Multi-Minerals MULTI-BENEFITS

Better Nutrition, Nov, 1998 by James F. Scheer

Good dietary sources of copper include whole-wheat bread, peanuts, pecans, walnuts, liver, shrimp, oysters, prunes, raisins, and, believe it or not, chocolate.

Percival notes that while milk and dairy products are poor sources of copper, red wine is a good source. "I don't know if this is documented, but I hear this even among my peers and my colleagues who are copper experts. Red wine is a good source of copper -- and you know that whole thing about the antioxidant and phenolic compounds in red wine preventing heart disease -- well, if red wine is a good source of copper, maybe it contributes to its heart- protective properties, too. However, at this point, this theory is only speculative."

Other groups at risk of copper deficiency are premature infants and those who chronically take megadoses of zinc (this does not refer to people taking zinc lozenges for a few days to fight a cold).

Percival says the estimated safe and adequate daily dietary intake of copper is 1 1/2 to 3 mg.

Iodine. It is difficult for some people to think of iodine as a mineral, because they have seen it in solution used to dab on wounds to prevent infection. Shari Lieberman, Ph.D., and Nancy Bruning, in their Second Edition of The Real Vitamin & Mineral Book, caution that, "The topical antiseptic known as tincture of iodine is not to be used orally because it is poisonous if ingested." They recommend supplementing the diet with iodine in iodized table salt or with supplemental sea kelp, available in tablets, drops, or concentrated liquid.

Infinitesimal amounts of iodine are used by the thyroid gland, an organ that contains 20-30 mg of the mineral, to regulate body metabolism and enable us to generate energy and heat.

Approximately 64 health-related symptoms can originate from insufficient iodine -- among them, low energy, cold hands and feet, sluggish thinking, faulty memory, and myriad female and sexual problems. The best known iodine-deficiency disease, Lieberman and Bruning note, is goiter, "a condition in which the thyroid gland becomes enormously enlarged in an effort to compensate for insufficient hormone production."

Ocean fish, kelp, sunflower seeds, dairy products, and iodized salt supply us with iodine. Our daily requirement is small: 150 mcg.

Iron. Women of childbearing age are most at risk of iron deficiency. While relatively few women actually develop anemia -- the end-stage of iron anemia, many may be iron deficient. The symptoms of both conditions are essentially the same -- fatigue, poor concentration and reduced cognition, and susceptibility to colds and infections.

The richest food sources of iron include red meat, dry beans and peas, and dark-green leafy vegetables. Other things you can do to increase your iron absorption is to combine vitamin C-rich foods or drinks, such as orange juice, with your iron-rich meals, and cook in cast-iron pots, since the iron leeches out of the pot into the food and raises its iron level. Avoid drinking coffee and tea with your iron-rich meals since the tannins (not the caffeine) can reduce iron absorption.