Quality Parts and Tools: Part 3

MacroMinerals, Hydration, and Electrolytes: Requiring More Than 100 MG Daily

Jan 18, 2024

Essential Macrominerals and Electrolytes:

Minerals that dissolve in water to produce ions and conduct electric activity (in the body). These are necessary to run chemical reactions in the body, and namely the Nervous System, Cardiovascular System, and Muscular System, as well as maintain adequate hydration.

Macrominerals:

Calcium:
1. Functions:
  1. Structural component of bones/teeth along with phosphorous
  2. Mediating the constriction and relaxation of blood vessels (vasoconstriction and vasodilation)—smooth muscle contraction
  3. Nerve Operations
  4. Controls skeletal and cardiac muscle contraction
  5. Mediates secretion of hormones like insulin
  6. Vital to a number of proteins and enzymes, optimizing their activities
  7. Helps in the 7 Vitamin K-dependent clotting factor coagulation processes
2. Homeostasis (serum level regulation):
  1. A slight drop in blood calcium concentration (e.g., in the case of inadequate calcium intake) is sensed by the parathyroid glands, resulting in their increased secretion of parathyroid hormone (PTH).
  2. In the kidneys, PTH stimulates the conversion of vitamin D into its active form (1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D; calcitriol), which rapidly decreases urinary excretion of calcium but increases urinary excretion of phosphorus.
  3. Elevations in PTH also stimulates bone resorption, resulting in the release of bone mineral (calcium and phosphate) — actions that also contribute to restoring serum calcium concentrations.
  4. Increased circulating 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D also triggers intestinal absorption of both calcium and phosphorus.
  5. When blood calcium rises to normal levels, the parathyroid glands stop secreting PTH.
  6. A slight increase in blood calcium concentration stimulates the production and secretion of the peptide hormone, calcitonin, by the thyroid gland.
  7. Calcitonin inhibits PTH secretion, decreases both bone resorption and intestinal calcium absorption, and increases urinary calcium excretion
  8. Competes with sodium, magnesium, and phosphorous to balance ratios between them in the blood
3. Sources:
  1. Grassfed Dairy products (best sources and highest bioavailability/absorption)
  2. Grassfed animal meats (not grain fed)
  3. Fish with scales and fins (those with diet of seaweed or green sea plants)
  4. Bone broth
  5. Almonds
  6. Figs
  7. Kiwis
  8. Green plant foods
4. Dosing
  1. FDA recommended: was 1000 mg per day, now raised to 1300 mg per day
  2. Actual nutritional dose: variable as it depends on physiological processes of the nervous, competes and balances with magnesium and phosphorous respectively.
  3. Toxicity: Upper Limit set at 2,500 mg per day, but when imbalanced with decreased magnesium intake will lead to variable and involuntary chronic contraction of smooth and skeletal muscle, resulting in inability to fully and properly pass foods, waste, fluids, blood, through vessels, ducts, and tracts due to the narrowing of these passages when smooth muscle is contracted, and as well as lead to involuntary cramping of the smooth and skeletal musculature.
5. Disease processes:
  1. Too High Serum: usually implies abnormal parathyroid function and or bone (and certain other) malignancy (cancer) as the kidneys (renal/urinary excretion) and hormonal (calcitonin) processes ensure the adequate balance of serum calcium.
  2. Too Low Serum: usually implies abnormal parathyroid function since the skeleton provides a large reserve of calcium for maintaining normal blood levels, especially in the case of low dietary calcium intake.
    1. Low calcium dietary intake, combined with low vitamin D, can result in bone density loss.
    2. Low calcium, low animal protein, and high sodium intake along with high oxalate intake, significantly increases kidney stone formation (seen in low animal protein/dairy diets)
    3. Magnesium deficiency can impair parathyroid hormone secretion
    4. Decreased dietary calcium significantly increases risk of colorectal cancer
    5. Decreased dietary calcium leads to increased obesity and BMI
    6. Decreased dietary calcium AND magnesium leads to increased PMS symptoms
    7. Decreased serum calcium leads to numbness, tingling in the hands and feet, and muscle spasms
    8. Decreased serum calcium long term leads to renal (kidney) calcification or injury, brain calcification, neurologic symptoms (e.g., depression and bipolar disorder), cataracts, congestive heart failure, paresthesia, seizures, and, in rare cases, coma
    9. Decreased serum calcium AND magnesium leads to metabolic syndromes that increase incidence of heart disease, vascular disease, stroke, diabetes, and liver dysfunction.
    10. Decreased dietary calcium and serum calcium leads to increased hypertension (increased blood pressure)
    11. Decreased serum calcium leads to loss of appetite
    12. Decreased serum calcium causes muscle weakness
    13. Decreased serum calcium causes heart rhythm invariability
    14. Long term decreased dietary calcium leads to osteopenia (decreased bone density)
Magnesium- necessary and responsible for over 300 essential functions in the body. An adult body contains approximately 25 g magnesium, with 50% to 60% present in the bones and most of the rest in soft tissues. Less than 1% of total magnesium is in blood serum, and these levels are kept under tight control.
1. Functions:
  1. Required to make ATP and metabolism of carbohydrates and fats
  2. Required to make DNA, RNA, and proteins for muscle and many enzymes
  3. Structural role in bone, cellular membranes, and chromosomes (DNA)
  4. Required for the synthesis of glutathione
  5. Required for the active transport of ions like potassium and calcium across cell membranes which affects conduction of nerve impulses, muscle contraction, and normal heart rhythm
  6. Formation of the cell-signaling molecule, cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP).
    1. cAMP plays a vital and essential role in the fight against virtually all diseases such as osteoporosis, cancer, diabetes, heart failure, autoimmune disease, chronic disease, neurological disorders, myocardial atrophy, and mood disorders (not an all inclusive list)
  7. Required for cell migration as it pertains to wound healing
  8. Required for hepatic function (liver) and digestive enzyme processes/waste removal
  9. Required for pancreas function, insulin production, glucose metabolism, and insulin sensitivity.
2. Sources:
  1. Grassfed milk (not refined or grain fed)
  2. Grassfed animal meats (not grain fed)
  3. Fish with scales and fins (green plant eating sea animals)
  4. Bone broth
  5. Almonds, cashews, pumpkin (fruit) and chia (herb) seeds
  6. Avocados
  7. Most fruits
  8. Green plants
3. Dosing
  1. FDA recommended: 420 mg per day
  2. Actual nutritional dose: 500 mg per day - 1,000 mg per day
  3. Toxicity: Too much dietary magnesium does not pose a health risk in healthy individuals because the kidneys eliminate excess amounts in the urine. Large doses, exceeding 5,000 mg per day, can sometimes lead to fatal conditions in unhealthy and fragile individuals.
4. Deficiency disease processes:
  1. Inability or deficiency in any magnesium based physiological function to include chronic disease, cancer, osteoporosis, diabetes, heart failure, autoimmune disease, neurological disorders, myocardial atrophy, and mood disorders.
  2. People who consume mostly, if not only, refined foods, fast foods, and GMO foods are at HIGH RISK for magnesium deficiency.
Phosphorus

Functions:
1. 85% is in bones and teeth, and the other 15% is distributed throughout the blood and soft tissues
2. Structural component of DNA/RNA
3. Structural component of bone through hydroxyapatite
4. Structural component of cell membranes through phospholipids
5. Major component of energy production through phosphorylation of ATP (adenosine triphosphate) and CP (creatine phosphate)
Sources:
1. Grassfed milk/cheese (not refined or grain fed)
2. Grassfed animal meats (not grain fed)
3. Fish with scales and fins (green plant eating sea animals)
4. Eggs
5. Bone broth
6. Almonds, cashews, pumpkin (fruit) and chia (herb) seeds
7. Avocados
8. Most fruits
9. Green plants
Dosing
1. FDA recommended: 1250 mg per day
2. Actual nutritional dose: 1000 mg - 2000 mg per day depending on current physiological state and demand.
3. Toxicity: 4,000 mg per day
Deficiency disease processes: not likely since phosphorous is stored in high quantities in bones/teeth and is regulated through PTH and kidney/renal excretion.

The most common causes of deficiency are kidney problems or a condition called hyperparathyroidism, in which too much parathyroid hormone is released that causes phosphorus to exit the body through urine, and diabetic ketoacidosis.
Also, the overuse of aluminum can bind to phosphorus and increase the risk of a deficiency.
Phosphorus deficiency (hypophosphatemia) is rare in the United States. The effects of hypophosphatemia can include anorexia, anemia, proximal muscle weakness, skeletal effects (bone pain, rickets, and osteomalacia), increased infection risk, paresthesias, ataxia, and confusion.

ELECTROYLYTES:

Potassium- the principal positively charged ion (cation) in the fluid inside of cells,
1. Functions:
  1. Exists naturally in higher amounts inside the cell and works with sodium, which exists naturally in higher amounts outside the cell, and the concentration differences (ratio) maintain a membrane potential (electrical ability) that when altered with energy (ATP), otherwise known as the Sodium/Potassium pump, is used to conduct nerve signals, contract muscles, and contract the heart.
  2. Helps with glucose metabolism
  3. Needed for insulin secretion from pancreatic cells
2. Sources:
  1. All fruits
  2. All root vegetables
  3. All tree nuts
  4. All raw grassfed dairy
  5. All grassfed meats
3. Dosing
  1. FDA recommended: 3,500 mg per day upgraded to 4,700 mg per day
  2. Actual nutritional dose: varies depending on recent amount of loss of fluids including: sweating, diarrhea, vomiting, alcohol, caffeine and prescription drug intake
  3. Daily therapeutic doses: varies depending on recent amount of loss of fluids including: sweating, diarrhea, vomiting, alcohol, caffeine and prescription drug intake
  4. Toxicity: “Too much potassium in the blood is called hyperkalemia. In healthy people the kidneys will efficiently remove extra potassium, mainly through the urine. However, certain situations can lead to hyperkalemia: advanced kidney disease, taking medications that hold onto potassium in the body (including NSAIDs), or people who have compromised kidneys who eat a high-potassium diet (more than 4,700 mg daily) or use potassium-based salt substitutes.”
  5. Signs of too much potassium:
    1. Weakness, fatigue
    2. Nausea, vomiting
    3. Shortness of breath
    4. Chest pain
    5. Heart palpitations, irregular heart rate
4. Deficiency disease processes: “It is rare for a potassium deficiency to be caused by too low a food intake alone (when eating organic, unrefined, whole foods) because it is found in so many foods; however an inadequate intake combined with heavy sweating, diuretic use (medicines), alcohol and caffeine abuse, laxative abuse, or severe nausea and vomiting can quickly lead to hypokalemia. Another reason is a deficiency of magnesium, as the kidneys need magnesium to help reabsorb potassium and maintain normal levels in cells.”
5. People who consume mostly, if not only, refined foods, fast foods, and GMO foods are at HIGH RISK for potassium deficiency.
6. Signs of too little potassium
  1. Fatigue
  2. Muscle cramps and/or generalized muscle weakness
  3. Constipation
  4. Muscle paralysis and irregular heart rate (with severe hypokalemia)
  5. High blood pressure when in combination with high sodium/low potassium
  6. Glucose intolerance and Type 2 Diabetes
Sodium Chloride (salt): Sodium and chloride — major electrolytes of the fluid compartment outside of cells (i.e., extracellular) — work together to control extracellular volume and blood pressure. Work also in conjunction with the other major electrolyte Potassium.
1. Functions:
  1. Sodium (Na⁺) and chloride (Cl^-) are the principal ions in the extracellular compartment, which includes blood plasma, interstitial fluid (fluid between cells), and transcellular fluid (e.g., cerebrospinal fluid, joint fluid). As such, they play critical roles in a number of life-sustaining processes.
  2. Sodium regulates activation and inhibition of nerve impulses, muscle contractions, and heart contractions through “sodium potassium pump”
  3. Chloride helps with digestion and absorption of many nutrients by supplying the chloride needed to make hydrochloric acid HCl for the stomach to digest foods and protect our digestive tract from harmful pathogens.
  4. Sodium is the Primary dictator of blood pressure and blood volume.
    1. Glossopharyngeal nerve detects the amount of sodium in the blood and the pressure of the blood on the Carotid Sinus on the Carotid artery in your neck.
    2. When a loss of blood volume or blood pressure is dictated:
      1. Renin (enzyme) is released by the kidneys that splits a large peptide called Angiotensinogen (made in liver) into a smaller peptide called Angiotensin I.
      2. Angiotensin I is then further split by ACE (enzyme present on the inner surface of blood vessels and in the lungs, liver, and kidneys) into even smaller peptide Angiotensin II.
      3. Angiotensin II then acts on the smaller arteries causing constriction resulting in increased blood pressure.
      4. Angiotensin II then strongly stimulates the adrenal glands to produce Aldosterone (steroid hormone requiring cholesterol) which tells the kidneys to reabsorb/keep more sodium and excrete/lose potassium through urine.
      5. Antidiuretic hormone is released by the pituitary after loss of blood volume or blood pressure resulting in the kidneys reabsorbing water and sodium to help aid this whole process.
      6. Water goes where the sodium goes thus blood volume increases and blood pressure increases, which then goes back to the glossopharyngeal nerve detecting increased blood volume and turns this whole process off.
2. Sources: Unrefined (deep ocean or clean) Sea Salt
3. Dosing
  1. FDA recommended: 2300 mg
  2. Actual nutritional dose: varies depending on recent amount of loss of fluids including: sweating, diarrhea, vomiting, alcohol, caffeine and prescription drug intake. 0.5-3.0 tsp per day of unrefined sea salt is typically good as long as adequate potassium and water intake matches.
  3. Daily therapeutic doses: varies depending on recent amount of loss of fluids including: sweating, diarrhea, vomiting, alcohol, caffeine and prescription drug intake. 0.5-3.0 tsp per day of unrefined sea salt is typically good as long as adequate potassium and water intake matches.
  4. Toxicity: 1 g per kg in a short amount of time will be fatal. Most of the time, with adequate potassium intake, the kidneys and the negative feedback loops will counteract any excessive intake of sodium chloride.
    1. Hypernatremia is rarely caused by excessive sodium intake and requires LARGE AMOUNTS of sodium quickly.
    2. Excessive sodium in the blood is almost always caused by acute water loss through excessive diuretics, blood volume loss, burns, respiratory infections, kidney loss, osmotic diarrhea, and upper cervical compression on the brainstem disorders, such as chiari malformation.
    3. The most common cause of excessive sodium in the blood is caused by liver stagnation where there is an inability to remove excess aldosterone from the blood.
      1. results in dizziness or fainting, low blood pressure, and diminished urine production.
4. Deficiency disease processes: aka Hyponatremia
  1. caused by
    1. excessive sweating
    2. inadequate intake
    3. kidney disease
    4. diarrhea
    5. vomiting
    6. excessive alcohol/caffeine intake
    7. certain prescription drug use for BP and other conditions.
      1. diuretics, NSAIDS, opioids, SSRIs, and tricyclic antidepressants
  2. results in problems and diseases with CNS, muscular contraction, weakness, fatigue, heart disease, high blood pressure, and stroke.
Laboratory Values

Serum Sodium

Normal Range: 135 to 145 mmol/L
Mild to moderate hyponatremia: 125 to 135 mmol/L
Severe hyponatremia: less than 125 mmol/L
Mild to moderate hypernatremia: 145 to 160 mmol/L
Severe hypernatremia: greater than 160 mmol/L

Serum Potassium

Normal Range: 3.6 to 5.5 mmol/L
Mild hypokalemia: less than 3.6 mmol/L
Moderate hypokalemia: less than 2.5 mmol/L
Severe hypokalemia: less than greater than 2.5 mmol/L
Mild hyperkalemia: 5 to 5.5 mmol/L
Moderate hyperkalemia: 5.5 to 6.5 mmol/L
Severe hyperkalemia: 6.5 to 7 mmol/L

Serum Calcium

Normal Range: 8.8 to 10.7 mg/dL
Hypocalcemia: less than 8.8 mg/dL
Mild to moderate hypercalcemia: greater than 10.7 10 11.5 mg/dL
Severe hypercalcemia: greater than 11.5 mg/dL

Serum Magnesium

Normal Range: 1.46 to 2.68 mg/dL
Hypomagnesemia: less than 1.46 mg/dL
Hypermagnesemia: greater than 2.68 mg/dL

Bicarbonate

Normal Range: 23 to 30 mmol/L
It increases or decreases depending on the acid-base status.

Phosphorus

Normal Range: 3.4 to 4.5 mg/dL
Hypophosphatemia: less than 2.5 mg/dL
Hyperphosphatemia: greater than 4.5 mg/dL

Some of the sourced hyperlinks in this article lead to a website provided by the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University. [DrCHW17] is not affiliated or endorsed by the Linus Pauling Institute or Oregon State University.

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