LS 121 - Minerals, the Forgotten Nutrient, with Dr. Pauline Jose

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Welcome to the Longevity and Biohacking Show. This is your host Fernando Aris, in partnership with the Hartman Media Company. Today it is my pleasure to welcome Dr. Pauline Jose. Dr. Jose is a specialist in family medicine. She is also a clinical instructor at ucla. She received her medical degree from the University of the East River Ramon Magasese Memorial Medical center in Manila, the Philippines and her BA Degree from the University of the Philippines. She is a co author of the new book Minerals, the Forgotten nutrient, your secret weapon to getting and staying healthy. So with no further ado, I'd like to welcome Pauline. It is a pleasure to talk to you today.

Hello, how are you? Thank you for having me in your show.

Great. I'm really looking forward to pick your brain and learn all about Minerals. This is a topic that I am very interested in and I'm sure the audience will get a lot of benefit from listening to you. Before we start, Pauline, where are you located? Where is your labs located? And give us a sense of geography.

Proactive Health labs or PH labs, where we're from is in California. We have two locations in Santa Monica and in Sherman Oaks.

Okay, tell us a little bit about phlefs, who you are, what you do. Just kind of the basics may sound.

Deceiving because a lot of people call and they think we're a laboratory. We're not really a laboratory. We're a non profit health assessment and wellness organization and our main focus or mission is to educate and give information and tools to people so they could be living to their optimum health. So we do physical exams very similar to what we do in their doctor's office, but much longer we do an hour long exam talking about your diet, your lifestyle, and most importantly, we are in contract with two very, very good specialty laboratories within the country and they do in depth testing for vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, amino acids. And we really, really believe that if we have those tools, if we have the knowledge of what we are deficient in, then we can live a healthier life and we can partner with our healthcare providers because we can give them the tools that usually weren't able to in a regular doctor's office. So that's. Yes, we're a wellness place.

So let's start from I guess, the basics on your, your latest book, which is all about minerals. And these are kind of, as the title suggests, the Forgotten nutrients. Right. We hear so much about vitamins and supplements and all of the basics for living a healthy life, but the minerals, I mean, there's so many of them we talk about. I had a conversation not too long ago with Dr. Joe Wallach where the breakdown of the 90 essential nutrients that, that we need, which are broken into, you know, minerals, fatty acids, vitamins, amino acids, and the largest class by far is minerals. And there's 60 minerals that we need. But you know, we don't put as much emphasis on that. So maybe you can start from the top here. Minerals are essential for life, but what are minerals? You know, what's their function in the body?

Okay, so there are, I think you mentioned more than six, but we consider like six essential nutrients that we need in our bodies to be healthy or to even function. And that is fat, protein, carbohydrates, water, vitamins and minerals. And you often hear your parents or other people saying, hey, did you take your vitamins? But we never hear people saying, hey, did you take your minerals? A lot of multivitamins have minerals in them, actually. But when you Google minerals, usually you will not find the minerals that we need in our bodies. Maybe you'll find crystals or minerals in soil, but truth is, minerals like magnesium and calcium, which are probably the most popular ones that most people know, are very, very essential to different organs and different systems in our body. Iron is another one that most people know of. Our book talks about 14. We just picked 14. 14 critical minerals and how they are important to many conditions, which include, for example, depression, menopause, autism, blood pressure and a few others. And we also write about where we could find them in food. And of course we also wrote down amount that every age group will need because a baby will need a different amount than an elderly person. So that's all included in our book. And you asked about how important they are. Let's give, for example, magnesium. Magnesium is probably one of the most popular ones we needed in over 300 reactions in our body. We need it as a cofactor in certain metabolic processes. We need it in muscle contraction, we need it for the heart, we need it for the brain. So as I said, it's needed in 300 reactions. And if we are depleted, we will not feel right.

Sometimes just feeling fatigued may mean after exercising that you're low in magnesium. And how do we know? Another thing that we're emphasizing in our book is you should get tested. Testing is very important because some minerals you will need much less than others. Some you will need, if you have a lot off, will be bad for you. So it's really, it really all depends on the person's condition. And what you need is not what I need. Although there are requirements based on FDA and the National Institute of Health. They've all determined what every age group will need. But still, maybe I will need more than you just because I'm female as far as iron, for example, and maybe I'm menstruating. And men have better stores in their body. So really the best thing is to get tested.

Sure.

We've just forgotten minerals and they're just so important. And when we see our patients here, we realize that a lot of them are deficient in minerals. And as soon as we give them supplements or we refer them to a nutritionist, or we guide them diet wise as to where these minerals should come from, they start feeling better.

Yeah. One thing that I noticed that you mentioned, I mean, not only we want to pay attention to the guidelines, the official FDA guidelines, but honestly, I don't want to be average, you know, I don't want to fit within that narrow spectrum. I want to be optimal, you know, I want to find what minerals can make you more resilient, especially with all the toxins that we're exposed to on a day to day basis. You know, I want to make sure that I am doing what I can do in order to build up my immune system in the body and be the best that I can be. Now, you mentioned you have, I guess, 14 critical minerals that you really focus on. Is that what you're saying?

Yes.

Okay, so a question related to that. The list of minerals is much longer than that. And, you know, two questions. The first one is should we be concerned about getting, you know, everyone, as I mentioned in the 90s, essential nutrients in the beginning, you know, of that long list of 60 minerals, should we be worried about making sure that we get all of these, and it's a very big list, or should we just concentrate on a smaller list that you mentioned at 14 and just making sure that we get enough of them, either through supplements or probably difficult to get them all from the diet? In other words, how much should we worry about getting every single mineral that the body needs?

I think what we talked about are the essential minerals, and the others that you've mentioned are trace minerals. And the ones that we mentioned are the ones that, from our research, are the most essential for our bodies to work to its optimum. So I would think that the other trace minerals you will be getting in your food and the supplements, too. But the ones that we wanted to really pay attention to are the big ones, the essential ones.

All right, now let's understand it a little more. If you could expand on the role that these minerals play in combating disease. So let's start with the concept of healing, right? How do these minerals help us or help our body heal? What's the process?

Minerals are essential, which means we need them when we have symptoms or when we have certain conditions that are diagnosed. Sometimes we go to the doctors and they just treat us, give us medications, for example, for blood pressure, and we're given medications. However, we are trying to inform people that some of these symptoms are because of deficiencies of minerals. And if we don't know, if we don't get tested, for example, we will never know. And sometimes blood pressure, for example, as an example, will be more difficult to treat because maybe there's too much sodium, that's an example, or too little potassium, even magnesium. Our book talks about a few of these conditions and what we have researched on as probably minerals that could help either treat certain symptoms of those conditions or augment the medications that are used for those conditions. And let me be specific. For example, for depression, certain minerals augment the effects of antidepressants. And most people will not know that. And how will they know if they don't get tested, if they're loading something? Of course they won't know. But this book, again, will help in maybe guiding people to. Especially with the conditions that we have paid attention to in our book. It's just that we don't know that mineral deficiencies or depletions are the reasons for certain symptoms. It's just the more we study it, the more research we read. And it just proves that if you are balanced, if you have enough, you will feel better and you will get better in any condition that you have.

Yeah, it makes sense. I mean, it's as if you're providing the body with the building blocks so that it can function and it can produce all of the enzymes and all of the systems that are in place for a complete system to operate at its optimal. And I can see where you can have a whole bunch of symptoms and diseases that can originate from this. Now, is there a pathway by which the amount of toxins that we get exposed to every day can deplete our body from minerals? What's your view on that?

Toxins make us develop free radicals in our bodies, and certain minerals are important in enzymes or antioxidants. For example, selenium is one that's very important as an antioxidant. So if you are exposed to toxins and we don't have enough of some of the minerals that are important in antioxidant and fighting the toxins, then we won't get well. And I think to answer you, yes, they do deplete certain minerals, and because those minerals are important for fighting these free radicals, then yes, it's important to get tested again. There's a whole chapter on lifestyle impact in our book which talks about diet, toxins and a few other things. So I hope I answered that question, that yes, in fact there are specific minerals that are important for antioxidant function.

What are these main trace minerals and how do we get them? I guess that's an important aspect of, you know, for the listener on what can they do in order to make sure that they have what's needed?

Okay, first of all, the book, after every chapter of the minerals will give you sources, diet, food sources of certain minerals. We all probably are aware though, that because the soil has been corrupted by agriculture, either by mechanization or pesticides, decides that they don't have enough minerals anymore. That is one reason why maybe even if we do eat the right food sources, we still don't get the minerals that we need. So now we still are depleted. How do we know, though? Again, I emphasize testing. We need to know just because some of these minerals are depleted from soil, even if we feel like we're eating, eating a balanced diet, we're not getting enough. We're still having symptoms. I think the best thing is to just test. That way we can just supplement. Another reason why maybe even if we feel like we're eating the right diet, we feel like we have all the right sources of minerals. Sometimes our bodies don't absorb. We have different gut issues. So again, people wonder here, oh, my God, I take a lot of magnesium. Why am I still low? After they get tested, and we investigate the reasons why. And I think one reason, a very common reason, is gut issues. So again, we just have to test.

Now, what kind of testing is most effective? You know, maybe can you describe, is it a blood test, urine test? And how often should people be tested?

Like I said, we are contracted with this specialty laboratory. It's not in California. We have two laboratories actually that we use, and they do blood and urine for the mineral testing. They actually do a nutrition evaluation test. It's probably one of our most popular tests. This nutrition evaluation test test for not just minerals, they also check for vitamins, amino acids, antioxidants, fatty acids. It's really one of our most popular tests. And we usually get retested. We recommend retesting testing in three to six months after fixing quote, unquote, or trying to repeat whatever is deficient.

That's the only way to know if you are going in the right direction. You know, that's as an example, not for trace minerals or minerals in general, but vitamin D is an example of a vitamin that most people are deficient in. And, you know, as you take vitamin D, you can notice the levels changing, and only by checking your blood, you can tell whether or not you're doing enough of it. And I imagine it's the same with the trace minerals and minerals in general, right?

Correct. Correct. Like I said. I'll mention it again, here in Proactive Health Labs, we emphasize, and our mission is to really give people the tools. And those tools are maybe the information about what's inside you, because you need to know what you're deficient in, if any. That's the only way.

Now, let me ask you about trace minerals in water. So one thing that we started to do here at home is we buy the big containers and five gallon containers of water with the dispenser. And recently what I'm trying to do is buy distilled water which will have, you know, no minerals. It should be just pure water. And then I buy my own trace mineral drops. And you know, the particular kind that I buy, it has over 72 ionic trace minerals. And some of these are probably in your list of essential ones like calcium, silicon, selenium, phosphorus, iodine and so on. And I add these minerals into the water. Is this a good practice? I mean, is this something that you would recommend as a way to get minerals? Is it effective? You know, how does it compare with supplements? You know, Just taken separately or just whole foods or what's your take on it?

As far as I know the drops or can't speak for whatever you're using, but we have something here also that we just drop in water. Not really a five gallon but like an eight ounce glass of water. And it's supposed to give you the trace minerals. We can't test for the trace minerals, so I can't really tell you whether you're getting enough. But I believe that because they're saying trace, they're not giving you the enough doses or milligrams that is recommended per guidelines. So maybe you're just getting trace, but not enough. In our center we also have, we sell alkaline water. I'm not really talking about alkaline water right now, but what we do here is we clean up the water. There's a reverse osmosis. We take out all the bad things that it's in the water and then we put back the trace minerals just like the way you're talking about your drops. But we still can't tell you that this is sufficient to repeat or to balance your mineral needs in your body. Maybe what you could do is test to see if that's enough. But as far as I know it probably would be much better to supplement and to get the rest of it.

In food, is there a difference in the bioavailability of minerals? In other words, do they work similarly as vitamins where some are fat soluble, some are water soluble and does it make a difference if you're eating whole foods that contain the minerals versus doing the drops? As far as bioavailability is concerned, there.

Is a difference in bioavailability. For example, let's just say iron, there's really more iron in red meat versus in greens. So there's a big difference as far as where your minerals are coming from. But again when it's in the supplement form they will give you a certain dose. For example, for magnesium, the required dose for most people, most healthy adults is about 400 milligrams. But just to stay healthy, just to be balanced and at least that one you can measure. But yeah it from food, they all vary. So I guess to answer you, the bioavailability is quite different. But as far as being water soluble versus fat soluble, I know that for vitamins, yes, there's the ADEK and the B's that if you there are ADEK that are fat soluble and the bees are water soluble, that if you take too much nothing will happen. They just call it Expensive urine.

If you don't need it, it just goes away.

Yeah, it goes away. For minerals, different bioavailability, again, they will just be excreted out in the urine. Also if you already have a balance, for example calcium, phosphorus, they have to have a balance. And the kidneys help. So yeah, they all differ also.

So you get to be careful not to overdo it.

Oh my gosh. Yes.

Is what you're getting at. And that's why testing and not trying to guess on what you're really needing, but testing is really the way to go. I think the underlining message here.

Yes, that's funny you would say don't guess because we always say that. Test, don't guess. And again, there are certain minerals that if you have two too much off will be bad for you.

Yeah, I noticed. I mean one of the, I guess if you just look at the, at the entire, not just the trace minerals, but the entire gamut of minerals, people might not realize, but arsenic is listed as one of the minerals that are essential. And of course, you know, most people know that, you know, if you take too much of that, you will die.

It's a mineral and it's a toxin, right? It's a toxin, yes.

So the dosage makes all of the difference. Right. You need just enough. And there are many minerals that very, I guess, uncommon. You don't hear these names like rubidium or Sumerian. You know, people don't even know where they come from. And we just eat the foods that contains them and don't necessarily think too much about them. But if you do decide to add them separately, as I mentioned before, to the water, you got to be careful what you're doing. And testing is really the way. It's too bad it sounds like the testing is done at PH Labs or you work with a lab that can do the testing. It's not yet at a point where you can do an in home type testing where you can just prick your finger. Just like a glucose test, huh?

No, no, there's no testing like that. And yes, we do the testing here, we do the blood and we send it out to the laboratories. But if there's anybody who's listening who wants to get tested, we can send them the kit and what others have done is taken it to their doctor or to somebody who could draw their blood and then they could send it back to the laboratory and when the results come back, we can give them the interpretation via Skype or over the phone. So if people are interested in getting tested, I know There are many testing sites and many places that test. But if they go to PH labs.

They could email us or they could get our phone number and call us and we can send them the testing kits if they're far from us.

Now, let me just check. I just went to phlabs.com. is that a different website or is.org the same?

It's the same. We used to be.com before and then we became non profit. So it will take you to the same place.

Got it. Okay, switching gears a little bit. I've read some research about mental performance and children's growth and how important minerals are for that. And in particular, lithium, which is key for brain development. And again, on the right dosages, it makes a lot of sense. So is there anything you can add for the audience's benefit regarding mental performance and children's growth?

We did not discuss children's growth in our book, but I would just say from my experience, children's growth. Again, like I said, FDA and the Institute of Health have different recommendations for different age groups and for children because they are growing, their bones are growing, they have high need for some of the essential nutrients more than other age groups. For example, calcium. And for brain, it's the same magnesium and a few others. There are too many to mention. But the best thing really is to check. Either our book may help, or they could check the FDA website or the Institute of Medicine and they could give you the recommendations.

Okay, Pauline, I know that we're coming up to the end of the show, and I want to make sure that the audience knows that your book Minerals the Forgotten Nutrient is available. I know it's available at Amazon and there it's a newer book and it's got good reviews. It's starting to gain traction on Amazon. And I guess that is $29.99 for the paperback and $9.99 for the Kindle version.

It's also available in itunes. I'm sorry. Yes, itunes too.

Okay. Do you have an audiobook as well version or.

No, no, we don't. Not yet.

Tim said not yet. It's coming. Or maybe do you have plans for an audiobook or.

No, no, no.

Okay, before we go, is there anything else you want to leave the audience with? And also please give out any other links. I know we talked about phlabs.org and the book, but anything else that you'd like people to know to follow up on how important minerals are for our bodies?

Again, I guess you could visit our site because we have blogs. We write blogs weekly basis on health issues. And I want everyone to know that minerals can help before they even take medications for many health conditions or in conjunction with medications. And the only way to really know is to test test for our mineral levels.

Excellent. Yes, that's the message. Well, thank you again, Pauline, and I hope you have a great rest of.

The thank you too for having me. And you have a good day too.

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