What are Eidon Ionic Minerals and How Do They Compare to Other Forms?

I am frequently asked to describe the difference between our ionic minerals and other forms of minerals such as Trace, Colloidal, Angstrom, Fulvic, Humic, and Chelated. These descriptions represent everything from their charged state, source, size, or carrier.

It is important to first understand the definition of a mineral. If you asked a geologist to define a mineral, they would more than likely answer that a mineral is a combination of two or more elements bound together into different configurations of solid material better known as rocks and gems. We humans have used these minerals for many different applications from jewelry to building materials, to cars, trucks and space ships, and everything in between.

Minerals in nutrition can be either individual elements (as identified in the Periodic Chart of the Elements) or combinations thereof. Sea water is a blend of all known mineral elements. Some say a perfect blend.

I would first like to describe what Eidon Ionic minerals are. Our ionic minerals are individual elements with an electrical charge in a liquid medium, in this case, water. Most elements that have been identified in the Periodic Chart have either a positive or negative electrical charge. This is defined as having an incomplete outside electron shell. When the elemental ion binds with another element to fill up the outside shell, the electrical charge is nullified. In the absence of water, these combinations will crystallize into mineral salts. When consumed in a water base, these elements (minerals) are readily absorbable into the living tissues of both plants and animals. Also, in their ionic form, the body has to do virtually nothing to process or break down these elements to prepare them for absorption. This is in comparison to obtaining your minerals in the more complex and therefore more tightly bound forms, a perfect example being calcium carbonate aka common chalk. With this understanding, let's now look at the other descriptions given to mineral supplements.

COLLODIAL: There are several definitions of colloidal. One is that a colloid cannot be absorbed by the body. Since milk is a good example of a colloidal, I personally do not think this is an appropriate description or definition. The other definition of a colloidal is any substance that will remain in perpetual suspension and not settle out to the bottom of the vessel containing it. Glue and milk are two commonly known colloids. Any mineral containing liquid in which the minerals remain in perpetual suspension can be identified as colloidal. Therefore, it is defining size and concentration boundaries. There is nothing better or worse about any element that is in a colloidal state. It is just small enough, and dilute enough, to remain in suspension when kept in its present liquid and dilute state.

In the past, some liquid mineral supplement bottlers have defined their supplements as colloidal because they didn’t settle out. Competitors looked at the elemental composition of these colloids (usually derived from organic material, aka humic matter) and found them to contain trace amounts of heavy metals. While these trace amounts may or may not have been problematic to human physiology and were never proven with systematic science, the label of tainted with heavy metals stuck and therefore colloidal became something you did not want to use to describe your mineral supplement. Ironically, today, most solid calcium supplements contain lead. In my opinion, colloidal is just a description of the delivery method and saturation of the mineral supplement and should not be associated with its mineral content. Eidon minerals, comprised of individual minerals in their ionic state, can also be defined as colloidal as they stay in suspension.

ANGSTROM: an angstrom is a unit of measurement. It is 1/10,000,000,000 (one ten-billionth of a meter). It is not a type of mineral at all. The size of an ionic element could be measured in angstroms. Another unit of measurement is the nanometer. One could even use millimeters or meters to represent the size of a small particle. Can our ionic elements be measured in angstroms? Absolutely. They could also be measured in any other unit of measurement available to represent distance. Can you somehow distinguish between two atoms of calcium using an angstrom? No. The same applies to all of the other mineral elements. It is my opinion that using angstrom as a description of a mineral is just a marketing tool to somehow differentiate one mineral supplement product from another. The bottom line is that I have never had a manufacturer of an angstrom mineral explain what angstrom means in the context of their product. This is because it doesn’t describe anything.

FULVIC MINERALS: also known as fulvic acid. I have had an inkling as to what they were for several years, but until last year at Expo West when I had the opportunity to speak with someone who could give me a straight answer. The answer validated my assumption. Fulvic minerals are obtained by running water over organic matter which either has not converted to petroleum or become petrified. The age does not seem to be as important as the specific mineral balance and other molecules which make up the organic matter. The resulting solution will possess different healing properties depending upon the mineral composition of the soil where the plant matter grew. I personally have experienced the effect of a particular fulvic blend which worked well for skin rashes. Again validating the power of the mineral elements. The size of these elements can be measured in angstroms and I am quite certain they are ionic and, for the most part, colloidal as well.

HUMIC MINERALS: are in fact the same thing as fulvic minerals as far as I can ascertain. Why the bottlers of these formulas are not forthcoming with a detailed description of what their solutions are derived from baffles me. I believe they each have found specific geographical locations where they are getting their supply of liquid minerals. I guess they are afraid others will go out and either try to take the location from them or just get their own mineral blend. Whatever the reason, it is very difficult to get a straight answer from most distributors of fulvic or humic mineral blends.

CHELATED MINERALS: are single or multiple minerals bound usually to a specific amino acid or other body-friendly molecules. The logic here is that the body can more easily recognize and absorb the molecule the mineral has been attached to rather than the mineral itself. I do not know if this is so, but logic tells me otherwise. Our bodies are not that stupid. The minute a mineral is ingested, our body knows exactly what it is and what to do with it. Again, the mineral ion is the same in any state in which it may be ingested. It just boils down to how much time our digestive system has to ionize what we have consumed or in other words, how tightly bound up it is. The more tightly bound the more difficult it is to break down and finally ionize.

In good health,
Rick Wagner, M.S.,C.N.