Send This Site to a Friend
How Do We Use Minerals To Prevent Degenerative Disease?
Build Health: Prevent Degenerative Disease With Minerals
Copyright 2004 William R. Quesnell
Cancer, osteoporosis, arthritis, diabetes, and various ailments
of the heart and circulatory system are rampant in America.
Was this always the case? No!
Now tack on a bundle of newfangled diseases that contribute
to the crisis known as American health. How can you make
sure you don't get stuck on this run away train?
Since medical science remains locked in treatment mode,
because that's where the money is, let's take advantage of
nonmedical information and prevent these ailments.
While degenerative disease has spiraled upwards, the presence
of minerals in our soil and food has spiraled downwards.
The Firman Bear Report of 1948 revealed conclusively that the
amount of minerals in our food depends on the amount of
minerals in the soil where that food was grown.
The Earth Summit Report of 1992 documented that over the
last 100 years our farm and range soils have lost 85% of their
minerals.
There are less minerals in our food than ever before.
What Are Minerals?
They are inorganic elements found in the soil that travel from
source to food to mouth. During their trip they become
biologically active. Some have common names like calcium,
boron and iron. Dozens more, with names like cesium, rhenium,
and gadolium, do not bear the mark of familiarity.
How Important Are Minerals?
Because we are made of minerals and water, minerals are
extremely important. Minerals are the primary factors for cell
and immune system health. They keep cell membranes strong,
raise their osmotic pressure so that no virus or bacteria can
enter, and maintain correct pH in our intracellular fluid so that
invading organisms cannot survive.
Our cells are the basic structural units of life. All the reactions
governing life take place in them. Each cell's work force of over
2000 metabolic enzymes regulates these reactions, and minerals
form a part of, or influence all enzymes, and hormones made
by enzymes. The degenerative diseases we seek to prevent
constitute a breakdown from within--a cellular breakdown.
How Do We Use Minerals To Prevent Degenerative Disease?
Minerals serve as activators of our metabolic enzymes. Gallium
activates enzymes in our brain. Over 300 enzyme systems
depend upon magnesium. Zinc activates more than 90 enzymes.
Minerals also serve as components of each enzyme's molecular
chain. Because enzyme systems wear out rapidly and must be
replaced continuously, we must constantly replenish our mineral
inventory.
What happens if there is not enough zinc in inventory to go
around? Disaster. Enzyme systems requiring zinc begin to shut
down, or the body recruits the toxic mineral cadmium to take
the place of zinc.
The prostate gland normally contains 10 times more zinc than
any other organ in the body. Men with prostate disorders
almost always have low levels of zinc. The level of zinc in the
cancerous prostate approximates 190 micrograms per gram of
tissue. This represents a 77% decline from approximately 850
micrograms of zinc found in the healthy prostate.
And how does zinc get to the prostate? A group of metabolic
enzymes called tranporters latch on to zinc and take it to the
prostate. Transporters and the enzymes that make transporters
all require minerals, either as activators or members of their
molecular chains.
Because zinc and dozens of other minerals are no longer found
in our food in consistent or significant amounts, there comes a
time when our metabolic enzymes have difficulty performing
their customary function within our body. That's when we
begin to break down.
In the 1930's Dr. Weston Price documented the connection
between mineral deficiency and degenerative disease. He
monitored primitive people in excellent health, who came into
contact with high-tech foods. Price provided conclusive
evidence that soon after contact with our refined foods, their
children began to exhibit the degenerative diseases of modern
society.
However, when those primitives returned to the native diet
following economic upheavals, their subsequent offspring did
not develop degenerative disease. What produced this reversal
in health?
The new kids weren't fed our high-tech foods, our refined
foods that lose 70 to 90% of their minerals during refining!
People remote from civilization do not exhibit osteoporosis.
Why? They have enough magnesium in their diet to routinely
activate the vitamin D hormone that sends calcium to their
bones. They also get enough zinc to steadily activate the
enzyme that lays down the lattice for the calcium. They get a
continual dose of dozens of minerals working interdependently
to maintain health and prevent disease.
What Else Should We Know About Minerals?
Our body can use minerals without the presence of vitamins,
but without minerals, vitamins are useless. Not only that,
minerals determine the vitamin content of the fruits, grains, and
vegetables we eat. And yes, we need those vitamins too.
By making sure we consume all the minerals, we lay the
foundation for the prevention of degenerative disease.
Bill Quesnell, health educator and author of 'Minerals: The
Essential Link to Health,' helps people recover energy and
vitality. Subscribe to No Charge monthly ezine, "Where Health
Comes From" at info@mineralsbuildhealth.com
Find More Related Info:
Also See:
Our Health and Wellness Center