About Minerals

About Mineral Absorption and Mineral Chelates

This document is intended as educational material, to help educate our customers about minerals, absorption and
mineral chelates.

Basic science teaches that the world in general is made up of elements and compounds.

Elements are those molecules that are in a fundamental state in the earth as pure molecules with no
other ingredients. Elements are represented on the elemental chart which you may remember from
your science class, they are the building blocks to ALL other compounds.

Compounds are made up of two or more elements. An example is water, made up of two elements
(molecules) of hydrogen and one element (molecule) of oxygen. For example, vitamins are compounds.
Understanding this 'element and compound' concept is key to understanding what nutritional
minerals are and how living organisms use them.

Nutritional minerals The major minerals (also called "macrominerals") that are important for life are,
in alphabetical order, Calcium (Ca), Magnesium (Mg), Phosphorus (P), Potassium (K), and Sodium
(Na).

Trace Minerals Another grouping of minerals based on intake requirement is 'trace minerals': Boron
(B), Cobalt (Co), Chromium (Cr), Copper (Cu), Iodine (I), Iron (Fe), Manganese (Mn), Molybdenum (Mo),
Selenium (Se), Vanadium (V), and Zinc (Zn). The requirement for trace mineral intake is generally
lower than for macrominerals.

Minerals in Nature are Inorganic Natural Minerals and Trace Minerals are all found on the
elemental chart as well as in the earth in their natural pure form. They are also mixed with other
elements to form, for instance, copper oxide. In their natural state, these minerals are all known as
"inorganic elements." In biological terms, minerals are considered inorganic, which means, not
biological in origin. Compounds of biological origin are referred to as organic. This is important to
know before we move on to a special organic compound called a chelate.

Chelates Living organisms cannot use inorganic minerals directly. If an inorganic mineral is
presented to a living organism, the organism must first convert this inorganic mineral to an organic
form, a biological form, or organic compound. In the human digestive process when an inorganic
mineral is presented to the digestive system the chemical process of this system starts to work,
chemically bonding the inorganic molecule to an organic molecule. The process for this is called
chelation and the end product of this process is called a chelate. Chelate comes from the latin word
for bond. Mineral chelates can be seen by the body as an organic compound that can be absorbed and
utilized.

Mineral Absorption Many things can affect the efficiency of inorganic minerals being absorbed in the
body. Most often, there is not enough organic matter to bond with the mineral before it passes
through the organism unabsorbed. The health of the organism may prevent the assimilation of this
mineral, particularly if the digestive system is not working well. It can be very difficult or impossible
to get sufficient minerals from food intake alone to keep the organism at optimal health.

Mineral Chelates Mineral forms have been created by science in which an inorganic mineral from
nature has been bonded to an amino acid or organic acid, into an organic form that the body can
assimilate. These molecules are called Krebs chelates (which refers to the organic acids of the Krebs
cycle) or amino acid chelates. This chelated organic form of inorganic mineral elements bonded to
amino acids or organic acids substantially increases the probability that the digesting organism will
absorb the mineral for its use and benefit.

Thank you for taking the time to read and understand more about organic and
inorganic minerals, mineral absorption, and chelates,