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The short answer? EVERYTHING.
Every living organism, including bacteria, plants, animals, and humans, need minerals to function properly. Humans need a wide array of minerals in specific amounts. The problem isn’t (yet) that minerals are no longer in the soil, it’s just that they’re present in much smaller amounts than what we need for health.
Trace Minerals
Trace minerals are also referred to as trace elements or essential minerals and they can be a serious concern to your health if they’re lacking. Trace minerals work synergistically with other minerals, vitamins, enzymes, and amino acids in a wide variety of biochemical reactions.
As soil has been rapidly depleted over the last century and even more intensively in the past 30 years, it’s not a surprise that diseases of every kind have accelerated rapidly over the same period:
When you’re deficient in one or more minerals, your body can start to show symptoms.
For instance, those deficient in Magnesium, may have constipation, anxiety, depression and sleep problems. Zinc is vital for immune function so zinc deficiency can increase the chance of illness or skin problems. Selenium is important for normal heart function and for fertility, especially in men. In fact, research has shown a link between severe selenium deficiency and Sudden Death Syndrome (a name for the unexplained cardiac related deaths of people under age 35 with no apparent heart disease).
Even minerals just needed in tiny amounts, like copper, are vital, as a deficiency of copper can lead to irregular heartbeat or even more severe heart problems.
Essentially, the body starts to break down in a state of mineral deficiency, as it simply does not have the necessary elements to function correctly.
I’ve been researching ways to protect my family from the negative health effects of mineral depletion, as it’s a serious problem, considering the widespread implications it can have on the human body.
We already consume a lot of nutrient dense protein and produce from fresh, local sources, and grow our own food whenever possible.
In an ideal world, we could get all of our minerals from food. But since that may no longer possible, supplements can help.
Mineral supplements are nothing new, they have been around a long time. However, not all mineral supplements are the same. You may think that a regular, over the counter mineral or multivitamin and mineral supplement is replenishing your body and meeting your mineral needs, but even the best supplement will contain less than 40 minerals and very few trace elements.
What I discovered is that there is a huge difference between organically occurring and inorganic minerals.
Minerals derived in their natural, ionic state are known as organic minerals. This kind of mineral actually chelates or naturally removes inorganic minerals from the body, which is good thing, because you don’t want minerals staying in your system for too long, or they can become toxic (hence the need for daily replenishment).
Organic minerals occur naturally in plants, which are supposed to extract 70-80 minerals from the soil and pass them on to the plants we eat, or the plants that animals eat (and those minerals should then pass from plant to animal to us).
Also, ionic minerals cannot be stored in the body for longer than a few hours, they are much like the water soluble vitamins; therefore, they cannot build up to toxic levels in the soft tissues.
Inorganic minerals that are found in multi-vitamin or mineral supplements often come from ground up stone or mineral deposits. Because these substances are not living substance (like plants), the minerals are typically not as bioavailable.
As I began researching substance that could help reverse this widespread mineral depletion, I came across some intriguing substances called Fulvic and Humic Acid. The more I studied them, the more I realized they might be the solution to a variety of health problems caused by soil depletion, as mentioned above.
Humic Acid is a naturally occurring ‘deep earth’ substance that’s a byproduct of humification, a process that has taken place over millions of years.
Humification requires certain unique geological conditions of pressure and temperature as well as the right combination of organic substances, which, over time, compresses this organic matter into a new and uniquely beneficial substance called Humic Acid.
In short, Humic Acid a mineral rich compound created from seaweed that existed millions of years ago.
Why does this matter?
Humic Acid is an extremely powerful substance that has preserved organic minerals and trace elements from ancient living organic fruits and vegetables as well as ancient seaweed. It’s a unique substance that cannot be chemically reproduced, and it works rapidly in the body to replenish nutrient levels.
On a cellular level, Humic Acid does its primary work outside the cell by preventing viruses and toxins from attaching, reducing inflammation, fighting malignant cell growth, and reversing many serious conditions by turning on physiological switches in the body that regulate disease.
In the stomach, it helps with processing foods and attacking foreign invaders and toxins. Humic Acid removes toxins from the gut before they ever enter the cells, allowing the immune system to function at peak performance.
Research over the last few decades has identified some of the potential benefits of humic acid:
Don’t confuse folic acid with Fulvic Acid.
Fulvic Acid is another ‘deep earth’ substance that’s extracted in special regions of the world containing these rich organic minerals at about 200-250 feet underground.
Like humic acid, fulvic acid is formed during the seaweed humification process that takes place over time. Fulvic Acid is the first set of molecules formed when the seaweed was entombed or buried as a result of volcanic activity millions of years ago covering the sea beds and ancient, mineral rich seaweed.
As time goes on, the seaweed and other organic components come together with Fulvic acid to form Humic acid (with the right pressure and enough time). Fulvic acids are actually the precursors for making Humic acid. Fulvic acid is a much smaller molecule than Humic acid, and it works uniquely in the body.
On a cellular level, Fulvic acid also does most of its work inside the cell, making the cell membranes more permeable and carrying nutrients into the cells.
One of the many benefits is that cells are getting a higher volume and a more usable form of nutrients. Fulvic acid binds together with water (depending on the Fulvic Acid’s purity and concentration) and helps support the body’s natural detoxification process.
