The Importance of Ionic Minerals

By Tristan Summerfield MA CHHP

What are Ionic Minerals?

Minerals, from Hydrogen to Zinc, form the basis of the entire Universe and play a central role in the maintenance of human health. 

Every day our bodies perform a staggering number of chemical and electrical reactions and these processes require a continual supply of minerals to work. Enzymes for instance, which are the catalysts of biochemical reactions, are activated by minerals. One of the most important minerals for health, magnesium, is a cofactor in over 300 enzymatic reactions (1). 

Not only do we need to replenish these minerals daily, we also need to consume minerals in the ideal ionic form for our bodies to utilize. When a mineral is ionic it means it has a positive or negative charge and can readily bond with water to be more easily distributed throughout the body. Charged minerals, particularly electrolytes, also help maintain electrical gradients across cell membranes. 

Sources of Ionic Minerals:

Foods are our main source of ionic minerals but sadly due to soil mismanagement, mineral rich topsoil levels are decreasing all over the world leading to mineral deficient foods (2). Luckily, there are certain foods which tend to bioaccumulate more minerals than others.

Below is a list of particularly ionic mineral rich foods which you could add to your diet:

• Seaweeds: kelp, dulse, nori, wakame
• Dark green leafy vegetables: kale, dandelion greens, swiss chard, collard greens
• Seeds and nuts: cacao, almonds, sunflower, sesame 
• Berries: blueberry, goji, blackberry, cherry
• Fish and shellfish: salmon, sardine, oyster, clam
• Mushrooms: shiitake, portobello, chanterelle, enoki
• Bee products: honey, pollen, propolis

An additional way to get ionic minerals is through good clean spring water or ionized water. To see if there is a local spring source near you, check out www.findaspring.com. If you would like to learn more about ionized water, please check out our amazing Ionizer Plus water device which you can attach to your home faucet to create clean, ionized mineral rich, and alkaline water.

To your health!

References:

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4455825/
2. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-02142-7