Minerals are vital for health.

Minerals are needed by the body to perform hundreds of necessary functions from keeping your bones, muscles, heart and brain healthy to making important enzymes and hormones. However, unlike some vitamins, the body cannot manufacture its own minerals. So we must rely on our diet and supplementation for these important elements.

But because of industrial fertilizer farming practices introduced during the last century, much of the soil in America has been depleted of a number of vital minerals. 95% of Americans today are deficient in at least one major mineral and several trace minerals.

The minerals needed by the body fall into two categories. These are macro minerals and trace minerals.

Macro minerals

Macro minerals are minerals required by the body in large amounts to use as electrolytes, for pH balance and for building tissues, enzymes and hormones. The macro minerals we need include:

Trace minerals

Trace minerals are equally as important but are needed in very small amounts to catalyze many reactions in the body such as maintenance of metabolism and regulation of cell grown and blood sugar levels. Some necessary trace minerals include:   

Silica ~ Zinc ~ Iodine ~ Iron* ~ Copper ~ Manganese ~ Selenium 

Some foods contain a wide variety of Trace Minerals including those above and others.   

 Note: Iron is considered in many sources to be a trace mineral but you will sometimes find it listed as a macro mineral because the amount of iron needed is higher than the amount of other trace minerals needed.