Mineral Amino Acid Chelates

Few people would argue the benefits of minerals. From calcium to iron, these nutrients and many others play an important role in health. But does the form a mineral comes in affect the amount of nutritional benefits received? Are mineral sources from food as effective as supplements? And are certain forms of supplements better than others?

Arguments can be made for all sides, and a strong debate is made by Albion Laboratories, Inc., headquartered in Clearfield, UT. Albion markets mineral amino acid chelates, which the company says, among other things, offer greater absorption potential, greater tolerance, lower toxicity and have no known dietary or drug interactions.

Robert B. Jeppsen, Ph.D., director of technical services at Albion, notes a class of essential minerals that is needed in quantities of only a few milligrams or micrograms per day. These are not manufactured by the body, but must be absorbed from food or supplements. They constantly must be replaced, and without them metabolic functions will begin to falter until death eventually ensues.

Jeppsen says that natural food sources can supply minerals, but people often do not receive adequate amounts through foods. This may be due to poor dietary habits, such as reliance on overprocessed convenience foods, or-for those who do try to consume a well-rounded diet-mineral depletion in the soil where plants are grown. Therefore, Jeppsen says, supplementation may be the most effective way of ensuring that people obtain appropriate amounts of minerals. These supplements should come from natural sources, such as nutritionally active chelated minerals, which offer the best sources for absorption and metabolism, he asserts.

The bioavailability and metabolism of chelates differs depending on the properties of the ligand (a molecule with the capability to attach to a metal atom by two or more sites from the same molecule) that forms the chelated. Jeppsen adds that some chelates are helpful while others are not and may even be destructive. A different source of ligands, researched and manufactured by Albion, is used to make helpful chelates of metals for supplying essential mineral nutrients.

Several studies have been conducted to determine the effects of chelated minerals compared to other mineral forms. One such study matched Albion's calcium against milk, calcium citrate, calcium citrate malate, calcium oxalate and several other forms of calcium. Calcium Chelazome, Albion's chelated calcium, had a 44% fractional absorption rate on an empty stomach, and, according to Max R. Motyka, M.S., director of marketing and sales for the Human Products Division of Albion, that rate most likely would have been higher if the supplement had been taken with a meal. Meanwhile, says Motyka, the other calcium forms did not come close to reaching the 44% absorption rate.

Chelated iron also was studied, with Albion's Ferrochel absorbed at a rate that was 1.6 times higher than that of ferrous sulfate in non-anemics, and up to four times higher in anemics.

Other Albion amino acid chelates, such as magnesium, copper, manganese, zinc and chromium, were absorbed at rates two, three and four times higher than comparable inorganic salts or non-chelated mineral forms, according to the executive.

Motyka also notes that chelated minerals have been found to be gentle on the gastrointestinal tract, while other mineral forms are known to have negative effects on the body, such as nausea, cramps and indigestion in some people.

Chelated minerals have been studied for their interactions with other substances as well. Albion's products were shown to have no interactions with fibers or other minerals, Motyka says. Further, ionized iron has been found to have negative iron-drug interaction. Ferrochel, however, in its chelated form, is not ionized and, in this uncharged condition, did not have the iron-drug interaction found with most nonchelated iron forms, he says.

And while the various forms of minerals may exhibit different properties, literature supplied by the company contends that a substance called a chelate is not necessarily a "true" chelate. Many labels may include the word chelate, but may be salts and will not offer the same mineral nutrition, the company says. Yet, with numerous human and animal studies backing the safety of true chelates as an effective means of obtaining necessary mineral nutrients, there is no reason for consumers not to follow this path to good health.

• Literature supplied by Albion Laboratories, Inc.