very wise. The shrewd politician would also cast his eyes more widely on to the soil.

North America

A similar picture of deteriorating soil fertility can also be seen in North America. Wesley McQuown, of the North American Elk Breeders Association, himself an elk breeder and soil consultant says:
"For elk pastures, I first look at the calcium and phosphate levels. Calcium and phosphate together make up 75% of the total minerals in the bodies of livestock, and 90% of the minerals in the skeleton.
"The most common deficiency I find in pastures is phosphorus. Phosphorus deficient soils produce poor quality forage and many problems including poor conception rates.
"The two trace elements which are often deficient in soils are copper and zinc. Interestingly, copper and zinc are often deficient in forages. There is a connection.

Who's Pulling the Strings?

The above sad tales can only make us wonder at the structure of our monetary philosophy sharpened since social Darwinism with its interpretation of the survival of the fittest and one can perhaps begin to see how we got into this sorry mess.

The controllers of vast international companies encompassing agricultural and industrial chemicals, fuel, food and medical/pharmaceutical products who pull the strings of our puppet chiefs, be it in the USA, UK or EU, are getting rich by supplying the things that make us sick, whilst at the same time providing often ineffective remedies.

Is this proof enough that "After the current assault on the heart and vascular system will the brain be the next to go?" is now actually happening?

The Mineral Deficiency/Disease Link

In view of the above, it would be logical at least to ask whether soil mineral paucity may be one of the underlying causes behind the affected lives of hundreds of thousands of children with attention deficit and hyperactive disorder (ADHD).

Many of us would support the ideas of the (then) First Lady Hillary Clinton when she implored everyone, including the professions, to come up with more help for children with behavioural and mental disorders. Commenting on a four year period (1991 95) when the use of ritalin alone rose by 150%, and anti depressants by over 200%, she called on "experts from the administration, parents, advocates, educators, researchers, health care professionals and consumers" to confer and come up with some answers.

Mineral deficiencies could be behind all these complaints, for without minerals, vitamins don't work. The body heavily depends on enzymic reactions for the production of many of the living biochemicals needed for full health. Enzymes in turn are heavily dependent on minerals and trace elements, as we have seen briefly with the immune system. It is logical therefore to see these precious minerals as the bedrock of life.

Scientific knowledge has been slow coming to understand the role of certain minerals, with selenium only being recognized in 1957, chromium in 1959, tin in 1970, vanadium in 1971, fluorine in 1971, silicon in 1972, nickel in 1974, arsenic in 1975, cadmium in 1977, lead in 1977 and boron in 1990.

Table 3 Finland, with its previously very high rate of heart disease, found it was substantially reduced by adding selenium to its fertilizers, so food grown would have more selenium, and so would the population. Their heart disease problem responded to added selenium (and much lower amounts of saturated fats) and now Finnish people have three times the selenium content of the UK population.

Parents should ensure that their children get enough of the whole of the mineral spectrum, either through mineral rich foods such as seaweed, other water weeds (chlorella and spirulina), fish, seeds and nuts, brewer's yeast, etc., or by supplementation.

It suggests that selenium deficiency could be involved in our own high rate of heart disease. So too is our huge consumption of saturated fats which is today being exacerbated by take aways, cooked in the cheapest hot pressed rapeseed oil and used time and again. The polyunsaturated seed oil theory must be one of the biggest confidence tricks of all time, as those oils, when industrialized and ruined by heat treatment, will actually be encouraging heart disease and cancer. Those responsible for such food changes bear a huge responsibility.

The Future

We will close by showing an analysis (see Table 3) of the earth's soils as presented to the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992 by the US Senate.

Sun With so much seaweed floating around shores the world over, it is difficult to see why greater use is not made of it. Soil re mineralisation seems an urgent task, however it is achieved. Some think selenium and vitamin B3 should be put in bread. Others are working on more sophisticated if not to say etheric methods of accomplishing the task.

Tom Stockdale ends his letter to The Farmer with the following words:
"It appears there has been a failure to carry out field trials correctly and the authorities do not wish to admit to gross errors which are now costing the NHS many billions of pounds."

"This is a problem which should have been addressed by the Department of Agriculture many years ago. It would never have become a serious problem had correct procedures been followed. It is a matter of urgency that it should be put right, and is now a matter which the Scottish Parliament should address."

Let's hope and pray that this advice will be acted on by Parliaments universally.

Attention, Behaviour and Minerals

by R.H. Anderson, Ph.D., L.C.S.W.

One of the greatest mysteries of our current medical community is why there are so many of our youth and adults without the ability to focus, concentrate and learn skills the "normal way". One need only read the newspaper to hear stories of special education facilities in schools incapable of dealing with the number of students that cannot function in a regular classroom because they cannot sit still, focus on the work, remember their assignments, etc. The cost of these children to society in education and as they grow into adults with many of the same problems prompted Associated Interventions and Counselling, Inc. of Ogden, Utah to explore further.

No one can say for certain why these problems exist in our society and in other industrialised societies at this time, but there are viable explanations. We do know that the foods we eat are no longer ripened to maturity on the plant but picked at immaturity for better handling and shipping. We also know that most foods are grown in chemically treated soils to enrich growth, weight and fight pests. Residual chemicals are part of the food we eat. We also know the basic eating habits and styles of industrialised nations reflect more additives and preservatives and less fresh, properly prepared diets. It was with this information that Associated Intervention and Counselling Inc. of Ogden, Utah sought to discover if the use of mineral supplements could help these children and adults do better and calm down to a level they could function and learn better.

As part of this exploration a study was set up using a test known as the T.O.V.A. (Test of Variable Attentiveness) to measure the impulsivity, hyperactivity, reaction time and variability (ability to stay with the task at hand). A scientifically significant number of participants (n=34) were found that showed signs of these traits in their testing. Participants used in this study demonstrated, on this scientifically validated test, that they possessed the traits of impulsivity, hyperactivity, poor reaction time or difficulty staying on task. They were administered 10 drops of concentrated minerals produced by Trace Minerals Research. These minerals were given to them orally in juice (approximately 8oz). Electron-microscopic studies have shown that such administration reaches the system within approximately forty-five minutes. Forty-five minutes after ingesting the minerals they were tested again using the T.O.V.A. The T.O.V.A. is fully validated to not be able to be learned and create the problem called test re-test problems. Therefore the results of the second test would clearly show if there was an effect by the administration of the minerals.

The results were astounding! In approximately eighty per cent of the cases there was a significant decrease in either impulsivity, hyperactivity, reaction time or variability. In several cases the original test had revealed the child or adult to show the measurements typical of a person with problems maintaining attention and forty-five minutes later they showed results of a person with typical and normal attention. No-one can say for sure exactly what the minerals did for the participants but the effect can not be denied. Whether the minerals have the ability to help the nerve impulses get to the proper parts of the brain and body better, restore communication and electrical balance in the body or serve another purpose, is not clear at this juncture. It would appear that at a synaptic level of nerve endings there is a change in the mineral balance allowing for nerve impulses to cross over and meet with the correct receptor more often and with greater ease. In many people the nerve impulses appeared to move through non-conductive space whereas after the minerals the space became more conductive and the nerve impulses became more efficient. What is clear is that both the adults and the children assessed reduced their negative characteristics at significant measures due to the administration of a natural product instead of the use of potentially dangerous drugs.

Further investigation into this new information found that when used in doses of ten to twenty-five drops three times a day this calmness and better attention to detail could be maintained. The participants explained. "I listened better", "I didn't get into trouble today for the first time!", "Mum and Dad are not yelling as much. It sure is better at home". It was further discovered that when the drops were used in conjunction with products called Naturest and Stress-X, also manufactured by Trace Minerals Research, there was an immediate and dramatic increase in the ability to fall asleep at night, sleep soundly and peacefully, wake refreshed and calm. When the drops and Naturest or Stress-X were taken during the day there were reports of better work performance in both the adults and the adolescents, they reported a greater calmness, less anxiety, decreased stress and an increase in the ability to follow directions and complete tasks.

Scientifically it is not possible to tell exactly what happened with the administration of the minerals. It is only clear that something changed. There is a need to have further research to see if the electrical system of the body was modified and connected better after administration of the minerals such as in a synaptic change of electrical conductivity. There is a need to see if the minerals aiding the ability of the body to get the nutrients it needs increases the natural ability of the body to operate as designed. There is also need to accept that the results clearly indicate that the administration of the minerals to people with trouble focusing, being impulsive, not listening as they should and not functioning as normal made a significant difference. The reasons now need further exploration. Fortunately, unlike the use of medications, there is no need to be concerned about side effects or long term damage to the person when the minerals are used and further research proceeds.

It is important to note that the minerals did not and will not "cure". They are not designed to cure. The body has the capacity to cure itself in many cases if it has the materials it needs to do so. It would appear in this study that the body, once receiving natural ionic minerals, moves towards homeostasis or balance on its own. The organism cannot work without the correct balance of minerals and other necessary components and it would appear that in general our current society is not receiving them nutritionally. The addition of these minerals appear to be making up a deficiency and in so doing has the possibility, if used wisely, of being of far greater value to the new generation than we can imagine.