What You Do Not Know About Colloidal Minerals Can Hurt You.
Angela Marks

Vitamins cannot be assimilated without the help of minerals. Although the body can manufacture a few vitamins, it cannot manufacture any minerals. All tissues and internal fluids of our body contain varying quantities of minerals. They are a large part of the make-up of bones, teeth, soft tissues, muscles, blood, and nerve cells. Acting as catalysts for many biological reactions within the body, minerals are involved in muscle response, the transmission of messages through the nervous system, the production of hormones, digestion, and the utilization of nutrients in foods. There is no question that they are very important to our existence and wellbeing. The biggest question is whether or not colloidal minerals are a superior supplement compared to a tablet form.

What is a colloidal mineral?
Commercial colloidal mineral products are derived from clay or humic shale deposits. Humic shale is a compact layer of dried plants, leaves, and other debris. When mixed with water, the surfaces of clay or humic particles become negatively charged. This allows the particles to bind with ionic minerals, such as magnesium, sodium, calcium, and potassium. Thus, colloidal simply describes any substance whose particle size is small enough to keep it suspended in a liquid or gas, yet large enough to prevent or delay its passage through a semi-permeable membrane.

In the processing of colloidal minerals, the shale (often referred to as "a special ancient rainforest deposit") is mined, crushed, ground to a powder-like consistency, and placed into large stainless steel vats. The vats are then submerged in "cool, contaminant free water at low temperatures." Many distributors stress these conditions to counter claims that acids, solvents, and high temperatures will ruin the minerals' special properties. After three to four weeks, during which time water-soluble components of the shale enter into solution, the leachate (or nutrient-rich layer) is siphoned off, filtered and ready for tonic and oral-spray production. Depending upon the filtration process used, a variable amount of insoluble particles that are suspended in the leachate will pass into the final product. This fact gives companies the leeway to advertise that colloidal supplements contain up to 75 "minerals." These minerals are actually elements occurring in various mineral forms.

What is the difference between a mineral and an element?
Often advertisements will use the terms element and mineral interchangeably. There is a distinct difference between the two, however. Elements are the fundamental constituents of which all substances are composed. Minerals are naturally occurring, inorganic substances with a specific chemical composition and characteristic crystalline structure, color, and hardness. Minerals are composed of elements. In other cases, you might see claims that products are comprised of metallic minerals in order to convey a superior form of minerals from the standard supplement products. The distinction is counterproductive, because most colloidal minerals in leachate come from the shale itself, the very metallic minerals that these promoters condemn. The main point buried by all of this hype is that there is absolutely nothing special about colloidal minerals.

What are some of the claims and testimonials?
Such claims that colloidal minerals produce the correct electrical frequencies that are compatible with the electrical frequencies of the brain and nervous system of the human body are completely unsubstantiated. There is no research to support this claim. Also, they do not attract toxins and heavy metals from the body and flush them out, as marketers would have you believe. Furthermore, many distributors provide testimonials that people taking colloidal minerals have experienced improvement in such conditions as high blood pressure, heartburn, sprained ankles, AIDS, hair loss, perforated ulcers, rheumatism, pimples, leukemia, and impotence. The use of disease-related testimonials to promote supplement products is illegal. The FDA has proposed to ban Over-the-counter sale of colloidal silver products.

What about colloidal minerals is harmful?
Since marketing for these products promote that they are natural, it is easy for a person to be fooled into thinking that it cannot possibly be harmful. In truth, the ingestion of unnecessary amounts of all trace elements should be avoided because many are not easily excreted and all can exhibit toxic effects when consumed in large quantity or for an extended period of time 1, 2. More important, however, colloidal mineral promoters seem oblivious to the fact that their products may contain hazardous organic compounds. For example, a daily dose of Doc's Mineral Rocks minerals contains 7.2 mg of unidentified total organic carbon 3. It is well established that groundwater can leach toxic organic compounds from sedimentary deposits such as coal, shale, and lignite. In many locations, specific geochemical conditions have led to the leaching of toxic organic compounds into potable water supplies with resulting disease. In fact, the first colloidal mineral supplement sold commercially in 1984, was banned because of its toxicity 19. Called Body Toddy, it was reformulated, renamed Mineral Toddy, and currently is marketed as Body Booster.

While it is true that optimal health depends upon an adequate intake of essential nutrients, fewer than 20 mineral-related elements are essential for humans 4-8. The exact role of other trace elements, as well as our intake of these micronutrients from prepared meals, remains to be clarified 8. There is absolutely no evidence, however, that mineral deficiency is a basic cause of disease. In fact, available data refutes the claim that our food supply is mineral deficient and demonstrates that a balanced diet generally contains trace elemental quantities far in excess of those supplied by colloidal mineral supplements 11-18. Extensive searches of the medical and nutritional literature databases fail to produce a single study showing that colloidal mineral supplements are useful. We do have evidence that they can potentially cause harm, so why take the chance?

References:

Alexander B. Colloidal minerals are flying off the shelves of health food stores -- and could be dangerous, Self Magazine, March 1997.
Fischer P and others. Trace Elements in Man and Animals - 9. Proceedings of the Ninth International Symposium on Trace Elements in Man and Animals, Banff, Alberta, Canada, May 1996. Ottawa: National Research Council of Canada, 1997.
Laboratory analysis of Doc's Mineral Rocks, Higher Ideals Web site. Western Analysis, Inc.; Salt Lake City, UT; sample #57898. (In 1999 the operator of this site notified Quackwatch that, "I DO have higher ideals than some persons and no longer am affiliated with the nutritionals market."
Codex Alimentarius Commission. Contaminants: Joint FAO/WHO food standards program. Codex Alimentarius 17(1):1-33, 1984.
National Research Council. Recommended Dietary Allowances, Tenth Edition. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1989.
Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives. Evaluation of certain food additives and contaminants. WHO Technical Report Series 837. Geneva: World Health Organization, 1993.
Trace Elements in Human Nutrition and Health. Geneva: World Health Organization, 1996
Abdulla M and others. Trace element requirements, intake and recommendations. In Prasad AS, editor. Essential and Toxic Trace Elements in Human Health and Disease: An Update. New York: Wiley-Liss, 1993, pp 311-328.
MIN RA SOL, Jacob's Enterprises Certificate of Analysis #88-008094 (downloaded from Internet -- no longer accessible).
Laboratory analysis of Doc's Mineral Rocks, Higher Ideals Web site. Western Analysis, Inc.; Salt Lake City, UT; sample #57898. (In 1999 the operator of this site notified Quackwatch that, "I DO have higher ideals than some persons and no longer am affiliated with the nutritionals market.
Laboratory analysis of Source of Health Colloidal Trace Minerals. Western Analysis, Inc.; Salt Lake City, UT; sample #53416.
Laboratory analysis of Clark's Original Mineral Formula. Western Analysis, Inc.; Salt Lake City, UT; sample #54225.
Laboratory analysis of Soaring Eagle Ventures Mineral Toddy.
Laboratory analysis of Mike's Choice Concentrate.
Federal Register 61:53685-53688, 1996.
Oehme FW, editor. Toxicity of Heavy Metals in the Environment, New York: Marcel Dekker, 1979.
Nriagu JO, editor. Changing Metal Cycles and Human Health. Berlin: Springer Verlag, 1984.
United Kingdom Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. MAFF UK - 1994 Total diet study: Minerals and other elements. Food Surveillance Information Sheet #131, 1997.
FDA Enforcement Report, 10/4/89.

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