FOUR KEY MINERALS for a Healthy Life

Mineral needs can vary dramatically from one person to the next depending upon what you eat, how active you are, your life stage, and family health history. A woman of childbearing age may need to pay more attention to iron, for example, while a perimenopausal mom may need to get extra calcium.

- ANNE KRUEGER

And people at high risk of certain major health problems (cancer, diabetes, and high blood pressure among them) may want to consider therapeutic doses, well above the RDA of certain minerals, to help ward them off. For instance, if you’re at risk for heart disease, it’s possible that you need more magnesium. Researchers at the University of California found that supplementing with magnesium for six months led to dramatic improvements in various cardiac risk factors, including hypertension and congestive heart failure. In another study, megadoses of chromium (1,000 micrograms a day) lowered blood glucose levels 15 to 19 percent in people with Type 2 diabetes. Selenium supplementation in the amount of 200 mcg per day has been shown to reduce the risk of prostate, lung, and colorectal cancers.

As for me, I plan to pay much more attention to the contents of my multivitamin/multimineral supplements, and to make sure I get more calcium and magnesium, which should help both my bones and my mood. I’m also going to take selenium each day to cut my chances of developing the cancers that have dogged my family. And I’ll probably keep guzzling my mineral water. I know the negligible amounts of minerals in it can’t compensate for the fact that I eat more Kit Kats than kale, but at least it’s better than diet cola, which I now know is leaching important minerals from my body. And Mom’s nasty water is one thing I know won’t disappear from the refrigerator when I’m not looking.

Mineral Profile #1

Stress Queen

Thirtysomething working mother of two who takes multitasking to new heights.

• Theme Song: “I Am Woman, Watch Me Hyperventilate.”