Nutrition science has evolved in three phases. In the first, during the late nineteenth century, physicians, unaware of the effect of nutrients within foods, began to associate whole foods with curative effects on nutrient deficiency diseases. In the second, during the first few decades of the twentieth century,(veterinarians), physicians and biochemists began to identify the chemical composition of nutrients within whole foods that were responsible for elimination of nutrient deficiency diseases. In the third, during the remainder of the twentieth century and continuing to the present, scientists from a number of disciplines (chemistry, biochemistry, biology, (epigenetics), pharmacognosy, botany, medicine, pharmacology, nutrition science, and animal science) have uncovered preventive and curative effects of specific nutrients when consumed at levels in excess of those necessary to arrest nutrient deficiency diseases.
—Jonathan W. Emord, Esq.
Global Censorship of Health Information
For thousands of years healers have recognized that specific foods can prevent and heal diseases. During the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, many of the specific factors in foods (micro and macro nutrients) that can prevent and reverse diseases in animals and humans had been identified. Unfortunately the universal belief of the medical community is that humans who reside in the industrialized world do not need supplementation of the essential nutrients. Classic examples of scientific and medical ignorance and arrogance that negatively affect human life include the work of Georges Buffon, an 18th-century naturalist who put to paper the “truth” of his time (unfortunately a “truth” is limited by the number of facts available):
If we consider the European, the negro, the Chinese, the American, the highly civilized man, the savage, the rich, the poor, the inhabitant of the city, the dwellers in the country, so different from one another in every respect, agree on this one point, and have the same duration, the same interval of time to run through “twixt the cradle and the grave,” that the difference of race, climate, of food, of comforts, makes no difference in the duration of life, it will be seen at once that the duration of life depends neither upon habits, nor custom, nor the quality of food, that nothing can change the fixed laws which regulate the number of our years.
False, dangerous and criminal advice is given to the American public by the ignorant group known as “Quack Busters,” who are doctors who joined together to destroy legitimate alternative competition to the medical monopoly. Members of this private group of doctors include Victor Herbert, MD (now a Dead Doctor) who is the founder of this group he named The Committee Against Medical Fraud. Other Quackbuster members include John Renner, MD, (now also deceased), as well as William Jarvis, MD (who now works for the CDC), and Stephan Barret, MD (who continually draws up complaints against alternative healers from his dark basement). Below is a statement by Dr. Victor Herbert:
It has been primarily in this century (the 20th century), however, that researchers have identified the specific food substances—vitamins and minerals—that are instrumental in preventing these deficiency diseases. As a result of this increased knowledge and the availability of a variety of foods rich in vitamins and minerals, deficiency diseases are now rare in the United States and other affluent industrialized nations. Despite this, millions of Americans believe that their foods do not supply adequate vitamins and minerals, and therefore they take nutritional supplements, often in potentially dangerous mega-doses, and sometimes resulting in actual harm.
Victor Herbert, MD, also claimed the following:
Healthy adult men and healthy adult non-pregnant, non-lactating women who eat a varied diet get all of the vitamins and minerals they need . . .
The fact is, even a marginal diet will provide adequate vitamins and minerals; if you are an average, healthy American, you really have to follow an extremely limited or bizarre diet to develop vitamin (and mineral) deficiencies.
In fact, you cannot guarantee the optimal intake of micro or macro nutrients, even by “eating well.” In the animal industry, the perfect mix of micro and macro nutrients is added to the diets to ensure perfect nutrition for maximum disease resistance, fertility, healthy babies, and maximum production of meat, milk, and eggs, and whatever nutrition is in the feed itself is considered “value added.” By contrast, in the human nutrition arena we believe falsely because of misdirection by the medical community, that if “one eats well they can get everything they need to produce perfect babies, maximize lifespan and health”—not so!
In 1990 Lucian Lepe, the head of the Department of Public Health at Harvard Medical School, published a survey in which they looked for the county in America that had the highest average age. Lepe’s goal was to then have the healthcare systems that were used by the members of the longest-living county employed and duplicated by all American counties with the goal of raising the average lifespan of all Americans, a lofty goal to be sure.
What Lepe found, however, was that the counties with the longest-living people in America were clustered in the mid-west, the upper mid-west and the plains states. Their common heritage was Scandinavian. They were Swedes, Swiss, Finnish, Norwegians, Danish, Austrians. They were mainly dairy farmers who cooked all their meals by poaching, stewing, roasting, grilling, and baking.
The counties of the shortest-living people in Lepe’s study were those found in the old Confederate States and Indian Reservations west of the Mississippi River These cultures fried everything; it was how these people cooked their food, whether or not they supplemented with essential nutrients, and it was what they ate, not medical technology, that added or subtracted years from their life. The maximum health benefit was provided by default and dumb luck by ingested raw materials rather than the employment of modern medical technology!
Lepe noted that residents of all American counties had equal access to all healthcare services. Even the uninsured “living under the bridge” had access to all health care services through Medicaid, yet the old Confederate States were the epicenter of the heart attack, stroke, diabetes, obesity, and cancer belt of America.
In the April 16, 2012, issue of the journal Food Chemistry, there was a report that showed in fact that “commercial baby foods contain less than 20% of the minimum daily requirements of minerals and vitamins that are required by human infants.” In contrast, dog food, cat food, chicken food, sheep, pig, horse, and cattle feed all have 100% of the animal’s minimum daily requirements of all 90 essential nutrients.
In March 20, 2013, the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute reported that “Residents of the nation’s least healthy counties die at twice the rate of those living in their state’s healthiest counties, despite a major improvement in the rate of premature deaths. It appears that access to quality health care, however, accounts for only 20% of a county’s ranking. The physical environment (and nutrition) is weighed the most heavily in the rankings.”
The most blatant example of the Wisconsin study paradox was the fact that “the county with the highest levels of health care and health services was Philadelphia County (meaning the most doctors, the most hospitals, the most health care funding, etc.), yet Philadelphia County had the worst level of health of its residents than any other American County!”
To achieve maximum fertility and healthy outcomes of birth-defect free pregnancies, healthful disease-free lives and maximum longevity one must supplement with all 90 essential nutrients to warranty their optimal daily intake. You cannot depend on your food to be your sole source of macro and micronutrients. Failing to be proactive and to consume the optimal supplement program based on body weight, you will contract nutritional-deficiency diseases and spend excessive amounts of time and money on medical care and prescriptions. The secret is to give your body the raw materials, the 90 essential nutrients, rather than depend on technology to deal with diseases after they appear.
You can be a member of any religion and successfully supplement with the 90 essential nutrients.
You can be a vegetarian and successfully supplement with the 90 essential nutrients.
You can be a vegan and successfully supplement with the 90 essential nutrients.
You can be a meat-eater and successfully supplement with the 90 essential nutrients.
You can juice and successfully supplement with the 90 essential nutrients.
You can eat organic and successfully supplement with the 90 essential nutrients.
You Are What You Absorb
There is an old adage that states “you are what you eat.” Unfortunately, this old adage is not correct. It is more correct and accurate to say “you are what you absorb.”
There are two major issues that have to be considered to ensure optimal absorption: hypochlorhydria (i.e., low stomach acid levels) and gluten intolerance:
Hypochlorhydria
The raw material for the Chief Cells, the acid-manufacturing cells of the stomach, to make hydrochloric acid is NaCl, which is salt. Stomach acid is required to keep the stomach environment sterile and free of bacteria, viruses, yeast, and fungus. Failure to keep the stomach environment at a low pH below 2.0 results in organism overgrowth, gastric fermentation, and reflux. This acidic gastric environment is also required to facilitate the absorption of vitamin B12 by activating the “intrinsic factor” that is produced by specialized cells in the stomach wall; to activate the stomach enzyme “pepsin,” which in the presence of stomach acid will breakdown proteins into amino acids, peptides, and polypeptides that facilitates absorption; and to facilitate the absorption of minerals.
Gluten Intolerance
Gluten intolerance, as a negative reaction to grain consumption, was recognized by the Egyptians and Greek physicians thousands of years ago. Gluten intolerance is not an allergy to wheat, barley, rye, or oat proteins. However, when a person is intolerant of small-grain proteins, the consumption of gluten will produce a “contact enteritis” similar to a contact dermatitis when an individual is exposed to the juices of poison ivy. No one is allergic to poison ivy; however, just about everyone is intolerant of poison ivy.
The gastrointestinal damage that is produced by the gluten-contact enteritis includes celiac disease (wheat allergy that occurs concurrently with contact enteritis), diverticulitis, appendicitis, irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel syndrome, leaky gut syndrome, colitis, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, gastritis, bloating, and reflux.
The gradual and progressive loss of intestinal villi as a result of contact enteritis produces a kaleidoscope of nutritional-deficiency diseases as a result of malabsorption, including infertility, birth defects (muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, intersex syndrome, gay behavior, etc.), colicky babies, keratosis, eczema, dermatitis, psoriasis, rosacea, asthma, fibromyalgia, lupus, sarcoidosis, diabetes, kidney failure, kidney stones, arthritis, obesity, osteoporosis, periodontal disease, dementia, heart disease, hypertension, alopecia, macular degeneration, dental problems, cataracts, nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism, hypothyroidism, peripheral neuropathies, liver disease, constipation, diarrhea, etc.
So you are what you absorb.
The following lists give the essential nutrients for good health.
The 60 Essential Elements, Metals, Minerals, Trace Minerals and Rare Earths
|
Aluminum |
Gold |
Rhenium |
|
Arsenic |
Hafnium |
Rubidium |
|
Barium |
Holmium |
Samarium |
|
Beryllium |
Hydrogen |
Scandium |
|
Boron |
Iodine |
Selenium |
|
Bromine |
Iron |
Silica |
|
Calcium |
Lanthanum |
Silver |
|
Carbon |
Lithium |
Sodium |
|
Cerium |
Lutecium |
Strontium |
|
Cesium |
Magnesium |
Sulphur |
|
Chloride |
Manganese |
Tantalum |
|
Chromium |
Molybdenum |
Terbium |
|
Cobalt |
Neodymium |
Thulium |
|
Copper |
Nickle |
Tin |
|
Dysprosium |
Niobium |
Titanium |
|
Erbium |
Nitrogen |
Vanadium |
|
Europium |
Oxygen |
Yitterbium |
|
Gadolinium |
Phosphorus |
Ytrium |
|
Gallium |
Potassium |
Zinc |
|
Germanium |
Praseodymium |
Zirconium |
The 16 Essential Vitamins for Humans and Non-human Vertebrates
Vitamin A
Vitamin B1 (Thiamin)
Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin)
Vitamin B3 (Niacin)
Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic acid)
Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine)
Vitamin B12 (Cyanocobalamine)
Vitamin C
Vitamin D
Vitamin E
Vitamin K
Biotin
Choline
Flavonoids and bioflavonoids
Folic Acid
Inositol
The 12 Essential Amino Acids
Valine
Lysine
Threonine
Leucine
Isoleucine
Tryptophane
Phenylalanine
Methionine
Histadine
Arginine*
Taurine*
Tyrosine*
*While not generally considered to be a classic essential amino acid, their deficiency does result in specific disease states.
The Three Essential Fatty Acids and Cholesterol
Linoleic Acid
Linolenic Acid
Arachidonic Acid
Cholesterol*
*While not generally considered a classic essential lipid, its deficiency does result in disease states (e.g., Alzheimer’s disease, type 2 diabetes, erectile dysfunction, low-T, menopause, adrenal exhaustion, etc.).
The Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) have been prepared by the Food and Nutrition Board since 1941. “RDAs are defined as the levels of intake of essential nutrients that, on the basis of scientific knowledge, are judged by the Food and Nutrition Board to be adequate to meet the known nutrient needs of practically all healthy persons.” This definition has remained unchanged since 1974.
The RDAs are derived from several different sources of evidence:
1. Studies of human subjects maintained on diets containing low or deficient levels of a nutrient, followed by a correction of the deficit with measured amounts of the nutrient;
2. Nutrient balance studies that measure nutrient status in relation to intake;
3. Biochemical measurements of tissue saturation or adequacy of molecular functions in relation to a specific nutrient intake;
4. Nutrient intakes of fully breastfed infants and of apparently healthy people from their food supply;
5. Epidemiological observations of nutrient status in populations in relation to intake; and
6. In some cases, extrapolation of data from animal experiments.
In practice and reality, other than animal studies, there are extremely limited data from which one can estimate the optimal nutritional requirements of humans. Because there are “uncertainties in the knowledge base (of human nutrition), it is not possible to set the RDAs for all of the known essential nutrients based on human data alone.
Vitamins
Vitamins are a collection of unrelated organic compounds that are necessary as cofactors for metabolic chemical reactions within cells and essential for normal growth and maintenance of health. Vitamins are essential nutrients in that most cannot be manufactured in the body and many perform as coenzymes. Vitamins do not supply calories or contribute to body mass.
Vitamins regulate metabolism, participate in the citric acid cycle and conversion of fat, sugar, carbohydrates and proteins into energy.
There are three categories of vitamins:
1. Fat soluble
2. Water soluble
3. Flavanols-Epicatecchins
Historically, vitamin deficiencies (rickets, night blindness, scurvy, beriberi, pellagra, arthritis, dementia, heart disease, birth defects, etc.) were literally the cause of disabilities and death in millions of sailors, soldiers, pioneers, slaves, minority races (such as Native Americans, Native Canadians, African-Americans, etc.) and children. Because of the medical community’s ignorance, bias, and lack of interest in food factors that could prevent and cure diseases, millions of humans have suffered terribly and died unnecessarily even after the truth was known for thousands of years by many alert individuals.
In the 20th century, the medical community totally abandoned the greater pursuit of knowledge on the benefits of vitamin nutrition and vitamin therapies to bring improved health, vitality, and longevity to humans for their pursuit of the new “Holy Grail”—mapping out the genome.
All vertebrates, including man, require a minimum of sixteen vitamins, carbon-based essential nutrients that can prevent and cure hundreds of diseases and extend life spans.
It is well documented that longevity prediction can be attained by monitoring telomere length. Telomere’s are short fragments of DNA that are described as “caps” at the end of the DNA in each cell and are likened to the “protective plastic tips at the end of a shoelace.”
A telomere is a zone of repetitive nucleotide sequences at the end of a chromatid, which protects the end of the chromosome from deterioration and additionally protects the end of the chromosome from fusing with a neighboring chromosome. The term “telomere” is derived from the Greek “telos” (end) and “meros” (part).
During cell division, enzymes that promote the duplication of DNA are limited on how many divisions they can support by how many nutritional cofactors are available. Deficiencies of nutrients result in a stoppage of DNA division.
Every time a cell divides, the telomere at the end of the DNA string shortens. As telomeres shorten, the risk of degenerative diseases and cell death increases dramatically. Telemeres are looked at as markers for biological aging. It has been demonstrated that supplementation with multivitamins has protected telomeres, maintained telomere length and reduced oxidative damage and inflammation of the telomere structure.
In 1975 Elizabeth Blackburn, a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University, with Joseph Gall, identified the repeated DNA sequences composing the ends of chromosomes. Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Breider, and Jack Szostak were awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase.
In addition to its protein segment, telomerase additionally contains a segment of template RNA (Telomerase RNA). In humans, this telomere sequence is a repeating string of TTAGGG, between 3 and 20 kilobases in length.
In the early 1970s Russian theorist Alexi Olovnikov first recognized that chromosomes could not completely replicate their end pieces. His theory built on Leonard Hayflick’s observation that of limited somatic cell division (Hayflick limit – 51 duplications), Olovnikov posited that DNA sequences were lost each time that cellular DNA replicates until the deterioration reaches an end point, at which time the ability of a cell to replicate come to an end.
A privately funded effort by Geron, a biotech company, isolated the genes for the RNA and protein component of human telomerase and to prove the relationship between telomere shortening in cellular and telomerase reactivation in cell “immortalization.”
It is now known that telomeres protect a cell’s chromosomes from fusing with a neighboring chromosome and from “rearranging-abnormalities” that can lead to cancer. Most cancer cells are the product of “immortal” cells that have systems that allow them to avoid apoptosis (programmed cell death).
Specifically, higher doses of supplemental vitamins C, D, and E in both in vitro and in vivo studies maintained increased telomere length, delayed apoptosis (cell death), and extended life spans of nematodes and vertebrates.
Fat Soluble Vitamins
Fat soluble vitamins, as the name implies, work in the fat (lipid) metabolism in the vertebrate cell. Fat soluble vitamins can not be efficiently absorbed from the intestine when humans consume low fat diets. Individuals who have their gall bladder removed should supplement with ox bile to increase the volume of bile salts which are required for the efficient absorption of the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K.
Vitamin A (retinol) function
This vitamin, isolated in 1913, which has many active forms including, retinol, retinoic acid and retinyl esters and precursors. Beta carotene is a fat soluble vitamin A precursor that is required for maintenance of vision and night vision (the Egyptians employed beef liver juice, a natural source of vitamin A, to cure night blindness in 2000 BC), to maintain healthy skin and healthy mucus membranes, bones, and teeth; it has been shown to reduce the risk if epithelial cancers.
Many symptoms of vitamin A deficiency were recognized in the middle of the 19th century, and were associated with an “inadequacy of the diet.” The condition known as ophthalmia Brasiliana (keratoconis), a disease of the eyes that primarily afflicted poorly nourished slaves, was first described in 1865.
In 1887 endemic night blindness was recognized among the orthodox Russian Catholics who fasted during the Lenten period. Of great interest was the observation that nurslings of mothers who fasted were at high risk of sloughing ulcers of the cornea. At the same time numerous reports of deficiency-induced keratomalacia followed from the four corners of the earth including the United States.
Experimental, rather than observational evidence, led to the discovery of vitamin A in 1913. Two groups (Osborne and Mendel; McCollum and Davis) independently reported that animals fed on artificial diets with lard as a sole source of fat developed a nutritional deficiency that could be corrected by the addition of foods such as butter, egg yolk, and cod liver oil to the diet. A prominent deficiency symptom of this restricted experimental diet was xerophthalmia. Clinical and experimental vitamin A deficiencies were recognized as being related in WWI, when it became obvious that xerophthalmia in humans was the result of a decrease in access to dietary butter.
The simple observations of Steenbock (1919) that the vitamin A content of vegetables was directly related to the degree of pigmentation; Euler et al (1929) and Moore (1929) found that the purified plant pigment carotene (provitamin A) was a very potent source of vitamin A. Retinol, a primary alcohol, is present in high concentrations of marine fish liver (cod liver oil, etc.).
Vitamin A has a number of functions in the body. It plays an essential role in growth stimulation, the maintenance and function of epithelial tissue including the retina, intestinal mucosa, and skin. Vitamin A is also known to function in the synthesis of adrenocortical steroids, particularly in the conversions of pregneno-lone to progesterone, of dehydroepiandrosterone to androstenedione, and desoxycorticosterone to corticosterone. The conversion of squalene to cholesterol, other oxygenase-dependent reactions, and codeine demethylation are depressed by a retinol deficiency.
Vitamin A-deficiency health problems include:
Night blindness (Nyctalopia)
Conjunctivitis
Xerophthalmia
Keratomalacia (Keratoconus – corneal ulcers)
Infertility
Birth defects
Depression
Depressed immune system
Osteopenia, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, osteomalacia
Failure to thrive, stunted growth
Acne
Dermatitis (dry skin, keratitis, etc.)
Hyperkeratosis (“goose flesh”)
Ichthyosis (shark skin, Darier’s disease, etc.)
Increased cancer risk
Signs of overdose: too much vitamin A is indicated by headaches, blurred vision, fatigue, dysmenorrhea, joint and bone pain, dry cracked skin, hair loss, itchiness, birth defects (for example, malformation of the cranium, face, heart, thymus, and central nervous system), liver disease, and pseudo-jaundice (when the skin becomes orange or yellow as a result of high levels of beta carotene intake, notably there is no yellowing or jaundice of the ocular sclera).
Signs of toxicity usually appear only with sustained daily intakes of 50,000 IU of retinol for adults and 20,000 IU in infants.
Vitamin D function
This vitamin has two active forms: D2 the plant source and D3 the animal source, which is created by exposing the skin deposits of cholesterol to UV light. Vitamin D is required for the absorption, metabolism, and proper deposition of calcium and phosphorus in the bones and teeth.
Rickets was a scourge of children from before medieval times through the smog-filled days of the Industrial Revolution into the 20th century. Because rickets was rarely associated with death, it was looked at with indifference and was allowed to smolder amongst urban populations. People, particularly children, with curved spines, bowed legs and enlarged joints were so common as to seem normal. During the Industrial Revolution there were so many causes of miserable deaths that people were too busy trying to survive, to spend any effort on a malady that just made one uncomfortable or misshapen.
Unfortunately for kids living in the major cities, particularly in England during the Industrial Revolution, work hours were so long (12 hours) that the children were rarely outside during the day, and the sun was blocked by smog, smoke, and coal dust so that the sun’s light rarely shown through to the streets. And though it was known for centuries that Scottish fisherman had learned how to prevent and cure rickets with cod liver oil, doctors resisted the simple cure for centuries!
One of the earliest common-sense theories of the cause and cure of rickets was posited by Francis Glisson in the mid-17th century. He concluded that “a bad environment” caused rickets. While he didn’t consider a dietary deficiency as a cause he did realize that a lack of exposure to sunlight was a causative factor. The environmental association of lack of sunlight was cited over the next 150 years. However, physicians continued to ignore the obvious and rickets continued to deform millions, particularly in England and other coal-burning countries.
Cod liver oil, the Scottish fisherman’s treatment for rickets, continued to be used by the lay community throughout the 19th century. Armand Trousseau, a French physician, treated his rickets patients with cod liver oil, sunshine, and butter—proving to himself that diet and sunshine played a vital role in the cause, prevention, and cure of rickets. Trousseau’s findings, along with so many valid observations of the day, were generally disregarded by the medical community because they were obsessed in a search for the “rickets germ.”
Early in the 20th century, two separate theories were developed for the cause of rickets. One postulated that rickets was due to environmental factors, especially lack of sunlight, the second revisited Trousseau’s theory that diet was involved. Dr. Kurt Hulschinsky, exposed rickets-deformed children from Berlin to mercury quartz lamps, duplicating the sun’s ultraviolet light, and their limbs straightened out after two months.
At the same time, in England, Edward Mellanby proved the Scottish fishermen’s tale of curing rickets with cod liver oil to be correct. E.V. McCollum of Johns Hopkins destroyed the vitamin A in cod liver oil with heat, and it still had antirachitic activity and cured and prevented rickets. At the same time, Alfred Hess of New York noted that rats whose food had previously been exposed to the sun did not develop rickets. Fatty substances (ergosterol) in the food were being activated by the ultraviolet rays to produce vitamin D2 (calciferol).
Normal calcium and phosphorus absorption and metabolism is dependent on proper levels of vitamin D. Blood levels of these ions are influenced by gastrointestinal absorption, skeletal metabolism, and renal excretion, and are predominantly under the control of vitamin D, parathyroid hormone, and thyrocalcitonin. The concentration of ionized Ca is also dependent upon blood pH and the concentration of plasma proteins. An understanding of the close relationship between vitamin D to the parathyroid hormone is of major importance when considering the variety of effects enacted by vitamin D resulting from a variety of dietary and hormonal conditions. Vitamin D is required for the full range of parathyroid hormone functions.
There are some who consider vitamin D a hormone, as there are similarities between vitamin D and hormone activity. Synthesis can take place in one site (for example, on the skin) and the target organ found elsewhere (a bone). Its mechanism of action, similar to that of aldosterone, estrogens, and testosterone, is thought to be linked to an action on DNA-directed synthetic processes.
Studies indicate that the enhancement of intestinal absorption of Ca by vitamin D or its 25-hydroxy metabolite is related to an action that increases synthesis of a calcium-binding protein, and that this action takes place early in the protein synthetic process, prior to, or at the step of, DNA-directed RNA synthesis. The sequence of events: (1) location of vitamin D in the gut; (2) formation of the 25-hydroxy derivative; (3) stimulation of RNA synthesis; and (4) enhanced intestinal calcium absorption is consistent with the evidence that suggests that synthesis of a new protein is required for vitamin D activity.
Deficiency: The universal deficiency of vitamin D in the 20th and 21st centuries is a physician-caused disease. The doctor’s instructions dictated by the medical community to the American people to avoid exposure to the sun, wear sun blocker, wear wide-brimmed hats, long-sleeved shirts and gloves, avoid cholesterol in the diet (including egg yolks, chicken skin, dairy products, saturated fats, etc.), and not to take vitamin-mineral supplements turned out to be the “perfect storm” to create a universal vitamin D deficiency.
Vitamin D-deficiency health problems include:
Facial tics, Tourette’s syndrome
Twitches, muscle cramps
Tetany (full body cramp), convulsions
Childhood rickets (rachitic rosary), bowed legs, knock-knees, pigeon chest, Profuse sweating
Restless leg syndrome
Enlarged wrists, osteopenia, osteoporosis, periodontal disease, arthritis, osteoarthritis, degenerative arthritis, “bone to bone” arthritis, bone spurs, Kidney stones.
Uterine fibroids
Vitamin D deficiency is a physician-caused disease in the 20th and 21st centuries because of bad advice (e.g., stay out of the sun, wear sun-blocker, wear long sleeves, do not eat egg yolks, do not take vitamins and minerals, etc.) and as a result is quite common in the United States. In the 20th and 21st centuries, it has been determined that vitamin D deficiency can result in a higher risk of cancer.
Signs of vitamin D overdose: hypercalcemia (this sign can also be produced by raging Ca deficiency, nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism, etc.), weakness, fatigue, lassitude, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, Monkeyberg’s sclerosis (vascular calcification of the middle muscular layers of large and small arteries), myocardial calcification, renal calcification, and soft tissue calcification (of lung, skin, etc.).
Consumption of 1,800 IU of cholecalciferol per day has been associated with signs of hypervitaminosis in young children.
Vitamin E function:
This fat soluble vitamin, isolated in 1922, is actually a group of compounds referred to as alpha-tocopherols. It has antioxidant functions, protects cell membranes from oxidative inflammation, protects red blood cells from lyses, and in combination with the trace mineral selenium it can reduce the risk of certain cancers. It slows down the aging process, preserves the length of telomeres and reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, muscular dystrophy, and cystic fibrosis, etc.
The existence of vitamin E was first recognized in 1922 when it was learned that female rats required a previously unknown dietary factor to maintain pregnancies. Deficient females would ovulate and conceive properly; however, at some point in the pregnancy a spontaneous miscarriage would occur; additionally, lesions in the male’s testes were reported.
Vitamin E-deficiency health problems include:
Alzheimer’s disease
Anemia (hemolytic)
Infertility
Depressed immune system
Age spots, liver spots
Lipid peroxidation, cellulite
Ischemic heart disease
Fibrocystic breast disease
Muscle weakness, myalgia, polymyalgia, fibromyalgia
Cystic fibrosis (in conjunction with selenium deficiency)
Muscular dystrophy (in conjunction with selenium deficiency)
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (in conjunction with selenium deficiency)
Increased risk of cancer
Signs of overdose: Compared to the other fat soluble vitamins vitamin E is extremely safe when taken orally. Most adults have no problems taking up to 800 mg/day, showing no clinical or biochemical signs of toxicity.
Vitamin K (menaquinone) function:
This vitamin, isolated in 1939, is a fat soluble vitamin that is required by the liver for the production of prothrombin and at least five other proteins (factors VII, IX, and X, and proteins C and S) and other biologically active substances essential for proper blood clotting and for the proper deposition of calcium in bones. Approximately 50% of the requirement for vitamin K is produced by probiotic bacteria in the colon.
Dam et al (1935, 1936) showed that hemorrhagic diseases that were not cured or prevented by any known vitamins could be quickly resolved by feeding an as yet unidentified fat-soluble substance, which he named vitamin K (Koagulation vitamin). Early studies showed that vitamin K was a fat-soluble substance present in hog liver fat and alfalfa (concentrated in the chloroplasts of plant leaves and in vegetable oils). Considerable quantities of vitamin K are found in feces of humans and animals because it is produced by enteric microorganisms.
Vitamin K occurs in two forms: (1) K1 (phylloquinone) is produced by plants and (2) K2 (menaquinones) is synthesized by gram positive intestinal micro-organisms and appears as several compounds. The normal physiological function of vitamin K is to promote the hepatic biosynthesis of prothrombin, proconvertin (factor VII), plasma thromboplastin component (PTC, Christmas factor, factor IX), and the Stuart factor (factor X).
Vitimin K-deficiency health problems include:
Osteocalcin deficiency
Extended clotting time
Ecchymoses, epistaxis (nose bleeds), hematuria, GI bleeding, etc.
Liver disease
Dysfunction of calcium absorption and deposition in bones.
Osteoporosis, spontaneous fractures
Osteoarthritis
Signs of overdose: Symptoms include jaundice (kernicterus) in newborn infants; rapid intravenous injections of phylloquinone in adult humans can produce flushing, dyspnea, chest pain, and death. Large doses of menadione (not phylloquinone) administered to animals has produced hemolytic anemia, polycythemia (too many red blood cells), splenomegaly, kidney and liver damage (hyperbilirubinemia) and death.
Water Soluble Vitamins
The B-complex consists of 10 separate water-soluble vitamins. In general they function as essential nutrients in the metabolic processes of all living cells by acting as cofactors in multiple enzyme systems that drive the oxidation of food and the production of energy.
Vitamin C is a water-soluble antioxidant that can be synthesized by many mammals but not by guinea pigs or humans.
Vitamin B1 (thiamine) function:
This water soluble vitamin was discovered in 1897 and isolated in 1911. It is a cofactor required for energy production and optimal metabolism of carbohydrates. Thiamine combines with phosphorous to form the coenzyme thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP), which functions as a cocarboxylase enzyme. TPP is required for the oxidative decarboxylation of pyruvate to form active acetate and acetyl coenzyme A, the critical compound of the Krebs cycle. TPP is critical for the oxidative decarboxylation of 2-ketocarboxylates produced from the amino acids methionine, threonine, leucine, isoleucine and valine. In addition TPP is also the coenzyme for the transketolase reaction, which functions in the pentose phosphate shunt, an alternative pathway for glucose oxidation.
Thiamine is required for the metabolism of carbohydrates, protein, and fat. Thiamine deficiency specifically produces disturbances of carbohydrate metabolism, particularly in the brain (dementia) and heart (congestive heart failure). The daily thiamine requirement is directly linked to the dietary carbohydrate daily intake. This fact is indicative of the decarboxylation of pyruvate, which is only connected to carbohydrate metabolism which is dependent on the presence of thiamine (B1).
Events leading to the identification of thiamine occurred in the 19th century, when Takaki, a Japanese naval officer, eliminated the death rate from beriberi in the Japanese Navy simply by eliminating polished rice, replacing it with brown rice, and adding a broad range of foods.
Eijkman, a Dutch physician in Java, showed that patients that developed beriberi while eating polished rice could be cured by the reintroduction of the rice bran to their diet. He also experimentally produced beriberi in chickens when he fed them polished rice. Some years later, Funk produced a crystalline substance from rice polishings and yeast that was effective in the prevention and cure of experimentally produced beriberi. The substance contained a high pH (basic) nitrogen (amine), so Funk called it a vit- (vital) amine. The term was accepted as a broad label for dietary substances that were deemed to be dietary essentials.
Thiamine (B1)-deficiency health problems include:
Anxiety, hysteria, confusion
Nausea
Depression
Mental confusion
Anorexia
Muscular weakness
Fibromyalgia
Beriberi (muscle wasting, congestive heart failure, Korsakoff syndrome [dementia] and Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome [dementia & MS])
Paralysis.
Peripheral neuropathies
Signs of overdose: Vitamin B1 overdose can result in a relative reactive deficiency of B2 and B6.
Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) function:
Vitamin B2, discovered in 1879 and isolated in 1932, is a key cofactor for two flavin coenzymes that are required for oxidation-reduction reactions and energy production flavin mononucleotide (FMN) and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD). Among the enzymes that require riboflavin is the FMN-dependent oxidase responsible for conversion of phosphorylated pyridoxine to functional coenzyme and the FAD-dependent hydroxylase involved in the conversion of tryptophan to niacin. Riboflavin is also required to maintain healthy skin, mucus membranes, cornea of the eye, and nerve sheaths.
Riboflavin-deficiency health problems include:
Chelosis (cracks at the corners of the mouth and nostrils)
Angular stomatitis
Seborrheic dermatitis of the nasal folds
Soreness and burning of lips, mouth and tongue
Geographic tongue, magenta tongue
Photophobia
Lacrimation (tearing)
Capillary “injection” of cornea
Anemia
Neuropathy
Signs of overdose: Vitamin B2 overdose can result in a relative deficiency in B1 and B6.
Vitamin B3 (niacin, nicotinic acid, nicotinamide, niacinamide) function:
Vitamin B3, isolated in 1900, functions in humans as a part of the coenzymes nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP), known as the pyridine nucleotides. These coenzymes interact with cellular respiratory enzymes. They are essential to the oxidation-reduction reactions in the release of energy from carbohydrates, fats and proteins. These coenzymes in their reduced forms are NADH and NADPH. In addition NAD is required for glycogen synthesis.
In the early part of the 18th century, a disease that was characterized by a rough, red scaly dermatitis, flourished in Europe. Nearly 200 years later, the disease was still devastating human populations, particularly in Spain, Italy, and the southern regions of the United States. Pellegra, was an “epidemic” in the U.S.in the period between the Civil War and the early 1900s. It appeared with such frequency that medical experts were confident that it was an infectious disease that was spred from one person to another; others thought it was caused by eating rotten corn; others thought it was spread by a species of fly because it occurred at higher rates in the spring when flies were attacking humans in noisy-winged hords.
Even though pellagra was seen to be consistently related to corn-based diets, again the medical doctors were convinced it was caused by germs and isolated pellagra patients in “retardation centers” in much the same fashion as putting tuberculosis patients in sanitariums for isolation and recovery.
Dr.Joseph Goldberger, was one of the first physicians to be convinced that pellagra was a deficiency disease. He began to experiment with the diets of children in a Mississippi orphanage who were on a corn-based diet and suffered from pellagra. After adding meat, milk, and eggs to their diets, pellagra disappeared.
In 1915 Dr. Goldberger conducted a classic experiment in human nutrition. For six months Goldberger fed prisoners in a Mississippi prison farm the typical diet of people who were hard hit with pellagra. After they developed symptoms of the disease he changed their diets to include meat, milk, or yeast and the symptoms rapidly disappeared.
Physicians remained skeptical until 1937, when Conrad Elvehjem at the University of Wisconsin reported that dogs with experimentally produced pellagra could be cured with a form of “niacin” named nicotinic acid. Purified niacin was then used on human patients with classic signs of pellagra and their disease was cured When niacin status was gauged by urinary metablyte levels, the quantities of supplementary tryptophan required to give the same response as one mg of niacin ranged from 39 to 86 mg. Convention allows that 60 mg of tryptophan is equivalent to one mg of niacin.
Vitamin B3 (niacin) deficiency health problems include:
Pellagra which includes the “three Ds” (diarrhea, dermatitis, dementia)
Retardation
Muscular weakness
Anorexia
“Beef tongue” (swollen, sore, red tongue)
Skin pigmentation
Scaly, itchy dermatitis
Signs of overdose: Vitamin B3 (nicotinic acid only) overdose can result in hot flushes of the skin, ulcers, liver disease, elevated blood sugar and uric acid, cardiac arrhythmia, and dry, itchy skin.
The ingestion of a pharmacological dose of nicotinic acid ranging from three to nine grams per day produces a variety of metabolic symptoms, including an increased utilization of muscle glycogen stores, decreased serum lipids (i.e., it lowers cholesterol, etc.), and decreased mobilization of fatty acids from adipose tissue during exercise.
Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid) function:
When scientists discovered pantothenic acid in the 1930s, they were not searching for a cause, prevention, or cure for any particular disease. In fact, they were looking for a nutrient that would stimulate the growth of yeast. Along the way, investigators found a substance that would support the growth of yeast, that when missing in animal diets would produce deficiency diseases.
The symptoms of pantothenic acid deficiency varied from one animal species to another. In general, however, animals that were placed on pantothenic acid-deficient diets demonstrated a reduced growth rate, anemia, nerve degenerative diseases, reduced immune functions, gastric ulcers, and a wide variety of birth defects.
Pantothenic acid, aka vitamin B5, was isolated in 1940. Its primary physiological roles as a component of the coenzyme A molecule and within the 4’phosphopantetheine moiety of the acyl carrier protein of fatty acid synthetase, that serves in acyl-group activation and transfer reactions. These reactions are essential for the release of energy from carbohydrates; in gluconeogenesis; in the synthesis and degradation of fatty acids; in the synthesis of such essential compounds as sterols and steroid hormones, porphyrins, and acetylcholine; and in acylation reactions.
Pantothenic acid-deficiency health problems include:
Dermatitis
Burning feet
Muscle cramps
Anorexia
Anemia
Quarrelsome attitude
Sullen
Depressed
Insomnia
Depressed immune system
Tachycardia
Fainting (“light headedness”)
GI distress (gas, diarrhea, gut pain)
Signs of overdose: Vitamin B5 overdose (10 to 20 grams per day) can result in a relative deficiency of thiamine, diarrhea, and edema.
Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) function:
Vitamin B6, originally designated B3, is found as three chemically, metabolically, and functionally related structures pyridoxine (pyridoxol, PN), pyridoxal (PL), and pyridoxamine (PM). These structures are converted in the liver, red blood cells, and other tissues to pyridoxal phosphate (PLP) and pyridoxamine phosphate (PMP), which act primarily as coenzymes in transamination reactions. PLP also participates in decarboxylation and racemization of A in amino acids, in other metabolic transformations of amino acids, and the metabolism of lipids and nucleic acids. In addition, B6 is the essential coenzyme for glycogen phosphorylase. The phosphoric esters of the active forms of vitamin B6 are hydrolyzed before release from cells. Also, PL can be further oxidized to pyridoxic acid and other inactive oxidation products, which are excreted in the urine.
The various food forms of vitamin B6 are absorbed by intestinal mucosal cells through a nonsaturable process. Cellular B6 is metabolically phosphorylated, and two of the phospho-forms (PNP and PMP) are oxidized to PLP. PLP is largely present in the plasma as a PLP-albumin complex and in erythrocytes in association with hemoglobin.
The Nationwide Food Consumption Survey done in 1980 revealed that the U.S. consumption of pyridoxine fell below 70% of the RDA in 50% of the individuals surveyed. The use of prescription medications including birth control pills, steroids, or antibiotics such as isoniazid (for the treatment of tuberculosis) or penicillamine, increases the need for pyridoxine. There are some individuals with an inborn error of metabolism and sickle-cell anemia that will respond to B6 supplementation.
Pyridoxine (B6) deficiency health problems include:
Depression, mental confusion
Inflammation of the oral mucus membranes
Nausea
Vomiting
PMS
Seborrheic dermatitis
Itchy scaly skin
Oral mucus membrane lesions
Carpal tunnel syndrome
TMJ
Peripheral neuritis
Ataxia (instability)
Hyperirritability.
Head tic (Tourette’s syndrome)
Siezures. Convulsions
Signs of overdose: Vitamin B6 overdose can result in peripheral neuropathies in fingers and legs.
Vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin) function:
The search for vitamin B12 began in 1926, following the observation that individuals with pernicious anemia could cure the disease by consuming a pound of raw liver per day. Dr. William Castle theorized that the liver contained an antipernicious anemia (APA) factor. He also theorized that individuals who developed pernicious anemia lacked an intrinsic factor (Castle’s Intrinsic Factor) that was required for the utilization of the APA factor.
The pursuit of the APA factor was slow and elusive until 1948 (because humans stored and recycled vitamin B12), when an unusual “experimental animal” was discovered that could be used for testing. The ideal laboratory animal turned out to be a microorganism, Lactobacillus lactis.
Later in 1948, two independent teams (one in the UK and the other in the U.S) were able to isolate the pure APA factor: vitamin B12. They were able to glean 20 mg of the B12 from a ton of liver.
The terms vitamin B12 and cobalamin are used for all of the cobalt-containing corrinoids that can be converted to methylcobalamin or 5’-deoxyadenosylcobalamin the two cobalamine coenzymes active in human metabolism. Cyanocobalamin is the primary commercial form of vitamin B12 found in vitamin pills and pharmaceuticals. This form is water soluble and heat resistant, and when it is ingested or injected it is converted (by the removal of cyanide) to the forms that are metabolically useful in vertebrates including humans.
In plasma and tissue, the primary forms of B12 are methylcobalamin, adenosylcobalamin, and hydroxocobalamin. Animal products and bacterial fermentation are the most common sources of B12. The most common forms of B12 in meat are adenosyl-and hydroxocobalamin; in dairy products (including human breast milk) the most common forms are methyl-and hydroxocobalamin.
Bacteria, fungi, and algae can synthesize vitamin B12. However, yeast, higher plants and animals of all forms are unable to. Vitamin B12 and folate are both required for the synthesis of DNA and RNA, which carry the human genome for every living cell. Vitamin B12 is required to support the function of bone marrow and the production of myelin (nerve fiber insulation coating) and a key role in folic acid metabolism. It is required to release free folate from its bound form so it can be absorbed, transported and stored. A deficiency of vitamin B12 will result in a folic acid deficiency even though the intake of folic acid is optimal. A deficiency of either vitamin produces a similar form of macrocytic, megaloblastic anemia.
Deficiency: The deficiency of cyanocobalamine can result from an overt dietary deficiency as well as secondary to hypochlorhydria (lack of stomach acid), salt deficiency, and gluten intolerance.
Vitimin B12 deficiency health problems include:
Pernicious anemia (macrocytic, megaloblastic anemia)
Dementia
Neuropsychiatric behavior
Brain, spinal cord, optic nerve and peripheral nerve demyelination
Neuropathy
Sore tongue
General weakness
Liver disease
Signs of overdose: For vitamin B12 overdose: “No clear toxicity has been reported from daily oral consumption of B12 in doses of up to 100 ug.”
Folic Acid (Folacin) vitamin B9 function:
Folic acid was identified in 1946. It is required for the synthesis of DNA and RNA and erythrocytes. Folate and folacin are generic terms for compounds that have nutritional activity and chemical structures like those of folic acid (pteroyglutamic acid, or PGA). Metabolically active forms of folate have reduced (tetrahydro) pteridine rings and many glutamic acids attached (polyglutamates).
Folates act metabolically as coenzymes that transport single carbon units from one compound to another in amino acid metabolism and nucleic acid (DNA and RNA) synthesis. Folates and vitamin B12 work interdependently. A deficiency of either vitamin produces a megaloblastic, macrocytic anemia. In 1930 Lucy Wills and her investigating team reported that “yeast contained a substance that could cure macrocytic anemia in pregnant women. However, it was not until 1946 that folic acid was isolated.
Many medications interfere with folic acid absorption and metabolism including methotrexate, aspirin, oral contraceptives, anti-convulsives, anti-psoriatic, and cancer treatment pharmaceuticals.
Deficiency: The deficiency of folic acid can result from a diet lacking in green leafy vegetables and from malabsorption problems (such as gluten intolerance [includes bourbon, scotch and beer], celiac disease, leaky gut syndrome, IBS, etc.) and can include:
Impaired cell division
Birth defects (Neural tube defects (hydroencephaloceole, spina bifida, etc.)
Failure to thrive
Anemia
Diarrhea
Bleeding gums
Weight loss
irritability
Overdose of folic acid: This can cause a relative zinc deficiency by impairing absorption.
Biotin (B7 or vitamin H) function:
In the early 1930s, an English investigator from the Lister Institute of Preventative Medicine in London fed laboratory rats on egg whites for several weeks, which produced an eczema type of skin inflammation, alopecia, paralysis, and subcutaneous hemorrhaging. It was called the “egg white syndrome.” In 1940 Paul Gyorgy identified the substance to cure this as biotin or vitamin H. It is required for glucose metabolism and for the production of fatty acids. Biotin is a sulfur-containing vitamin. Biotin is an important part of enzymes that facilitate the transport of carboxyl units and fix carbon dioxide in animal tissue. The conversion of biotin to the active form of the coenzyme is dependent on the presence of magnesium and adenosine triphosphate (ATP).
Two biotin enzymes, pyruvate carboxylase and acetyl-coenzyme A (CoA) carboxylase, are required for gluconeogenesis and fatty acid synthesis. A Fatty liver and fatty kidneys, hypoglycemia, and reduced gluconeogenesis in the liver are common in a biotin deficiency state. Two other biotin enzymes, propionyl-CoA carboxylase and 3-methylcrotonyl CoA carboxylase, are essential for proprionate metabolism and the breakdown of branched-chain amino acids.
The consumption of raw egg whites for weeks can produce a biotin deficiency because it contains avidin, a substance that binds with biotin in the intestine and prevents its absorption.
The deficiency of the biotin enzymes results in the urinary excretion of organic acids, skin rash, and alopecia. Multiple carboxylase deficiencies are commonly the result of defective holocarboxylase synthetase, which is required for the conversion of inactive apocarboxylase to form active carboxylase by the supplementation of biotin. This inborn error of metabolism can be “overcome” in an epigenetic fashion by supplementation of large doses of biotin.
Biotin-deficiency health problems can result in:
Eczema, dermatitis
Alopecia (baldness)
Myalgia (muscle pain)
Fatigue
Fatty liver
Inborn errors of metabolism
Depression
Hyperesthesia, paraesthesia
Blephritis
Gray, silver or white hair
Anorexia
Insomnia.
Weight loss
Hallucinations
Signs of biotin overdose: The LD50 is unknown and there have not been any credible reports of toxicity from large doses of biotin, even with doses greater than 10 mg daily.
Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) function:
Vitamin C required cofactor for the production of collagen, connective tissue, cartilage, bones, teeth, blood vessel walls, capillaries, and it also increases the efficiency of absorption of inorganic iron.
Scurvy, characterized by muscle weakness, lethargy, and subcutaneous bleeding, was recorded before the Christian era. Ship’s logs reported a common and widespread disease of sailors during the 16th century; it was a common disease during the American Civil War and in Antarctic explorers, including adventurer Captain Robert Scott and his crew who died of scurvy as late as 1912.
Cures for scurvy were recorded shortly after the naming of the disease, including green salads, fruit, vegetables, pickled cabbage, scallions, young onions, and drinks made from wormwood, horseradish, and mustard seed. In 1530 the French explorer, Jacques Cartier reported how the natives of Newfoundland cured his crew’s scurvy with a tea made from pine trees.
Scurvy continued to be the “scurge of the navy” 200 years later when Dr. James Lind, began an experiment that identified a cure for scurvy. Lind gave six different supplements to the ship’s standard diet. To one pair of men in each group, he gave a different supplement:
1. Sulfuric acid solution
2. Cider
3. Sea water
4. Vinegar
5. Blend of garlic, mustard seed, balsam of Peru and gum myrrh
6. Two oranges and a lemon daily
The sailors who consumed the fruit recovered quickly, the sailors that took the cider had a small improvement in two weeks; however, none of the others improved. Lind quickly published his experimental results, although it would be another 50 years before the British navy added limes to their sailor’s diets.
In 1932 vitamin C was isolated by C. G. King and W. A. Waugh from the University of Pittsburgh, and by Albert Szent-Gyorgyi in Hungary. Szent-Gyorgyi knew that the vitamin had some similarities to sugar, and he initially proposed that the substance be named “ignosco,” Latin for “I do not know” and “ose” the suffix common to sugars. The editor of a British journal refused to accept the name, prompting Szent-Gyorgyi to offer the alternative name of “godnose.” Ultimately, when Szent-Gyorgyi’s article was published, the vitamin was dubbed hexuronic acid and later the name was changed to ascorbic—“without scurvy”—acid.
The biochemical properties of vitamin C include its function as a cosubstrate in hydroxylations requiring molecular oxygen, as in the hydroxylation of proline and lysine in the formation of collagen, of dopamine to norepinephrine, and of tryptophan to 5-hydroxytryptophane. It is also involved in reactions involving a series of other compounds including tyrosine, folic acid, histamine, corticosteroids, neuroendocrine peptides, and bile acids. Vitamin C also affects the functions of white blood cells, macrophages, immune responses, wound healing, and allergic reactions. Ascorbic acid increases the absorption efficiency of elemental iron when they are consumed together.
Vitamin C deficiency can result in:
Bleeding gums
Loose teeth
Bruising
Dry rough skin
Anorexia
Poor growth
Elevated cancer risk
Slow wound healing
Scurvy
Skin hemorrhages
Swollen joints (particularly wrist and ankles)
Rib and cartilage fractures
Signs of overdose: Too much vitamin C can result in tissue deposits of oxalate crystals, urinary tract inflammation, diarrhea, lyses (breakage of cell walls) of red blood cells,
Choline function:
Choline has been known to be present in mammalian tissue, including human, since it was initially discovered and isolated from hog bile in 1862. It can be biosynthesized from ethanolamine and methyl groups derived from the essential amino acid methionine, however, it is believed that most of the humans source is derived from dietary phosphatides.
Choline is a major structural component of larger molecules; as a component of phosphatidylcholine (lecithin), it is essential to the structure of all cell membranes, plasma lipoproteins, and pulmonary surfactants; in the central nervous system, choline functions as a structural component of sphingomyelin and the neurotransmitter acetylcholine.
Choline deficiency can result in:
Fatty liver
Liver cirrhosis
Kidney hemorrhage
Alzheimer’s disease, dementia
Tardive dyskinesia
Huntington’s disease
Overdose: None known
Inositol function:
Inositol—aka myo-inositol, is a cyclic alcohol (cyclohexanehexol) that is chemically similar to glucose. There are nine inositol isomers, however, myo-inositol is the only one of metabolic importance for plant and animal metabolism. It is found in plants as phytic acid and in animals myo-inositol is a major constituent of phospholipids in biomembranes. Myo-inositol is believed to be an essential nutrient because myo-inositol triphosphate is a second messenger for receptor-mediated hormonal stimuli for mobilizing intracellular calcium. Additionally, myo-inositol appears to have a lipotrophic function that may originate from its vital role as a substrate for the biosynthesis of phosphatidyl inositol and polyphos-hoinositides, which are essential for the structure of biomembranes.
Inositol deficiency can result in:
Fat metabolism problems
Intestinal lipodystrophy
Fatty liver
Diabetes mellitus
Diabetic neuropathy
Slow nerve conduction velocity
Renal failure Galactosemia
Signs of overdose: none are known, even with “large supplemental doses.”
Bioflavonoids function:
Bioflavonoids, a diverse group of carbon compounds that are biologically active, were isolated in 1936. While not generally considered essential nutrients, there is more than enough evidence to support a claim for essentiality. The name, flavonoids or bioflavonoids, was derived from the Latin, flavus, which translates to the color yellow common in flavonoids. Flavanoids were originally referred to as vitamin P, as they were related to the permeability levels of small blood vessels.
There are three classes of flavonoids:
1. Flavonoids or bioflavonoids
2. Isoflavonoids (e.g., 3-phenylchromen-4-one)
3. Neoflavonoids (e.g., 4-phenylcoumarine)
Flavonoids are widely associated with plants. Flavonoids are plant pigments that are found in flowers as yellow, red and blue petals, these colors are attractants for pollinating insects and animals indirectly associated with the annual sexual cycle of plants. In plants, bioflavonoids also act as chemical messengers, physiological messengers, and cell cycle inhibitors.
Flavonoids are known to have a wide range of biological and pharmaceutical effects in in vitro studies of human cell cultures. In the whole person (in vivo studies) supplementation with flavonoids have demonstrated clinical effectiveness for reducing or eliminating allergies, vascular and pulmonary inflammation, for increasing ORAC antioxidant activity, antimicrobial properties (e.g., bacteria, viruses, yeast, fungus), improving gastrointestinal function and supporting the immune system in cancer patients.
Flavonoid containing grape-seed extracts have demonstrated protective antioxidant properties against reactive oxygen species in the gastrointestinal tract.
Studies at the Pauling Institute suggest that the antioxidant effects in human blood are produced by bioflavonoids are due to an increase in the production of uric acid related to the excretion of flavonoids.
Studies suggest that flavonoids produce an anti-inflammatory effect via a modulation or through their ability to inhibit reactive oxygen and nitrogen compounds. Flavonoids are also thought to inhibit the pro-inflammatory activity of enzymes that produce free radicals including cycloioxygenase, lipoxygenase or inducible nitric oxide synthase, and to modify intracellular signaling pathways in immune cell species.
Procyanidins, a class of flavonoids, have been shown to have anti-inflammatory mechanisms, including the modulation of the arachidonic acid pathway, inhibition of gene transcription, protein expression and activity of inflammatory enzymes as well as secretion of anti-inflammatory mediators.
It is well documented that flavonoids have a positive role in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease by:
1. Inhibiting coagulation, thrombus formation, and platelet aggregation
2. Reducing risk of atherosclerosis
3. Reducing arterial blood pressure and hypertension
4. Reducing oxidative stress and related signaling pathways of vascular cells
5. Modifying vascular inflammatory mechanisms
6. Improving endothelial and capillary function
7. Modifying blood lipid levels
8. Regulating carbohydrate and glucose metabolism
9. Modifying the mechanisms of aging
Bioflavonoid deficiency can result in:
Capillary hemorrhage
Reduced immune capacity
Widespread free radical injury and inflammation
Hemorrhoids
Venous insufficiency
Leg ulcers
Bruising
Nosebleeds
Increased cancer risk
Shortened lifespan
Reduced telomere length and viability
Amino Acids
Amino acids are a basic group of structural and biologically active organic compounds. Amino acids are identified by the presence of amine (-NH2) and carboxylic acid (-COOH) functional groups. The primary elements of amino acids are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen; however, other elements are present on side chains of each structure. About 500 different amino acids are known.
Amino acids are the basic structural unit of proteins, and are second only to water in human muscle, cells, tissues and organs. Amino acids are also essential to the function of neurotransmission, transport. and biosynthesis.
In 1806 French chemists Louis-Nicolas Vauquelin and Pierre Jean Robiquet isolated a substance from asparagus that they named “asparagine”—the first amino acid had been identified.
There are nine amino acids that are classically considered to be “essential” amino acids: Histidine, Isoleucine, leucine, Lysine, Methionine, Phenylalanine, Threonine, Tryptophan and Valine. These amino acids can’t be synthesized by humans and must be consumed on a daily basis to prevent deficiencies and disease consequences. Three additional amino acids, Arginine, Taurine and Tyrosine are not classically considered to be essential. However, the deficiency of these amino acids does result in specific deficiency diseases and are therefore considered here.
Arginine
Arginine (Arg) was first isolated in 1886 from a lupin seedling by the Swiss chemist Ernst Schultze and is synthesized from citrulline by the sequential employment of the cytosolic enzymes argininosuccinate synthetase (ASS) and argininosuccinate lyase (ASL). This process is expensive in terms of energy since the production of each molecule of argininosuccinate requires hydrolysis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to adenosine monophosphate (AMP), and by supplementing with arginine, more ATP is available to provide cell function fuel.
At the structural level of molecular genetics, the messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA), CGU, CGC, CGA, CGG, AGA, and AGG are the triplets of nucleotide bases (codons) that code for arginine during protein synthesis.
Arginine is required for complete and efficient cell division, wound healing, facilitating the biological use of and the excretion of ammonia, immune system support, and the availability of stored hormones. The oral supplementation of arginine is required for the synthesis of nitric oxide (NO), the reduction of healing time following trauma, and is particularly useful for bone trauma; it reduces blood pressure and increases blood flow through obstructed blood vessels.
Arginine (8%) toothpaste produces rapid and effective relief from dental pain by producing a dentin-like material that is made up of calcium and phosphate that is deposited in the dentin tubules and on the surface of dentin.
Arginine is commonly employed concurrently with proanthocyanidines or yohimbine for the relief of erectile dysfunction.
Histidine
Histidine (His) is an amino acid with an alpha amino acid with an imidazole functional group. It is one of the 22 proteinogenic amino acids. Histidine was first isolated in 1896 by the German physician Albrecht Kossel.
The imidazole sidechain of histidine is a coordinating ligand of metalloproteins and is a part of catalytic sites in certain enzymes. In catalytic triads, the basic nitrogen of histidine is used to abstract a proton from serine, threonine, or cysteine to activate it as a nucleophile. In a histidine proton shuttle, histidine is used to quickly shuttle protons. Histidine is also required for haemoglobin in helices E and F. Histidine supports the stabilization of oxyhaemoglobin and the destabilization of CO (carbon monoxide) haemoglobin. As a result, carbon monoxide binding is less than 200 times stronger in haemoglobin, compared to 20,000 times stronger in free haem.
Isoleucine
Isoleucine (Ile) is an alpha amino acid with the codons AUU, AUC, and AUA. As a result of its hydrocarbon side chain, isoleucine is classed as a hydrophobic amino acid. In 1903 Felix Ehrlich, a German chemist, isolated isoleucine from hemoglobin.
Isoleucine is both a glucogenic and ketogenic amino acid. Following transamination with alphaketogluterate, the carbon skeleton can be converted into Succinyl CoA, and then fed into the TCA cycle for oxidation, or converted into oxaloacetate for gluconeogenesis (i.e., glucogenic). In mammals, including humans, Acetyl CoA can’t be converted back to carbohydrate; however, it can be employed in the synthesis of ketone bodies or fatty acids – it is ketogenic.
Leucine
Leucine (Leu) is a branched chain alpha amino acid that is classified as a hydrophobic amino acid. It has six codons (UUA, UUG, CUU, CUC, CUA, and CUG) and is a significant part of the subunits of ferritin, astacin, and a class of “buffer” proteins.
Leucine has major functions in the liver, adipose tissue, and muscle. In muscle and adipose tissue, leucine is employed to synthesize sterols and its combined use in these tissues is larger than that used by the liver. Leucine is solely responsible for the synthesis of muscle proteins.
Leucine is important as a catalysts for muscle growth and muscle “insurance.” Additionally, leucine activates the mammalian target of rapamycin kinase that regulates cell growth.
Leucine toxicity, manifested as in decompensated Maple Syrup Urine Disease (MSUD), produces delirium, neurologic compromise and can be life threatening. Excessive leucine intake can produce clinical pellagra (“the four D’s”), i.e., diarrhea, dermatitis, dementia, and death.
Lysine
Lysine (Lys) is an essential amino acid with the codons AAA and AAG. Lysine is a base, as are arginine and histidine. Lysine participates in hydrogen bonding and a general base in catalysis. Common post-transitional modifications of lysine include methylation producing methyl-, dimethyl-, and trimethyllysine.
Lysine in mammals is metabolized to produce acetyl-CoA through an initial transamination with alpha ketogluterate. Allysine is a derivative of lysine and is required for the production of elastin and collagen. It is produced by the activity of the enzyme lysyl oxidase (requires a copper cofactor) on lysine and is essential for the crosslink formation that acts to stabilizes collagen and elastin. Lysine consumption contributes to the prevention and repair of spider veins, varicose veins, hemorrhoids, and aneurysms.
In the 1993 big-screen film Jurassic Park (based on the 1990 Michael Crichton novel) featured dinosaurs that were brought back by DNA engineering from DNA collected from fossilized dinosaurs. The script featured the story that the dinosaurs were altered so that they could not produce lysine (the “lysine contingency”) that would prevent the dinosaurs survival outside of the park, thus forcing them to be dependent on lysine supplements provided by the park’s supplement program.
Methionine
Methionine (Met) is a nonpolar amino acid with a single codon, AUG. Methionine is a sulfur-containing proteinogenic amino acid with the derivative S-adenosyl methionine (SAM) which serves as a methyl donor. Methionine is an intermediate in the biosynthesis of cysteine, carnitine, taurine, lecithin, phosphatidylcholine, and other phospholipids. The AUG codon is the most common eukaryote “Start” message for a ribosome that signals the initiation of protein translation from mRNA when the AUG codon is in a Kozak consensus sequence.
Methionine is employed by plants for the synthesis of ethylene, the process is known as the Yang Cycle or the methionine cycle.
Methionine is converted to S-adenosyl methionine (SAM) by methionine adenosyltransferase. SAM serves as a methyl-donor in several methyltransferase reactions, and is converted to S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH). Adenosylhomocysteinase converts SAH to homocysteine, which is then employed to regenerate methionine or to synthesize cysteine.
Laboratory rats fed a methionine-free diet developed steatohepatitis (fatty liver disease), anemia, and lost two thirds of their body weight over five weeks. Supplementation with methionine resolved all of the disease problems of the study group.
Some studies have shown that restriction of methionine can increase lifespans of laboratory animals. A study, published in Nature, demonstrated that adding methionine to the diets of fruit flies under dietary calorie restriction restored fecundity without reducing the longer lifespans that are typical of dietary restriction.
Phenylalanine
Phenylalanine (Phe) is an alpha amino acid that is classified as nonpolar because of the hydrophobic nature of its benzyl side chain. Phenylalanine is one of twenty amino acids employed biochemically to synthesize proteins coded for by DNA. The codons for phenylalanine are UUU and UUC.
The first reports of the isolation of phenylalanine were made in 1879 by Schulze and Barbieri, who isolated the amino acid from the yellow lupine (Lupinus luteus). In 1882, Erienmeyer and Lipp first synthesized phenylalanine from phenylacetaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide and ammonia.
Phenylalanine is a precursor for tyrosine, the monoamine signaling molecules dopamine, norepinephrine (noradrenaline), and epinephrine (adrenaline), and the skin and hair pigment melanin (this procedure requires the cofactor copper). Phenylalanine employs the same active transport channel as tryptophan to cross the blood-brain barrier, in large doses it will interfere with the production of serotonin.
The inborn error of metabolism known as phenylketonuria (PKU), falsely believed to be a genetically-transmitted disease, is the inability to metabolize phenylalanine. Avoidance of phenylalanine prevents the symptoms of PKU.
A non-food source of phenylalanine is the non-sugar sweetener aspartame marketed as Equal and NutraSweet, both of which are metabolized into several chemical byproducts including phenylalanine. Thus, all products in Australia, the United States, and Canada that contain aspartame are labeled “Phenylketonurics: Contains phenylalanine.” In the UK, foods containing aspartame must be labeled “aspartame or E951” and they must be labeled with the warning “Contains a source of phenylalanine.” In Brazil, the label “Contem Fenilalanina” (Portuguese for “Contains Phenylalanine”) is mandatory for aspartame containing products.
DL-Phenylalanine is marketed as a nutritional supplement as a sleep aid, an anti-depressant and as an analgesic (pain reliever).
Taurine
Taurine (Ta) has many biological roles including the conjugation of bile acids, acts as an antioxidant, osmoregulation, membrane stabilization, and modulation of calcium signaling. Taurine is essential for the functioning of the cardiovascular system, skeletal muscle, the retina and the central nervous system. Taurine is unique in that it is a sulfonic acid, whereas the majority of biologically occurring acids contain the carboxyl group.
Taurine is named after the Latin Taurus, which means bull or ox, as it was first isolated from ox bile in 1827 by the German scientists Friedrich Tiedermann and Leopold Gmelin.
Taurine is required for the maintenance of skeletal muscle and the maintenance of healthy blood pressure. Taurine deficiency can produce cataracts and retinal damage.
Doses of taurine in excess of 2 gm/day have been shown to contribute to the genesis of psoriasis.
Threonine
Threonine (Thr) is an alpha amino acid that is classified as polar; its codons are ACU, ACA, ACC, and ACG. Together with serine, threonine is one of only two proteinogenic amino acids that bear an alcohol group. The threonine residue is susceptible to numerous post-transitional modifications; it can undergo glycosylation and phosphorylation through the action of threonine kinase.
Threonine is converted to pyruvate via threonine dehydrogenase, an intermediate in this pathway can undergo thiolysis with CoA to produce acetyl-CoA and glycine; it can also be converted to alpha ketobutyrate via the enzyme serine dehydrogenase entering the pathway leading to succinyl-CoA.
Tryotophan
Tryptophan (Trp) is an essential amino acid encoded in the standard genetic code as the codon UGG. Only L-tryptophan is used in structural enzyme proteins. The D-tryptophan form is found in marine venom peptides called contryphan.
Tryptophan was isolated in 1901 by Frederick Hopkins via hydrolysis of casein (milk protein). Tryptophan is employed as a building block of protein biosynthesis and is a biochemical precursor of serotonin (a neurotransmitter), synthesized via tryptophan hydroxylase. Serotonin can be converted to melatonin (a neurohormone); niacin is synthesized from tryptophan via kynurenine and quinolinic acids as essential biosynthetic intermediates; auxin (a phytohormone) is produced when sieve tube elements undergo apoptosis (programed cell-death), tryptophan is converted to auxins.
The disorders, fructose malabsorption, lactose intolerance, and gluten intolerance cause a reduced state of tryptophan absorption from the intestine, therefore causing reduced levels of tryptophan in the blood and clinical depression. Tryptophan supplements are sold as sleep aids.
A metabolite of tryptophan, 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP), has been suggested as a treatment for seizure disorders and depression. It rapidly crosses the blood brain barrier and is rapidly decarboxylated to serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine or 5-HT).
In 1989 there was a large tryptophan-associated outbreak of eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome (EMS) which caused at least 1,500 cases of permanent disability and at least 37 deaths. The problem was traced to a supply of L-tryptophan that was produced and exported to the United States by a Japanese manufacturer, Showa Denko KK. The final explanation for the outbreak of EMS, was that “large doses of tryptophan gave rise to metabolites that inhibit the normal rate of degradation of histamine, and excess histamine in turn was proposed as the cause of EMS.”
Tyrosine
Tyrosine (Tyr ) is one of 22 amino acids that are employed by cells to synthesize proteins; its codons are UAC and UAU. The origin of the word “tyrosine” is the Greek word for cheese, as it was first isolated in 1846 from cheese by the German chemist Justus von Liebig.
In addition to being a proteinogenic amino acid, tyrosine has a special function because of its phenol functionality. Tyrosine is found in proteins that are part of a signal transduction function. It acts as a receiver of phosphate groups that are transferred by means of protein kinases. Phosphorylation of the hydroxyl group alters the activity of the target protein.
In plants, tyrosine residues play an essential role in photosynthesis. In chloroplasts, tyrosine acts as an electron donor in the reduction of oxidized chlorophyll. In this process tyrosine undergoes deprotonation of its phenolic OH-group. This radical is ultimately reduced in the photosystem ll by the four core manganese clusters.
Tyrosine phosphorylation is believed to be one of the key steps in signal transduction and regulation of enzymatic activity.
Tyrosine is a precursor for the synthesis of neurotransmitters, and particularly for dopamine and norepinephrine. Several studies have shown tyrosine to be of benefit for colds, stress, fatigue, loss of a loved one or divorce, prolonged work hours, and sleep deprivation, with reductions of stress hormone levels, reductions in stress-related weight loss, and improvements in cognitive and physical performance. However, because tyrosine hydroxylase is the rate-limiting enzyme, the beneficial effects of tyrosine are less than those of L-Dopa.
Valine
Valine (Val) is an alpha amino acid with the codons GUU, GUC, GUA, and GUG. Valine is a branched chain amino acid that was named for the plant valerian. In 1901 valine was isolated from casein by Emil Fischer. It functions in the nervous system to support cognitive function, function and maintenance of muscle, and the muscle tissue recovery and metabolism post-exercise and for increasing exercise endurance.
In sickle-cell disease, valine can substitute for the hydrophilic amino acid glutamic acid in hemoglobin. Valine is hydrophobic; therefore the hemoglobin is more likely to aggregate.
Essential Fatty Acids
Essential fatty acids (EFAs) are fatty acids that all vertebrates (including humans) must consume daily because they can not be synthesized and they are required for numerous body functions. The term “essential fatty acids” refers to long-chain fatty acids that are required for normal biological functions, however, the EFA group does not include those fats that are primarily employed as fuel.
There are two fatty acids that are classically regarded as essential: alpha linolenic acid (omega-3 fatty acid) and linoleic acid (an omega-6 fatty acid). Some fatty acids are classified as “conditionally essential.” This group includes: arachidonic acid (an omega-6 fatty acid), docosahexaenoic acid (an omega-3 fatty acid) and gamma-linolenic acid (an omega-6 fatty acid).
In 1923 the two essential fatty acids were identified, but they were originally listed as “vitamin F.” In 1929 laboratory rat studies indicated that these two fatty acids were more properly classed as fats rather than being listed as vitamins.
In the human body the essential fatty acids serve multiple functions, all of which require proper ratios between omega-3 and omega-6 forms. In an article published in the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity, research demonstrated that supplementation of omega-3 fatty acids to sedentary, obese adults received a benefit of lengthening of their DNA telomeres and a reduction in inflammation markers.
The fatty acids are required for the production and maintenance of eicosanoids, endocannabinoids (affecting mood, behavior, and inflammation), lipoxins (a class of eicosanoid derivatives through the lipoxygenase pathway from omega-6 EFAs), and resolvins from omega-3 (in the presence of aspirin, downregulating inflammation), the isofurans, neurofurans, isoprostanes, hepoxilins, epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs) and Neuroprotein D. They form lipid “rafts” that affect cellular signaling, and they act on DNA (activating or inhibiting transcription factors such as NF-KB, which has been linked to pro-inflammatory cytokine production.
Essential fatty acid deficiencies will produce thrombosis (i.e., cerebral stroke, coronary thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, and deep vein thrombosis), skin disease (including dry/cracked skin, dermatitis, eczema, psoriasis, rosacea acnea, etc.), respiratory disease (including asthma, chonic bronchitis, unremitting cough, etc.), and depression.
Omega-3 fatty acids, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) are essential for enzymatic pathways required to metabolize long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). Low plasma concentrations of DHA is a marker for low cerebral spinal fluid levels of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA). Low brain concentrations of 5-HIAA is directly associated with increased rates of depression and suicide.
Minerals
Unfortunately, Buffon did not know about the 90 essential nutrients (60 minerals, 16 vitamins, 12 essential amino acids and 3 essential fatty acids) that are required daily and, in many cases, minute-by-minute by humans. His observations and writings essentially doomed 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st-century man to pharmaceuticals and the surgeon’s knife and wiped his scientific and medical contemporaries’ slates clean from any notion that essential nutrients, minerals, trace minerals, and rare earths are required to attain and fulfill one’s genetic potential for health and longevity.
We already know the common denominators of the cultures with the longest living people. They are few, simple, and very clear. Their basic truth for health and longevity boils down to the routine daily availability of a highly-usable source of 90 essential nutrients, of which the most critical are the plant-derived colloidal minerals—simple, yes, but it works, and it works and it works! Raw materials that are required by biological systems will always trump medical technology of genetically-engineered proteins, stem cells, organ transplants, etc.), when it comes to preventing and reversing birth defects, and degenerative and chronic disease.
The standard farms in the world, both subsistence and giant corporate farms, have veins of minerals coursing through them, similar to the veins of chocolate in chocolate ripple ice cream. Thus one field blessed with a “high mineral content” can produce wheat with some mineral content and some wheat with very little mineral content or none except for NPK.
There are three basic forms of minerals:
1. Metallic minerals
Metallic minerals include egg shell, oyster shell, calcium carbonate, lime stone, dolomite, clay, mineral salt, sea water, Great Salt Lake water, mineral oxides (from iron oxide, copper oxide, etc.), vortex water, sea-bed minerals, “soils” (which are usually some form of clay), sea-bed clay, clay, “rock flours,” and various antacids such as Rolaids and Tums.
Typically metallic minerals are found in tablets and powders as gluconate (calcium gluconate, zinc gluconate, etc.), lactate, sulphates, carbonates, and oxides (iron oxide is rust!!!).
Metallic minerals, despite wild claims to the contrary, are only eight percent to twelve percent biologically available to all vertebrates, including humans; after attaining the age of 35 to 40 years the absorptive availability to humans is reduced to somewhere around three to five percent.
We know of a man in Grand Rapids, Michigan with a “Porta Potty” business who literally finds thousands of multiple vitamin/mineral tablets in the bottom screens when the “Porta Potty” is pressure cleaned after a public event or retrieval from a construction site. When asked, How do you know that the tablets are multiple vitamin/mineral tablets?” and he replied, “Because the logos are readable on the coatings (such as One-A-Day, Theragram M, Centrum, etc.)!! Over the years he has accumulated a literal mountain of these hard to dissolve tablets!!
A typical metallic mineral supplement alone or as part of a multiple is calcium lactate. Calcium lactate can be obtained in 1,000 mg tablets, which breaks down to 140 mg of metallic calcium and 860 mg of milk sugar or lactose. Two 1,000 mg calcium lactate tablets do not give you 2,000 mg of calcium; they give you only 280 mg of metallic calcium, and at an estimated ten percent bioavailability rate, you will absorb 28 mg of biologically available calcium; therefore, to meet your needs, you would have to take 30 tablets with each meal (90 per day) and you would still have to supplement with an additional 59 minerals.
Amounts of Metallic Calcium in a 1,000 mg Tablet
Calcium gluconate...................................................................90 mg
Calcium carbonate...................................................................400 mg
Calcium acetate.......................................................................230 mg
Calcium citrate........................................................................210 mg
Calcium lactate........................................................................140 mg
Cow’s milk per 1,000 mg fluid...............................................10 mg
2. Chelated minerals
Chelated (Key-late) minerals were created by the livestock industry in the 1960s to ensure maximum availability of dietary minerals to animals being fed and fattened for market. The original chelating agent used was calcium EDTA, a man-made amino acid that was invented by the Germans just prior to WW II as an antidote to arsenic and lead exposure in chemical warfare attacks. (Calcium EDTA is used today for intravenous chelation therapy to clean out arterial obstructions.)
The term “chelated” literally means “claw,” but is used to describe the process by which an amino acid, protein, or enzyme (enzymes are proteins that do work) is wrapped around the mineral atom, alloy. or molecule that enhances the bioavailability of the metallic mineral.
3. Colloidal Minerals
Colloidal (Kol - oid) chemistry is not new, but it is not widely understood or known about by the general public. Simply said, a colloid refers to a substance that exists as ultra-fine particles (angstrom units) that are suspended in a medium of different matter.
The colloidal state is the state of a solute (i.e., mineral, paint pigment, homogenized milk fat, etc.) in a solution when its molecules do not separate into atoms as with a true solution (sodium chloride or salt separates into separate sodium and chloride atoms while in a solution), but rather remain grouped together to form solute particles.
The presence of these inorganic colloidal particles, which are approximately one hundred-thousandth to ten-millionth of a centimeter in diameter (about 400 thousandths to four millionths of an inch), can often be detected by means of an electron microscope. As a result of the grouping of the molecules, a solute in the colloidal state cannot pass through a suitable semipermeable membrane and gives rise to negligible osmotic pressure (they will pass through filter paper), depression of freezing point and elevation of boiling point effects.
These ultra-fine particles of the colloid are just barely larger than most molecules and so small they can’t be seen with the naked eye. About one billion of these colloid particles would fit into a cubic 0.01 of an inch.
The “solutions” part of a colloid provides a solid, gas, or liquid medium in which the colloid particles are suspended. The suspended particles in a colloid can also be a solid, a gas, a lipid, or a liquid.
Solutions were classified by H. Freundlich in 1925 into three categories:
1. True solutions
2. Colloidal solutions
3. Emulsions and suspensions
The four part method of classifying solutions is as follows:
1. Identify particle size
2. Determine presence of Brownian movement (random movement of particles suspended in liquids or gasses resulting from the impact of molecules of the fluid surrounding the particles)
3. Ability to pass through filter paper
4. Level of solubility
In 1975 S. S. Voyutsky (a Russian) wrote the classic text on colloidal chemistry. Voyutsky referred to solutions as “molecular dispersion systems” and “heterogeneous highly dispersed colloidal systems.”
The exact point between the molecular and colloidal degrees of dispersion cannot be established because the transition from molecularly dispersed systems to coarsely dispersed systems is a continuous range.
A colloidal system must have three basic characteristics:
1. It must be heterogeneous (consists of dissimilar ingredients or constituents).
2. The system must multi-phasic (i.e., solid/liquid, gas/liquid, etc.).
3. The particles must be insoluble (do not dissolve in the solution).
Each one of these classifications interacts with the others to give colloids their unique qualities. The interesting thing about colloids is that they remain heterogeneous, multi-phasic, and insoluble at different concentrations as long as a larger number, if not all of the particles, are within the range of sizes of colloids (1n to100n).
The molecular groups or particles of the colloid solute carry a resultant electrical charge, generally of the same sign (negative) for all of the particles. A small percentage of these inorganic colloids will pass through the intestine of a living animal or human because a natural chelating process takes place in the gut in the presence of protein-containing food.
Inorganic colloidal material readily passes through filter paper by placing the mixture of mineral colloid and non-colloid in a parchment shell surrounded by distilled water. The inorganic colloids are “too large” to pass through the membrane, but the molecules of salt, starch, and sugar or any other dissolved substance pass readily through the semipermeable membrane (they separate into individual atoms or very small molecules). This kind of separation process is called “dialysis.”
In the process of digestion the inorganic minerals in food or supplements soon become inorganic colloids, and as an inorganic colloid they cannot penetrate the intestinal wall to enter the blood stream. In the presence of amino acids a small percentage of the inorganic colloids form chelated minerals and organic colloids that are able to be dialyzed through the mucus membranes of the intestinal walls into the blood stream this form of bioavailable mineral state is known as a “crystalloid.”
Crystalloids or organic colloids readily pass through cell walls, while inorganic colloids are “too large.” Additionally in the living organism there are other physiological forces at work, which interfere with or modify the expected osmotic phenomenon.
Colloidal mineral supplements and commercial colloids are found in four different forms:
1. Unprotected colloids are made of bare “rock flour.” This is the form of inorganic metallic colloid found in seabed minerals, clays, “soils,” and “Glacial Milk.” This form of inorganic colloid is in fact a metallic mineral and is only available to plants when there is a healthy soil population of bacteria and fungi.
2. The second type of mineral colloid is found in the living systems of bacteria, fungi, green plants (food crops), animals and humans and is coated by water-loving (hydrophilic) substances such as gelatin, albumin, albuminoids, or collagen. This coating protects the now “organic mineral colloid” and allows it to be a crystalloid for absorption, storage and physiological uses and thus maximizing its bioavailability to 98%.
3. The third type of organic mineral colloid has a protective coating of carbon with a molecular chain length of 10 to 12 carbon atoms. This type of colloid is also found in bacteria, fungi, plants (including some forms of petrified wood), animals and humans and is thought to be the most stable form of naturally occurring organic mineral colloids.
4. The fourth type of mineral colloid is not to be found in nature, but rather is manufactured industrially by coating the metallic colloid with sulfated castor oil (lipophilic or fat loving) to form commercial detergents.
Bee pollen, blue green algae (the Aztecs tried this one and were forced to employ cannibalism to meet their mineral needs), kelp (the Japanese who consume the most kelp world-wide only live to be 79.9) and “green drinks” contain some plant derived colloidal minerals. However, the number of minerals found in each of these sources is highly variable depending on what is and what is not in the soil or lakes they came from, and lastly, the concentrations of the colloidal minerals are so small that a human would have to eat more than 400 pounds a day to meet the daily needs of essential minerals.
Juicing has been a popular method of obtaining maximum nutrition from fresh fruits and vegetables, and in fact there is no better way to get vitamins from fresh fruits and vegetables than to juice. When one talks about minerals from juicing, the level of confidence drops precipitously. Remember, U.S. Senate Document 264 says, “There are few if any nutritional minerals left in our farm and range soils; therefore, there are few if any nutritional minerals left in our grains, nuts, fruits, or vegetables.” Even when a person juices, they must supplement their diets with minerals to include all of the major minerals, trace minerals, and rare earths.
“Humic shale” is a unique source of plant derived colloidal minerals. Humic shale originated from plants that grew (according to argon-and carbon-dating systems) some 75 million years ago, and those lush tropical plants took up the 60-plus metallic minerals available to them from a fertile soil that had as many as 84 minerals. The ancient soil was so rich with minerals that some trees grew as much as 25 feet per year, and the great brontosaurus or “thunder lizard” attained a body weight of 140,000 pounds (70 tons) with a mouth no larger than that of a horse. The ability of the brontosaurus to attain such a bulk with such a small mouth meant the animal was consuming plants that contained concentrated mineral nutrients.
A volcanic eruption, combined with global warming and a marine flood, entombed the mineral rich forests with a 25-foot thick limestone cap—thick enough to create an air-tight “vault” and dried or desiccated the plants into a deep accumulation of “compost” or “hay,” but not deep enough or heavy enough to pressurize the dried plant material into coal or oil.
The entombed humic shale never fossilized or petrified; in other words, they never became rocks. They are just compressed, dried, prehistoric “compost” or “hay” that contains large concentrations of plant derived colloidal minerals.
Humic shale, as a solid coffee-grounds-like granule or a liquid “tea,” can be used as an organic soil conditioner for organic gardens, farms, and ranches. It can supply a rich source of humus and no less than 60 plant-derived colloidal minerals.
Humic shale can be ground into a fine compost “flour” and soaked for three to four weeks in filtered spring water until it reaches a specific gravity of 3.0. It then provides a high-quality organic plant-derived colloidal mineral supplement that contains 38,000 mg of plant-derived colloidal minerals per liter.
It takes 78 pounds of humic shale to produce a concentration of 38,000 mg of colloidal minerals per liter; the 78 pounds of humic shale represents approximately 1034 pounds of lush prehistoric green mineral-rich plants. The fluid extract of high grade humic shale contains no less than 60 plant derived certified organic colloidal minerals and is 98% available for animals and humans.
If humans are to fulfill their genetic potential for health and longevity and flourish they must supplement with all ninety essential nutrients including 60 minerals. Anything less, is to tragically throw away twenty-five to fifty years of life.
The criteria for essentiality of a trace mineral or rare earth are:
· Present in all healthy tissues of living organisms.
· Concentration in tissue is relatively constant from one species to the next.
· Withdrawal from the body induces reproducible physiological and structural abnormalities in several species.
· Its replacement reverses (this one is not always true since deficiencies in the embryo during development can result in certain congenital defects or events that cannot be corrected in later life by supplementation) or prevents the disease or abnormality.
· The abnormalities of the trace-mineral deficiency always have a biochemical change.
· The biochemical changes of the deficiency disease can be prevented or cured when the deficiency is corrected.
Essential minerals function at the subcellular level as cofactors for the optimal operation of genes, DNA, RNA, chromosomes, enzymes, vitamins, and hormones in all organisms, plant and animal, including humans.
Essential minerals are also employed by all earthly organisms for structural building blocks (for stems, roots, leaves, bones, teeth, cartilage, tendons, ligaments, skin, hair, feathers, etc.). The deficiencies of essential minerals will result in as many as 600 catastrophic diseases; however, the medical community persists in its pursuit of the genomic map. It is as if the medical community still believes that the earth is flat, the sun revolves around the earth, and that infectious diseases are caused by “spontaneous generation.”
Some 79 functional minerals have been detected in plant, animal, and human tissue (for instance, in blood, liver, muscle, connective tissue, brain, glands, etc.), which satisfies part of the requirements for essentiality. Literally millions of animal (and human) studies on pregnant, suckling, weanling and mature laboratory mice, rats, rabbits, dogs, cats, pigs, sheep, cattle, chickens, turkeys, ducks, primates, and man have documented additional evidence for the essentiality of at least 60 minerals.
Minerals associated with vertebrate, including humans, physiology (positive and negative) and disease (deficiency and toxicity) are presented in alphabetical order by chemical symbol for convenient access.
Ac – André-Louis Debierne, a French chemist, announced the discovery of a new element, actinium, in 1899. He was able to separate it from the pitchblende residues left by Marie and Pierre Curie after they had extracted radium. In 1899 Debierne described the new element as similar to titanium and (in 1900) as similar to thorium.
Friedrich Oskar Giesel is credited with the first preparation of radiochemically pure actinium (which he originally named “emanium”) and with the identification of its atomic number 89.
The name “actinium” originates from the ancient Greek aktis or aktinos, meaning “beam” or “ray.” Ac is highly radioactive, and experiments with it are carried out in special laboratory settings. When actinium trichloride is administered intravenously to rats, approximately 33% of Ac is deposited into the bones and 50% is deposited in the liver. Its toxicity is comparable to, but lower than, that of americium and plutonium.
Actinium originates from igneous rocks and usually found at an extremely low concentration of 5.5 x 10 -16 ppm. Actinium is readily absorbed by plant roots; however, very little is transported to the stem, leaves, and shoots of the plant. Actinium accumulates and presumably has metabolic functions in the bones and liver.
Ag – Silver originates from igneous rocks and sedimentary rocks and is found at the rate of 0.07 ppm in rocks and in soils at the rate of 0.1 ppm; fresh water at 0.00013 ppm; sea water at 0.0003 ppm; marine algae at 0.25 ppm; terrestrial plants from 0.06 ppm to 1.4 ppm in accumulator plants growing near silver ore. Epiogonum ovalifolium is a silver indicator plant. Sliver is found at 3.0 to 11.0 ppm in marine animals; in land mammals generally 0.05 to 0.7 ppm; muscle at 0.16 to 0.8 ppm and tortoise shell at 0.05 to 0.7 ppm.
Silver has been employed in human health care and in the search for immortality since the days of the Chinese alchemist 8,000 years ago. Many feel that silver is in fact an essential element, not because it is required for any known biological system, but rather as a systemic disinfectant and immune system support.
Silver is an anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-fungal anti-metabolite that disables specific enzymes that micro-organisms use for respiration. Silver is such an efficient anti-bacteriacidal that our great grandmothers put silver dollars in fresh milk to keep it from spoiling at room temperature.
Humans can safely consume 400 mg of silver per day. A silver “deficiency” results in an impaired immune system. In the Body Electric Dr. Robert Becker identified a relationship between low levels of tissue and dietary silver and the rate of illness (such as flu, colds, etc.); he stated, “silver deficiency was responsible for the improper functioning of the immune system, and silver does more than just kill disease causing organisms. It also stimulated major growth (another criteria for essentiality) and repair of injured tissue.” Human fibroblast cells were able to multiply at a great rate, producing large numbers of primitive stem cells in wounds that are able to differentiate into whatever cell types are necessary to heal the wound.
According to Science Digest (“Silver: Our Mightiest Germ Fighter.” March, 1978) silver is an antibiotic that can kill over 650 disease causing organisms; resistant strains fail to develop; silver is absolutely non-toxic to humans at standard rates of consumption.
Al – Aluminum is found in igneous rocks at 5,000 ppm, shale at 82,000 ppm, sandstone at 25,000 ppm, limestone at 4,200 ppm, and clay at 71,000 ppm. Aluminum represents 12% of the earth’s crust and 8% of the earth’s solid surface; In fact, it is the most common metal in the earth’s crust, is the third most common element only behind oxygen and silica, and is found in nature combined in over 270 mineral alloys. Aluminum is found in high concentrations in all plants grown in the soil, including food crops.
Organic Colloidal Aluminum in Common Food Crops
|
Food |
Aluminum in PPM |
|
Asparagus |
20–200 |
|
Beans |
20–250 |
|
Brussel sprouts |
20–150 |
|
Celery |
20–300 |
|
Cucumbers |
20–200 |
|
Cabbage/lettuce |
20–200 |
|
Spinach/mustard greens |
50–150 |
|
Melons |
20–150 |
|
Peas |
10–80 |
|
Peppers |
50–200 |
|
Potatoes |
50–250 |
|
Turnips/carrots |
20–300 |
|
Tomatoes |
20–200 |
|
Alfalfa |
40–300 |
|
Canola |
90–150 |
|
Corn |
20–300 |
|
Wheat |
20–300 |
|
Soybeans |
50–200 |
|
Mint |
20–300 |
|
Peanut |
50–200 |
|
Sunflower |
50–100 |
Acid soils yield the highest levels of soil aluminum to plants. It is found in marine plants at 60 ppm and is especially high in plankton and red algae; land plants at (0.5 to 4,000 ppm) an average of 500 ppm; marine mammals at 19 to 50 ppm and is found at the highest levels in the hair and lungs.
The known biological function of aluminum is to activate the enzyme succinic dehydrogenase; it increases the survival rate of the newborn, and according to professor Gerhard Schrauzer, former head and professor emeritus of the department of chemistry at UCSD, should be listed as an essential mineral for all vertebrates including humans.
Aluminum is remarkably nontoxic, aluminum sulfate having an LD50 of 6207 mg/kg (oral/mouse), which would be the equivalent of 500 grams (more than a pound) for an 80 kg human per day.
Aluminum can compete with calcium absorption, and increased amounts of dietary aluminum can result in reduced skeletal mineralization (osteopenia). A small percentage of individuals are sensitive to aluminum and had reported contact dermatitis and digestive disorders when they ingest products containing aluminum; however, toxicity studies have shown that aluminum is not toxic to most people and certainly is not as toxic as heavy metals. Studies have shown that aluminum cookware, deodorants, and antiperspirants are generally safe at directed levels. There is no evidence that exposure to aluminum in food or liquid causes any diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease.
In a study that appeared November 5, 1992, in the journal Nature, Frank Watt, et. Al. (University of Oxford) employed a highly accurate laboratory technique to quantify the levels of aluminum in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. To their great surprise, they found the same levels of aluminum in the brains of the non-Alzheimer’s controls as they did in their Alzheimer’s patients. Watt’s believes that the early reports of high aluminum levels in Alzheimer’s brains was due to contamination by the aluminum trays that were used during the staining process, but the use of glass trays proved that the level of aluminum was the same in both groups.
According to the Alzheimer’s Society in 2013, the medical and scientific opinion is that studies have not convincingly demonstrated a causal relationship between aluminum exposure and Alzheimer’s disease.
In the early 1700s, European chemists realized that a light-weight metal was associated with clay. A particularly rich aluminum-bearing clay was found in Las Baux, France, giving Bauxite, aluminum-rich clay, its name.
Aluminum does not occur as a free metal in nature, but is found only in tight combination with oxygen forming a hard oxide known as alumina. When contaminated with traces of other elements, alumina becomes a gem, such as rubies or sapphires, which in addition to being used as jewelry, these gems have also been used as medicine for thousands of years in the practice of Ayruvedic medicine.
Sir Humphrey Davy, a distinguished English chemist of the 16th century gave the name “aluminum” to the metal of clay.
The Danish physicist, Hans Christian Oerstad in 1825 “discovered” electromagnetics, and was the first to purify aluminum by treating alumina-containing clay with carbon and a chlorine amalgam of potassium to get a mixture of volatile mercury and aluminum; he boiled the mercury away as a vapor which left a powdery metal that “in color and luster somewhat resembles tin.”
Napoleon III, realizing the potential military value of aluminum, personally sponsored aluminum smelting research, and although production costs dropped, aluminum remained a semiprecious metal.
Am – All isotopes of Americum are radioactive and have a 7,950 year half life. Americum accumulates in mammalian bone.
Ar – Argon is found in igneous rocks at 3.0 to 5.0 ppm and can be used to date ancient rocks using the potassium/argon dating system: fresh water and sea water at 0.06 ppm and mammalian blood at 0.75 ppm.
As – Arsenic was first isolated and identified in 1250 by Albertus Magnus, and is found in igneous rock at 1.0 to 8.0 ppm; shale at 1.0 ppm; fresh water at 0.0004 ppm; sea water sat 0.003 ppm; soils at 6.0 ppm (Argentina and New Zealand have reported toxic levels of soil arsenic in some regions); marine plants at 30.0 ppm; land plants at 2.0 ppm; marine animals at 0.005 to 0.3 ppm (accumulated by coelenterates, Mollusca and crustaceans); land animal at less than 0.2 ppm (tends to concentrate in hair, claws and nails); and is known to be essential for survivability of the newborn and neonatal growth.
Arsenic metabolism is affected by tissue and blood levels of zinc, selenium, arginine, choline, methionine, taurine, and guaniacetic acid, all of which affect methyl-group metabolism and polyamine synthesis, which is the site of arsenic function in human physiology.
Arsenic promotes the growth rate of chicks at 90 to 120 ppm. The rate of growth and metamorphosis of tadpoles is enhanced by the presence of arsenic.
The word “arsenic” was taken from the Syriac word al zarniqa and the Persian word Zarnikh, which translates to “yellow pigment,” translated into Greek as arsenikos, and which translates into “masculine.” The word was adopted in Latin as arsenicum and Old French as arsenic from which the English word “arsenic” was coined.
During the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, a number of arsenic compounds were used as stimulants and medicines, including arsphenamine (Paul Ehrlich) and arsenic trioxide (Thomas Fowler). Arsphenamine as well as neosalvarsan was indicated for syphilis and trypanosomiasis. Arsenic trioxide has been used in a variety of ways over the past 500 years, but most commonly for the treatment of cancer. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2000 approved this compound for the treatment of patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia.
In November of 1998, The New England Journal of Medicine reported that arsenic may prove a life-saver against one type of leukemia. According to researchers at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, it was used in a study that involved twelve seriously-ill patients suffering from acute promyelocytic leukemia, an often fatal type of cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow The doctors were the first in Western medicine to show that low doses of arsenic trioxide are effective in destroying such cancerous cells. “We now know that arsenic can safely bring patients with APL into remission, which may ultimately give them a second chance at life.” The Chinese reported the same results in 1997 in the journal Blood. Survivors in the Chinese studies were still leukemia-free after ten years.
Arsenic is also used as “Fowler’s solution” for psoriasis.
Arsenic was first identified in dead human bodies in 1834 by the French Academy. Arsenic typically appears in human female blood at 0.64 ppm, it rises to 0.93 ppm during menstruation, and 2.20 ppm during months five and six of pregnancy.
Eighteen percent of dietary As was stored in rat liver, whereas only 0.7 percent of shrimp tissue arsenic was stored in rat livers (there is 65 times greater toxicity potential from metallic arsenic than from organically bound arsenic).
Arsenic in combination with choline prevents 100 percent of perosis (“slipped tendon”) in chickens, turkeys, ducks, peafowl, etc. Perosis in birds results in a “carpal tunnel,” “TMJ,” “trigger finger,” and “repetitive motion” type degenerative disease.
Arsenic has been linked to epigenetic changes, the heritable changes in gene expression that occur without changes in DNA sequence. Arsenic disrupts ATP production through many pathways. At the level of the Citric Acid Cycle, arsenic inhibits lipoic acid, which is a cofactor for pyruvate dehydrogenase. In addition, by competing with phosphate, arsenate uncouples oxidative phosphorylation, thus inhibiting energy-linked reduction of NAD+, mitochondrial respiration and ATP synthesis.
At – All isotopes of Astatine are radioactive; they have an extremely short half-life of 7.2 to 8 hours. It is accumulated by the mammalian and human thyroid after ingestion but is rapidly excreted.
Au – Gold is found in igneous and sedimentary rocks at 0.004 ppm; fresh water at 0.00006 ppm; sea water at 0.000011 ppm; marine plants at 0.012 ppm; land plants at 0.0005 to 0.002 ppm (gold concentrates in the horse tail plant); marine animals at 0.0003 to 0.008 ppm; land animals 0.00023 and in mammalian livers it will form a colloid.
In medieval times, gold was often seen as beneficial for human health, with the belief that it was the most noble of substances and would be the “panacea” or medicine that would treat all disease. The “alchemists,” the earliest of chemists, spent most of their efforts in trying to transmute lead and other base metals into gold.
Gold leaf, either flake or dust, is used on and in some gourmet foods, notably sweets and drinks, as a decorative ingredient. Gold flake was used by nobility in medieval Europe as a decoration in food and drinks, in the form of leaf, flakes, or dust, either to demonstrate the host’s wealth or in the belief that something that valuable and rare must be beneficial to one’s health.
Danziger Goldwasser (German: Gold water of Danzig) or Goldwasser (Goldwater) is a traditional German herbal liqueur in what is today Gdansk, Poland, and Schwabach, Germany, that contains flakes of gold leaf. There are some $1,000 cocktails that contain flakes of gold leaf; however, as elemental gold it is inert to all body chemistry and is not absorbed, is tasteless, provides no known nutritional value, and leaves the body in the feces unaltered.
Gold compounds (gold sodium thiomalate and gold thioglucose that is also known as aurothioglucose) are frequently given by allopathic physicians as an add-on therapy with salicylates (aspirin) for arthritis when added pain relief is required. Gold has been reported only to be effective against active joint inflammation and is not usually helpful for advanced destructive rheumatoid arthritis.
Gold is not an analgesic substance; however it may have anti-inflammatory effects. Standard doses are given IM at weekly intervals: 10 mg initially, 25 mg during second week, and 50 mg per week until a total of one gram has been administered. Then the maintenance dose is reduced to 50 mg every two to four weeks. Relapse is expected three to four months after the cessation of the gold treatments.
Gold compounds are not to be used in patients with liver or kidney disease, blood diseases, or SLE.
Toxic reactions to gold therapies include pruritus (itching), dermatitis, stomatitis, GI discomfort, increase in urine albumin, blood in the urine, aplastic anemia, reduced WBC, hepatitis, and pneumonitis.
B – Boron is an elemental chemical rather than a metallic mineral. It is produced by cosmic ray spallation and not by stellar nucleosynthesis. It is a low-abundance element in both the solar system and in the earth’s crust. Boron is concentrated on earth by the water-solubility of its more common naturally occurring compounds: the borate minerals. Borate minerals are typically mined as evaporates, including borax, boric acid (sassolite), ulexite, colemanite, boracite, tourmaline, and kernite.
The name “boron” is derived from the Arabic word “buraq” or the Persian word “burah,” which are the names for borax. Boron compounds were known thousands of years ago and borax was known from the deserts of western Tibet as “tincal” from the Sanskrit.
Borax glazes were used in China after 300 AD and some tincal even reached the West, where the Persian alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan refers to it in 700 AD. Marco Polo brought some tincal glazes from China to Italy in the 13th century. Agricola (1600) reported the use of borax as a flux in metallurgy. In 1777 boric acid was identified in the hot springs (soffioni) near Florence, Italy, and became known as “sal sedativum” for medical use. The rare form of borax is found at Sasso, Italy. Sasso was the primary source of European borax from 1827 to 1872, after which American sources replaced it.
Even into the 21st century, borax is used in various household laundry and cleaning products, including the iconic “20 Mule Team Borax” laundry booster and “Boraxo” a powdered hand soap, and it is found in several tooth whitening compounds.
Boric acid has antiseptic, antifungal, and antiviral properties, and mild solutions of boric acid are used as wound disinfectants and as an eye antiseptic wash.
Boron is an active ingredient in the first of its kind pharmaceutical as Bortezomib (a proteasome inhibitor) used for the treatment of multiple myeloma (bone marrow cancer) and certain lymphomas.
Boron is found in igneous rocks at 10 ppm; shale at 100 ppm; sandstones at 35 ppm; limestone at 20 ppm; fresh water at 0.013 ppm; sea water at 4.0 to 6.0 ppm; soil at 2.0 to 100 ppm (highest in saline and alkaline soils); in California certain deserts have toxic levels; marine plants 120 ppm (highest in brown algae); land plants at 50 ppm; Chenopodiaceae and Plumboginaceae are indicator plant families; marine animals at 20 to 50 ppm; land animals 0.5 ppm.
In biology, borates have low toxicity in mammals (similar to table salt), but are more toxic to arthropods (insects) and are used as insecticides. Boric acid is mildly antimicrobial. Boron is essential to life for all organisms including plants and animals.
Boron is essential for bone metabolism, including the efficient use of calcium and magnesium and for the proper functioning of the ovaries, testes, and adrenal glands. Prior to 1981, boron was not considered an essential nutrient; boron was first shown to be an essential mineral for growing chicks. It was not until 1990 that boron was universally accepted as an essential nutrient for humans.
Boron is required for the maintenance of bone and normal blood levels of estrogen and testosterone; within eight days of supplementing boron, women lost 40% less calcium, 33% less magnesium and less phosphorous through their urine.
Women getting boron supplementation had blood levels of estradiol 17B doubled to “levels found in women on estrogen replacement therapy,” the levels of testosterone in both men and women almost doubles!
Large deposits of borax or “diamond boron” were discovered in Death Valley in1881. The Death Valley deposits were made famous by the 20 mule team wagons that hauled out the mined borax. The rear wheels were seven foot high, each wagon was sixteen foot long and could carry 24,000 pounds (12 tons) of borax. Each twenty mule team pulled two wagons plus a 1,200 gallon water wagon for a total of 36.5 tons in each load!! The total length of each team and equipment was 120 feet long. The rail head in Mojave was 165 miles from the Death Valley mine site.
Ba – Barium is found in igneous rocks at 425 ppm; shales at 580 ppm; sandstone at 50 ppm; limestone at 120 ppm; fresh water at 0.054 ppm; sea water at 0.03 ppm; soil at 500 ppm (can be “fixed” or tightly bound by clay minerals); marine plants at 30 ppm (highest in brown algae); land plants at 14 ppm (the fruit of Bertholletia excelea is a barium concentrator and can have up to 4,000 ppm); marine animals at 0.2 to 3.0 ppm (highest in hard tissues such as bone and shell); land animals 0.0 to 75 ppm (highest in bone, lung and eyes). Essentiality in mammals was established in 1949 (Rygh, O.: Bull Soc Chem Biol.31:1052 & 1403. 1949).
The most common naturally occurring minerals of barium are barite (barium sulfate) and witherite (barium carbonate). Both are insoluble in water. Barium’s name is derived from the alchemy “baryta” which comes from the Greek word barys, which translates as “heavy.” Barium was isolated as an element in 1774; however, it was not classed as a metal until 1808. A barium containing mineral, “benitoite” (barium titanium silicate) occurs as a very rare blue fluorescent gemstone and is the official state gem of California.
Barium sulfate has a very low toxicity and relatively high density and has a high opacity to X-rays. It is used as a contrast media in X-ray imaging of the digestive system, such as “barium meals” for upper GI studies and “barium enemas” for lower GI studies.
Be – Beryllium is found in igneous rocks at 2.0 to 8.0 ppm; shale at 3.0 ppm; sandstone and limestone at less than 1.0 ppm; fresh water at 0.001 ppm; sea water at 0.0000006 ppm; soil at 0.1 ppm; marine plants at 0.001 ppm (highest in brown algae); land plants at less than 0.1 ppm (highest in volcanic soils); land animals at 0.0003 to 0. 002 ppm in soft tissue.
Beryllium is a relatively rare element in the universe and the crust of the earth. It is a divalent element that occurs naturally only in alloys with other elements or minerals. Gemstones that contain beryllium include beryl (aquamarine and emeralds) and chrysoberyl.
The mineral beryl, which contains beryllium, has been known at least since the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt. In the first century CE, Roman naturalist, Pliny the Elder, noted in his encyclopedia, Natural History, that beryl and emerald (“smaragdus”) were similar. The Papyrus Graecus Holmiensis, written in the third or fourth century CE, contains notes on how to prepare artificial emerald and beryl.
In a 1798 paper read before the Institut de France, Louis-Nicolas Vauquelin reported that he had found a new “rare earth” by dissolving aluminum hydroxide from emerald and beryl in an additional alkali. The editors of the journal Annales de Chimie et de Physique named the new rare earth “glucine” for the sweet taste of some of its compounds.
Martin Heinrich Klaproth preferred the name “beryllina” due to the fact that yttria also formed sweet salts. The term “beryllium” was first used by Wohler in 1828. For about 160 years, beryllium was also known as glucinum, or glucinium with the chemical symbol of Gl, the naming derived from the Greek word sweet for the sweet taste of the pure substance.
Pure powdered beryllium and its compounds should be handled with care because of the potential for acute beryllium disease or chemical pneumonitis, which was first reported in Europe in 1933 and in the United States in 1943. Chronic berylliosis resembles pulmonary sarcoidosis.
Bi – Bismuth is found in igneous rocks at 0.17 ppm; shale at 1.0 ppm; sea water at 0.000017 ppm; land plants at 0.06 ppm; marine animals at 0.09 to 0.3 ppm; land animals at 0.004 ppm. Bismuth chemically resembles arsenic and antimony. It is a brittle metal with a silvery white color when freshly produced. However, after a brief contact with the oxygen in the air it will oxidize into a pink color.
Miners in the days of alchemy gave bismuth the name “tectum argenti,” or “silver being made,” in the sense of silver still in the process of being formed within the earth. Bismuth was also known to the Incas and commonly used along with copper and tin in a special bronze alloy for knife blades.
Bismuth subsalicylate is used as an antidiarrheal; it is the active ingredient in “Pink Bismuth” compounds such as Pepto-Bismol, as well as the 2004 reformulation of Kaopectate.
A combination of bismuth subsalicylate, bismuth subcitrate, and the antibiotic tetracycline has been used in pigs since 1952 to treat gastric ulcers. The same formula was approved by the FDA in February and in 1994 for curing gastric ulcers in humans. Stress has historically been blamed as the boogy-man causing stomach and peptic ulcers of the stomach and duodenum; however, the same bacterium that causes gastric ulcers in pigs (Helicobacter pylori) has been proven to be the cause of gastric ulcers in humans.
Australian gastroenterologist Barry Marshall, M.D. and pathologist J. Robbin Warren proposed their theory for the bacterial cause of gastric ulcers in humans in 1983.
Br – Bromine is a “halogen” related to iodine, fluorine, and chlorine. It is found in igneous rocks at 3.0 to 5.0 ppm; shale at 4.0 ppm; sandstone at 1.0 ppm; limestone at 0.2 ppm; fresh water at 0.2 ppm; sea water at 65 ppm; soil at 5.0 ppm; marine plants at 740 ppm (highest in brown algae); land plants at 15 ppm; marine animals at 60 to 1,000 ppm; land animals at 6.0 ppm.
Bromine was discovered independently by two chemists, Carl Jacob Lowig (1825) and Antoine Balard (1826). Balard isolated bromine from the ash of seaweed collected from the salt marshes of Montpellier. The seaweed was used to obtain iodine but it also contained bromine. Lowig isolated bromine from a mineral water spring from his hometown of Bad Kreuznach.
Bromine compounds, such as potassium bromide, were used as sedatives in the 19th and 20th centuries. The FDA removed over-the-counter sedatives such as Bromo-Seltzer from public sale in 1975.
Toxic reactions from an overdose can resemble acne-like skin eruptions.
C – Carbon is found in igneous rocks at 200 ppm; shale at 15,300 ppm; sandstone at 13,800 ppm; limestone at 113,500 ppm; fresh water at 11.0 ppm; sea water at 28.0 ppm; soils at 20,000 ppm (up to 90% of the carbon in soil is bound in the humus); marine plants at 345,000 ppm; land plants at 454,000 ppm; marine animals at 400,000 ppm; land animals at 465,000 ppm (280,000 ppm in bones).
Carbon is derived from the Latin carbo for coal and charcoal (the French word is charbon). Carbon is one of the few elements known since antiquity. Carbon functions as an essential structural atom for all organic molecules (i.e., genes, DNA, RNA, chromosomes, carbohydrates, lipids, amino acids, enzymes, vitamins, etc.) including stored, transported, and functioning organic colloidal minerals.
Carbon was identified in prehistory in the form of soot and charcoal. Diamonds were known by the Chinese as early as 2500 BC, and charcoal was commercially produced in the days of the Roman Empire. In 1722 René Réaumur demonstrated that iron could be made into steel by adding some form of carbon. In 1772 Antoine Lavoisier demonstrated that diamonds were in fact an allotrope of carbon when he burned samples of both, showing that no water was produced and that both released the identical amount of carbon dioxide per gram burned.
Carbon is the fifteenth most abundant element in the earth’s crust and the fourth most abundant element in the universe by mass after hydrogen, helium and oxygen.
It is present in all known life forms, and in the human body carbon is the second most abundant element by mass (18.5%) after oxygen. The abundance, together with the unique diversity of organic compounds and their polymer-forming ability at temperatures favorable to life on earth, make carbon the chemical basis of all known life-forms.
Under earthly conditions, conversion of one element to another is rare. This includes carbon, which is found at a constant level. Therefore processes that employ carbon must procure from some source and dispose of it by some method. The known paths of carbon circulation in the earth’s environment and biomass are known as the “carbon cycle.” Plants consume carbon dioxide drawn from the environment and use it through photosynthesis to build biomass (i.e., carbon respiration, etc., or the “Calvin cycle”), a process known as carbon fixation.
Plant material biomass is consumed by micro-organisms, animals, and humans with carbon dioxide being released back into the environment as the result of metabolism (fermentation, digestion, metabolism, respiration, etc.
Carbohydrates typically act as a basic source of energy for biological processes including movement, work, and the basic biochemical functions of life at the rate of 4.5 calories per gram. The chief sources of carbohydrates used by humans include grains, vegetables, fruits, and sugars. In their simplest form the formula for carbohydrate is CH2O. The hydrogen and oxygen are present in the same ratio as that found in water (H2O) with one carbon atom for each molecule of water.
Plants are able to manufacture carbohydrates (sugar and starch), amino acids, fatty acids, and vitamins. The plant leaves take in CO2 from the atmosphere and in the presence of chlorophyll (Mg carbon ring structure similar to the Fe carbon ring structure of hemoglobin) and with the energy derived from sunlight (the process known as photosynthesis or solar energy) manufacture carbon chains including carbohydrates and release O2 into the atmosphere as a by-product of the reaction.
Carbohydrates are classified as monosaccharides (glucose or “grape sugar,” fructose, etc.), disaccharides (sucrose = glucose and fructose; maltose = glucose and glucose; lactose = glucose and galactose), oligosaccharides and polysaccharides (starch, dextrin, fiber, cellulose, and glycogen or “animal starch” which are all complexes of glucose units).
Lipids or fats, like carbohydrates, are composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Lipids have the common property of being insoluble in water, and are universally soluble in organic solvents such as ether and chloroform and are utilizable for a source of energy by all living organisms.
Fats as a group of carbon compounds include ordinary fats, oils, waxes and related compounds. The primary food sources of fats for humans include butter, seed oil, olive oil, animal fat (from pork, poultry, fish, beef, lamb, etc.), nuts, seeds, whole grains, olives, avocados, egg yolks, dairy products, etc. Fats serve as a source of energy at the rate of 9 calories per gram, both as a source of immediate fuel and stored fuel (body fat).
Triglycerides (the primary component of fats and oils) are composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Structurally they are esters of a trihydric alcohol (glycerol) and fatty acids. The fatty acids can have from four to 30 carbon atoms and constitute the bulk of the triglyceride mass. One hundred grams of fat or oil will contain 95 grams of fatty acids.
A fatty acid or hydrocarbon chain is described with regard to three characteristics: chain length, degree of “saturation” with hydrogen, and the location of the first “double bond.”
The length of the chain is a reference to the number of carbon atoms in the chain (e.g., C16 has 16 carbons in the chain). The term “short chain” (less than 6 carbons), “medium chain” (7 to 11 carbons) and “long chain” (12 or more carbons) are used to describe the length of the chains of fatty acids in the structure of triglycerides.
The degree of hydrogen “saturation” in fatty acids is defined by the number of double bonds between carbon atoms in the fatty acid chains. A chain can contain all the hydrogen it can hold and have no double bonds, in which case it is referred to as a saturated fatty acid – lard. It can contain one double bond (monounsaturated fatty acid – coconut oil) or it may contain more than one double bond (polyunsaturated fatty acids – olive oil).
The location of the first double bond as counted from the “tail” or methyl end of the fatty acid is referred to as the “omega” number (i.e., omega-3, omega-6, omega-9, etc.).
Three polyunsaturated fatty acids (linoleic, linolenic, and arachidonic acids) are known as the essential fatty acids (EFA). However, because arachidonic acid can be synthesized from linoleic acid by humans and animal, many nutritionists don’t designate arachidonic acid as an EFA.
The EFA play essential roles in fat metabolism and fat transport, in maintaining the function and integrity of cell walls (bi-lipid layer membranes), hormones (i.e., prostaglandins, etc.) and brain structure and physiology (myelin and neurotransmitters, etc.). They are also part of the fatty acids of cholesterol esters and phospholipids in plasma lipoproteins and mitochondrial lipoproteins. Serum cholesterol can be maintained in the normal range (i.e., 220 to 270) by the consumption of EFA.
EFA are also the raw material required by the human to manufacture prostaglandins that regulate blood pressure, heart rate, vascular dilation, blood clotting, bronchial dilation (prevents and reverses asthma), and neurotransmitters of the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord).
EFA deficiency in human infants will result in poor growth rate, eczema, dermatitis, psoriasis, rosacea, asthma, thrombotic stroke, and a lowered resistance to infectious disease.
Cholesterol is a member of a large group of fats known as sterols. They all have a complex carbon ring structure. Cholesterol is only found in animal tissue, however, similar sterols are found in plants. Cholesterol is an essential part of the structure of cell walls, brain and spinal cord (myelin), and is the raw material for the human body to manufacture vitamin D, bile acids, steroid hormones (for instance, adrenocortical hormones, testosterone, estrogen, and progesterone).
A cholesterol deficiency produces Alzheimer’s disease, makes menopause a living hell and results in “low-T” and “ED” in males. In February 28, 2012, the FDA added new safety warnings regarding the increased risk of statin drugs used to lower blood cholesterol that results in increased rate of memory loss (Alzheimer’s disease) and increased blood sugar (diabetes).
In Science News, June 16, 2012, an article that had been published in Lancet, was featured that reported, “Good cholesterol is not so beneficial and higher HDL (good cholesterol) levels don’t reduce heart attacks.” The article indicates that “good” cholesterol (HDL) itself doesn’t protect the heart itself; rather it is an indicator or barometer of some other negative event (meaning that more good cholesterol and less bad cholesterol, that is the LDL, are indicators of less vascular inflammation and less exposure to free radicals).
Ergosterol, a yeast sterol, is converted to vitamin D2 on exposure to sunlight or ultraviolet light. Beta-sitosterol, another plant sterol, is usually absorbed in small amounts, however, high levels of consumption or supplementation will actually raise blood cholesterol levels into the normal range.
Proteins are the fundamental structural components of the living cell (cytoplasm), they are essential parts of the cell nucleus and protoplasm. Proteins are the most abundant of all of the carbon containing organic compounds in the human body. The greatest mass of body protein is found in the skeletal muscle, the remainder is found in other organs (liver, kidney, stomach, etc.), bones, teeth, blood and other body fluids (lymph). Hormones, enzymes, DNA and RNA, chromosomes and genes are proteins that do work.
Proteins like carbohydrates and fats contain carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, and in addition they also contain 16% nitrogen (the amine group), sometimes along with sulfur and other elements such as phosphorous, iron, sulfur, and cobalt. The basic structural unit of a protein is the amino acid. They are united by “peptide bonds” into long chains of various geometric structures to form specific proteins. Digestion of proteins breaks the peptide bonds resulting in fragments of the protein chain (poly peptides) or complete digestion to release the individual amino acids. Use of protein for an energy source produces 4.5 calories per gram.
Classically there are nine essential amino acids that are required in the daily diet as they can’t be manufactured by the human body. Forty-three percent of protein for infants must be the essential amino acids, 36% is essential for the growing child, and only 19% essential amino acids are required for adult maintenance. To this list of the nine classic essential amino acids we would add three additional essential amino acids as over the long haul they prevent certain diseases from cancer and high blood pressure (arginine), macular degeneration (taurine), to goiter (tyrosine).
Essential Amino Acids
Valine
Lysine
Threonine
Leucine
Isoleucine
Tryptophan
Phenylalanine
Methionine
Histidine
Arginine*
Taurine*
Tyrosine*
*These amino acids are not considered a classic essential amino acid; however, their deficiencies do result in specific deficiency diseases.
An individual consuming protein at 300 grams per day (almost ¾ pound of meat per day) will not have any adverse effects if they supplement properly and do not have liver disease or kidney disease.
Fatty Acids
Essential fatty acids include the linoleic, linolenic and arachadonic fatty acids, which are further divided into the Omega-3 (DHA and EPA), Omega-6, Omega-9, and cholesterol.
In 1971 Wallach published a paper that compared the coronary artery disease of several species of vegetarians with the coronary artery disease of several species of carnivores. The study was part of the NIH/Center for the Biology of Natural Systems project. It reported that vegans and vegetarians actually had coronary artery disease equal to or greater than that of carnivores by actual visualization at autopsy.
George Rene Francis, a black man, was born June 6, 1896, in New Orleans and died at age 112 years and 204 days as the oldest man in America December 20, 2008. Francis lived through nineteen U.S. presidents (who were cared for medically by doctors whose average age at death is fifty six—exactly half Francis’ age!). Francis was rejected by the U.S. Army during WWII because he was too small to carry a 50-pound pack; he smoked cigars until he was 75 and slept less than six hours per night.
The important part of Francis’s story is that “he broke all the rules of healthy eating with a diet heavy on dairy and eggs and lard sandwiches.” His diet was heavy with cholesterol and saturated fat and he became the oldest man in America, a feat that has never been achieved by a nutritionist or physician who has graduated from Harvard and was anti-saturated fat and anti-cholesterol.
For at least the first fifty-three years of Francis’s life he put wood ashes (plant minerals) into his garden. Two weeks before his death, Francis developed pneumonia. He was taken to a Sacramento, California hospital where he died of “congestive heart failure (aka beriberi: a simple nutritional deficiency of a single vitamin!).”
Ca – Calcium is found in igneous rocks at 41,500 ppm; shale at 22,100 ppm; sandstone at 39,100 ppm; limestone at 302,000 ppm; fresh water at 15 ppm; sea water at 400 ppm; soils at 7,000 to 500,000 ppm (lowest levels in acid soils and highest in lime stone or alkaline soils); marine plants at 10,000 to 300,000 ppm (highest in calcareous tissues red, blue-green and green algae and diatoms; land plants at 18,000 ppm; marine animals at 1,500 to 20,000 ppm (up to 350,000 in calcareous tissues: sponges, coral, molluscs, echinoderms, etc.); land animals at 200 to 85,000 ppm (260,000 ppm in mammalian bone, 200 to 500 ppm in soft tissue and less than 5.0 in RBC). Calcium was not isolated as a pure metal until 1808 by Sir Humphrey Davy in England.
Calcium, combined with phosphate forms hydroxyapatite, which is the mineral portion of animal and human bones and teeth; the mineral content of some corals are made up of hydroxyapatite.
The functions of calcium include part of the structural component of cell walls of plants, all calcareous tissues in humans and all other animal species, cofactor in biological electrochemical reactions; functions in cells and enzymes as a reaction facilitating cofactor (i.e., in blood clotting, etc.).
Calcium is the fifth most abundant mineral in the crust of the earth and the biosphere and is essential to all earth dwelling life forms. There is evidence that clearly shows humans are designed to consume and use high-calcium diets. The late Paleolithic Period of 35,000 to 10,000 years ago was the most recent time that our human ancestors lived in the bios for which they had been biochemically designed. The agricultural revolution occurred 10,000 years ago, and it reduced the wide variety of wild foods in the human food chain and increased the supply of food energy. These changes in food sources universally and forever decreased man’s dietary intake of minerals, trace minerals, and rare earths.
The uncultivated food plants and wild game commonly available to Stone Age humans would supply 1,600 mg of calcium at the basal energy intakes and between 2,000 and 3,000 mg of calcium at the energy levels required for hunting and work.
Lime as a building material has been used since prehistoric times, going as far back as 14000 BC. The first lime kiln dating back to 2500 BC was from Khafajah, Mesopotamia. Notes were found dated back to 975 AD, that describes the use of “plaster of Paris” (calcium sulfate) was used for casts to set bone fractures.
Approximately 99% of the total human body calcium is found in the bones and teeth. The remainder of the body’s calcium reserve is employed for exocytosis, especially for neurotransmitter release and muscle contraction. In the electrical conduction system of the heart, calcium replaces sodium as the mineral that depolarizes the cell, proliferating the action potential. In cardiac muscle, sodium influx commences an action potential, but during potassium efflux, the cardiac myocyte experiences calcium influx, prolonging the action potential and creating a plateau phase of dynamic equilibrium.
Historically high-calcium intakes were believed by medical doctors to cause kidney stones; however, it has been reported in the 20th century (by Wallach) that a high intake of dietary calcium in fact reduces the risk of nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism, hypercalcemia, and kidney stones.
During the 20th century, American adults have an average calcium intake of only one fifth to one third as much as did Stone Age humans. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey II reported a median calcium intake for American women of between 300 and 508 mg per day and only 680 mg per day for American men.
Other nutrients in the American diet aggravate the national calcium deficiency problem. Un-supplemented diets that are rich in salt and protein (phosphates) result in an increased calcium “cost,” that, in effect, increase the requirements for calcium. When food is heavily salted, urinary calcium increases from 96 mg per day to 148 mg per day. As protein (phosphate) intake is doubled, the output in urinary calcium increased by 50%.
There are no less than 147 different deficiency-diseases that are directly attributed to a calcium deficiency or imbalance. The most recent clinical research clearly points out that the entire scope of American diets are critically deficient in calcium and that the only practical way to assure sufficient calcium intake is to supplement. Again, the allopaths who did the study failed miserably by recommending that each adult in American eat five cups of broccoli each day as a valuable source of calcium. Try to get a kid, a U.S. president, or an MD to eat that much broccoli. (And there is no guarantee how much calcium there is in the broccoli!)
Common Calcium-Deficiency Diseases
|
Disease |
Complicating factors |
|
Osteoporosis (kyphosis, scoliosis, Dowagers Hump, lordosis, Legg-Perthe’s, spontaneous fractures) |
Deficiencies of: Mg, B, Cu, S, Se, St, Ac, Fl; Excess Fl, P, Cd, dietary lipids & NaCl |
|
Receding gums (osteoporosis of face & jaw) |
Same as osteoporosis |
|
Osteomalacia (failure to mineralize the matrix) |
Same as osteoporosis |
|
Myelosclerosis (bone marrow dysplasia, Osteofibrosis, etc.) |
Same as osteoporosis |
|
Arthritis (degenerative, osteo, bone on bone) |
Same as osteoporosis |
|
Spondylitis (ankylosing spondylitis) |
Same as osteoporosis |
|
Bone spurs (tendon & ligament attachments) |
Same as osteoporosis |
|
Kidney stones (cystic calculi) |
Same as osteoporosis |
|
NSH (nutritional hyperparathyroidism) |
Same as osteoporosis |
|
Hypertension (high blood pressure) |
Same as osteoporosis |
|
Insomnia (sleep apnea, snoring, etc.) |
Same as osteoporosis |
|
Calcium deposits (vascular, tendons, ligaments, restless leg, atrial-fibrillation, etc.) |
Same as osteoporosis |
|
Cramps & twitches (Tourette’s syndrome, foot, calf, hamstring, eyelids, etc.) |
Same as osteoporosis |
|
PMS (emotional & physical symptoms) |
Same as osteoporosis |
|
Low back (sciatica, spasm, disc, etc.) |
Same as osteoporosis |
|
Neuropathy (Bell’s palsy, trigeminal neuralgia, sciatica, restless leg, etc.) |
Same as osteoporosis |
|
Tetany (total body “cramp” or convulsion, NSH, etc.) |
Same as osteoporosis |
|
Panic attack (hyperirritability) |
Same as osteoporosis |
The more common calcium-deficiency diseases are easy to recognize and range from poor clotting time of the blood when people nick themselves shaving (calcium is a cofactor for the blood clotting mechanism), osteoporosis (that allopaths think of as a disease of aging), arthritis (for which allopaths prescribe pain killers and surgery), to kidney stones (which allopaths say is too much calcium).
Famous people who have suffered unnecessarily from calcium deficiency include President (41) George Bush (he “required” hip replacement surgery), Pope John Paul II (suffered a fractured hip/osteoporosis), Elizabeth Taylor (had osteoporosis/hip replacement surgery), “Bo” Jackson (had fractured hip/osteoporosis), Bill Walton, a vegan of professional basketball fame (had knee, foot, and bone spur problems) and Ted Williams, Baseball Hall of Fame, (had osteoporosis/arthritis), etc.
Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the human body. The average male has 1,200 grams (approximately 3 pounds) and the average female has 1,000 grams (approximately 2 pounds), which makes up about two percent of the human body weight (water makes up 65 to 75%) and up to 39 percent of the total mineral reserves of the human body (ash). Ninety-nine percent of the total body calcium is found in the bones and teeth, and the remaining one percent is found in the blood, extracellular fluid, and within cells where it is a cofactor and activator for numerous chemical, DNA, and enzymatic reactions.
The calcium in bones is in the form of hydroxyapatite salts composed of calcium phosphate and calcium carbonate in a classic crystal structure bound to a protein framework (put a chicken “drumstick” bone into a quart of vinegar at room temperature for 30 days and the calcium will be leached out of the bone, leaving a collagen matrix). Similar types of hydroxyapatite are found in the enamel and dentine of teeth; however, little is available from teeth to contribute to rapidly available calcium to supply and maintain proper blood levels.
In addition to being a major structural mineral, Ca is also required for the release of energy from ATP for muscular contraction, blood clotting (ionized Ca stimulates the release of thromboplastin from the platelets, converts prothrombin to thrombin, and thrombin facilitates the conversion of fibrinogen to fibrin. Fibrin creates the protein “web” that traps the RBCs to form blood clots); Ca mediates the transport function of cell and organelle membranes; Ca effects the release of neurotransmitters at synaptic junctions; Ca mediates the synthesis, secretion and metabolic effects of hormones and enzymes; Ca helps to regulate the heartbeat, muscle tone and muscle receptiveness to nerve stimulation and communication.
Calcium is absorbed primarily through the duodenum, where the intestinal environment is still acid. Once the food in the intestine becomes alkaline, the absorption of Ca drops significantly. Calcium is absorbed from the small intestine by active cellular transport and by simple diffusion. Metallic calcium absorption may be limited to 10 percent or less and is affected by many substances in the gut. Calcium is absorbed more efficiently in its plant derived colloidal form and water soluble chelates.
Lack of vitamin D and stomach acid (hypochlorhydria which is produced by a NaCl deficiency) will both produce a Ca deficiency. Lactose intolerance, celiac disease, gluten intolerance, a high-fat diet and a low protein intake, and a high phytate consumption (phytic acid is a phosphorus containing acid compound found in raw vegetables, nuts, bran of grains and seeds as well as the stems of many plants, especially oatmeal and whole wheat that combine with Ca to form calcium phytate which is insoluble and thus unavailable to humans) all result in a Ca deficiency. Oxalic acid in rhubarb, spinach, chard, and greens combine with Ca to form an insoluble calcium oxalate which is not absorbed; fiber itself, besides the phytate content, prevents Ca absorption; an alkaline intestine, gut hypermobility, pharmaceuticals (anti-seizure drugs, diuretics, etc.) result in a decreased efficiency of absorption and retention; excess of consumption of caffeine will leach Ca from bone reserves.
Parathormone secreted by the parathyroid gland and calcitonin secreted by the thyroid gland maintain a serum Ca level of 8.5 to 10.5 by increasing absorption of Ca and by drawing on Ca reserves from the bones. Parathormone also affects the kidney so that it encourages the conservation of Ca. When the blood levels of Ca begins to rise above normal levels because of too much parathormone activity, calcitonin reduces the supply of Ca from the bone reserves.
In 1980 McCarron et. al. theorized that chronic Ca deficiency led to hypertension. More than 30 subsequent studies supported the original theory of Ca deficiency as the cause of hypertension. Additionally, recent studies have shown, that serum ionized Ca is consistently lower in humans with untreated hypertension. In a recent review article, Sowers, et. al. noted that the association of Ca intake and blood pressure is most clear in people with daily Ca intakes of less than 500 mg a day.
The phenomenon of salt sensitivity consists of a rise in blood pressure and sustained increase in urinary loss of Ca in response to salt consumption. Among black and elderly whites with essential hypertension, restricted intakes of Ca and K, rather than elevated salt consumption itself, is responsible for the “salt sensitivity.” In a four-year study of 58,218 nurses, hypertension was more likely to develop in females who took in less than 800 mg of Ca per day.
In a 19-year observational study of 1,954 men, 49 cases of colorectal cancer were identified. Analysis of the results showed very clearly that the incidence of colorectal cancer increased 300% as the Ca intake decreased from 160mg/100kcal to 24.9 mg/100kcal of diet.
Up to 75% of consumed Ca is lost in the feces, two percent is lost in the urine and sweat (15 mg per day is lost in normal sweating. This can double or triple in active athletes); in cases of excess urine loss of calcium (osteoporosis, NSH, excess dietary P, etc.) it will produce kidney stones, bone spurs, and calcium deposits.
Bone spurs, heel spurs, and calcium deposits always develop at the sites of insertions of tendons and ligaments during a raging osteoporosis. Bone spurs, heel spurs, and calcium deposits can be reversed and eliminated by supplementing with significant amounts of chelated and colloidal calcium sources.
Not only are farm soils and food sources deficient in calcium; additionally the typical human diet is rich in P, which is found in just about every cultural diet, fertilizer and food additives.
Ideally, the Ca:P ratio in the diets of all vertebrates including humans should be 2:1; however, this ideal ratio is not found naturally in the human diet without proper supplementation and avoidance of high P junk food (such as soft drinks, etc.).
Cd – Cadmium is found in igneous rocks at 0.2 ppm; shale at 0.3; sandstone at 0.05 ppm; limestone at 0.035 ppm; fresh water at 0.08 ppm; sea water at 0.00011 ppm; soils at 0.06 ppm; marine plants at 0.4 ppm; land plants at 0.6 ppm; marine animals at 0.15 to 3.0 ppm; land animals at 0.5 ppm (can accumulate in the kidney).
Cadmium was isolated in 1817 by Friedrich Strohmeyer. The name “cadmium” comes from the Latin word cadmia, which translates to “calamine” or zinc carbonate. In 1907 the British Pharmaceutical Codex listed cadmium iodide as a therapy for enlarged joints, scrofulous glands (tuberculosis), and chilblains.
Cadmium is a soft, bluish-white metal that can easily be cut with a knife; it is similar in many respects to zinc, and it will produce a characteristic “scream” when a cadmium bar is bent.
Functions of cadmium include stimulating the hatching of nematode (worm) cysts. Cadmium-bound proteins have been isolated from molluscs and horse kidney. Cadmium can substitute for zinc in zinc deficiency states by its ability to activate some zinc dependent enzymes (that is, cadmium-dependent carbonic anhydrase in marine diatoms).
Ce – Cerium, a “Rare Earth” element, is found in igneous rocks at 60 ppm; shale at 59 ppm; sandstone sat 92 ppm; limestone at 12 ppm; sea water at 0.0004 ppm; soil at 50 ppm; in land plants it can accumulate up to 320 ppm by Corya spp.; land animals at 0.003 ppm (accumulates in bone).
Cerium was named for the dwarf planet Ceres (which was named after the Roman goddess of agriculture). Cerium is the most abundant form of the rare earth elements. Cerium was discovered in Bastnas in Sweden by Jons Jakob Berzelius and Wihelm Hisinger and also in Germany by Martin Heinrich Klaproth in 1803.
Cerium can function in a similar fashion to calcium an all organisms, so it is deposited in bones and has been shown to stimulate metabolism. Cerium can be commonly found in tobacco plants, barley, and in the wood of beech trees. Cerium nitrate is used as a topical disinfectant for severe burn victims.
Cl – Chlorine is found in igneous rock at 130 ppm; shale at 180 ppm; sandstone at 10 ppm; limestone at 150 ppm; fresh water 7 to 8 ppm; sea water at 19,000 ppm; soil at 100 ppm (higher in alkaline soils, near the sea and in deserts – a major exchangeable anion in many soils); marine plants at 4,700 ppm; land plants at 2,000 ppm; marine animals at 5,000 to 90,000 ppm (highest in soft coelenterates); land animals at 2,800 ppm (highest in mammalian hair and skin).
The most common compound of chlorine, sodium chloride (salt), has been known since ancient times; archaeologists have discovered evidence that rock salt was used as early as 3000 BC and as a brine since 6000 BC In 1630, chlorine was identified as a gas by the Belgian chemist and physician Jan Baptist Van Helmont. In 1774 Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele isolated elemental chlorine.
In 1810 Sir Humphry Davy concluded that chlorine is an element not a compound, and he named the new element chlorine from the Greek word chloros or “green–yellow.” In 1811 the term “halogen” or “salt producer” was introduced by Johann Salomo Christoph Schweigger to describe chlorine; however, it later became a generic term for all elements found in the chlorine halogin family (including fluorine, bromine, and iodine).
In France there was a need for animal intestines to produce the strings for musical instruments, Goldbeater’s skin, etc. These processes were performed in “gut factories” (boyauderies), which were by their very nature smelly and dangerous because of the quantities of “germs” in the animal intestines.
In 1820 the Societe d’encouragement pour l’industrie nationale offered a reward for the development of an industrial process, chemical or mechanical, to separate the peritoneal membrane from animal intestines and at the same time prevent putrefaction. The prize was awarded to Antoine-Germain Labarraque, a 44 year old French chemist and pharmacist who had discovered that chlorinated bleaching solutions (“Eau de Javel”) would prevent and eliminate the odor of putrefaction and prevent decomposition itself.
Labarraque’s research produced chlorides and hypochlorites of lime (calcium hypochlorite) and of sodium (sodium hypochlorite) that were used, not only in the boyauderies, but also for the daily disinfection and deodorizing of latrines, sewers, markets, slaughter houses, anatomy laboratories, and morgues. These chloride products were also employed in hospitals, lazarets, prisons, infirmaries on land and at sea, zoological parks, stables, barns, exhumations of human bodies, embalming, disinfection during epidemics, fever, black leg in cattle, and so forth.
Labarraque’s chlorinated lime and soda solutions were recommended in 1828 to prevent infections (“contagious infections” transmitted by “miasmas”) and to treat putrefaction of existing septic wounds. In his 1828 work, Labarraque recommended that doctors breathe chlorine, wash their hands with chlorinated lime, and sprinkle chlorinated lime on the patient’s bed in cases of “contagious infection.” In 1828 it was universally accepted that some infections were “contagious” even though the germs had not yet been identified.
During the 1832 cholera outbreak in Paris, large volumes of chloride of lime were used to disinfect the capital. Labarraque’s methods helped to eliminate the smell of decay from hospitals and dissecting rooms—effectively deodorizing the Latin Quarter of Paris.
In 1854 a cholera outbreak occurred in London and was traced to contaminated water being drawn from the Broad Street pump. The epidemic was stemmed by the sprinkling of chloride of lime in the streets surrounding the pump.
The most well-known application of Labarraque’s chlorine solution was in 1847, when Ignaz Semmelweis used chlorine water to “deodorize” the hands of Austrian doctors, which Semmelweis noticed still carried the stench of decomposition from the autopsy room to the delivery room.
Semmelweis, long before the germ theory, had theorized that “cadaveric particles” were somehow transmitting decay from dead bodies to live patients, and that soap and water alone failed to solve the problem, so he employed the famous Labarraque’s solution as the only known method to remove the smell of decay and decomposition from the hands of doctors. His choice of the chloride solutions as a hand disinfectant for doctors brought to an end to the transmission of childbed fever (“puerperal fever”) from doctors to patients in the maternity wards of theVienna General Hospital in Austria in 1847. For his efforts, Semmelweis was forcibly committed to an insane asylum by his fellow doctors, and shortly thereafter was found dead from blunt trauma to the head. His medical colleagues claimed that he committed suicide.
By 1918 the U.S. department of the Treasury decreed that all public drinking-water systems must be disinfected by the use of chlorine. Chlorine in water is more than three times as effective as a disinfectant against Escherichia coli, than an equivalent concentration of bromine, and is more than six times more effective than an equivalent concentration of iodine.
Essential for all living organisms and electrochemical and catalytic functions, activates numerous enzymes and is the basic raw material for the gastric “chief” cells to manufacture HCl for stomach acidity to keep the stomach sterile, increase the digestive capacity of pepsin (the protein digesting enzyme), and increase the absorption of minerals and B12 (intrinsic factor). Salt (sodium chloride) is the universal source of chloride ions.
Cm – Curium is found in igneous rocks at 0.0001 ppm; all isotopes are radioactive with a 2.5 x 108 years half-life. It exists in some molybdenites, and this radioactive mineral accumulates in mammalian bone.
Curium was first synthesized, isolated, and identified by Glenn T. Seaborg, Ralph A. James, and Albert Ghiorso in 1944 at the University of California, Berkeley. The new element was named after Marie Sklodowska-Curie and her husband Pierre Curie for their discovery of radium and their pioneering studies in radiation.
Co – Cobalt is found in igneous rocks at about 25 ppm; shale at19 ppm; sandstone at 0.3 ppm; limestone at 0.1 ppm; fresh water at 0.0009 ppm; sea water at 0.00027 ppm; soils at 8 ppm (highest in soils derived from basalt or serpentine). Vast areas of the earth’s surface are known to be absolutely devoid of cobalt.
Marine plants contain cobalt at 0.7 ppm; land plants at 0.5 ppm (accumulator plants include Nyssa sylvatica and Clethra spp,).
Marine animals contain cobalt at 0.5 to 5.0 ppm; land animals at 0.03 ppm with the greatest concentrations found in the bone and liver.
Cobalt-based blue pigment (cobalt blue) has been used since ancient times for jewelry and paints and to give a blue tint to glass. Miners had given cobalt the name Kobold ore (German for goblin ore) for some of the blue-pigmented minerals. They were named “goblin ore” because they contained very little of the known metals, and when they were smelted they gave off poisonous arsenic-containing fumes. In 1735 goblin ore was reducible to a new metal (the first such discovery since ancient times) and it was named Kobold. In modern times the main source of cobalt is as a byproduct of copper and nickel mining.
Cobalt is essential for blue-green algae, some bacteria and fungi, some plants, insects, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals including man. Cobalt is the active center of coenzymes called cobalamins, they function as a cofactor and activator for enzymes, fixes nitrogen during amino acid production; a single cobalt atom is the central metal component of vitamin B12, which itself is a cofactor and activator (cobamide coenzymes) for several essential enzymes.
B12 cobalt is chelated in a large tetrapyrrole ring similar to the porphoryn ring found in hemoglobin and chlorophyll. The original B12 molecule isolated in the laboratory contained a cyanide group; thus the name cyanocobalamine; there are several different cobalamine compounds that have vitamin B12 activity, with cyanocobalamine and hydroxycobalamine the most active.
Vitamine B12 is a red crystalline substance that is water soluble; the red color is due to the cobalt in the molecule. Vitamin B12 is slowly deactivated by acid, alkali, light, and oxidizing or reducing substances; about 30 percent of B12activity is lost during cooking (by electric, wood, gas, or microwave).
In 1948, B12 was isolated from liver extract and it clearly demonstrated an anti-pernicious anemia activity.
The essentiality of cobalt is unusual in that the requirement is for a cobalt complex known as cyanocobalamine or vitamin B12. A pure cobalt requirement is only found in certain bacteria and algae, and the need for B12 cobalt is thought by some to represent a symbiotic relationship between microbes, which generate and manufacture B12 from elemental cobalt, and vertebrates that require B12.
Rumenants (i.e., cows, sheep, goats, deer, antelope, bison, giraffe, etc.) can use elemental cobalt as a raw material to manufacture B12. However, the microbes fermenting and digesting plant material in their first stomach (rumen) convert elemental cobalt into vitamin B12 which the animal can use.
Carnivores can get their B12 from the rumenant by consuming stomach contents, liver, bone, and muscle from their kills.
Poultry, lagomorphs (rabbits and hares), and rodents actively eat feces during the night (coprophagy) and in the process obtain B12 that is manufactured by intestinal microorganisms.
Metallic cobalt, itself, is absorbed at the rate of 20 to 26.2 percent in mice and humans if intrinsic factor is present in the stomach and the gastric ph is 2.0 or less. Intrinsic factor is a mucoprotein enzyme known as Castle’s Intrinsic Factor and is part of normal gastric secretions.
If a person has hypochlorhydria (low stomach acid—usually a NaCl deficiency) the intrinsic factor will not work, and B12 cobalt is not absorbed. This is why doctors frequently give B12 shots to older people on salt-restricted diets. Sublingual (under the tongue) and oral spray B12 is available; plant derived cobalt is very bioavailable, however, because of low salt diets and cobalt depleted soils, vegetarians will frequently acquire a B12 deficiency.
The B12 Intrinsic Factor complex is primarily absorbed in the terminal small intestine or ileum; calcium is required for the B12 to cross from the intestine into the bloodstream as well as an active participation by intestinal cells. Simple diffusion can account for one to three percent of the B12 absorption.
There is an enterohepatic (intestine direct to the liver) circulation of B12 that recycles B12 through bile and other intestinal secretions, which explains why B12 deficiency may not appear in un-supplemented vegans for five to ten years.
The maximum storage level of B12 is 2 mg, which is slowly released to the bone marrow as needed. Excess intake of B12 is shed in the urine.
Vitamin B12/cobalt joins with folic acid, choline, and the amino acid methionine to transfer single carbon groups (methyl groups) in the synthesis of the raw materials to make RNA and synthesis of DNA from RNA (directly involved in gene function—remember preconception nutrition is necessary to prevent birth defects!). Growth, myelin formation (converts cholesterol into the insulating material myelin found surrounding the nerve fibers in the brain and large nerve trunks), and RBC synthesis, are dependent on adequate dietary levels of cholesterol and B12.
The discovery of the essentiality of cobalt came from veterinarians observing a fatal disease called “bush sickness” in cattle and sheep from Australia and New Zealand. It was observed that “bush sickness” could be successfully treated and prevented by cobalt supplementation.
Bush sickness in livestock was characterized by emaciation (un-supplemented vegans), dull stare, a listless, starved look, pale mucus membranes, anorexia (loss of appetite), anemia (microcytic/hypochromic), and general un-thriftiness.
In humans, a failure to absorb B12/cobalt results from a surgical removal of parts of the stomach (eliminates areas of Intrinsic Factor production), or surgical removal of the ileum portion of the small bowel, a small intestinal diverticula, parasites (tapeworm), celiac disease, gluten intolerance, and other malabsorption diseases. Pernicious anemia and demyelination of the spinal cord and large nerve trunks are classics for B12/cobalt deficiency.
Less than 0.07 ppm Co in the soil results in cobalt deficiency in animals and people who eat crops grown from those soils; 0.11 ppm Co in the soil prevents and cures Co deficiency.
The RDA for B12/cobalt is 3 to 4 mcg per day, we prefer “expensive urine” and like 250 to 400 mcg per day, especially while preparing for a pregnancy and nursing (remember: a baby being nursed by a nutritionally-deficient mother has their deficiency extended over a long period of time and may result in serious permanent nerve damage.
Cobalt excess in man (20 to 30 mg/day) may create erythropoiesis (excessive RBC production) with increased production of the hormone erythropoietin from the kidney. Cobalt is also a necessary cofactor for the production of thyroid hormone.
Cr – Chromium is found in igneous rock at 100 ppm; shale at 90 ppm; sandstone at 35 ppm and limestone at 11 ppm; fresh water at 0.00018 ppm; sea water at 0.00005 ppm; soils at 5.0 to 3,000 ppm (highest in soils derived from basalt and serpentine); marine plants at 1 ppm; land plants at 0.23 ppm; marine animals 0.2 – 1.0 ppm; land animals 0.075 ppm; and it is accumulated by RNA and insulin.
Chromium oxide was employed by the Chinese in the Qin dynasty over 2,000 years ago in the late 3rd century BC to coat the metal weapons found in Xi’an with the Terracotta Army. The ancient bronze tips of crossbow bolts and swords found at the site had very little oxidation or corrosion because the bronze was deliberately coated with a thin layer of chromium oxide.
Chromium activates phosphoglucosonetase and other enzymes and is tightly associated with GTF (glucose tolerance factor, a combination of chromium III, dinicotinic acid and glutathione). The reported plasma levels of chromium in humans over the past 20 years has ranged from 0.075 to 13 ng/ml. Concentrations of chromium in human hair is ten times greater than in blood, making hair analysis a much more accurate view of chromium stores and function in the human (there is an average of 1.5 mg in the human body under optimal conditions).
Very little inorganic chromium is stored in the human body; once inorganic chromium is absorbed, it is almost entirely excreted in the urine (therefore urine chromium levels can be used to estimate dietary chromium status). Dietary sugar loads (such as colas, apple juice, grape juice, honey, candy, table sugar, fructose, etc.) increase the natural rate of urinary Cr loss by 300% for 12 hours.
The average human daily intake of 50 to 100 ug of inorganic Cr from food supplies only 0.25 to 0.5 ug of usable chromium, by contrast 25% of chelated chromium is absorbed. The chromium RDA for humans is a range of 50 to 200 ug per day for adults.
The concentration of Cr in human tissue tends to be higher in newborn animals and newborn humans than it is in later life. If fact, the tissue Cr levels of unsupplemented humans steadily decreases throughout life. Of even more concern has been the steady decline in the average American serum chromium since 1948:
|
Mean Cr blood levels (u/l) |
Year |
|
28–1,000 |
1948 |
|
13 |
1971 |
|
10 |
1972 |
|
4.7– 5.1 |
1973 |
|
0.73–1.6 |
1974 |
|
0.16 |
1978 |
|
0.43 |
1980 |
|
0.13 |
1985 |
The fasting chromium plasma level of pregnant women is lower than that of non-pregnant women. Increasing impairment of glucose tolerance in “normal” pregnancy is well documented and reflects a chromium deficiency oftentimes resulting in pregnancy-onset diabetes. One study demonstrated abnormal glucose tolerance in 77 % of clinically “normal” adults over the age of 70. According to Richard Anderson, a USDA spokesperson, stated that “90 percent of Americans are deficient in chromium.”
Gary Evans, of Bemidji State University, Minnesota, very clearly demonstrated an increased life span in laboratory animals by 33.3 % when they were supplemented with chromium. Prior to this study, gerontologists, led by Roy Walford, felt a severe restriction of calories was the only way to extend life past the extended average.
Deficiencies of Cr in humans are characterized by a wide variety of clinical diseases as well as a shortened life expectancy. The clinical manifestations of chromium deficiency diseases are aggravated by a concurrent vanadium deficiency and an increase in dietary carbohydrates and sugars.
Diseases and Symptoms of Chromium Deficiency
Low blood sugar
Reactive hypoglycemia
Bed wetting
Pre-diabetes
Diabetes (Type 2)
Hyperinsulinemia
Hyperactivity
Learning disability
ADD/ADHD
Hyperirratability
Depression
Manic depression
“Bi-polar” disease
Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde rages (“Bad Seeds”)
Impaired growth
Peripheral neuropathy
Negative nitrogen balance (protein/muscle loss)
Elevated blood triglycerides (> 200)
Elevated blood cholesterol (> 270)
Coronary artery disease
Aortic cholesterol plaque
Infertility (anovulation and low sperm count)
Shortened life span
Cs – Cesium (caesium) is found in igneous rocks at 1 ppm; shale at 5 ppm; sandstone and limestone at 0.5 ppm; fresh water at 0.0002 ppm; sea water at 0.00005 ppm; soils at 0.3 to 25 ppm; marine plants at 0.07 ppm. Land plants at 0.2 ppm; and land animals at 0.064 ppm (highest concentrations in the muscle).
Two German chemists, Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff, isolated cesium from mineral water collected in Durkheim, Germany, in 1860 using the new “flame spectroscopy” technique.
As an alkaline mineral, cesium behaves similarly to sodium, potassium, and rubidium chemically. Cesium and potassium enter into a solute complex which participates in ion antagonism, osmosis, permeability regulation and maintenance of the colloidal state in the living cell. The increase in dietary and supplemental potassium increases the rate of excretion or loss of cesium.
Cesium chloride is used as part of alternative cancer therapy. Cesium provides “high pH therapy for cancer by entering the cancer cell and producing an alkaline environment.” Cesium has been recommended for the treatment of many types of cancer including sarcomas, bronchiogenic carcinoma, and colon cancer.
Cu – Copper is found in igneous rocks at 55 ppm; shale at 45 ppm; sandstone at 5 ppm; limestone at 4 ppm; fresh water at 0.01 ppm; sea water at 0.003 ppm; soils at 2 to 100 ppm (copper is strongly absorbed by humus; there are known areas in the world with extreme copper deficiency); marine plants at 11 ppm; land plants at 14 ppm; marine animals at 4 to 50 ppm (accumulates in the blood of annelids/worms, crustaceans and molluscs, especially cephalopods); land animals at 2 to 4 ppm with highest levels in the liver.
The metal that is copper, has been used for thousands of years. In the Roman Era, copper was primarily mined in Cyprus; hence it had the name cyprium (metal of Cyprus), later shortened to cuprum. Its compounds are commonly found in nature as azurite and turquoise.
Alloying copper with tin to make bronze was first employed about 4,000 years after the discovery of copper smelting and approximately 2,000 years after “natural bronze” had come into common use. The Bronze Age began in Southeastern Europe about 3700–3500 BC, and in Northwestern Europe about 2500 BC. It ended at the beginning of the Iron Age, 2000–1000 BC in the Near East, and 600 BC in Northern Europe. Brass, an alloy of copper and zinc, is a relatively new technique. It was known to the Greeks, but only became a supplement to bronze during the Roman Empire.
Aphrodite and Venus represented copper in mythology and alchemy, because of its lustrous beauty, its ancient use in producing mirrors, and its association with Cyprus, which was sacred to the goddess. The seven heavenly bodies known to the ancients were associated with the seven metals known in antiquity, and Venus was assigned to copper.
Copper proteins have a wide role in biological electron transport and oxygen transportation, processes that make use of the simple interconversion of Cu(I) and Cu(II). The biological role of copper started with the formation of oxygen in the earth’s atmosphere. The protein hemocyanin is the oxygen carrier for most mollusks and some arthropods (such as the horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus). Because hemocyanin is blue, these invertebrates have blue blood, not the red blood found in vertebrates that use hemoglobin.
Copper is also a component of other proteins that are used to process oxygen. In cytochrome c oxidase, which is required for aerobic respiration, copper and iron cooperate in the reduction of oxygen. Copper is also found in many superoxide dismutases, the proteins that catalyze the decomposition of superoxides, by converting them (by disproportionation) to oxygen and hydrogen peroxide.
Copper is essential to all living organisms and is a universally important cofactor for many hundreds of metalloenzymes. Copper deficiency is widespread and the resultant diseases in humans appear in many forms. Copper is required in many physiological functions (including RNA, DNA, lysil oxidase cofactor, melanin production (hair and skin pigment), electron transfer of oxygen subcellular respiration, tensile strength of elastic fibers in blood vessels, skin, vertebral discs, etc.).
Diseases and Symptoms of Copper Deficiency
White hair, gray hair, silver hair
Dry brittle hair (“steely wool” in sheep)
Enzootic ataxia in sheep
Mad cow disease (BSE cattle)
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (BSE in humans)
Ptosis (i.e., sagging tissue—eye lids, skin, breasts, belly, etc.)
Hernias (congenital and acquired)
Varicose veins/ spider veins (hemorrhoids)
Aneurysms (aortic, cerebral, coronary, gastric, etc.)
Kawasaki Disease (congenital aneurysms with streptococcal infection)
Marfan’s syndrome
Anemia (vegan and high milk diets)
Hypo and Hyper thyroid
Arthritis (especially when growth plate is involved)
Ruptured & bulging vertebral discs
Liver cirrhosis
Violent behavior, blind rage, explosive behavior, criminal behavior
Learning disabilities
Cerebral palsy and hypoplasia of the cerebellum (congenital ataxia)
High blood cholesterol
Iron storage disease (hemosiderosis)
Reduced glucose tolerance (hypoglycemia, reactive hypoglycemia)
Neutropenia (low white blood cell count)
Neonatal enzootic ataxia (sway back, lamkruis) was recognized as a clinical entity in 1937 as a congenital manifestation of a copper deficiency in pregnant sheep. Copper supplements prevented the syndrome which was characterized by demyelination of the cerebellum (cerebral palsy) and spinal cord.
The lesions of enzootic ataxia in sheep are consistent with the lesions of “mad cow” disease (Bovine Spongeoform Encephalitis or BSE in cattle and CreutzfeldtJakob disease in humans), which in both cattle and humans is thought by the medical community to be transmitted by prions (a non-RNA/non-DNA protein). Despite finger pointing about this hysteria-driven theory, no one has of yet satisfied Koch’s postulates by transmitting the disease by injecting pure prions into susceptible cattle or humans, and the existence of aneurysms and loss of hair color, both the result of a copper deficiency, are predictably found concurrently with CJD. This would not be the first time in medical history where the prevailing medical thought for the cause of certain diseases was an infectious agent (i.e., this happened with scurvy, beriberi, pellagra, cardiomyopathy, gingivitis, Bell’s palsy, multiple sclerosis, etc.), when in fact the disease was caused by a nutritional deficiency.
Congenital copper deficiency can produce cavitation or gelatinous lesions of the cerebral white matter, chromatolysis, nerve-cell death, myelin aplasia (failure to form), and a congenital cerebellar hypoplasia (under development). These are all changes identical with human cerebral palsy.
Famous people affected or dying of an obvious copper deficiency include Albert Einstein (white hair, ruptured aneurysm), Paavo Aerola (ruptured cerebral aneurysms), Conway Twitty (ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm), George and Barbara Bush (thyroid disease, white hair). Four to six of every100 Americans autopsied had died of a ruptured aneurysm, and an additional 40% had aneurysms that had not yet ruptured.
The average well-nourished adult human body contains between 80 and 120 mg of copper. Concentrations are higher in the brain, liver, heart, and kidneys. Bone and muscle have lower percentages of copper but contain 50 percent of the body total copper reserves because of their greater mass. It is of interest that the greatest concentration of copper is found in the newborn, and their daily requirement is 0.08 mg/kg; toddlers require 0.04 mg/kg and adults only 0.03 mg/kg.
The average plasma copper for women ranges from 87 to 153 mg/dl and for men it ranges from 89 to 137 mg/dl; about 90 percent of the plasma copper is found in ceruloplasmin.
Copper functions as a co-factor and activator of numerous cuproenzymes that are involved in the development (deficiency of Cu in the pregnant female results in congenital defects of the heart and major blood vessels (incorrectly thought to be genetic, including Kawasaki Disease and Marfan’s syndrome) and defects of the brain, such as cerebral palsy and hypoplasia of the cerebellum), and maintenance of the cardiovascular system (deficiency results in reduced lysyl oxidase activity causing a reduction in conversion of pro-elastin into elastin causing a decrease in tinsel strength of arterial walls, dissecting aneurysms and ruptured aneurysms, and skeletal integrity. Copper deficiency results in a specific type of arthritis of the young in the form of spurs in the bone’s growth plate; deficiency of copper can produce myelin (BSE) defects, anemia, and poor hair keratinization and loss of hair color.
Neutropenia (reduced numbers of neutrophilic WBC) and leukopenia (reduced total WBC) are the earliest indications of copper deficiency in infants; infants whose diets are primarily cow’s milk frequently develop anemia; iron storage disease can result from a chronic copper deficiency.
Menkes’ Kinky Hair Syndrome is thought to be a “sex-linked recessive defect” of copper absorption. This syndrome can be produced in gluten-intolerant children born to gluten-intolerant mothers (sex-linked but not genetically t ransmitted). The affected infant’s exhibit retarded growth, defective hair and skin keratin, and a loss of hair pigment, low body temperature, degeneration and fracture of aortic elastin (aneurysms), arthritis in the growth plates of long bones, and a progressive mental deterioration because brain tissue is totally free of the essential enzyme cytochrome c oxidase.
Serum and plasma copper increase 100% in pregnant women and in women using oral contraceptives. Serum copper levels are also elevated during acute infections, liver disease, and pellagra (niacin deficiency).
Dy – Dysprosium, a rare earth metal, is found in igneous rocks at 3 ppm; in shale at 4 to 6 ppm; in sandstone at 7.2 ppm and limestone at 0.9 ppm. Concentrations in terrestrial animals (0.01 ppm) are highest in the bones.
Dysprosium was first identified in 1886 by a French chemist, Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran while he was studying holmium oxide. He gave it the name dysprosium from the Greek word dysprositos meaning “hard to get,” however, it was not isolated in its pure form until the development of ion exchange techniques in the 1950s.
Dysprosium has never been found as a free element but rather is found in many minerals including xenotime, fergusonite, gadolinite, euxenite, polycrase, biomstrandine, monazite, and bastnasite; often with erbium and holmium or other rare earth elements.
Er – Erbium, a rare earth metal, is found in igneous rock at 2.8 ppm; shale at 1.9 ppm; sandstone at 1 ppm; limestone at 0.36 ppm; land plants up to 46 ppm in Carya spp.; marine animals at 0.02 to 0.04 ppm and land animals primarily in bone.
Erbium (for Ytterby, a village in Sweden) was discovered by Carl Gustaf Mosander in 1843. Mosander separated “yttria” from the mineral gadolinite into three fractions which he called yttria, erbia, and terbia. Erbium oxide has a distinctive pink color.
A large variety of medical applications (dermatology and dentistry) utilize erbium.
In Carl Sagan’s novel “Contact”, a machine is constructed from a blueprint received through an extraterrestrial radio transmission. Important (and unexplained) components of the machine are dowels made of erbium.
Eu – Europium is a “light” rare earth metal found in igneous rock at 1 to 2 ppm; shale at 1.1 ppm; sandstone at 0.55 ppm; limestone at 0.2 ppm; land plants at 0.021 ppm (accumulates up to 16 ppm in Carya spp.); marine animals at 0.01 to 0.06 ppm; land animals at 0.00012 ppm in soft tissue and 0.2 ppm in bone.
In the late 1880s William Crookes observed the phosphorescent spectra of the rare earth elements; however, the discovery of europium is generally credited to the French chemist Eugene-Anatole Demarcay, who isolated europium in 1901.
Europium has extended the life of laboratory species (e.g., Tetrahymena pyriformis) over their normal expected lifespan by 100%. Europium is found in higher concentrations in breast milk from women in third world countries than in American women.
F – Flourine is found in igneous rocks at 625 ppm; in shale at 740 ppm; sandstone sat 270 ppm; limestone at 330 ppm; fresh water at 0.09 ppm; sea water at 1.3 ppm; soils at 200 ppm (fluoride can be “fixed” or tightly bonded in several types of clay). Certain F rich soils in Madras, Spain and South America are toxic to grazing livestock.
Flourine is found in marine plants at 4.5 ppm; land plants at 0.5 to 40.0 ppm (accumulated by Dichapetolum cymosum); marine animals at 2.0 ppm (accumulates in fish bone); land animals at 150 to 500 ppm in mammalian soft tissues and 1,500 ppm in bone and teeth.
Prior to 1972, flouride was considered essential in animals because of its apparent benefit for tooth enamel in warding off dental caries (“cavities”). In 1972 Schwarz proved that fluoride was in fact an essential mineral.
The skeletal reserves of fluoride in an adult man reach 2.6 grams; the average daily intake by Americans is 4.4 mg from combined sources of food, tooth paste, supplements and water.
Fluoridation of drinking water is still highly controversial. Some studies show that fluoridated water helps reduce fractures from osteoporosis while other studies showed an increase in hip fractures.
Clinical toxicity is observed as dental fluorosis at fluoride concentrations of 2 to 7 ppm and osteosclerosis at 8 to 20 ppm; chronic system toxicity appears when the fluoride levels reach 20 to 80 mg per day over a period of years.
Approximately 10,000 American towns and cities serving 100 million people have added fluoride to their drinking water at the rate of 1 mg/l, which has reportedly reduced dental caries by 60 to 70 percent. In certain western states in the United States, there is an excess of fluoride, reaching levels of 10 to 45 ppm with a resultant “mottling” of teeth in children.
As a result of epidemiological studies by Yiamouyiannis and Burk in 1977, full scale congressional hearings were held to examine the charge that 10,000 excess cancer deaths were caused by fluoridation of certain public water systems. Following the committee hearings, the U.S. Public Health Service was given a mandate to conduct animal studies to confirm or refute the theory that fluoridated water increased cancer deaths. The studies were carried out by the National Toxicology Program under the supervision of the U.S. National Public Health Service with a special focus on oral, liver, and bone cancers.
In 1990 the results of the fluoride study showed an increase in rat precancerous lesions in the oral mucus membrane cells; there was an increase in cancers of the oral mucus membranes (squamous cell carcinoma); a rare form of osteosarcoma appeared at double the rate in males as females; and there was a significant increase in thyroid follicular cell tumors and liver cancer (hepatocholangiocarcinoma).
Fe – Iron is found in igneous rocks at 56,000 ppm; shale at 47,200 pp; sandstone at 9,800 ppm and limestone at 3,800 ppm; fresh water at 0.67 ppm; sea water at 0.01 ppm; soils at 38,000 ppm (iron content is responsible for most soil color); iron is most available in acid soil and availability is greatly influenced by bacterial activity in the soil; marine plants at 700 ppm (very high in plankton); land plants at 140 ppm; marine animals at 400 ppm (high in the blood of annelids ‘worms,’ echinoderms, fish, and in eggs of cephalad molluscs); iron is essential to all land animals.
Iron is the most common element (by mass) forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth’s outer crust and inner core.
Iron metal has been used since ancient times, though copper alloys, which have lower melting temperatures were used first. Pure iron is soft (softer than aluminum), but is unobtainable by smelting. Iron is hardened and strengthened by impurities from the smelting process, including carbon. A certain level of carbon (between 0.002% and 2.1%) mixed with iron produces steel, which is 1,000 times harder than iron.
Iron objects of ancient times are rare compared with those made from gold or silver due to the rapid oxidation of iron. Beads made from meteoric iron dated back to 3500 B.C. were found in Gezah, Egypt. The beads were 7.5 percent nickel which is a signature of meteoric iron.
Boussingault in the 1860’s was the first to regard iron as an essential nutrient for animals. During the 1920s an animal model for iron deficiency research was created by feeding rats on an exclusive milk diet.
Iron is a necessary element found in nearly all living organisms. Iron containing enzymes and proteins, often containing heme prosthetic groups, participate in many biological oxidations and in transport. Examples of iron containing proteins found in higher organisms include hemoglobin, cytochrome, and catalase.
In a healthy adult human there is an average of 3 to 5 gms of total iron. The newborn infant has nearly double the amount of iron per kg than adults. Sixty to 70 percent of tissue iron is classed as essential or functional iron, and 30 to 40 percent as storage iron. The essential iron is found as an integral part of hemoglobin, myoglobin (muscle oxygen storing pigments, and is particularly rich in deep-diving animals such as whales, walrus, seals, etc.), and respiratory enzymes involved with intracellular oxidation-reduction processes.
Functions of iron include cofactor and activator of enzymes and metallo enzymes; respiratory enzymes (hemoglobin: iron is to hemoglobin what Mg is to chlorophyll) and electron transfer for utilization oxygen.
Iron is stored in bone marrow and liver (as hemosiderin and ferritin). Heme iron from meat is 10 percent available for absorption while iron from fresh plant sources are only one percent available because of phytates which combine tightly with iron. Absorption of iron takes place primarily in the duodenum where the intestinal environment is still acid.
Experimental evidence shows very clearly that “pica” is a specific sign of iron deficiency. Pica (obsessive cravings) can drive children and adults to eat ice (pagophagia), dirt (geophagia), lead paint chips, and high calorie snack foods (that can result in weight gain and obesity).
Iron deficiency can result from an unsupplemented pregnancy, menstruation, chronic infections, hypochlorhydria (low stomach acid from salt-restricted diets or use of proton pump inhibitors), chronic diarrhea, chronic bleeding (from illness from cancer, uncers, parasites, etc.) and impaired absorption (caused by high-fat diets, high phytate diets, gluten intolerance, etc.).
Symptoms of iron deficiency include listlessness, fatigue, heart palpitations on exertion, rapid pulse (tachycardia), reduced cognition, memory deficits, sore tongue, angular stomatitis, dysphagia (pica), hypochromic microcytic anemia, weight gain, obesity, etc.
Stomach hydrochloric acid is required for optimal absorption of iron, ascorbic acid increases absorption of iron. Clays and phytates decrease the efficiency of iron absorption. The RDA of 18 mg per day as metallic iron is very low if one is a vegan eating a high fiber, high phytate plant material diet.
Excess storage of iron can be caused by deficiencies of selenium, copper, zinc, etc., and is falsely blamed for liver cirrhosis, fibrosis of the pancreas, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and diabetes. These diseases are not the direct result of iron excess.
Fr – Francium is found only as radio-active isotopes; the longest lived has a halflife of 22 minutes. Francium was formerly known as eka-caesium and actinium K. Francium is a highly radioactive metal that decays into astatine, radium, and radon.
Francium was discovered by Marguerite Perey in France in 1939. It was the last element found in nature rather than by synthesis.
Ga – Gallium is found in igneous rocks at 15 ppm; shale at 19 ppm; sandstone at 12 ppm; limestone at 4 ppm; fresh water at 0.001 ppm; sea water at 0.00003 ppm; soils at 0.4 to 6.0 ppm to 30.0 ppm; marine plants at 0.5 ppm; land plants at 0.06 ppm; marine animals at 0.5 ppm; and land animals at 0.006 ppm.
Gallium (III) is found in nature as trace amounts in bauxite and zinc ores. Elemental gallium is a brittle solid at cold temperatures but will melt and become a liquid when held in the hand. Because gallium and ferric salts behave similarly in biological systems, gallium ions often mimic iron ions in medical applications.
In 1871 the existence of gallium was predicted by the Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev, who named it “eka-aluminum” on the basis of its position on the periodic table.
Gallium was claimed to be essential in 1938 and again in 1958. Gallium has specific areas of metalloenzyme activity in the human brain and has been reported to specifically reduce the rate of brain cancer in laboratory animals.
British research shows that supplemented diets of pregnant women will reduce the rate of brain cancer in children. Gallium maltolate, an orally absorbable form of gallium (III) ion, is used in medical treatments for brain cancer, inflammation, and certain infectious diseases.
Gd – Gadolium, a rare earth mineral, is found in igneous rocks at 5.4 ppm; shale at 4.3 ppm; sandstone at 2.6 ppm; limestone at 0.7 ppm; land plants at up to 70 ppm by Carya spp.; marine animals at 0.06 ppm; land animals accumulate gadolium in bone and liver very quickly after absorption.
Ge – Germanium is found in igneous rocks at 5.4 ppm; shale at 1.6 ppm; sandstone at 0.8 ppm; limestone at 0.2 ppm; sea water at 0.00007 ppm; soil at 1.0 ppm in humus, especially in alkaline soils; marine animals at 0.3 ppm.
The existence of the element germanium had been predicted by Mendeleev in his periodic table, however, it was not until 1886 that a German chemist, Clemens Winkler, isolated this element and named it Germanium.
Radio do-it-yourself kits from the 40s and 50s utilized the germanium diode crystal to attract the radio signal to your radio. The germanium atom is structured so it accepts and transmits electrons, thus acting as a semiconductor. It is therefore not too surprising that germanium is closely related to silica and carbon.
Biologically, germanium is a highly efficient electrical impulse initiator intracellularly and acts as a metallic cofactor for oxygen utilization.
In 1950 Dr. Kazuhiko Asai, a Japanese chemist, found traces of germanium in fossilized plant life. Russian researchers quickly attributed anti-cancer activity to germanium. Dr. Asai was able to connect the healing properties of certain herbs to relatively high levels of germanium. Many of these herbs are accumulator plants for germanium. Germanium is known to enhance the immune system by stimulating the production of natural killer cells, lymphokines such as IFN(Y), interferon, macrophages and T-suppressor cells.
Asai synthesized GE-132, carboxyethyl germanium sesquioxide in 1967 by a hydrolysis method. This organic germanium structure forms a cubic structure with three negative oxygen ions at the base of a cubic triangle.
As an organic or chelated form of germanium GE-132 is absorbed at the rate of 30 percent efficiency and the total intake is excreted in one week.
Food plants and animals contain small amounts of germanium (e.g., beans at 4.67 ppm; tuna at 2.3 ppm). Healing herbs such as garlic, aloe, comfrey, chlorella, ginseng, watercress, Shiitake mushroom, pearl barley, sanzukon, sushi, waternut, boxthorn seed, and wisteria knob contain germanium in amounts ranging from 100 to 2,000 ppm.
The “holy waters” at Lourdes, known worldwide for their healing properties, contains large amounts of germanium and lithium.
Deficiencies of germanium are typified by a severely reduced immune status, arthritis, osteoarthritis, low energy, and cancer.
Twenty to 30 mg per day is the recommended maintenance dose for germanium; 50 to 100 mg per day is commonly used when an individual has a serious illness that requires an increased oxygen level in the body.
H – Hydrogen is found in igneous rocks at 1,000 ppm; shale at 5,600 ppm; sandstone at 1,800 ppm; limestone at 860 ppm; fresh water at 111,000 ppm; sea water at 108,000 ppm; soil at 600 to 24,000 ppm (in very acid soils it can become the major exchangeable cation); marine plants at 41,000 ppm; land plants at 55,000 ppm; marine animals at 52,000 ppm; land animals at 70,000 ppm; additionally hydrogen makes up a small portion of the gaseous atmosphere.
Hydrogen functions as a major constituent of water (70% of the human body is water) and all organic molecules. The regulation of the acid-base balance in the human body is in fact the regulation of the hydrogen ion (H+) levels of cellular and extracellular fluids.
The acidity of the body is critically regulated within a very narrow range by numerous and complex homeostatic mechanisms. The pH of healthy blood ranges from7.36 to 7.44; when the pH falls below 7.30, the patient has acidosis, and when the pH rises above 7.44, the person has alkalosis.
Blood pH levels below 6.8 and above 7.8 are rapidly fatal. Intracellular pH ranges between 6.0 and 7.4; rapid metabolism (hyperthyroid) or decreased blood flow (heart attack) increases the carbon dioxide levels and therefore decreases pH or acidifies the blood.
In contrast to the internal body, the pH of secretions (saliva, gastric acid) and excretions (urine) can be more variable and range from 1.0 in the stomach to 8.2 in pancreatic juice and alkaline saliva and urine in vegans.
Hydrogen ions circulate in the body in two forms, volatile and non-volatile (metabolic hydrogen ions). Volatile hydrogen ions are found as a weak (carbonic acid), which must continuously be excreted from the lungs as carbon dioxide and water.
Non-volatile (metabolic) hydrogen ions are produced by the normal metabolic processes of the body or are consumed as part of food. The largest amounts of hydrogen ions are produced by normal and abnormal metabolism. Large amounts of hydrogen ions may be generated and/or retained as part of a disease activity (i.e., emphysema, diabetes, anxiety or loss of chloride ions NaCl deficiency, cystic fibrosis, Addison’s disease, etc.).
Hydrogen ion concentration (pH) is controlled by the human body by means of dilution, buffering, respiratory control of the volatile hydrogen ion concentrations and kidney control of the non-volatile hydrogen ions. Buffer systems react to hydrogen ion concentrations in fractions of seconds, respiratory controls react in minutes, and the kidneys may require as much as an hour to several days to respond.
Metabolic hydrogen ions must be excreted by the kidney in one of three forms:
1. 60% as ammonium ions
2. 40% as weak acids
3. Trace amounts as free hydrogen ions
It is the amount of free hydrogen ions in the urine that determines the urine’s pH. Bladder infections (cystitis) can often times be controlled by acidifying the urine with unsweetened cranberry juice.
He – Helium is found in igneous rocks at 0.008 ppm and sea water at 0.0000069 ppm.
Hf – Hafnium is found in igneous rocks at 3 ppm; shale at 2.8 ppm; sandstone at 3.4 ppm; limestone at 0.5 ppm; sea water vat 0.000008 ppm; soil at 3.0 ppm; marine plants at 0.4 ppm; land plants at 0.01 ppm; land animals at 0.04 ppm.
Hg – Mercury is found in igneous rocks at 0.08 ppm; shale at 0.4 ppm; sandstone at 0.03 ppm; limestone at 0.3 ppm; fresh water at 0.000008 ppm; sea water at 0.00003 ppm; soil at 0.03 to 0.8 ppm (lowest in the surface layers of the soil because of leaching and also it volatilizes); marine plants at 0.03 ppm; land plants at 0.015 ppm (Arenria setacea is an accumulator plant); land animals at 0.046 ppm (accumulates in the brain, kidney, liver and bone); marine animals at 0.0009 to 0.09 ppm.
Mercury occurs universally in the bios and has long been known as a potentially toxic element (although early Chinese alchemists insisted that the regular consumption of mercury or “potable gold” was the path to immortality) that could be concentrated by industry, mining operations, agriculture, dental repairs (amalgams), and microorganisms that “methylate” mercury in the sediments at the bottom of fresh-water or salt-water rivers, lakes, oceans, and seas.
Mercury has been detected in all tissues of fatal accident victims, with no known mercury exposure except for dental mercury amalgam fillings.
Mercury in fish is present as methyl mercury. People who rarely eat fish have very low levels of mercury (2–5 ug/kg); moderate fish consumers have 10 ug/kg; high fish consumers (especially if they eat the large predator fish such as shark, tuna, or swordfish) will typically have higher levels of up to 400 ug/kg.
Mercury mine workers can accumulate mercury which can reach levels that produce disease.
Mercury Mine Workers (Cinnabar Miners) Tissue Hg Levels (ppm)
The biological half time of methyl mercury in humans is 70 days and four days for inorganic mercury. The placenta acts as a barrier against the passage of inorganic mercury but not methyl mercury; methyl mercury transfers very easily to the fetus (“congenital” Minamata disease in infants).
The main industrial source of mercury is the chloralkali industry; paint, dental amalgams, pharmaceuticals, slimicides and algicides (paper and pulp industry), seed treatments as agricultural fungicides, especially dangerous as methyl mercury; burning of fossil fuels.
The metabolic antagonism between mercury and selenium produces a protection from selenium poisoning by mercury and the protection against mercury poisoning by selenium. A mutual antagonism between Hg and Se exists; Se protects the human kidney from necrosis (tissue death) by mercury poisoning and the placental transfer of mercury.
Mercury vapor from dental amalgam has been shown to increase the percent of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the gut from 9 percent to 70 percent in monkeys given dental mercury fillings; the drug-resistant bacterial population dropped to 12 percent when the fillings were removed.
Mercury poisoning from inhalation of mercury vapors was reported during the Victorian Age in “hatters” who used mercuric nitrate paste to prevent mold from growing on felt hats (remember “mad as a hatter” from Alice in Wonderland), goldsmiths and mirror workers; in modern times dentists have developed mental disease from chronic exposure to mercury vapors (they have the highest rate of suicide amongst all the health professionals); dental patients have developed several disease syndromes including multiple sclerosis, ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) and Parkinson’s Disease depending on what part of the brain was most severely affected.
Annette Funicello of the Micky Mouse Club, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1994 (she died in April of 2013), which is “known” and theorized by many to be caused by vapors from dental mercury amalgams.
The manifestations of direct Hg poisoning are primarily neurological (i.e., tremors, vertigo, irritability, moodiness [suicidal], depression, salivation, inflammation of the mouth [stomatitis] and diarrhea).
In poisoning with inorganic mercury, the liver and kidneys are the target organs primarily affected; poisoning with the more toxic alkyl mercury results in progressive loss of coordination, loss of vision, heart palpitations, loss of hearing and mental deterioration caused by a toxic neuroencephalopathy in which the neuronal cells of the cerebral and cerebellar cortex are selectively affected.
In 1962 in Minamata, Japan, mercury-contaminated factory effluent (waste water) was dumped into Minamata Bay, which in turn contaminated aquatic plant life that was eaten by fish; the contaminated fish were eaten by the bay residents with disastrous results.
The Minamata Bay disaster was characterized by a high incidence of congenital damage to the newborn from mental retardation, cerebral palsy, and high infant mortality.
In Iran, a large-scale methyl mercury poisoning was reported when large numbers of people were fed bread made with mercury fungicide-treated seed grain and meat (liver and kidneys) from animals fed the treated grain.
The result of consuming the mercury-contaminated grains was thousands of babies born retarded and a high incidence of congenital brain defects including cerebral palsy.
Ho – Holmium, a Rare Earth, is found in igneous rocks at 1.2 ppm; in shale at 0.6 ppm; sandstone at 0.51 ppm; limestone at 0.17 ppm; land plants at 16 ppm in Carya spp.; marine animals at 0.005 ppm to 0.01 ppm; and land animals at 0.5 ppm in bone.
I – Iodine is found in igneous rocks at 0.5 ppm; in shale at 2.3 ppm; sandstone at 1.7 ppm; limestone at 1.2 ppm; fresh water at 0.002 ppm; sea water at 0.06 ppm; soil at 5 ppm (strongly bound in humus; large areas of Earth are known to be devoid of I); marine plants at 30 to 500 ppm; land plants at 0.42 ppm; marine animals at 1.0 to 150 ppm; land animals at 0.43 ppm (concentrated in the thyroid gland and hair).
Iodine is known to be essential to red and brown algae and all vertebrates. Iodine in combination with the amino acid tyrosine is manufactured into the thyroid hormone thyroxin. Iodine intake in the human diet is usually low to begin with, but since Americans have begun restricting their salt intake at their doctors instruction, the rate of “allopath” caused goiter and hypothyroidism has become epidemic.
The average American takes in 170 – 250 mcg/day of I; humans lose considerable amounts of I in their sweat (i.e., as high as 146 mcg/day in sweat with only moderate exercise). Metallic I is not toxic up to 2,000 mcg/day.
Goiter develops in Japanese living along the sea coast despite high daily iodine consumption. Japanese subjects were fed Chinese cabbage, turnips, buckwheat, noodles, 2.0 mcg, 2.0 mcg I, soybean or seaweed. Goiter developed in all groups except the seaweed group.
Northern parts of the Adictis Islands had more clinical goiter than the southern areas, while the southwest was goiter-free (46% of the population of Pisils; 40% of the population of Polje and only 3% of the population of Milahnici); there is identical I content of the soil in all three locations; however, there is a severe copper deficiency in the soil of the north and the south (copper is a required cofactor for vertebrates to be able to utilize iodine).
Some 11 million Americans have either a hypothyroid (low, underactive) or a hyperthyroid (overactive) condition. Thyroid hormones control and regulate digestion, heart rate, body temperature, sweat gland activity, nervous and reproductive system, general metabolism, and body weight.
Many foods and food additives are known to be “goitrogens” because they interfere with the normal thyroid metabolism and function including:
Dietary nitrates (e.g., deli slices, sandwich meats, etc.)
Water borne nitrates
Cruciferous vegetables (e.g., cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts, kale, etc.)
Gluten intolerance
Pituitary problems
General nutritional deficiencies
Symptoms of Hypothyroidism (Hashimoto’s Disease)
Fatigue
Cold intolerance
Muscle aches & pains
Heavy or more frequent menstrual periods
Low sex drive
Brittle nails
Weight gain
Hair loss
Muscle cramps
Depression
Constipation
Elevated blood cholesterol
Puffy face
Dry skin and hair
Inability to concentrate
Poor memory
Goiter
Infertility
Congenital birth defects (Cretinism)
Symptoms of Hyperthyroidism (Grave’s Disease)
Insomnia
Heat intolerance
Excessive sweating
Lighter/less frequent periods
Hand tremors
Rapid pulse
Exophthalmos (“bug eyes”)
Weight loss
Increased appetite
Muscle weakness
Frequent bowel movements
Irritability
Nervousness
Goiter
In – Indium is found in igneous rocks at 0.05 to 1.0 ppm; shale at 0.1 ppm; sandstone and limestone at 0.05 ppm; land animals at 0.016 ppm.
Ir – Iridium is found in igneous rocks at 0.001 ppm; land plants at 0.62 ppm; land animals at 0.00002 ppm.
K – Potassium is found in igneous rocks at 20,000 ppm; shale at 26,000 ppm; sandstone at 10,700 ppm; limestone at 2,700 ppm; fresh water at 2.3 ppm; sea water at 380 ppm; soil at 14,000 ppm (a major exchangeable cation in all soils, however, the highest levels are found in alkaline soils); marine plants at 52,000 ppm; land plants at 14,000 ppm; marine animals at 5,000 to 30,000 ppm; land animals at 7,400 ppm (highest levels found in soft tissues).
Potassium is essential to all organisms and is the major cation in cellular cytoplasm, with a wide variety of electrochemical and catalytic functions for enzyme systems. Potassium constitutes five percent of the total mineral content of the human body; it is the major cation of the intracellular fluid and there is a small amount in the extracellular fluid. With sodium, the other “electrolyte,” K participates in the maintenance of normal water balance, osmotic equilibrium and acid-base balance. Potassium participates with Ca in the regulation of neuromuscular activity.
Potassium is easily absorbed, 90% of ingested K is excreted through the urine; there is essentially no storage of K in the human body, thus requiring a significant daily intake of 5,000 mg.
Muscular weakness and mental apathy are features of chronic K deficiency; hypokalemic cardiac failure is the most serious K deficiency event. Diuretics, both natural and prescribed, sweating from colds, flu and/or exercise, vomiting, and diarrhea increase the rate of loss of all minerals including K compared with normal expected daily excretion rate.
Kr – Krypton is found in igneous rocks at 0.0001 ppm; sea water at 0.0025 ppm. Krypton is legendary for having debilitating effects on “Superman” but in reality is totally harmless for humans, and in fact is thought to be an essential element.
La – Lanthanum is a “light” rare earth metal and is found in igneous rocks at 30 ppm; shale at 20 ppm; sandstone at 7.5 ppm; limestone at 6.2 ppm; sea water at 0.000012 ppm; soil at 30 ppm; marine plants at 10 ppm; land plants at 0.085 ppm (accumulated by Carya spp. and by the yeast Candida albicans up to 370 ppm/day. This may be how Candida infestations cause a debilitating energy sapping “chronic fatigue-like” disease by “stealing” La from the patient); marine mammals at 0.1 ppm; land animals at 0.0001 ppm in soft tissue and 0.27 ppm in bone.
The growth of the protozoa Blepherisma and Tetrahymena pyriformis is stimulated and life span doubled by the presence of La at concentrations of 0.32 ppm.
Li – Lithium is found in igneous rocks at 20 ppm; shale at 66 ppm; sandstone at 15 ppm; limestone at 5 ppm; fresh water at 0.0011 ppm; sea water at 0.18 ppm; soil at 30 ppm (Li+ is freely mobile in the soil); marine plants at 5 ppm; land plants at 0.1 ppm; marine animals at 1 ppm; land animals at 0.02 ppm.
“Some of us it seems are born to be bad.” Scientists say they are on the verge of pinning down genetic and biochemical abnormalities that predispose their bearers to violence. An article in the journal Science in the summer of 1993 carried the headline: EVIDENCE FOUND FOR A POSSIBLE AGGRESSION GENE.
Waiting in the wings are child-testing programs, drug manufacturers, insurance companies, civil rights advocates, defense attorneys, and anxious citizens for whom the violent criminal has replaced the beady-eyed communist as the bogeyman. Crime thus joins homosexuality, smoking, divorce, schizophrenia, alcoholism, shyness, political liberalism, intelligence, religiosity, cancer, and blue eyes among the many aspects of human life for which it is claimed that biology (genetics) is destiny. Physicists have been pilloried for years for this kind of reductionism, but in biology it makes everybody happy; the scientists and the pharmaceutical companies expand their domain; politicians have “progress” to point to; the smokers, divorcees and serial killers get to blame their problem on biology (genetics), and “we get the satisfaction of knowing they are sick and—not like us at all.”
A great study was done by Dr. Gerhard Schrauzer, professor and head of the department of chemistry at the University of California, San Diego relating the violent crime and hard drug use rate of Texas counties to the lithium levels in the counties drinking water:
Using data for 27 counties from 1978 to 1987, it is shown that the incidence rates of suicide, homicide, and rape are significantly higher in counties whose drinking water supplies contain little or no lithium than in counties with water lithium levels ranging from 70 – 170 ug/L; the differences remain statistically significant (p<0.01) after corrections for population density. The corresponding associations with the incidence rates of robbery, burglary, and theft were statistically significant with p<0.05. These results suggest that lithium has moderating effects on suicidal and violent criminal behavior at levels that may be encountered in municipal water supplies. Comparisons of drinking water lithium levels in the respective Texas counties, with the incidence of arrests for possession of opium, cocaine and their derivatives (morphine, heroin, and codeine) from 1981 to 1986 also produced statistically significant inverse associations...
Since 1915, the risk of clinical depression nearly doubles with each succeeding generation. Myrna M. Weissman, a psychiatrist at Columbia University, New York City, says that, “Depression is a worldwide phenomenon happening at younger and younger ages.”
In 1935, the age of early onset of depression was during the late 20s; in 1955 onset of depression dropped to between 15 and 20. One in four women and one in ten men will develop depression. While the professional psychiatrist verbally says that depression and manic depression are due to “feelings that we are out of control of our lives, negative thinking, self-recrimination (“I’m a loser”) are the root cause of depression,” they treat depression successfully with the trace mineral Li. Depression and manic depression with all that the diagnosis implies are simply a lithium deficiency aggravated by a high sugar or alcohol consumption.
Prozac, America’s “leading” antidepressant pharmaceutical was introduced in 1987, sales soared to $350 million in 1989, more than what was spent totally on all antidepressants just two years earlier. Projections estimate Prozac sales to exceed $ 1 billion in sales by 1995 as a result of allopathic doctors generating 650,000 prescriptions of the drug per month!
Animal studies show that a deficiency of Li results in reproductive failure, infertility, reduced growth rate, shortened life expectancy and serious behavioral problems. In humans, manic depression, clinical depression, “bi-polar” disease “Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde” and “Bad Seed” behavior, hyperactivity, ADD, ADHD and autism are hallmarks of Li deficiency.
Human Behavioral Acts Resulting From Lithium Deficiency:
Mass murder (Austin, TX, Waco TX, Oklahoma, Columbine, Fort Hood, Virginia Tech, Batman theater, Sandy Hook, Boston Marathon, Washington Navy Yard)
Serial killers (Jack the Ripper, Boston Strangler, Jeffrey Dahmer, Green
River Murderer, Michigan Old Man Stabber, etc.)
Cannibalism
Domestic violence
Violent crime (arson, murder, rape, assault, armed robbery, etc.)
Suicide (Civilian, military, teenagers, etc.)
Suicide bombers
Notorious Serial Killers (Vampires, Werewolves, and Cannibals)
*At the peak of Elias Abuelazam’s (Old Man Stabber) killing spree (20 stabbed and 5 killed), Wallach was approached late at night at an intersection in Grand Rapids, Michigan by a man who pulled up in a Chevy Blazer (the killer’s vehicle) and stated, “Hey old man, hop in and I’ll end your pain,” where upon Wallach responded, “Hop out and I’ll end your pain!” The driver (presumably Elias Abuelazam) sped off.
The anthropological debate over cannibalism, mass murder, and serial killers has raged over three theories of origin: (1) The satisfaction of certain psychosexual needs; (2) Utilitarian adaption—humans adapt to extreme famine by eating other humans; (3) a cultural logic of the cycle of life, death, and reproduction (usually endocannibalism or “mortuary” cannibalism).
Statistically cannibalism can be tied to hunger, but hunger for calories and protein alone cannot be tied to cannibalism, so we will add a fourth category of cannibalism: (4) the ultimate extension of pica (bizarre cravings and behavior resulting from extreme mineral deficiencies, such as Fe, P, Li, Ca, etc.).
The 1973 movie Soylent Green, starring Charlton Heston as a police investigator, portrayed a “benevolent” government in the year 2022, that had to deal with mindboggling overpopulation. There were 40 million people in New York City alone and a depleted food supply.
Chelated Li supplemented at 1,000 to 2,000 ug/dl caused a dose-dependent increase in hair Li levels; hair Li levels increased after four weeks of supplementation and leveled off and became stable after three months; when the Li supplementation was stopped, hair levels dropped to pre-supplement values in two months. This scenario does not appear with the use of lithium carbonate (metallic).
A comparison of 2,648 subjects showed that 65% had hair Li values ranging between 0.04 to 0.14 ug/G; 16% contained more than 0.14 ug/G and 18.4% had less than 0.04 ug/G. The highest levels of Li were found in university students from Tijuana, Mexico and the lowest levels were found in Munich, Germany.
According to Wallach and Ma in the book Rare Earths: Forbidden Cures, normal controls showed almost 400 times more hair Li than do the violent criminals from California, Florida, Texas, and Oregon.
The estimated daily intake of Li by the EPA ranges from 650 to 3,100 ug/d; however, much of this Li is metallic and not biologically available. Lithium supplementation increases the hair concentrations of V, Al, Pb, AS, and Co. Short term supplementation of Li elevates serum B12 levels; with long term supplementation of Li serum B12 drops.
Lu – Lutecium, a rare earth element, is found in igneous rocks at 0.5 ppm; shale at 0.33 ppm; sandstone at 0.096 ppm; limestone sat 0.067 ppm; land plants at up to 4.5 ppm by Carya spp.; marine animals sat 0.003 ppm; land animals at 0.00012 ppm in soft tissue and 0.08 ppm in bone.
Mg – Magnesium is found in igneous rocks at 23,300 ppm; in shale at 15,000 ppm; sandstone 10.700; limestone at 2,700 ppm; fresh water at 4.1 ppm; sea water at 1,350 ppm; soil at 5,000 ppm (highest in soil derived from basalt, serpentine or dolomite) – Mg is the second most common exchangeable cation in most soils; marine plants at 5,200 ppm; land plants at 3,200 ppm; marine animals at 5,000 ppm; land animals at 1,000 ppm (accumulates in mammalian bone).
Magnesium is essential to all living organisms and has electrochemical, catalytic and structural functions, activates numerous enzymes, and is a constituent of all chlorophylls.
The adult human contains 20 to 28 grams of total body magnesium. Approximately 60% is found in bone, 26% is associated with skeletal muscle and the balance is distributed between various organs and body fluids. Serum levels of Mg range from 1.5 to 2.1 mEq/L; it is second to K as an intracellular cation – half of the Mg, including most that is bound in the bone is not exchangeable.
Magnesium is required for the production and transfer of energy for protein synthesis, for contractility of muscle and excitability of nerves, and as a cofactor in myriads of enzyme systems. AN EXCESS OF MG WILL INHIBIT BONE CALCIFICATION. Calcium and magnesium have antagonistic roles in normal muscle contraction—calcium acting as the stimulator and Mg as the relaxer. An excessive amount of Ca can induce signs of Mg deficiency.
The rate of absorption of Mg ranges from 24 to 85%. The lesser absorption rate is for metallic sources of Mg, the higher levels are associated with plant derived colloidal sources. Vitamin D has no effect on Mg absorption; the presence of fat, phytates and calcium reduces the efficiency of Mg absorption. High performance athletes lose a considerable amount of Mg in sweat.
The RDA for Mg is 350 mg/day for adult males, 300 mg/day for adult females and 450 mg/day for pregnant and lactating females. If kidneys are healthy there is no evidence of toxicity at up to 6,000 mg/day.
Deficiencies of Mg produces a wide variety of deficiency diseases and symptoms.
Magnesium-Deficiency Diseases:
Asthma
Anorexia
Menstrual migraines
Growth failure
ECG changes
Neuromuscular problems
Tetany (convulsions)
Depression
Muscular weakness
Muscle “Ties”
Tremors
Vertigo
Calcification of small arteries
“Malignant” calcification of soft tissue
Mn – Manganese is found in igneous rocks at 950 ppm; shale at 850 ppm; sandstone at 50 ppm; limestone at 1,100 ppm; fresh water at 0.012 ppm; sea water at 0.002 ppm; soil at 850 ppm (can be a major exchangeable cation in very acid soil); marine plants at 1 to 60 ppm (lowest in fish); land animals at 0.2 ppm (highest in concentrations in mammalian liver and kidney); the total body content of Mn in humans is only 10 to 20 mg.
Manganese is essential to all-known living organisms; it activates numerous enzyme systems including those involved with glucose metabolism, energy production and superoxide dismutase; it is a major constituent of several metalloenzymes, hormones, and proteins of humans. Manganese is part of the developmental process of and the structure of the fragile ear bones and joint cartilage.
Excessive levels of Mn found in certain community water supplies and in some industrial processes can produce a Parkinsonian syndrome or a psychiatric disorder (“locura manganica”) resembling schizophrenia.
Deficiency diseases of Mn are very striking, ranging from severe congenital birth defects (such as congenital ataxia, deafness, chondrodystrophy, etc.), asthma, convulsions, retarded growth, skeletal defects, disruption of fat and carbohydrate metabolism to joint problems in children and adults (tendon and ligament degeneration, TMJ, repetitive motion syndrome, carpal tunnel syndrome, etc.)
Diseases of Manganese Deficiency:
Congenital ataxia
Congenital Deafness (malformation, hypoplasia, or aplasia of otolithes)
Asthma
Chondromalacia
Chondrodystrophy
“Slipped Tendon”
Defects of chondroitin sulfate metabolism (tendons and ligaments)
TMJ
Repetitive Motion Syndrome
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Convulsions
Infertility (i.e., failure to ovulate, testicular atrophy)
Still births (miscarriages)
Loss of libido in both males and females
Retarded growth rate
Shortened long bones
In 1994 Mn deficiency cost corporate America $20 billion dollars per year and accounts for 56% of the 331,600 gradual onset work related illnesses. In 1991 orthopedic surgeons performed 100,000 unnecessary carpal tunnel syndrome surgeries ($4,000 per surgery) with lost work, wages, and medical cost of $29,000 per case.
At risk for the repetitive motion syndrome are those with a Mn deficiency, those working in the fields of computers (in journalism, airline reservations, directory assistance, law, data entry, graphic design and securities brokerage). Chief among the blue collar victims are the auto assembly workers, chicken pluckers, meat cutters, postal employees, dock workers, etc.
Repetitive motion syndrome was observed three centuries ago in monks who were scribes and was described in 1717 by Bernardo Ramazzini, an Italian physician (considered to be the father of occupational medicine).
Repetitive motion syndrome victims (people with Mn deficiency) have reached such numbers that federal legislation has been passed in the form of OSHA and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to attempt to ensure workplace safety. As a result, large numbers of ergonomically correct keyboards and devices have been developed. We see millions of people at work with Velcro wrist, neck, elbow, finger, knee, back and hip supports—all for Mn deficiencies!
The allopathic medical system would still prefer to spend the patient’s, corporation’s, tax payer’s, and government’s money on devices, surgery, and pain relief, rather than to eliminate a problem by simply supplementing the patient with proper biochemical nutrition.
Mo – Molybdenum is found in igneous rocks at 1.5 ppm; shale at 2.6 ppm; sandstone at 0.02 ppm; limestone at 0.4 ppm; fresh water at 0.00035 ppm; sea water at 0.01 ppm; soil at 2 ppm (strongly concentrated by humus, especially in alkaline soils); a few soils worldwide are rich enough in molybdenum to cause Mo poisoning in animals consuming the local plants; numerous soils worldwide are Mo deficient; marine plants at 0.45 ppm; land plants at 0.9 ppm; marine animals at 0.6 to 2.5 ppm; land animals at 0.2 ppm (highest levels in the liver and kidney).
Molybdenum is essential to all organisms as a constituent of numerous metalloenzymes. Molybdenum is known to be an integral part of no less than three essential enzymes:
1. Xanthine oxidase
2. Aldehyde oxidase
3. Sulfite oxidase
The average American daily intake in food ranges from 76 to 109 mcg per day; the RDA for MO is 250 mcg per day.
Toxicity occurs at 10 mg per day as a gout-like disease and interference with copper metabolism.
N – Nitrogen is found in igneous rocks at 20 ppm; fresh water at 0.23 ppm; sea water at 0.5 ppm; soils at 1,000 ppm (99% present as a non-basic N bound in humus); marine plants at 15,000 ppm; land plants at 30,000 ppm; marine animals at 75,000 ppm; land animals at 100,000 ppm.
Nitrogen functions as a structural atom in protein, nucleic acids (RNA, DNA) and a wide variety of organic molecules. Dietary N (as protein) furnishes the amino acids for synthesis of tissue protein and other special metabolic functions:
1. Proteins are used to repair worn out body tissue (anabolic process)
2. Proteins are used to build new tissue (muscle, infant growth, childhood, teenagers, pregnancy)
3. Proteins can be an emergency source of heat and energy (albeit more expensive in biological terms than fat or carbohydrate)
4. Proteins make up essential body secretions and fluids (i.e., enzymes, hormones, mucus, milk, semen, etc.)
5. Blood plasma proteins maintain osmotic fluid balance (hypoproteinemia results in edema)
6. Proteins maintain acid-base balance of blood and tissues
7. Proteins aid in transport of other essential substances (e.g., minerals, fats, vitamins, etc.)
8. Proteins make up basic immunoglobulins (antibodies)
9. Proteins provide a N pool for the synthesis of amino acids and new proteins
Classic protein deficiency results in infertility, poor growth, lowered immune status, edema, and Kwashiorkor (potbellied, thin children of third world countries). The availability and usability of N from various foods is quite different and must be considered when choosing N sources.
Nitrogen/Protein Utilization Values of Common Foods
|
N Source (Protein) |
Chemical Score |
Rat Score |
|
Whole egg |
100 |
94 |
|
Human milk |
100 |
87 |
|
Cow’s milk |
95 |
82 |
|
Soya bean |
74 |
65 |
|
Sesame |
50 |
54 |
|
Peanut |
65 |
47 |
|
Cotton seed |
81 |
59 |
|
Maize |
49 |
52 |
|
Millet |
63 |
44 |
|
Rice |
67 |
59 |
|
Wheat |
53 |
48 |
Na – Sodium is found in igneous rocks at 23,600 ppm; shale at 9,600 ppm; sandstone at 3,300 ppm; limestone at 400 ppm; fresh water at 6.3 ppm; sea water at 10,500 ppm; soil at 6,300 ppm (is a major exchangeable cation in soil—especially alkaline soil); marine plants at 33,000 ppm; land plants at 1,200 ppm; marine animals at 4,000 to 48,000 ppm; and land animals at 4,000 ppm.
“Salt hunger” dates back to the very beginning of animals and man and is one of the very basic cravings of living organisms. Carnivores (man or beast) do not typically show the great craving for salt because meat contains relatively large amounts of NaCl, but herbivores and human vegetarians demand large amounts of NaCl because there is little or no natural NaCl in grains, vegetables and fruit.
The average Na dietary intake per day in Western cultures is five to 12 G/day while the Japanese who on the average out live Americans by four years consume an average of 28 G/day!
Sodium, Cl and K are three indispensable “electrolytes” so intimately associated in the body that they can be presented together. Sodium makes up two percent, K five percent and Cl three percent of the total mineral content of the human body. All three are widely distributed throughout the body tissues and fluids; however, Na and Cl are primarily extracellular (outside the cell) minerals, while K is an intracellular (inside the cell) mineral. Sodium, K and Cl are involved in at least four important physiological functions in the body:
1. Maintenance of normal water balance and distribution
2. Maintenance of normal osmotic equilibrium
3. Maintenance of normal acid-base balance
4. Maintenance of normal muscular irritability and neurological impulse and neurological transmission
Hormonal control of Na, K and Cl balance is regulated by the adrenal cortex hormones as well as by the anterior pituitary gland. Addison’s disease, a loss of function of the adrenal cortex, results in the loss of Na and K retention with clinical signs of general weakness, muscle cramps, weight loss and a marked “salt hunger.” The symptoms can be relieved with the supplementation of NaCl or by administering adrenal cortical hormones.
Deficiencies of NaCl occur primarily in hot weather (the heat wave of July 1993) or heavy work or exercise in a hot environment when large volumes of sweat are required for body cooling. “Water intoxication” occurred in infants fed low Na formulas because of the allopathic doctor’s paranoia about Na. Their brains swelled causing death from a simple Na deficiency.
The treatment for Na deficiency is water and salt either orally or IV (saline 0.9%).
Nb – Niobium is found in igneous rocks at 20 ppm; shale at 11 ppm; sandstone at 0.05 ppm; limestone 0.3 ppm; sea water at 0.00001 ppm; land plants at 0.3 ppm; and marine animals at 0.001 ppm.
Nd – Neodymium, a rare earth metal, is found in igneous rocks at 28 ppm; shale at 16 ppm; sandstone at 11 ppm; limestone at 4.3 ppm; marine plants at 5 ppm; land plants accumulates up to 460 ppm in Carya spp.; marine animals at 0.5 ppm; accumulates in the liver and bone of land animals.
Neodymium is a “light” rare earth proven to enhance normal cell growth and double the life spans of laboratory species.
Ne – Neon is found in igneous rocks at 0.005 ppm and sea water at 0.00014 ppm.
Ni – Nickel is found in igneous rocks at 75 ppm; shale at 68 ppm; sandstone at 2 00m; limestone at 20 ppm; fresh water at 0.01 ppm; sea water at 0.0054 ppm; soils at 40 ppm (higher in soils derived from serpentine); marine plants at 3.0 ppm; land plants at 3.0 ppm (accumulated by Alyssum bertalonii); marine animals at 0.4 to 25 ppm and land animals at 0.8 ppm (accumulates in RNA).
Symptoms of Nickel Deficiency in the Rat:
Poor growth
Lower hematocrit (anemia from B12 deficiency)
Depressed oxidative functions of the liver
Increased newborn mortality
Rough/dry coat
Dermatitis
Delayed puberty
Decreased ability to absorb dietary zinc
Less than 10% of ingested metallic nickel is absorbed. Nickel deficiency was first reported in 1970.
Nickel functions as a cofactor for metalloenzymes and facilitates gastrointestinal absorption of iron and zinc. Optimal tissue levels of B12 are necessary for the optimal biological function of nickel. B12 deficiency results in an increased need for nickel by animals and man.
Np – All isotopes of neptunium are radioactive. The half life of Np is 2.2 x 106. Neptunium accumulates in mammalian bone after ingestion; Neptunium has been found in fresh water organisms in the Hanford River (USA).
O – Oxygen is found in igneous rock at 464,000 ppm; shale at 483,000 ppm; sandstone at 492,000 ppm; limestone at 497,000 ppm; fresh water at 889,000 ppm; sea water at 857,000 ppm; soils at 490,000 ppm; marine plants at 470,000 ppm; land plants at 410,000 (except anaerobic organisms); marine animals at 400,000 ppm; land animals at 186,000 ppm.
Terrestrial O consists of 99.76% 16O with a half life of less than two minutes. Oxygen is a structural atom of water (in and out of living systems), and of all organic compounds of biological interest; O2 is required for “respiration” by all organisms (except for anaerobic organisms). We can live for 30 days without food, three to seven days without water under ideal circumstances, but only for four minutes without gaseous oxygen. Oxygen is the most critical of all elemental factors necessary for the maintenance of human life.
According to the 1980s U.S. Geological Survey, our earth’s atmosphere had 50% oxygen 75 million years ago when dinosaurs flourished (these oxygen level estimates were arrived at by inserting micro-needles into trapped air bubbles in polar ice and determining the oxygen level in ancient ice). Some paleontologists claim that the simultaneous and universal demise of the dinosaurs followed the widespread quieting of the earth’s volcanoes that reduced the levels of atmospheric CO2, which in turn reduced the oxygen levels to 38%. It is theorized that the 12% drop in the earth’s oxygen levels was sufficient to cause the apocalyptic demise of the dinosaur.
The Geological Survey also reported that the earth’s atmosphere still contained 38% oxygen as recently as 100 years ago. During the 1950s, the percentage of O in our atmosphere dropped to 21% and in the 21st century it has dropped to 19% of our gaseous atmosphere.
The continued drop in O levels in our atmosphere reflects an increase in oxygen-consuming species (including the runaway human population) and fossil-fuel burning machines (i.e., vehicles electric and power-generating plants, etc.) and less oxygen production (from decreasing acreages of rain forests and aquatic algae). The net result of this continued drop in oxygen levels is a relative “anaerobic state” compared with the 38% of just 100 years ago and a very marked “anaerobic state” compared with the 50% oxygen levels 75 million years ago.
Most pathogenic organisms (disease producing) are by themselves anaerobic and are “happier” and flourish and reproduce with more vigor in the absence of oxygen (e.g., gangrene organisms, type A streptococcus, etc.) or are able to survive and grow in living cells weakened by low-oxygen environments (e.g., viruses, yeast, fungus, cancer, etc.).
The question is why have anaerobic diseases “suddenly appeared” in the 80s and 90s during the last quarter of the 20th century, diseases with which we have little or no human history or experience?
Regardless of the name, tuberculosis or consumption or scrofula can be found in 5,000 year old mummies from Egypt and China, 1,000 year old corpses from Peru and ancient writings from the Greeks and Romans.
The “new” modern day anaerobic diseases have no history with humans, nor will you find them in biblical or ancient writings describing HIV, EBV, CMV, Herpes II, Hanta Virus, Candida, Toxic Shock Syndrome from Staphylococcus spp., E. coli and “flesh-eating” Type A Streptococcus spp.
The most plausible theory is that the anaerobic disease causing organisms laid around in dormant states (spores) for 100s, 1,000s or even millions of years as long as relatively high level of oxygen (at 50, 38 or even 21%) were present in our atmosphere to inhibit their activity and growth. With the precipitous dip in atmospheric oxygen, we are having an “oxygen counter revolution” with a return to an anaerobic bios.
Aerobic Diseases of Humans
|
Disease |
Year of Appearance |
|
VIRAL |
|
|
Mycoplasma (rheumatoid arthritis—virus-like) |
? |
|
Herpes II (sexually transmitted herpes)1978 |
|
|
HIV (AIDS) |
1982 |
|
EBV, CMV (chronic fatigue syndrome) |
1982 |
|
Hanta Virus (“Four Corners Disease”) |
1993 |
|
BACTERIA |
|
|
Staphylococcus (Toxic Shock Syndrome) |
1982 |
|
E. coli (Toxic Shock Syndrome) |
1993 |
|
Type A Streptococcus (“flesh-eating” Strep) |
1994 |
|
YEAST/FUNGUS |
|
|
Candida albicans (“Candida”) |
1982 |
|
Coccidiomycosis (“Valley Fever”) |
1900 (35 cs/yr) |
|
1992 (1,450 cs/yr) |
|
|
CANCER |
|
|
All forms |
1900 (1 cs/10) |
|
1994 (3 cs/4) |
Dr. Otto Warburg, of the Max Plank Institute, Germany, was the recipient of two unshared Nobel Prizes (Linus Pauling was the only other individual to be awarded two unshared Nobel Prizes)—one for discovering the amino acid and describing the basic composition of proteins and the other for determining that the metabolism of the cancer cell is fermentative and anaerobic while the normal non-cancerous cell is fully aerobic. During the 1950s Warburg was able to demonstrate clearly that cancer cells ferment sugar under anaerobic conditions and die in the presence of oxygen.
Neutrophils, a type of white blood cell that helps defend humans by identifying, engulfing, and destroying invading microorganisms, such as a virus, bacteria, yeast, fungus, parasites and cancer cells, use hydrogen peroxide as their “lethal weapon.” Neutrophils are packed with small organelles (microscopic organs) called peroxisomes, whose sole function is to produce hydrogen peroxide and eject it onto the captured pathogen or cancer cell for the specific purpose of destroying it. Neutrophils tend to be very sloppy, dribbling their over-production of hydrogen peroxide freely into the general circulation.
The potential danger of hydrogen peroxide free in the blood stream is that it could become a “loose-cannon.” However, we humans are blessed with an enzyme called catalase that literally coats the surfaces of human red blood cells and the linings of blood vessels. The function of the enzyme catalase is to rapidly facilitate the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide down to water (H2O) and singlet oxygen (O).
There are concerns by the uninitiated regarding the “free radical” status of “singlet” oxygen (O) which has a free electron when either ozone (O3), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), magnesium peroxide (MgO2) or chlorine dioxide (ClO2) decompose into water and singlet oxygen, magnesium and singlet oxygen, or chlorine and singlet oxygen.
When singlet or atomic oxygen come into direct contact with tissue cells outside of the circulatory system (in a cell culture, test tube, wound, etc.) the cells will die; however, in the whole animal or human, other biological factors come into play to protect the whole organism to prevent the “free radical” damage.
When ingested in proper dilution on an empty stomach or administered by IV under proper conditions, food grade hydrogen peroxide is readily absorbed through the stomach and duodenal walls directly into the blood stream where it is immediately broken down into water and singlet oxygen. The free electron of the singlet oxygen ether combines with a free electron of a carcinogenic-free electron (carcinogenic substances) or with the free electron of another singlet oxygen, becoming O2. Carcinogenic-free electrons frequently remain free electrons under many circumstances, actually “quite happy” with their free electron status. On the other hand, the free electron of the singlet oxygen does not like to be a singlet electron and if it doesn’t locate another free electron to attach to it will in nanoseconds grab onto another singlet oxygen and become an O2—the required stuff of respiration and life itself!
Ozone (O3) -> H2O2 + O-
Catalase -> H2O + O2
Oxygen in the form of hydrogen peroxide has been used topically, intravenously and orally since the Civil War. It has been used widely in Europe for more than 50 years for alternative cancer therapies, circulatory disease, arteriosclerosis, emphysema, asthma, gangrene and more recently as a therapy for survivors of stroke (stroke victims have inactive but living cells surrounding the stroke site known as “sleeping beauty” cells that can be reactivated or jump started when they are exposed to several atmospheres of oxygen in hyperbaric chambers).
In Dr. Renate Vicbahn’s book, The Use of Ozone in Medicine, cited 22 refereed medical journal articles that illustrated the therapeutic effect of ozone against cancer cells. There does appear to be a bell-shaped curve or “therapeutic window” (i.e., hormesis) for the optimal dosage of ozone (20 to 100 u/ml of blood); anything less is ineffective and anything more can be damaging to normal cells.
Os – Osmium is found in igneous rocks at 0.0015 ppm. It oxidizes organic matter as OsO4 and is reduced to Os.
P – Phosphorus is found in igneous rocks at 1,050 ppm; shale at 700 ppm; sandstone at 170 ppm; limestone at 400 ppm; fresh water at 0.005 ppm; sea water at 0.07 ppm; soil at 650 ppm (“fixed” by hydrous oxides of Al and Fe in acid soil). Great and vast reaches of Earth are deficient in P; marine plants at 3,500 ppm; land plants at 2,300 ppm; marine animals at 4,000 to 18,000 ppm; land animals at 17,000 to 44,000 ppm.
Phosphorous is an extremely important essential mineral. However, it gets little or no attention from nutritionists because it is widely available in many foods. Phosphorus is a major structural mineral for bones and teeth, and it has more functions in the human than any other mineral, including its role as a vital constituent of nucleic acids; it activates enzymes for several steps of the ATP energy cycle; and is used in RBC metabolism (a complete discussion of P would require a discussion of every metabolic function in the body).
Second in abundance only to calcium in the human body, P comprises 22 percent of the body’s total mineral content. The human body contains about 800 grams of P, (just short of two pounds), of which 700 grams is found in bones and teeth as insoluble calcium phosphate (hydroxyapatite crystals). The balance of P in the human body is found as biologically active intra and extracellular colloidal P in combination with carbohydrates, lipids, protein, and a wide variety of other biologically active organic compounds including the blood’s major pH buffering system. B-complex vitamins function as coenzymes to intracellular metabolic functions only when combined with P.
Phosphorus is part of most proteins and as such becomes problematic (elevated P intake increases Ca requirements) when “high protein diets” are consumed by aggravating osteoporosis, arthritis, high blood pressure, loose teeth, etc. Phosphorus is present as phytates in cereals and grain flours. Therefore, if bread is made from unleavened flours, the phytic acid will complex with Ca, Fe, Zn and other minerals in the gut, thus further lowering their absorption rate.
The average human adult dietary intake of P is 1,000 to 1,500 mg/day. In adults and older children, the absorption of metallic P is limited to approximately three to five percent and as high as eight to 12 percent in infants. Mixed dietary sources of P (chelated forms) may be absorbed at the rate of 40 to 50%. Optimal absorption of metallic and chelated P occurs when the Ca:P ratio is 1:1. Colloidal P is absorbed up to 98%.
Deficiencies of P have long been recognized in livestock, but only recently has a deficiency of P been considered important in humans. The widespread, universal, and ultimately fatal results of P deficiency are related to its widespread use in biological functions, significantly as a result of a decrease in ATP synthesis (complete metabolic energy failure) with associated neuromuscular, skeletal, blood, and kidney diseases.
Phosphate appetite was described by LeVaillant (1796) as the anxious search by cattle in phosphate-deficient South African pastures for discarded dog chew-bones (osteophagia); they also chewed on wood (cribbing, pica) and each other’s horns. Bone chewing (osteophagia, a form of pica) has been reported in many wild species of herbivores including the reindeer, caribou, red deer, camel, giraffe, elephant and the wildebeest.
Elephants have been observed eating limestone roadbeds and large termite heaps as ready and available mineral supplements. A search for calcium-rich edible clays and soils and territorial disputes over limited supplies led to wars in tribal Africa.
Obesity and an overweight condition is synonymous with Americans. In fact, at this writing, America is the most obese nation in the world—America is “number one!” Pica in its various forms is a behavior that is driven by mineral deficiencies (for example, from phosphorus, iron, etc.) Interestingly enough, neither vitamin deficiencies, protein deficiencies, nor calorie deficiency initiates this “pica” behavior; nor will supplementing vitamins or eating sugar, carbohydrates, fats, protein, or salt quench it!!
Wallach and Ma published Hell’s Kitchen, which outlined and documented the “cause, prevention, and cure for obesity” as mineral deficiencies (of phosphorus, iron, etc.) rather than lack of exercise and eating too much.
Clinical P depletion and resultant low blood P (hypophosphatemia) result from IV administration of glucose or TPN (Total Parenteral Nutrition) without P supplementation, excessive use of antacids, hyperparathyroidism (low calcium/high phosphate diets are the cause of this one), improper treatment of diabetic acidosis, use of diuretics, sweating during exercise, and alcoholism with and without liver disease.
Vegetarians and vegans, who do not supplement with minerals, rarely have P deficiency (unless they have a chronic gluten intolerance from high whole-grain consumption). However, because of their high phytic acid intake (raw vegetables) they always have other mineral deficiencies (such as lack of Ca, Cu, Cr, V, Li, Zn, etc.) unless they supplement.
Pa – Protoactinium is found in igneous rocks at 1.4 x 10-6 ppm and sea water at 2.4 x 10-31 ppm. All isotopes are radioactive with a half-life of 32,000 years. Protoactinium accumulates in mammalian bone after ingestion.
Pb – Lead is found in igneous rocks at 12.5 ppm; shale at 20 ppm; sandstone at 7 ppm; limestone at 9 ppm; soil at 10 ppm (higher in limestone soils and humus); fresh water at 0.005 ppm; sea water at 0.00008 ppm; marine plants at 8.4 ppm; land plants at 2.7 ppm (many plant species are adapted to Pb-rich soils and accumulate Pb including Amorpha canescens); marine animals at 0.5 ppm (highest in fish bones); land animals at 2.0 ppm (highest levels found in bone, liver, and kidney).
Lead has a biological function in all vertebrates including humans. Schrauzer states that lead is a required cofactor for an enzyme (“leadzyme”) that is part of the duplication process of RNA.
Children with cravings (pica) for non-food items (including paint, sand, dirt, etc.) are very susceptible to lead poisoning (plumbism). Infants and children with pica (mineral deficiencies) will chew on their toys (e.g, three-year-old Natale Hayhurst, from Terra Haute, IN reported on Good Morning America (March 2011) that she ate light bulbs, diet coke cans, dirt, rocks, plastic toys, paper products, cardboard, shower curtain magnets, etc.)
It is common that infants and children who are mineral deficient with clinical pica will chew on their toys, cribs, window sills, caulking, furniture and paint. A chip of lead paint the size of a penny can contain as much as 50 to 100 ug of lead, consuming this amount of lead daily over three months will result in lead poisoning.
The “normal” blood lead level is below 40 ug/dl. Children with blood lead levels above 60 to 80 ug/dl have symptoms of vomiting, irritability, weight loss, muscular weakness, headache, abdominal pain, insomnia, and anorexia. Children with blood lead levels above 80 ug/dl show anemia, kidney damage, (Fanconi syndrome, and increased urinary loss of amino acids, glucose, and phosphorus), peripheral neuritis, ataxia and muscular incoordination, joint pain and encephalopathy (brain damage, learning disabilities, etc.) with eventual death.
The approach to treating lead poisoning includes supplementing with 60 colloidal minerals (including Ca and Fe to eliminate pica and further ingestion of Pb), restoring fluid and electrolyte balance (especially K and P) and the use of IV or IM chelation using CaEDTA (calcium-ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) and BAL(British Anti-Lewisite) for a minimum of five days. It is not unusual for as many as 25% of Pb poisoned individuals to have residual loss of IQ, loss of coordination, hyperactivity, learning disabilities, and impulsiveness.
Pd – Palladium is found in igneous rocks at 0.01 ppm and land animals at 0.002 ppm. Palladium accumulates in mammalian liver and kidney after ingestion.
Combinations of vitamin B12 and palladium are employed for alternative cancer therapies.
Pm – Promethium isotopes are all radioactive with a half-life of 2.6 years. Promethium is an important fission product that has entered the biosphere (prior to made-made nuclear explosions Pm did not exist in nature). Pm accumulates in mammalian bone and liver after ingestion.
Po – Polonium is found in igneous rocks at 2 x 10-10 ppm.
Pr – Praseodymium is a “light” rare earth element that is found in igneous rocks at 8.2 ppm; shale at 6 ppm; sandstone at 2.8 ppm; limestone at 1.4 ppm; marine plants at 5 ppm; land plants accumulates up to 46 ppm (Carya spp.); marine animals at 0.5 ppm; land animals at 1.5 ppm (accumulates in mammalian bone and liver).
Praseodymium enhances proliferation of normal cell growth and doubling of the life span in laboratory species.
Pt – Platinum is found in igneous rocks at 0.005 ppm and land animals at 0.002 ppm.
Pu – All plutonium isotopes are radioactive with a half-life of 24,000 years. Plutonium was released into the earth’s atmosphere by nuclear explosions. Marine plants concentrate Pu up to 4,000 times above the background level of sea water. Land plants record 0.4 to 2.2 disintegrations/sec/kg; land animals record 0.07 to 6.8 disintegrations/sec/kg (Pu accumulates in bone after contact or ingestion).
Ra – Radium is found in igneous rocks at 9 x 10-7 ppm; shale at 11 x 10-7 ppm; sandstone at 7 x 10-7 ppm; limestone at 4 x 10-7 ppm; fresh water at 3.9 x 10-10 ppm; sea water at 6 x 10-11 ppm; soils at 8 x 10-7 ppm; marine plants at 9 x 10-8 ppm; land plants at ( ) x 10-9 ppm; marine animals at 0.7 to 15 x 10-9 ppm; land animals at 7 x 10-9 ppm (highest concentrations in mammalian bone); all isotopes of Ra are radioactive.
Rb – Rubidium is found in igneous rocks at 90 ppm; shale at 140 ppm; sandstone at 60 ppm; limestone at 3 ppm; fresh water at 0.0015 ppm; sea water at 0.12 ppm; soil at 100 ppm (fixed by clay soils); marine plants at 7.4 ppm; land plants at 20 ppm; marine animals at 20 ppm; land animals at 17 ppm (highest levels in liver and muscle; lowest levels in bone).
Rubidium can replace the electrolyte function of K in many species including bacteria, algae, fungi and certain invertebrates (echinoderms – starfish).
Re – Rhenium is found in igneous rocks at 0.005 ppm; marine plants at 0.014 ppm; marine animals at 0.0005 to 0.oo6 ppm; land animals accumulate Re in thyroid tissue.
Rh – Rhodium is found in igneous rocks at 0.001 ppm.
Rn – Radon is found in igneous rocks at 4 x 10-13 ppm; fresh water at 1.7 x 10-15 ppm; sea water at 6 x 10-16 ppm; all isotopes of Rn are radioactive with a half-life of 54 seconds to 3.8 days; Rn gas is carcinogenic and highly toxic when inhaled. Radon is a common household hazard, it is odorless and colorless; detection requires the use of a kit that is generally available.
Ru – Ruthenium is found in igneous rocks at 0.001 ppm; land plants at 0.005 ppm; land animals at 0.002 ppm (Ru04 is highly toxic to animals and humans).
S – Sulfur is found in igneous rocks at 260 ppm; shale at 2,400 ppm; sandstone at 240 ppm; limestone at 1,200 ppm; fresh water at 3.7 ppm; sea water at 885 ppm; soils at 700 ppm (up to 90% of soil S is bound tightly to humus; SO4 is a major exchange anion in many soils; occurs in soils near volcanoes liberating SO2 and SO3); marine plants at 12,000 ppm (accumulates in red algae, Demarestia spp.); land plants at 3,400 ppm (lower in most bryophytes and gymnosperms); marine animals at 5,000 to 19,000 ppm (highest in coelenterates and molluscs); land animals at 5,000 ppm (highest in cartilage, tendons, keratin, skin, nails and hair and lowest in bones).
Sulfur is an important structural atom in most proteins as sulfur amino acids (cystine, cysteine and methionine) and small organic molecules. Glutathione, a tripeptide containing cysteine, is essential to cellular reactions involving sulfur amino acids in protein. Sulfur is found in a reduced form (-SH) in cysteine and in an oxidized form (-S-S-) as the double molecule, cysteine. This “sulfhydryl group” is important for the specific configuration of some structural proteins and for the biological activities of some enzymes (proteins that do work).
Sulfur containing proteins work in indirect ways to maintain life:
· Hemoglobin
· Hormones (insulin, adrenal cortical hormones)
· Enzymes
· Antibodies
Sulfur also occurs in carbohydrates such as heparin, an anticoagulant that is concentrated in the liver and other tissues; and chondroitin sulfate (cartilage, collagen, etc.). The vitamins thiamine (B1) and biotin have S bound in their molecule. The toxic properties of arsenic are the result of its ability to combine with sulfhydryl groups.
Deficiency of S results in degenerative types of arthritis involving degeneration of cartilage, ligaments, tendons, Systemic Lupus Erythematosis, Sickle cell anemia and various “collagen diseases.”
Sb – Antimony is found in igneous rocks at 0.2 ppm; shale at 1.5 ppm; sandstone at 0.05 ppm; limestone at 0.2 ppm; sea water at 0.00033 ppm; soil at 2 to 10 ppm; land plants at 0.06 ppm; land animals at 0.006 ppm (concentrates in mammalian heart muscle).
Antimony potassium tartrate (tartar emetic) is still used today as the preferred treatment for blood flukes (schistosomiasis or Bilharziasis).
Sc – Scandium is found in igneous rocks at 22 ppm; shale at 13 ppm; sandstone and limestone at 1 ppm; sea water at 0.000004 ppm; soils at 7 ppm; land plants at 0.008 ppm; land animals at 0.00006 ppm (concentrates in mammalian heart and bone).
Se – Selenium is found in igneous rocks at 0.05 ppm; shale at 0.6 ppm; sandstone at 0.05 ppm; limestone at 0.08 ppm; fresh water at 0.02 ppm; sea water at 0.00009 ppm; soils 0.2 ppm (not universally distributed, vast areas of Earth are deficient or even totally devoid of Se; Se is found in the humus of alkaline soils when present); marine plants at 0.8 ppm; land plants at 0.2 ppm; land animals at 1.7 ppm (highest concentrations found in liver, kidney, heart and skeletal muscle).
Selenium is the most efficient antioxidant (anti-peroxident) and is found at the subcellular level in the glutathione peroxidase enzyme system and “metallo” amino acids (selenomethionine, etc.). Selenium prevents cellular and subcellular lipids and fats from being peroxidized, which literally means it prevents body fats from going rancid (seen externally as “age spots” or “liver spots”). This browngold peroxidized lipid is known as ceroid lipofucsin.
Selenium has been shown to “improve genome stability” And maintain teleomere function and length.
Selenium also functions to protect cellular and organelle bi-lipid layermembranes from oxidative damage. This type of lipid damage (known as ceroid lipofucsin) is seen through the standard light microscope is called “age pigment.” High intake of dietary polyunsaturated oils (such as olive oil, coconut oil, fish oil, etc.), salad dressings, margarine, and cooking oils concurrent with a selenium deficiency will increase the risk and rate of birth defects (such as cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, etc.), arteriosclerosis, cardiomyopathy, sudden heart death, and cancer. The polyunsaturated configuration of the oils when heated or treated with hydrogen (“trans fatty acids”) literally causes the rancidity (“free radical” damage) of cellular membranes and intracellular fat.
The clinical diseases associated with selenium deficiency are diverse and to the uninformed shrouded in mystery. Selenium deficiency is one of the more costly mineral deficiency complexes affecting embryos, the newborn, toddlers, teens, and adults alike.
Selenium deficiency can result in infertility in both men and women. Congenital selenium during pregnancy can result in a wide variety of problems ranging from miscarriage, low birth weight, high infant mortality, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (“SIDS”), cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, cardiomyopathy, liver cirrhosis, cancer, etc.
Selenium deficiency in growing children can result in crib death or SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), slow growth, small size (failure to reach genetic potential for size and mass), muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis (CF), scoliosis, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (muscular dystrophy of the heart muscle, a.k.a. Keshan Disease), anemia, liver cirrhosis, hypothyroidism, muscular weakness, lowered immune capacity, and neuromuscular diseases such as ALD (Adrenoleucodystrophy or “Lorenzo’s Oil” type syndromes).
In young adults, selenium deficiency appears as anemia, chronic fatigue, Wilson’s syndrome (hypothyroidism), liver cirrhosis, muscular weakness, myalgia, muscle tenderness, fibromyalgia, lupus, pancreatitis, infertility, muscular selenium deficiency in adults appears especially common in young athletes such as basketball players, football players and track stars at the high school, college, university, Olympic and professional levels, part of the anorexia nervosa complex, MS (multiple sclerosis), Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS) and liver cirrhosis, cancer and lowered immune capacity.
Selenium deficiency in adults appears as reduced immune capacity, anemia, infertility, “age spots” or “liver spots”, myalgia, muscle weakness, fibromyalgia, lupus, MS (multiple sclerosis), ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), Parkinson’s disease, dementia (Werniki-Korsakoff’s disease), irregular heart beat (electrical conduction problems), cardiomyopathy, hypertrophy or thickening of the heart ventricular walls, sudden heart death, liver cirrhosis, hypothyroidism, cataracts, and cancer.
Selenium Deficiency Diseases:
HIV (AIDS)
Anemia (RBC fragility)
Age Spots & Liver Spots–ceroid lipofucin
Fatigue
Muscular weakness
Myalgia (Fibromyalgia, muscle pain and soreness)
Rhabdomyalisis (breakdown of skeletal muscle cell walls following exercise)
Scoliosis
Muscular Dystrophy (MD, White Muscle Disease, Stiff Lamb Disease)
Cystic Fibrosis
Cardiomyopathy (Keshan Disease, “Mulberry heart” disease)
Multiple sclerosis (MS)
Blindness – cataracts, macular degeneration
Heart palpitations
Irregular heart beat
Liver cirrhosis
Pancreatitis
Pancreatic atrophy
Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS)
Parkinson’s Disease
Alzheimer’s Disease (a physician caused disease associated with the use of statin drugs, low cholesterol intake and consumption of free radicals)
Adrenoleucodystrophy (ALD – “Lorenzo’s Oil” Syndrome)
Infertility
Low birth weight
High infant mortality
Miscarriages
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
Cancer (reported in 1912)
Clinical AIDS (HIV infection)
Sickle-cell anemia
Wilson’s Syndrome (hypothyroidism)
Wallach in 1998 filed for and won an application for selenium claims from the FDA, including, “supplementation with selenium can reduce the risk of many types of cancer,” and “supplementation with selenium can support the bodies ability to manufacture anti-cancer substances.”
In 2013 the FDA sent out an announcement that “encouraged” manufacturers of infant formulas to add selenium to their products. This brings the number of minerals in infant formulas to 13 but where are the other 47?
In a review of the anti-cancer effects of selenium, Schrauzer, Professor emeritus and head of the Department of Chemistry, UCSD stated:
Selenium is increasingly recognized as a versatile anticarcinogenic agent. Its protective functions cannot be solely attributed to the action of glutathione peroxidase. Instead, selenium appears to operate by several mechanisms, depending on dosage and chemical form of selenium and the nature of the carcinogenic stress. In a major protective function, selenium is proposed to prevent the malignant transformation of cells by acting as a “redox switch” in the activation-inactivation of cellular growth factors and other functional proteins through the catalysis of oxidation-reduction reactions of critical –SH groups or –S-S– bonds. The growth-modulatory effects of selenium are dependent on the levels of intracellular glutathione peroxidase and the oxygen supply. In general, growth inhibition is achieved by the Se-mediated stimulation of cellular respiration (more oxygen and less cancer). Selenium appears to inhibit the replication of tumor viruses and the activation of oncogenes by similar mechanisms, However, it may also alter carcinogen metabolism and protect DNA against carcinogen-induced damage.
In additional functions of relevance to its anticarcinogenic activity, selenium acts as an acceptor of biogenic methyl groups, and is involved in detoxification of metals and certain xenobiotics. Selenium also has immunopotentiating properties. It is required for optimal macrophage and natural killer cell functions.
The school of pharmacy from the University of Georgia released a report in august of 1994 that concludes: “A human selenium deficiency is related to the onset of full-blown AIDS in chronically infected HIV patients. According to their report, HIV requires large amounts of selenium for replication and in selenium-deficient patients, the virus competes with the patient for limited amounts of the essential mineral. The HIV patient actually dies of selenium-deficiency encephalopathy, liver cirrhosis, or cardiomyopathy. Long-term HIV patients (20 years or more) that never developed full blown clinical AIDS had supplemented with relatively large amounts of selenium.”
Si – Silica is found in igneous rocks at 281,500 ppm; shale at 73,000 ppm; sandstone at 368,000 ppm; limestone at 24,000 ppm; fresh water at 6.5 ppm; sea water at 3 ppm; soils at 330,000 ppm (found as SiO2, the most abundant form of Si in nature, in silicates and clays); marine plants at 1,500 to 20,000 ppm; accumulated by diatoms, horsetail, ferns, Cyoeraceae, Graineae and Jucaceae and by flowers of Pappophorum silicosum; marine animals at 70,000 ppm; land animals at 120 to 6,000 ppm (highest levels in hair, lungs and bone).
Silica supplementation increases the collagen in growing bone by 100%. Tissue levels of Si decrease with aging in unsupplemented humans and laboratory species. Silica deficiency is characterized by dry brittle hair, brittle finger and toe nails, poor skin quality, poor calcium utilization, and arterial disease. High fiber diets contain significant amounts of Si which leads many investigators to believe that Si helps to lower cholesterol. The recommended Si intake ranges from 200 to 500 mg/day for adults.
Sm – Samarium is a “light” rare earth element found in igneous rocks at 6 ppm; shale at 5.6 ppm; sandstone at 2.7 ppm; limestone at 0.8 ppm; land plants at 0.0055 ppm (accumulates up to 23 ppm); marine animals at 0.04 to 0.08 ppm; land animals at 0.01 ppm in heart muscle and 0.0009 ppm in mammalian bone and liver.
Samarium enhances normal cell proliferation and doubles the life span of laboratory species.
Sn – Tin is found in igneous rocks at 2 ppm; shale at 6 ppm; sandstone and limestone at 0.5 ppm; fresh water at 0.00004 ppm; sea water at 0.003 ppm; soils at 2 to 200 ppm (strongly absorbed by humus); marine plants at 1 ppm; land plants at 0.3 ppm (highest in bryophytes and lichens); marine animals at 0.2 to 20 ppm; land animals at 0.15 ppm (highest levels are found in the lungs and intestines of vertebrates).
Originally, the presence of Sn in tissue was attributed to environmental contamination; however, careful and detailed studies by Schwarz demonstrated that Sn produced an acceleration of growth in rats and further met the standards for an essential trace element. As a member of the fourth main chemical group of elements, Sn has many chemical and physical properties similar to those of carbon, silica, germanium, and lead.
Rats fed Sn at 17.0 ng/gm show poor growth, reduced feed efficiency, hearing loss, and bilateral (male pattern) hair loss, while rats fed 1.99 ug/gm were physiologically and anatomically normal; Sn was demonstrated to be an essential element by Schwarz in 1970. Tin has been shown to exert a strong induction effect on the enzyme heme oxygenase, enhancing heme breakdown in the kidney. There is also evidence for tin having cancer-prevention properties.
A federal study released in November of 1991 showed that men in recent generations have poorer hearing at any given age than in men in earlier generations and is generally thought to be the result of a Sn deficiency. Men over the age of 30 lose their hearing more than twice as fast as women of the same age.
Sr – Strontium is found in igneous rocks at 375 ppm; shale at 300 ppm; sandstone at 20 ppm; limestone at 610 ppm; fresh water at 0.08 ppm; sea water at 8.1 ppm; soils at 300 ppm; marine plants at 260 to 1,400 ppm; land plants at 26 ppm; marine animals at 20 to 500 ppm; land animals at 14 ppm (highest in mammalian bone).
Strontium can replace Ca in a Ca deficiency state in many organisms including man.
Deficiencies of Sr are associated with certain types of Ca and B resistant osteopenia, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, degenerative arthritis, bone on bone arthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis.
Strontium 90, the man made radioactive isotope product of fission atomic explosions and the greatest biohazard fear during the “Cold War” does occur naturally in nature.
Ta – Tantalum is found in igneous rocks at 2 ppm; shale at 0.8 ppm; sandstone and limestone at 0.05 ppm; sea water at 0.0000025 ppm; marine animals accumulate Ta up to 410 ppm.
Tb – Terbium is found in igneous rocks at 0.9 ppm; shale at 0.58 ppm; sandstone at 0.41 ppm; limestone at 0.071 ppm; land plants at 0.0015 ppm; marine animals at 0.006 to 0.01 ppm; land animals at 0.0004 ppm (accumulates in mammalian bone).
Tc – All isotopes of technetium are radioactive and not known to occur naturally in nature. Technetium is poorly absorbed by mammals.
Te – Tellurium is found in igneous rocks at 0.001 ppm; land plants at 2 to 25 ppm and land animals at 0.02 ppm.
Th – Thorium is found in igneous rocks at 9 to 6 ppm; shale at 12 ppm; sandstone and limestone at 1 to 7 ppm; soils at 5 ppm; marine animals at 0.003 to 0.03 ppm; and land animals at 0.003 to 0.1 ppm.
Ti – Titanium is found in igneous rocks at 5,700 ppm; shale at 4,600 ppm; sandstone at 1,500 ppm; sea water at 0.001 ppm; soils at 5,000 ppm; marine plants at 12 to 80 ppm (accumulates in plankton); land plants at 1 ppm; marine animals at 0.2 to 20 ppm; and land animals at 0.2 ppm.
Tl – Thallium is found in igneous rocks at 0.45 ppm; shale at 1.4 ppm; sandstone at 0.82 ppm; limestone at 0.05 ppm; sea water at 0.00001 ppm; soils at 0.1 ppm; land animals at 0.4 ppm (accumulates in the mammalian kidney and under certain circumstances can be highly toxic to mammals including man).
Tm – Thulium is a “heavy” rare earth and is found in igneous rocks at 0.48 ppm; shale at 0.28 ppm; sandstone at 0.3 ppm; limestone at 0.065 ppm; land plants at 0.0015 ppm; and land animals at 0.00004 ppm.
Thulium supplementation enhances the growth of normal cells and has doubled the lifespans of laboratory species.
U – Uranium is found in igneous rocks at 2.7 ppm; shale at 3.7 ppm; sandstone at 0.95 ppm; limestone at 2.2 ppm; fresh water at 0.001 ppm; sea water at 0.003 ppm; soil at 1 ppm (absorbed by humus, especially in alkaline soils); land plants at 0.038 ppm (Astragalus spp. is an accumulator plant); marine animals at 0.004 to 3.2 ppm; land animals at 0.013 ppm; all natural isotopes of U are alpha emiters and may also decay by fission. Uranium is accumulated by mammalian kidney and bone after ingestion.
V – Vanadium is found in igneous rocks at 135 ppm; shale at 130 ppm; sandstone at 20 ppm; limestone at 20 ppm; fresh water at 0.001 ppm; seater at 0.002 ppm; soils at 100 ppm (V is absorbed by humus, especially in alkaline soils); marine plants at 2 ppm; land plants at 1.6 ppm (accumulated by the fungus Arnanita muscaria); marine animals at 0.14 to 2 ppm; land animals at 0.15 ppm.
Metallic V (vanadyl sulfate) is absorbed from the intestinal tract very poorly at levels of 0.1 to 1.0%; V chelates at 40% and plant derived colloids at up to 98%.
Vanadium was proven to be an essential trace mineral in 1971. Vanadium stimulates glucose (blood sugar) oxidation and transport in fat cells and glycogen (animal starch) synthesis in liver and muscle and inhibits liver gluconeogenesis (production of glucose from fat) and absorption of glucose from the gut. Vanadium enhances the stimulating effect of insulin on DNA synthesis. Despite low serum insulin, the blood glucose levels of diabetic rats fed V, was the same as normal controls.
Vanadium appears to function like insulin by altering cell membrane function for ion transport processes. Therefore, V has a very beneficial effect, particularly in humans with glucose-tolerance problems (affecting hypoglycemia, reactive hypoglycemia, hyperinsulinemia and type 1 and type 2 diabetes) by making the cell membrane insulin receptors more sensitive to insulin.
Several cultures, including American Indians, Canadian Indians, Hispanics, African Americans, and Hawaiians have an increased rate of diabetes when they cease to eat their ethnic foods and turn to eating canned, processed, and fast-foods, leading to the false theory that diabetes is a genetically-transmitted disease. Vanadium supplementation can have a major positive economic impact by reducing or even eliminating most cases of adult onset type 2 diabetes. Diabetes alone costs American taxpayers $105 billion each year.
Vanadium inhibits cholesterol synthesis in animals and humans and is associated with a decreased plasma level of cholesterol and reduced aortic deposits of cholesterol.
Vanadium initiates an increase in the contractile force of heart muscle known as the “inotrophic effect.”
Vanadium has known anticarcinogenic properties. Induction of mouse mammary tumor growth was blocked by feeding 25 ug/gm of diet. The vanadium supplement reduced tumor incidence, average tumor count per animal and prolonged median cancer free time without inhibiting overall growth or health of the animals (sure beats the results and untoward side effects of chemotherapy and radiation!).
Diseases Associated with a Clinical Deficiency of Vanadium
Slow growth
Increased infant mortality
Infertility
Elevated cholesterol (above 300)
Elevated triglycerides (above 125)
Hypoglycemia
Hyperinsulinemia
Type 2 diabetes
Cardiovascular disease
Obesity
W – Tungsten is found in igneous rocks at 1.5 ppm; shale at 1.8 ppm; sandstone at 1.6 ppm; limestone at 0.6 ppm; sea water at 0.0001 ppm; soils at 1 ppm; marine plants at 0.035 ppm; marine animals at 0.0005 to 0.05 ppm; land animals at 0.005 ppm (accumulates in heart muscle and teeth at 0.00025 ppm).
Xe – Xenon is found in igneous rocks at 0.00003 ppm; sea water at 0.000052 ppm.
Xenon binds to mammalian hemoglobin and myoglobin which produces an anesthetic effect.
Y – Yttrium is a “heavy” rare earth element found in igneous rocks at 33 ppm; shale at 18 ppm; sandstone at 9.1 ppm; limestone at 4.3 ppm; sea water at 0.0003 ppm; soils at 50 ppm; land plants at 0.6 ppm (accumulates in ferns); marine mammals at 0.1 to 0.2 ppm; land animals at 0.04 ppm (found in mammalian bone, teeth and liver).
Yttrium enhances normal cell growth and doubles the life span of laboratory species. Exposure of pregnant mice to Y leads to a rapid placental transfer; 14% of ingested Y can be detected in newborn mice.
Yb – Ytterbium is a rare earth element found in igneous rocks at 3 ppm; shale at 1.8 ppm; sandstone at 1.3 ppm; limestone at 0.43 ppm; land plants at 0.0015 ppm; marine animals at 0.02 ppm; land animals at 0.00012 ppm (accumulates up to 1.3 ppm in bone, teeth and liver).
Exposure of Yb to pregnant mice produces a rapid placental transfer; 14% of the ingested Yb can be detected in the newborn mice.
Zn – Zinc is found in igneous rocks at 70 ppm; shale at 95 ppm; sandstone at 16 ppm; limestone at 20 ppm fresh water at 0.01 ppm; sea water at 0.01 ppm; soils at 50 ppm; marine plants at 150 ppm; land plants at 100 ppm; marine animals at 6 to 1,500 ppm; land animals at 160 ppm (accumulates in mammalian kidney, prostate and eye).
Zinc was known to be an essential nutrient for bread mold 125 years ago, to be essential for rats 70 years ago, and essential for humans 40 years ago. Zinc deficiency produces a wide range of clinical diseases including birth defects and degenerative diseases of all age groups.
Congenital Birth Defects Associated with Zinc Deficiency:
Down’s syndrome
Cleft lip
Cleft palate
Brain defect (dorsal herniation, hydroencephaloceol, cerebral palsy, etc.)
Micro or anophthalmia (small or absent eyes)
Micro or agnathia jaw structure
Spina bifida
Clubbed limbs
Syndactyly (webbed fingers and toes)
Missing limbs and digits
Diaphragmatic hernia (hiatal hernia)
Umbilical hernias (gastroschisis)
Heart defects
Lung defects
Urogenital defects
Zinc-Deficiency Diseases and Symptoms:
Pica (geophagia, pagophagia, wool eating, hair eating, fingernail eating, etc.)
Loss of sense of smell
Loss of sense of taste
Infertility
Miscarriage
Birth defects
Failure of wounds and ulcers to heal
Immune system status failure
Poor growth (short stature)
High rate of infant mortality
Hypogonadism (small low functioning testes and ovaries)
Perpetual prepuberty state
Anemia
Alopecia (hair loss)
Acrodermatitis enteropathica (gluten intolerance, parakeratosis, celiac disease)
Frizzy hair
Diarrhea (secondary to gluten intolerance)
Depression
Paranoia
Oral and peri-oral dermatitis
Weight loss (anorexia nervosa, bullemia, gluten intolerance)
Benign prostate hypertrophy (BPH, prostate enlargement, etc.)
Severe body odor (“stinky tennis shoe” syndrome, etc.)
There is 1.4 to 2.3 grams of Zn in the adult human. The liver, pancreas, kidney, bone and skeletal muscle have the greatest needs and reserves of Zn, lesser amounts are found in the eye, prostate gland, semen, skin, hair, finger nails and toe nails.
There are no less than 70 metalloenzymes that require Zn as a cofactor to function properly. These include carbonic anhydrase, alkaline phosphatase, lactic dehydrogenase, and carboxypeptidase. Zinc helps to bind enzymes to substrates by maintaining special and configurational relationships. Some enzymes bind Zn so tightly that even during severe Zn depletion they can still function. Zinc participates in the metabolism of nucleic acids and the synthesis of proteins; Zn is also an integral part of the RNA molecule (Zinc “metallic fingers”) and participates in cell division and synthesis of DNA. The DNA-dependent RNA polymerase is a Zn-dependent enzyme, as is thymidine kinase.
Excesses of Cu and Fe and high-phytate diets (common to vegans) will reduce the availability of dietary Zn. Heavy losses of Zn occurs in sweat; therefore, unsupplemented athletes and those individuals performing heavy labor are particularly at risk for Zn deficiency (causing anorexia nervosa, muscle weakness, pica, birth defects in females, etc.).
Zr – Zirconium is found in igneous rocks at 165 ppm; shale at 160 ppm; sandstone at 220 ppm; limestone at 19 ppm; fresh water at 0.0026 ppm; sea water at 0.000022 ppm; soils at 300 ppm; marine plants at 20 ppm; land plants at 0.64 ppm; marine animals at 0.1 to 1.0 ppm; and land animals at 0.3 ppm.