The Truth about Absorption pg1

Much has recently been said about mineral absorption in the body, and there are recent pontifications that the best way to supplement minerals is to take "Colloidal" mineral complexes, while still others professing that "Ionic" is the way to go, and that "Chelated" has never lived up to its promises of bioavailability.

Everything you hear has some ring of truth to it; each side has a point to make. But unfortunately, neither side has ever told you the whole story about mineral uptake and balance in the body, and the limits of all the above methods of mineral supplementation. This has led to considerable confusion, misinformation and to the drawing of many inaccurate conclusions.

Now, those who argue about the inefficiencies of Chelated mineral supplements correctly point out that generally only half of the Chelated mineral dose is ever truly absorbed by the body. But what they fail to mention is that this low rate of absorption has nothing to do with the chemical mechanism of "Chelation," and how wonderfully efficient minerals are absorbed by the body once they have been truly Chelated. Rather, the poor rate of absorption actually reflects how many molecules of the minerals actually get "Chelated" through the industrial chemical processing of Chelation itself.

The industrial manufacturing process of Chelation is very inefficient, expensive and painstakingly laborious. Generally only half of the minerals by weight which are put through the process ever really get Chelated properly. The other half of minerals remain unChelated in their raw state, but remain mixed together with that fraction which has successfully achieved Chelation, their mixture being sold as "Chelated minerals."
Therefore, it's generally true that only half of any Chelated mineral package claim on the market is actually Chelated. The assertion, then, made by some that only half of "Chelated minerals" ever get absorbed stems from the reason that only half of these prepared minerals were ever really Chelated in the first place. It has nothing to do with the bioavailability of Chelation. The unChelated half are generally not absorbed quickly nor completely (unless other steps are taken to further improve these efficiencies which we will address in a minute).

Thus, the criticisms leveled against Chelated complexes are based on a misstatement of the facts, inappropriately leading one to think Chelated minerals are inefficient, faulty and not bioavailable, which just isn't true. Quite to the contrary, 100% of minerals which are actually Chelated are indeed completely absorbed and bioavailable. Minerals which are properly Chelated are exceptionally bioavailable to the body, and indeed are more so than either Colloidal or Ionic mineral complexes by themselves, giving them, as we shall soon see, the "fast track" to absorption.

While there are certainly well argued advantages of bioavailability and efficiency in using either Colloidal and/or Ionic mineral complexes (as Vзa uses) as compared to straight raw supplementation of trace mineral salts and alkaloids, there are simply no minerals which are more bioavailable and efficient than those which have been naturally Chelated by the body itself with the aid of Free Form Amino Acids. Indeed, the truth be known, it is through the natural process of Chelation that the majority of all Colloidal and Ionic complexes are quickly absorbed into the body, otherwise these must wait for the tidal infusions of the body to allow absorption to occur, a passive process which is prone to many difficulties.

It's well documented that nature has evolved its own exceptionally efficient process of absorption of free inorganic minerals into living organic organisms... And it's called natural Chelation. Chelation is simply the process whereby an organic Free Form Amino Acid picks up a molecule of a mineral, wraps it within its structure, actually enveloping it, making it easier for organic organisms then to absorb it.
Much has recently been said about mineral absorption in the body, and there are recent pontifications that the best way to supplement minerals is to take "Colloidal" mineral complexes, while still others professing that "Ionic" is the way to go, and that "Chelated" has never lived up to its promises of bioavailability.