As featured on Feedspot as #18 in gut health blogs!
Adapted from episode 104 of The Perfect Stool podcast hosted by Lindsey Parsons, EdD, Gut Health Coach with Hope Pedraza, FDNP, certified Hair Tissue and Mineral Analysis expert, and edited for readability.
Lindsey:
So since you’re a certified hair tissue mineral analysis expert, we’re going to talk a lot about minerals today and their role in digestion. So let’s start with the big four minerals.
Hope Pedraza:
Yeah, I love that; jumping right in. Yes. So the big four are the macro minerals, the ones we need the most of, are calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium. It’s important to know, especially when we’re looking at hair tissue mineral analysis, that the individual minerals are important. But then also, the relationships between all of the minerals are important. So they all play off each other, right? Some work synergistically with others, some work antagonistically against other. So this is why the right mineral balance is so important, because so often, if we’re not directly addressing what the mineral imbalances are, we could potentially be making things worse, because then we’re taking more of these, when really taking more of these is going to mess these up. So in the big four, the relationship between all four of those is important as well. So when we’re looking at the big four, the the macro minerals, all of those play so many roles in the body, including digestion, how your thyroid is working, how we’re pushing things in and out of the cells. A lot of these also work alongside other minerals as precursors to different hormones and enzymes that are related to digestion, the formation of other hormones. And so the right balance of these four is crucial. I don’t know if you want to go through each one of them individually . . .
Lindsey:
Yeah, why not?
Hope Pedraza:
Okay, cool. So I’ll start with calcium. So talking about calcium, calcium is a structural mineral, right, we need it for our bones and our teeth. And really 99% of it is supposed to be in our bones and our teeth. But it’s also needed for your thyroid hormone. So it helps with your metabolism and how your thyroid is working. Now with calcium, I find, at least in doing the labs that I run, that excess is far more common than deficiency. And so when you’re seeing an excess on an HTMA, on a hair tissue mineral analysis, and I should probably explain what that is, too. So if those who are listening, if you don’t know what an HTMA is, it’s a hair tissue mineral analysis. You’re literally sending in some of your hair. And so when you’re looking at your mineral levels, if you’re getting a blood panel, and really honestly, I believe this with just about any blood panel, but especially with looking at minerals, a blood panel is literally just a blip in time, right? It’s like what’s going on right now in your body. And so in a lot of instances, it’s not all that helpful.
And when you’re looking at mineral levels, I find that it’s really not all that helpful. Because it’s like what’s happening now. So it’s not even a look at what’s going on, right, you could take the same lab test in two days, and it’s going to look different on the blood test. Because it’s just what’s going on right now. It’s going to be affected by what you ate last night, what you ate this morning and what you drank yesterday; it’s just going to be so variable. And when you’re looking at mineral levels, the HTMA, we’re looking at what’s going on chronically; what’s going on over the last three to four months. Not only that, but a lot of minerals that we’re looking at, and some of these big four that we’re talking about are intracellular, meaning they’re supposed to be in your cells. So when you’re looking at your blood levels, it’s really not an accurate look at what’s going on at a cellular level, like how your cells are utilizing these minerals. So I wanted to say that upfront, just so people who are listening understand what we’re talking about. We’re talking about the HTMA.
Lindsey:
Let me stop and say this. So people will see calcium, for example, or magnesium, on the comprehensive metabolic panel, which is one of the common blood tests that’s run. And that is not the same as getting one of these hair tissue mineral analyses. That’s basically saying that your body is functioning at the minimum level possible such that your glands are properly regulating these very important minerals. It’s not saying are you getting sufficient amounts in your diet over time?
Hope Pedraza:
That’s exactly it. And if we’re talking about the difference between functional labs and conventional labs, that’s the main difference, right? With conventional labs, the reference range is like, “Okay, are you alive?” Like that’s the basic, like why you’re not dead . . .
Lindsey:
Are you near death, do we need to intervene with an IV instantly?
Hope Pedraza:
Exactly. That’s exactly it. So with functional labs, we’re looking at optimal levels, right, like, how do we live optimally? So yes, you may make a great point. So yeah, it’s totally different. And so we’re looking at calcium levels on an HTMA. This is what’s being pushed out into your tissues. So the issue here and I mentioned that typically excess is more common than deficiency on these labs when it’s being pushed out into your tissues. This is when we know it’s a problem because it can get to a point where there’s so much being pushed out into your tissues that it’s building up what’s called a calcium shell around your cells and around your nerves. And it’s going to cause the issues with cellular permeability, like how things are getting in and out of your cells, it’s going to cause issues with how your brain is functioning, because now you have this calcium shelf building up around the nerves and stuff in your brain and brain fog.
And I’ve had clients with this massive calcium shell that think – they’ve literally been told they have ADD – well, no, actually, we just need to fix your calcium levels. Literally, we fix your calcium levels, and all of a sudden no more brain fog, and I can concentrate now. It’s wild. So calcium levels are an interesting one. And I mean, sometimes there are symptoms of of calcium excess, but a lot of times they’re not what you think because sometimes you could have calcium buildup in the body, right? If you have like cysts or like bone spurs, kidney stones, that kind of thing.
Lindsey:
Hardening of the arteries . . .
Hope Pedraza:
Yes, exactly, calcification inside the arteries, but it doesn’t always show up that way. And it’s like for this client that I was mentioning, she’s always the first thing that comes to mind. Her numbers were literally off the charts. But for her, it wasn’t blatant things like that, it was ADD, trouble concentrating. All these things were big for her, it was more of that kind of thing, like how her brain was functioning, and her thyroid was functioning, because the thyroid wasn’t able to get in the cells because you have this buildup. So calcium is always an interesting one for people and looking at how that shows up.
Lindsey:
Yeah, in my experience, it’s showing up as high for people that I see as well.
Hope Pedraza:
Yeah, really?
Lindsey:
Yeah.
Hope Pedraza:
Do you find that they have the symptoms? Or is it kind of just like this underlying thing they’re not really aware of?
Lindsey:
Oh, to be honest, I never knew that brain fog might be a symptom of ADHD or excess calcium. That’s why I have you here to teach us.
Hope Pedraza:
Yes, totally. And again, just so people listening know, this is a different thing than calcification of the tissues that we’re talking about. And that’s just sometimes how it shows up when it’s pushed out into the tissues. So another one is magnesium. And magnesium is one of those, and I’m sure you talk about magnesium all the time, too. It’s involved in so many processes in the body: digestion, how your hormones are functioning, enzymatic reactions, like with everything that’s going on in the body, magnesium is used. It’s so easily depleted I think because it’s used in so many reactions in the body, that’s how it gets so easily depleted. And I think the number now is between 70 and 80% of us or something like that are deficient in magnesium. I think this is why, and so many of my clients are like “but I’m taking magnesium”. But we’re doing the lab and I’m like, how’s your magnesium levels?
And they’re taking a supplement but your body is just running through the stores of it. It’s stress, your adrenals, especially when your adrenals are working in overdrive, it’s just pushing through your magnesium stores. Magnesium is one of those that’s responsible for helping us with cell permeability, how things are getting inside of the cells. It helps with muscle contractions, relaxation, like the relaxation of muscles. It’s important for your heart, it’s important for inflammation. And so when we’re deficient, which a lot of us are, things can show up like depression and hypertension, and a lot of times PMS and just inflammatory things. PMS, maybe aches and pains, osteoporosis, maybe arthritis. And a lot of times too in my clients, it may not even be as blatant as that, but it’s just like overall dysfunction in the body. It’s just not functioning optimally, because again, your supplies are running so low. Now, sodium is interesting.
Lindsey:
Before we go on to sodium, let me just stop you and ask, in your experience, for people who show up as deficient, what kind of repletion levels are you needing on daily basis to get them back to sufficiency?
Hope Pedraza:
Good question. So it depends on the person and it depends on a few things. But typically, I like to say five times your body weight in milligrams is what you want to shoot for. I feel like a lot of times it’s why people are so deficient. This is one of those that I really like to work with supplements and with food because we’re so deficient. And if you look at most of the supplements on the shelf, they’re like 150-200 milligrams. I just think nothing’s happening with you taking 150 milligrams.
Lindsey:
But it takes up a lot of space. So you’re taking a lot of pills if you’re going to take it.
Hope Pedraza:
Right, totally. So if you can find magnesium glycinate, it’s always my number one recommendation; your body absorbs that one the best. It’s easiest on the gut. If you want a laxative, you take magnesium citrate, otherwise don’t take it. But, but a lot of times too, I find, especially with my clients that are super depleted in magnesium, I’ll give them a combination of a few different forms that they need. And we’re going to add in the food on that one. So it’s going to be five times your body weight. So for an average human adult, it would be between like 500-700 milligrams, and so if we shoot for at least that 500 milligrams, I feel like we can be doing a good job of getting us closer to where we need to be. And then again, if somebody’s super deficient, we’ll do a combination like glycinate, maybe a malate, a threonate, putting a few different ones together, even doing some transdermal, like doing some soaks, right? You could do an Epsom salt bath; you could do either magnesium sulfate or magnesium chloride. So doing the transdermal soaks, you sometimes can absorb that a little bit better, and then adding in some food sources too, right?
Lindsey:
What are some good food sources?
Hope Pedraza:
Yeah. Think leafy greens, nuts and seeds. I love pumpkin seeds. And I work a lot with women and their hormones, too, so there are a lot of benefits for women’s hormones. But adding in pumpkin seeds . . .
Lindsey:
I put them on every salad.
Hope Pedraza:
Yes, totally, me too. I eat them all the time at my house, we eat a ton of seeds. Yes, nuts and seeds. Legumes can be. But I’d say that my top recommendations are typically leafy greens and the nuts and seeds. I feel like that’s the best way to get the magnesium. Yeah. So moving on to sodium, sodium is an interesting one. Because speaking of digestion, this one is actually really important for digestion, because sodium is needed to make proper stomach acid levels. So people that have chronically low stomach acid typically have issues with sodium. And so it never fails that my clients that are low on sodium, which is a lot of them, they have chronic bloating, and it’s because their food’s not being digested properly because they have low stomach acid. And there’s typically other factors at play, but the sodium piece always plays a role in that.
I could literally talk about sodium all day; there’s so much to talk about. And sodium, it’s one of those I find these days, like carbs, where like carbs were villainized for so long, so everybody’s afraid of carbs. And I feel like sodium is the same. You know, you hear from your doctor and everybody else, sodium causes high blood pressure and stroke and all things and eat a low sodium diet and watch yourself. And yes, you can say some of those are true, but in my experience, the way I see it, our sodium problem, especially here in the Western world, I can’t speak for the whole world here. But at least in the Western world, the sodium problem, all these issues that we think sodium is causing is not a sodium intake problem. It’s a sodium retention problem. Because where are we getting the salt from? It’s from processed foods, right? It’s from table salt.
Table salt is the equivalent of white sugar, right? It’s had all these chemicals put in it to strip every nutritional value from it, and you’re literally left with the sodium chloride. That’s it. And so when you’re looking at comparing that to unrefined salt, my recommendation is always Celtic sea salt*. It’s just so rich in so many trace minerals you’re looking at. To compare it, you’re looking at like anywhere from 85 to 95 other trace minerals in Celtic salt versus table salt, which is literally just sodium chloride. And so when you’re eating unrefined sea salt, you’re getting all these other trace minerals along with the sodium. So all these other minerals are pushing this sodium where it needs to go, it’s pushing all these other minerals where they need to go versus when you eat the table salt, just that refined salt from processed foods, your cells just soak it up. And then again, it’s a sodium retention problem. So yeah, when you eat the standard American diet, the salt intake is going to affect things.
So when I’m doing the HTMA, I would say deficiency is far more common than excess in sodium. And it’s typically for this reason, well, first of all, a lot of it has to do with your adrenals. Your adrenals use more sodium than any other part of the body. So our overworked, stressed-out adrenals are zapping through your sodium stores just like what’s happening with your magnesium stores. It never fails. When I have somebody who has adrenal insufficiency or their adrenals are just totally shot, they’re bloated all the time. Well yeah, your sodium levels are in the toilet and your body’s not digesting food. Your stomach is not functioning right, you know? Your stomach acid is probably barely existing. And so yeah, your digestion is going to suffer.
So it’s just like this chain reaction with the minerals. Which again, I love minerals so much and your listeners have probably heard that minerals are called the spark plugs in the body, right? But if you really think about that, nothing happens in the body without the minerals, or what’s going on at a cellular level. And this is what’s causing every reaction in the body: your digestion, your hormones, your glands; everything going on starts with the minerals. So yeah, I think understanding this kind of chain reaction, especially when we’re talking about digestion, the sodium piece is always a big one there.
Lindsey:
Cool, yeah. Yeah, I know. I know. It’s because we are dealing with, well, I don’t know if you, but in my clients, I’m dealing with a certain subset of people who are already on a super-healthy, non processed food diet. They’ve already cut out the gluten and the dairy, so they’re all dialed in. So it’s that kind of diet where you precisely can end up with these deficiencies, sodium.
Hope Pedraza:
Yeah. Right. For sure. Yeah. And my mom, for example, I use my mom as an example. I’ve read some labs and yeah, granted, she also grew up in a generation where the doctor makes you terrified of salt. So she’s not putting salt on anything. And she’s wondering why she has headaches all the time. And I kept telling her, your sodium levels. And then it wasn’t until her friend who’s a nurse was like, oh, yeah, your daughter is probably right, that she starts adding some salt to her diet. And sure enough, things start shifting. But yeah, it definitely affects things in a way that I think we just, again, I think we’ve just been so scared of it for so long, because we don’t want to have a stroke or heart attack. It’s like we avoid the sodium. It makes a difference.
Lindsey:
Now I’m super curious what my sodium level was on my on my hair. Yeah. Let’s see where it was. It’s a little bit low.
Hope Pedraza:
Yeah. Probably. Yeah
Lindsey:
It’s 30. And the range is 20 to 250. So it’s normal, but it’s not great.
Hope Pedraza:
Yeah, trending low. Yeah, that one is super common. And that usually surprises people, the sodium thing usually surprises people. Okay, so the last one of the big four is potassium. And this is one of those intracellular minerals that 99% of it, it’s in your cell. So a blood level or blood panel, tor me, it’s not really an accurate look at potassium, it’s just not. So really, and I’ve actually I’ve had a couple clients with this, they’ve gone to the doctor and their blood levels are actually elevated. Well, that actually is a bad thing. Because that means the potassium is in your blood and not in your cell. So this is like a loss, like your body’s not using it in the right way. So potassium is one of those that helps with your blood pressure, it helps with helping things in and out of the cells. What I find most important for potassium is it is responsible for how sensitive your cells are to your thyroid hormone. And so a lot of my clients who are struggling with their thyroid, their potassium is super low. And I find a lot of times too, this can also affect your digestion. Deficiency on this one is far more common. I mean, honestly, I can probably count on one hand the number of clients I’ve had where their potassium levels are where they’re supposed to be. Everybody is low, like it doesn’t matter what . . .
Lindsey:
I’m deficient in potassium, and yeah, even if I add up all my food in Cronometer, I’m deficient in it, what I’m getting from the diet for sure.
Hope Pedraza:
It’s hard to get, it really is hard to get it and we were supposed to have like 4500 milligrams a day. That’s a lot. It’s a lot so it’s not hard to be deficient in it. So this is another one like magnesium where I really like to do the supplement with the food, where . . .
Lindsey:
You kind of have to because you can only get 99 milligram supplements, right? So yeah, what foods are . . .
Hope Pedraza:
The best foods, my top three that I always recommend, especially for my thyroid clients: bananas, avocados and coconut water. For me those three are like top three.
Lindsey:
I just can’t stomach coconut water.
Hope Pedraza:
I can’t either, my gosh, it’s like you’re expecting it to taste different than it does. I don’t know what it is. So for my clients I’m like throw it in a smoothie where we’re covering it up with other things because I’m the same way.
Lindsey:
Mix it with fruit or something; it’s just too sweet.
Hope Pedraza:
Exactly, it is. I can’t.
Lindsey:
I just like water.
Hope Pedraza:
Exactly, exactly. Yeah, no, I can’t do it either. It kind of grosses me out but if you know can cover it up with other things or mix it with something else. But really those three, in my opinion, are the highest. And you can put all three of those in a smoothie and you’d be getting a whole lot in just one serving, one meal.
Lindsey:
Yeah, I also found that just a glass of orange juice has 200 milligrams of potassium. My mom was deficient and I’m just like, have a second glass of orange juice a day. Let’s not overthink it.
Hope Pedraza:
Exactly. Make it easy. Totally. Yeah, those fortified juices like that for sure. It’s a great way to get it and I find, hypothyroidism and constipation go and in hand. So there’s a lot of links there. But the constipation part is pretty common with those who are deficient in potassium. Constipation, a lot of times fatigue, I had clients who have irregular heartbeat situations going on, super tired and not able to tolerate exercise, unable to recover from extra exercise, muscle weakness. So a lot of those are are signs of pretty substantial deficiency in potassium. And then if you know that you have a sluggish thyroid or you know that you’re hypothyroid, it’s one of the best things you can do. And of course, you know, about the selenium and iodine and stuff, but potassium is one of those I feel like isn’t talked about enough for the thyroid. It really does make a big difference. We can get those levels up to a good . . .
Lindsey:
Yeah. Yeah. And I keep thinking about how can I get more potassium personally.
Hope Pedraza:
It’s a tricky one.
Lindsey:
I definitely don’t want to drink smoothies. So I’m being sort of a pain in the butt, but I love my egg and my vegetables and the stuff that I’m eating for breakfast, I just love that routine. And if I have to have a smoothie, that’s replacing that.
Hope Pedraza:
Totally, just add some extra avocado on it. You’ll get some with that.
Lindsey:
But it’s so fattening.
Hope Pedraza:
I know, you have to weigh it out.
Lindsey:
Digging it down to the actual problem, the problem is that I want to eat that half a gluten-free English muffin with my breakfast, and that’s eating up some calories and some stomach space. And if I’m adding in avocado and all that, there’s just no more room.
Hope Pedraza:
It’s so true. It’s a tricky one, it is.
Lindsey:
Okay, so we’re done with the big four.
Hope Pedraza:
Yeah, the big four. That’s it.
Lindsey:
Okay, awesome. So, one of the minerals we need at lower doses, zinc, which is often recommended to support the immune system. Of course, if you have Hashimotos or autoimmunity, it’s important. And then the form of zinc carnosine, in particular, is recommended for gut health issues. So can you dig in a little on zinc and its forms? And how and why to supplement, and of course, its relationship with copper.
Hope Pedraza:
Yeah, yeah. So zinc is another really important one, it helps again, it’s kind of one of those along with sodium that helps with stomach acid for healthy levels of stomach acid. It’s a precursor to quite a few digestive enzymes. And so it’s important for proper formation, creation of digestive enzymes. And zinc and copper have a really important relationship. And this is one that we look at on the HTMA, that relationship between zinc and copper, because they can work with or against each other. And this is typically one that I look at is in terms of hormone, it’s kind of the hormone ratio, the zinc to copper ratio.
And so copper can stimulate the production of estrogen. And so when there’s too much copper, not enough zinc, this starts to look like estrogen dominance; it can cause a real problem with the hormones. And so that’s when the zinc and the copper are off. And a lot of times too, copper toxicity is something that I see, and you might see this a lot with your clients too. But copper toxicity is something that shows up a lot with my clients. And so often, there are multiple issues here. A lot of times it is a zinc situation, where the zinc is just so low, and it could be an immunity thing. It could just be that their diet is just off and they’re just not getting enough zinc. But a lot of times too, it’s just from exposure to actual copper itself. And so I would say, probably 7 out of 10 of my clients have copper toxicity.
Lindsey:
From pipes, or where are they getting it?
Hope Pedraza:
Well, a lot of times, a lot of times it’s from birth control, either birth control or an IUD. Prolonged use and sometimes it doesn’t even have to be prolonged use. I think it’s like parasites, right? Like, sometimes you’re just a hospitable host to a parasite. That’s how it happens. And I think sometimes with copper, it’s the same thing. It’s like, well, maybe your vital functions were a little bit down and then your body just harbored it right? Because a lot of times I have clients where I wasn’t even on it for that long and sometimes it just happens that way. So I find sometimes it is copper pipes and I have actually only had a couple of clients where that was the case. For most of my clients, it’s a birth control situation or IUD.
Lindsey:
Are you talking about the copper IUD in particular or from just other birth control?
Hope Pedraza:
Either just because the stimulation of estrogen in the body is going to actually mess with this copper to zinc ratio as is birth control in and of itself; it depletes zinc in the body. A lot of minerals that are depleted by taking birth control and so when you’re depleting zinc, then copper naturally.
Lindsey:
Yeah, yeah. Okay. And so they’re on different scales. And like I have an example of my mineral analysis. And copper is on a scale on this one from 11 to 37, zinc from 20 to 140. So how do you work the ratio?
Hope Pedraza:
Yeah. So if you’re looking at, let me see if I can put one of mine in it that I just did the other day, because she had a really crazy ratio. And here’s the other thing about the HTMA. And this is why, it’s always good to have somebody who knows how to read them, because you can look at an HTMA at face value. And you could read it like 25 different ways. Because you can look at it, you can look at the the individual minerals, like, “Oh, this one looks kind of slow”, or whatever. But then if you look at the ratios, looking at the ratios changes how you interpret the whole thing. And so that’s how it is with zinc to copper ratio, because a lot of times it can look like “Oh, my zinc and my copper aren’t too far out of the reference range.” But in comparison to each other, they’re really off. So like my client, we had a session other day, her copper was a little low. But her zinc was so much further off than the copper. So now we’ve got this messed up zinc to copper ratio. So it’s really just looking at them in relation to each other, not not the individual zinc level and copper level, you really have to look at at the . . .
Lindsey:
Yeah, like on my test. It does show at the bottom the ratios. Zinc to copper, the range is four to 20. Mine is 15.
Hope Pedraza:
Yeah, yeah. So just a little bit elevated. Yeah, yeah.
Lindsey:
Oh you’d call that elevated?
Hope Pedraza:
A little bit. A little. It’s like trending elevated. Do you know which lab?
Lindsey:
Mine is Doctors Data.
Hope Pedraza:
Okay, I use Trace Elements. I think their ranges are a little bit different. Because basically over 12 is considered elevated in theirs, but I wouldn’t be too alarmed at 15.
Lindsey:
I don’t take any copper in any capacity.
Hope Pedraza:
Yeah. Also, I’ve had clients who, and it’s not all the time, but some who are, if you’re on a vegan or vegetarian diet, and you’re eating foods that are higher in copper, your copper can be really elevated from eating predominantly plant-based food and not being balanced out with the zinc. So yeah, that can happen that way. Yeah.
Lindsey:
But I also see the opposite, which is, occasionally I do see people who seem like they may be low on copper because I don’t know if you’re familiar with the whole conversion of dopamine to epinephrine, norepinephrine requires vitamin C and copper, and I’ll see people with high dopamine, but then low epinephrine and norepinephrine. So that’s a potential copper deficiency. So I’ll see that a good bit. And people do tend to supplement with zinc, people who are aware of it helping your immune system. So I mean, they might be taking 50 milligrams of zinc a day, and eventually you’re going to end up with a copper deficiency.
Hope Pedraza:
Totally, exactly. That’s so true. Yeah. And you know, it’s funny, you say that. It was in my FDN group, I think somebody was having conversation about that. Because throughout COVID, everybody was downing vitamin D and zinc. And all these things are trying to boost our immune system. And we were talking about how we’ve seen a lot more clients than normal have really high zinc levels, because they’re taking zinc like all day, every day, which is also going to be a little harsh on your stomach, by the way, so be careful. Yeah.
Lindsey:
So did you mention anything about zinc carnosine?
Hope Pedraza:
Just in terms of like which form to take it in? Yeah, I think I don’t have strict stipulations on what form that I give it in. A lot of times the form that I use, so when I do my mineral protocol for my clients, I use Vykon, which is a lab that basically customizes it to your HTMA. And therefore, most the time, it’s zinc picolinate. And that’s usually the form that it’s in. I think, the form for zinc to me, I’m not a stickler about the form on that one as much as others, especially magnesium and potassium and those. So I’d say the form, I just don’t find it as important.
Lindsey:
Yeah, the zinc carnosine is just something that that’s used often when there is H. Pylori to help out with gut issues. So that’s why I wanted to bring it up. But moving on. So what other minerals do we need in smaller quantities? And what role do they play in digestion?
Hope Pedraza:
Yes. So let’s see. So if you get the HTMA, it’s going to measure a few different, well, it depends on the lab, usually, it’s anywhere from like 20 to 24 different minerals. So let’s see, manganese is one. And I don’t want to say it’s directly influencing digestion, but it’s important for mitochondrial energy production in the cell. So because the mitochondria, the energy parts of the cells, and we need that for every part of the body and every function in the body. So I think manganese is one that can be really important just for overall function of the body, but with you know, thyroid function, digestion, just overall mineral balance, manganese can be important one.
I find that chromium, and chromium typically you hear that talked about in terms of blood sugar regulation, but I find that it does help. Again, it’s kind of one of those, it’s all a chain reaction, right, they’re all connected. And so it’s hard to pick which one because they’re all affecting so many things with chromium. It’s important for blood sugar regulation and insulin control, and your insulin and your cortisol are so related, and that’s going to affect your adrenals. There are so many things tied to how chromium is working. And the other part of that, linking a little bit more to digestion is a lot of times the more deficient in chromium, we have more sugar cravings and carb cravings. And it can lead to dysfunction that way, just because we’re eating things that we might not normally be eating just because those levels are low.
Cobalt is another one and there’s like many schools of thought about cobalt, like some people, some experts say it should be as low as possible. But we do need some levels of cobalt, we have to; it’s this precursor to B12. We have to have that intrinsic factor in the guts to make B12. So all of that is related to gut function. And it’s also related to liver function. Super low levels and super high levels of cobalt typically indicate low stomach acid or a stomach acid issue. Super high levels typically, in my experience, simply indicate some sort of liver stress. And so when I see super high levels, actually my client the other day, where I was just talking about her lab, her cobalt was really high. And we saw some other labs, there was definitely liver stress. She had H pylori, so affecting her stomach acid. So there’s a lot of signs, and the high cobalt was a red flag. So something’s going on with your gut and liver with the cobalt. So cobalt is one of those that I like to look at. Let’s see, I’m trying to think of a few more.
Lindsey:
Well we should talk about iron for sure. Because that’s one a lot of people are deficient in and you can get high iron.
Hope Pedraza:
Yes, exactly. Yeah. And I will say the HTMA is not – you should never use the HTMA alone for iron levels; you really need to get your blood ferritin levels checked. If you really want an accurate look at what’s going on with your iron levels. On an HTMA, when I’m looking at it, I never look at it in isolation. Like in isolation, it’s not really going to tell you a whole lot, but you can look at it in relation to some of the other minerals. But just in general, definitely get your iron levels checked. But if your serum levels are, you’re getting your ferritin checked for deficiency, right? Chronic Candida is common with low levels. Obviously, your thyroid, we need we need good iron levels for your thyroid. And then too much is a breeding ground for potential pathogens, right? We have too much iron, it can feed pathogens. So yeah, iron is one of those that the healthy balance is really important.
Lindsey:
Yeah, I’ve been struggling with trying to get enough iron all my life. And I’ve had this problem with fragile cracking nails for a long time. And then it suddenly got significantly worse. And I have been borderline anemic for most of my life. And more iron deficient at the moment, but at various points also B12 deficient, because I at one point had pernicious anemia. But you know, I take the methylcobalamin sublinguals. So B12 is not an issue now. Yeah, but anyway, I got my ferritin numbers up significantly. And I switched from taking ferrous sulfate, which was the cheap drugstore form to the iron bisglycinate, which has been much more effective and at much lower doses. But anyway, the sudden decrease in the hardness of my nails made me wonder if I did have heavy metal toxicity or something. And my hair was falling out in buckets. So I got the hair tissue mineral analysis. Yeah, it was probably about four or five months ago at this point. And it showed, despite the fact that I was measuring high in blood, you know, my ferritin was very normal, it shows still showed a deficiency, but you’re saying maybe trust the blood more than the than the hair.
Hope Pedraza:
I would trust the blood, yeah, for sure.
Lindsey:
Okay. But then I was listening to this webinar, and the doctor giving it was pointing out that iodine, iron, magnesium and calcium all compete for absorption. And I was taking iron supplements at the same time I was taking my iodine. And my iodine came up fine on my hair. So I said, I’m going to stop taking the iodine and I’m going to take my iron supplementation and put it on an empty stomach just with my vitamin C. So it helps absorb it. And away from the calcium, magnesium, and it seems like my nails have been getting better since then.
Hope Pedraza:
That’s awesome.
Lindsey:
I’m wondering what other minerals or things could be playing into the nails and the hair?
Hope Pedraza:
Yeah, yeah. I think a lot of times it’s what’s competing with what in a sense, because calcium obviously is a structural mineral, like I mentioned, like it’s in the bones, the teeth, that kind of thing. But I think a lot of times it has to do with these other minerals competing and vitamins too, vitamins and minerals. Because calcium competes with magnesium, it competes with phosphorus, it competes with a couple B vitamins, but then it works together with vitamin A and vitamin D and vitamin C, magnesium. So I think a lot of times it has to do with the combination of vitamins and minerals working together that can affect the hair and the nails. Because the nail thing isn’t super common, but the hair thing, I have quite a few in here. It’s like their hair is thinning, or it’s coming out. But a lot of times it’s those thyroid minerals, right, and that’s kind of one of the signs of a thyroid-ism. Right. So we’re looking at selenium and iodine and iron, like we said, and potassium is another of those thyroid minerals.
Lindsey:
Yeah, maybe I need to dig in on the potassium. Because I’ve checked all the others.
Hope Pedraza:
Eat some more bananas. Maybe you can add more bananas into your life without the fat of the avocado.
Lindsey:
Okay. I’ll work on the bananas. How about plantain chips?
Hope Pedraza:
There you go. Don’t want to eat any more bananas?
Lindsey:
No, I’m really a pain when it comes to diet. If my clients were as bad as I am, they’d never get better.
Hope Pedraza:
That’s hilarious.
Lindsey:
So yeah, I was also low in phosphorus and chromium in my thing and have now twice been low on chromium on different tests. So I’ve just finally sucked it up and started supplementing with chromium. Because if that’s bringing down my blood sugar awesome, that’s nothing but positive.
Hope Pedraza:
Totally, totally. Yeah, for sure.
Lindsey:
But I did. I did read on the analysis that phosphorus, it’s not good to measure phosphorus in your hair. That that’s not the best way.
Hope Pedraza:
Yeah, not the best way. Yeah, I mean, I’d say for phosphorus, it’s one of those I don’t ever really look at in isolation. I look at it in relation to calcium. Like the calcium/phosphorus ratio is like your nervous system ratio, kind of how your nervous system is functioning. But yeah, I’d say looking at it in isolation is not too accurate.
Lindsey:
Yeah, what’s the chemical signal symbol for phosphorus? It’s P. Okay so I see, CA/P: 9.5; 1 to 12 is the scale.
Hope Pedraza:
Oh yes, right in the middle.
Lindsey:
Okay, good. Any other minerals that you want to mention?
Hope Pedraza:
I think we hit the heavy hitters.
Lindsey:
Okay. Well, should we talk about iodine for a sec?
Hope Pedraza:
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Let’s talk about iodine. Yeah, iodine is a good one. This is one that I look at a lot because I’ve worked with a lot of women who have different thyroid-isms and that kind of thing. And iodine, of course, is really important for the thyroid. And iodine and selenium are the two that we look at the most. Well, yeah, potassium, like I mentioned before, but iodine and selenium are the ones you look at the most in terms of thyroid function. Now, I will also say about iodine, hair tissue mineral analysis is not the best way to look at iodine either. Because it’s excreted in the urine and not in the tissue. So you really want to get an accurate look at iodine, you want to get a urine test. Now, I admit there’s a lot of controversy around iodine and giving people iodine protocol or not to give people iodine protocol, because there is such thing as too much right. There is such thing, especially if you have a thyroid-ism.
Lindsey:
Hashimoto’s in particular, you don’t want to overdo the iodine.
Hope Pedraza:
Yeah, exactly. You don’t want to overdo it. So I always lead with caution with the iodine. If I’m getting recommend things, I very rarely ever do an actual iodine protocol where we’re loading the body with liquid iodine. Typically, it’s like, take a kelp supplement. If you take a kelp supplement, it’s lower doses. And it’s safer that way, especially again, if it’s Hashimoto’s, so we’re not overloading the body.
Lindsey:
Yeah. I usually stick to the RDA (recommended daily allowance), no more, and then think about what’s in your food too. And then, less than the RDA.
Hope Pedraza:
Exactly. Because if you’re already eating sea vegetables and sea products, then you’re already getting some.
Lindsey:
Right, and then also people are often taking multis, which have the 150 micrograms, the RDA.
Hope Pedraza:
The RDA, yeah. And that’s why if I really suspect a really, really bad deficiency, then let’s do a different test. Like I’m not going to look at the HTMA. Like let’s do the urine test to make sure. Otherwise, let’s support just basic levels because you can look at potassium, copper, selenium, you can also look at mercury and look at certain ratios of those and where those numbers are to get an idea of if you’re iodine deficient or not. And you can look at calcium; I don’t know if I mentioned calcium. But if you look at where those minerals are, you can get an idea if there’s deficiency in iodine. And so if those are red flags, they’re looking at your lithium or potassium or calcium, all those, then yeah, let’s do a urine test to see where your iodine levels are. But if I’m not getting a bunch of red flags, then I’m not going to go overboard. Let’s say, just the normal levels that you would get in a multivitamin.
Lindsey:
Right, right. Okay. So since we’re talking about minerals for gut health, I wanted to ask about two of the big supplements that are often recommended for healing the gut lining, collagen and l-glutamine. Do you use those in your practice? And if so, in what situations and dosages?
Hope Pedraza:
Yeah, I do. Recently, at least in my FDN group, there’s been discussions on l-glutamine, like to use glutamine or to not use glutamine. For me, well, it depends on the person, like how much gut lining healing that we’re doing. I really find that collagen can be a good support for that. So I do recommend collagen for most, just kind of as a maintenance thing ongoing. I think it’s something that’s okay to take every day, taking in a good quality form. Like I think was a type one and three are supposed to be the best ones to help with the gut. So I do use those. L-glutamine, I typically don’t use it in isolation. Like if I use l-glutamine, it’s in conjunction with other things that are helping with the gut lining. So there’s cat’s claw. There’s like a bunch of botanicals mixed in with . . .
Lindsey:
. . . like aloe vera and marshmallow and DGL and all that right? Yeah, like GI benefits, or GI Response.
Hope Pedraza:
Yeah. And there’s the the Mega Mucosa. Yeah, yeah.
Lindsey:
Okay. Do you use butyrate at all in your practice? I ask, because I just launched a supplement and I’m kind of obsessed with butyrate at the moment.
Hope Pedraza:
I do. Yeah, I mean, that’s one of those I I’ve included here recently with some some clients. So yeah, I have been looking at that. Yeah. Yeah, that’s awesome.
Lindsey:
Okay. Let me see if I’ve asked you everything. Oh, yeah, the heavy metals. So I, you know, I did my analysis to look also for heavy metals, not just for the minerals. And it showed me as kind of high in uranium and silver. And I’m like, what do about that?
Hope Pedraza:
You know, it’s funny about the uranium. Now the one that I use doesn’t measure silver. So that’s not one that shows up on mine. But uranium is. It’s funny.
Lindsey:
I know, like, where the heck am I getting that, is it maybe in my shampoo? I’m hoping that’s where it’s coming from, like, not from inside my body.
Hope Pedraza:
Now, most of the time, and this has been true for two of my clients, the other one, it was still a mystery. Like, I still can’t figure where it came from. For two of my clients, it was well water. And that was where it was coming from. So typically, you’re finding uranium in granite rock, right? So if you’re drinking well, water, if you’re eating vegetables grown in a place with high granite rock or not washing them, then that could be it. But I’d still find that a couple of my clients, it’s been a mystery, like, where’s the uranium? Like, you’re not working in a mine anywhere?
Lindsey:
I know. And I’m using that Zero Water filter and changing them every two weeks. No, it is not my water.
Hope Pedraza:
That’s hilarious.
Lindsey:
Yeah. Then I have again, no idea. And unless the silver’s coming from my jewelry, which I suppose it could be leaking from jewelry because I wear silver jewelry all the time.
Hope Pedraza:
Yeah, it’s possible. It’s possible. Yeah, the heavy metals are funny. So I would say mercury and aluminum are probably the ones that show up the most often. And honestly, in some levels, it’s going to show up. Like I don’t know if I’ve yet to have a test that aluminum doesn’t show up at least a little bit. Now, if it’s above a certain range, it’s like, okay, let’s talk about how we can reduce your exposure to aluminum. Mercury and aluminum are probably the ones that show up the most often.
And then there’s all these, I feel like they’re obscure. I mean, I guess they’re not because we most of them are ones we’ve heard of. Some more obscure elements and heavy metals that come up are bismuth and titanium and strontium, these random minerals. And most of the time, it’s coming from your makeup and from your personal care products. And so I have my clients who have these random, like,”What’s the bismuth from?” I’m like “Oh, you know bismuth is an ingredient in a lot of concealers and foundations and stuff.” So it’s, it’s the personal care products and the cosmetics and all the things that a lot of times really go overlooked in terms of how it’s affecting our health. Your body, your skin is absorbing all of that.
Lindsey:
Yeah, well, who knows? Maybe that’s where I’m getting my uranium and/or my silver. But they were both in the yellow so I’m not sweating it too much. Back to aluminum though, I did catch high aluminum levels I think in both of my parents and sent them off to drink five liters of Fiji water, a liter a day, because it has high levels of silica, which chelates aluminum. And of course high aluminum being a risk for Alzheimer’s. And it successfully brought the levels down.
Hope Pedraza:
That’s amazing. I love that.
Lindsey:
I don’t drink Fiji water all day because it’s expensive, but I do keep it by the side of my bed and that’s how I refill my nightly water bottle just because there are so many sources of aluminum that keep coming back in, with your aluminum foil and my wok is made of aluminum and various people use pans with aluminum.
Hope Pedraza:
Right, right. It’s true. Yeah, I love that; such a good remedy.
Lindsey:
Yeah, I know there are some multis that have silica in them too, though. And you can just buy silica pills as well.
Hope Pedraza:
Yeah, yeah. It’s easier to drink the water though.
Lindsey:
I know it’s more fun. I feel very fancy.
Hope Pedraza:
Exactly. You feel all bougie drinking your Fiji water, right?
Lindsey:
My kids are like,”Oh, can I have some?” They think it’s a super special thing. And I’m like, “Sorry, that’s mom’s Fiji water.”
Hope Pedraza:
Fiji water. That’s awesome.
Lindsey:
Okay, so tell me where folks can find you.
Hope Pedraza:
You can find me on Instagram; I’m @thehopepedraza on Instagram. And then you can visit my website. It’s hopefulandwholesome.com with everything you need to know about what I do and what I offer.
Lindsey:
Okay, awesome. And I will include links for that in the show notes. Any parting thoughts?
Hope Pedraza:
Yeah, you know, I am a proponent of the HTMA. I’ll just say that, even if you’re not doing A full panel of functional labs. HTMA, really, and I’m not getting paid to say this; I don’t get paid by the labs. I’m saying this just from just from my heart here. It really is the cheapest functional lab you can do to give you some of the most helpful data. I mean, the one I run is like 50 bucks. It is super cheap. And it does all of this, all of the heavy metals and the heavy hitters, all the big minerals, and it gives so much data. And so if you’re looking for a simple way to start making meaningful changes and wondering just overall function in the body, I really feel like the HTMA is the best way to go. And that’s the easiest in the end, it’s just hair. You don’t have to poop in anything. You don’t have to pee on anything. It’s just hair. So I find it’s pretty simple and inexpensive.
Lindsey:
Yeah, I will see if I can add that to my Rupa Health Lab store*. Yeah. And that way people can find it there off of my website. But in any case, I definitely do have the one on there, the Hair Elements by Doctors Data on there right now, which isn’t isn’t 50 bucks, but it’s like $120 or so. It’s not too bad.
Hope Pedraza:
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It’s a cheap way to know what’s going on in your body.
Lindsey:
Compared to all the other functional medicine tests, yeah, that’s a bargain. Okay, well, this was a fun conversation. And I learned a lot because we actually haven’t talked about minerals at all before on the podcast. So, so this was great. Thank you so much.
If you’re struggling with bloating, constipation, diarrhea, soft stool, acid reflux, IBS, IBD or any type of chronic disease, etc. and want to get to the bottom of it, that’s what I help my clients with. You’re welcome to set up a free, 30-minute breakthrough session with me (Lindsey). We’ll talk about what you’ve been going through and I’ll tell you about my 3- and 5- appointment health coaching programs in which I recommend lab tests, educate you on what the results mean and the protocols used by doctors to fix the problems revealed. Or if you’re ready to jump in right away or can just afford one appointment at a time, you can set up an 1-hour consultation with me.
