Re: What is the difference between colloidal minerals and chelated minerals?

Dear Amanda,
A scientist, if he remains within the bounds of his remit, cannot answer a question about THE Truth. His standard reply will generally be: It depends.. Terms with a scientific origin, like "colloidal" (coined at the beginning of this century) or "chelated" (ca. 1930) , are often recovered by marketing people due to their exotic sound.

As you correctly state, colloidal means "in a very finely dispersed (divided, ground, powdered) state" (in the order of 1/1000 millimeter). So colloidal minerals are easily dissolved because e.g. the stomach acid does not have to eat through thick slabs of material.

The term "chelated" cannot be directly opposed to "colloidal". It refers to dissolved MOLECULES or IONS (charged atoms), not particles of solid. We are thus talking of size ranges of millionths of millimeters. Chelated ions (e.g. iron ion) are surrounded by other, chainlike molecules which "wrap" them into a package which may pass through conditions where the naked ion would not pass. Ions, as opposed to particles, can also pass through tissue walls (bowel). Unchelated iron ion is converted into insoluble hydroxide at neutral (biological) pH, and thus cannot be absorbed by the body. If the wrapping, on the other hand, clings too well to the mineral ion, it also prevents its absorption by the body: the whole package exits unchanged at the other end... In fact, very strong chelating agents are used as medicines to relieve the body of EXCESS iron, which is just as bad as a lack of it. Which leads us to the issue of what mineral supplements are NEEDED at all by our pampered, western, civilised bodies. If your diet includes regular milk, whole-meal bread and potatoes, ordinary mineral needs are pretty much covered. The main source of iron is meat, so vegetarians may need some supplementary iron.

Best regards
Werner Sieber