Forget everything you know about taking magnesium and other mineral supp's - and meet Caroline Alan

0:00This show is sponsored by Primadine, a clean, natural and science-based spermidine supplement that's been a long-time staple in my own longevity stack. Because studies suggest that through autophagy, spermidine increases healthspan and upregulates a range of health markers, from memory and cognitive function to heart health, hormone balance, fertility and even hair growth. Plus, you can be assured that all ingredients undergo rigorous third-party testing. Buy Primadine now at OxfordHealthSpam.com and use the discount code DrSophie, that's D-R-Sophie for 20 % off. This show is sponsored by Microbes, an award-winning liquid probiotic that's now a staple for me, because Microbes, with a Z on the end, is different.

0:47For one thing, they source directly from the soil on their Wiltshire farm, meaning more diversity, with at least 15 strains of good bacteria in every single shot. It's brewed so it can survive in the stomach and a remarkable 92 % of customers say it makes a difference. Plus they offer micro-friendly cleaning, gardening and even microbes for dogs. Buy now at microbes.co.uk and use the discount code SOPHIE20 for 20 % off. Hi, I'm Sophie and this is Age Well with Dr. Sophie Schotter, a space devoted to all things health, wellness and longevity. because for me, aging well is about looking and feeling like the best possible version of ourselves inside as well as out.

1:31So together with my producer Fee, I'll be deep diving into the latest research, sifting fact from fiction. I'll also be talking to all kinds of trusted experts tapping into their knowledge, along with bringing you conversations from a range of interesting women and men finding out how they age well. So this is my show. Welcome along. And as always, thank you so much for listening.

2:00Caroline, I'm fascinated to have this chat as mineral health isn't exactly widely talked about, especially couched in the kinds of themes we're about to cover. So to give you a little intro, several years ago, together with your co-founder Dan, you launched Beam Minerals as something of a passion project based on your own health crisis and subsequent recovery. Can you tell us your story because from what I've read it's quite the journey you've been on. It has been. Thank you for having me. So my journey started about 11 years ago and I was in a corporate career. I had been ill for quite some time.

2:38I had an autoimmune growing up. I've had really bad mold exposure and gluten intolerance so I struggled with gut health. I had really bad inflammation in my mouth. I had flat-lined adrenals for over a year. I had really bad sinus infections that recurred every six to eight weeks, as well as, of course, terrible energy issues. I could not sleep through the night. I woke up three to four, sometimes five times a night. And I met my business partner, Dan Howard, and he gave me this little cup of liquid minerals. And he said, you know, try these. These might help you feel better. and I took them. Over the space of about eight or nine months, I just stopped getting sick.

3:24I started sleeping through the night. Even my food cravings, because at that time I had, although I'm not a big sugar eater like candy and that kind of thing, I did eat a lot of fruit and my sweet cravings just greatly reduced. And after two months, I went to my dentist and when she looked at my mouth, She was incredibly surprised. I'd had no pain or bleeding when I had my teeth cleaned. And then she said that pH in my mouth was completely changed and the tissues look pink and healthy instead of red and inflamed. After four months, I went to my naturopath. We had been working for over a year to try and restart my adrenal function in my body.

4:09And the last appointment, she had given me hydrocortisone, which I did not want to, I I didn't even fill the prescription. And she looked down at my chart, and my adrenals were one-third of the way up the chart, which was a substantial change in two months. And I just started feeling really good. And I kept going to this friend, Dan, and I'd say, you know, how could this be that I haven't changed anything? All I've done is taken this little cup of liquid. And he started feeding me little bits of information and I started researching. And that was the beginning of my becoming the mineral geek. I love that.

4:56Thank you so much for sharing, Caroline. You've spoken a lot about this profound experience where as your body became remineralized, you started to notice some fundamental changes across a range of different health markers. So gut inflammation resolving, your adrenal function returning, your sinus issues ending. And as you just said, pointed out by your dentist, that your overall oral pH levels changed all for the better. So what are the really chronic health issues that have now been associated with mineral deficiency? For example, we recently did an episode on thyroid health, and I'd love to get your views on where and how minerals tie in with this.

5:34So here's the thing I want you to understand. every chronic health issue is correlated with mineral deficiency particularly those like hormone health thyroid adrenals all of those are correlated with mineral deficiency because every single biosynthesis process in the body requires minerals and not just one or two but many different minerals for different functions in your body. So when you're mineral depleted, particularly for thyroid or adrenals, your thyroid gland stores minerals, your adrenal gland stores minerals because it utilizes a lot. So when you are mineral depleted, those glands, they are not able to find those cofactors required for all of those biosynthesis processes to keep, as an example, your thyroid, all of the transformational processes that happen to keep them going.

6:41Caroline, hello. This is, as Sophie said, a fascinating chat. And for me, this feels like this could be a missing piece in my supplement stack for sure. We're going to get on to be minerals as well. But how do we know that we're mineral depleted? Can we talk symptoms? And also, is there a specific test that we're mineral depleted beyond symptoms? What are the main signs of a mineral deficiency. So here are the primary signs that I say that are kind of the top level things that people will notice when they are mineral deficient. Brain fog. So your brain, in a single cell in your brain, there could be up to 2 million mitochondria.

7:22And every single mitochondria needs a whole set of minerals as it goes through its process to generate energy. So if you don't have enough minerals, you literally cannot think. Your level of cognition goes down. Cramping in the body. So all cramping, hand cramps, foot cramps, night cramps that come in your legs, menstrual cramps. Okay. So all cramping, if you experience lots of cramping in your body, it is mineral deficiency. The other thing is fluttering, like heart issues with keeping a regular heartbeat. So people have all sorts of different types of experiences with their heart, where their heart is not beating normally.

8:07These absolutely can be correlated with mineral deficiency. Food cravings. So what I say is, what does a hungry cell crave? A cell that does not have all the minerals and electrolytes that it needs. It craves salt and sugar. Quick ways to get it recharged. Then finally, sleep issues. If you're not sleeping through the night, chances are that you're experiencing mineral deficiency. Now, why is this? Because if you think about how do you feel when you're hungry? When you're hungry, you feel on edge. So when you have so many cells in your body, you have about 37 trillion cells in your body. So you have a huge number of cells.

8:54And when they don't, when many of them, like up to 60%, in some cases don't have enough minerals to generate enough energy in your body, your whole nervous system goes on hyper alert, and it's hard to relax. That's just the top level. So testing, is it possible to test for mineral deficiency? Sure, it's absolutely possible. The one thing I'll tell you about testing, and this is where we're going to start getting into our conversation about what to do if you are mineral deficient, because the kind of conceptual framework that standard medical, the world of medicine and even health and wellness lives in that is that if I find out I'm deficient in magnesium, I should just add some magnesium.

9:42And what I'm trying to help people understand is that's a mechanical model. Your body is not mechanical. It's like a natural ecosystem, much like a forest. If you're going to be testing for minerals, it's not just like you can find out you're low in magnesium or low in calcium or whatever, and just add it back because your body is an ecosystem. them. And minerals don't work alone. They work together in balanced pairs, triumvirates, like one mineral could have relationships with 10 other minerals. So they all work together. And your body is not mechanical. So it's not like filling up the gas tank or filling up the oil reservoir.

10:23You have to put them in your body in these balanced formulations. So that said, there are two ways that you can test for mineral imbalances and levels. One is called the hair tissue mineral analysis. And with that one, what you do is you have to take a piece of hair, I mean, just a hair out of your head, and you put it in a baggie or whatever, and you send it to the lab, and they bring back information about your mineral levels in your body. The best test that I recommend, though, is called OligoScan. I think it's widely available in Europe and in the UK as well as the US. You have to find out where the practitioners are in your local area because it requires you to be physically present with the practitioner.

11:12They use something called spectrophotometry and they shine a light into four places in your palm. And this is a technology that's used widely in material sciences. It's a very stable science. That information is taken through an algorithm and it comes back and gives you a very detailed report on all of your beneficial minerals, your electrolytes, your heavy metals, as well as all the vitamin levels in your body, as well as some other readings about levels of oxidative stress in your body. So really important things. The challenge that I have with it is what are you going to do when you find out that you're low in certain minerals and high in other minerals?

11:56There's a whole body of knowledge there and it's not just like, oh I can go to the health food store and buy bottles of pills to fill up those deficiencies because it doesn't work like that. And can you talk to us about your thoughts on the interplay between chronic illnesses and minerals? So for example, this idea that we tend to think of illness as something wrong with a particular organ or bodily function, rather than a potential depletion or an issue at a deeper cellular level. Such a great question. So we've been taught to think of our body as parts and pieces. You know, I've got skin and I've got bones and I've got organs and I've got other tissues, muscles.

12:40And when something is wrong in my body, I go to a specialist or somebody who knows about skin or, you know, my liver or my gut or my urinary tract or my heart. You know, the problem is the body is entirely made of cells. So this is a complete reframe of the way to think about your body. Your body is completely made of cells. There's about 37 trillion cells in your body. For a very large human, it could be 150 trillion cells. Now, here's the thing that we were never taught. Nearly all of the energy in your body that fuels every single biosynthesis process, the building of tissue, everything, cognition, even my looking when I'm seeing things and my brain is processing what I'm seeing, all of the neurological aspects of the body, the neurotransmitters, all of the gut microflora, they're all operating on minerals and amino acids.

13:49So in each single cell in your body, there are mitochondria, but it's not just like one mitochondria to one cell. In a cell on the back of my arm, there might be one to 200 mitochondria. In my heart, in a single cell, there might be five to 8 ,000 mitochondria. And then, as I said, in the brain, in a single cell, up to two million mitochondria. Now, each one of these mitochondria goes through a specific process called the Krebs cycle. And at each stage of the cycle, a different mineral and amino acid come together as cofactors to generate whatever that cell is particularly focused on creating.

14:37So if you don't have enough minerals in your body, now you do need amino acids also, but your body makes a lot of amino acids. it does not make any minerals and they all have to come from the outside so when you don't have enough minerals in your body what happens is your body has to pick and choose and it says well i don't need hair well you know those fingernails they're not very important oh that gut inflammation well we can't clear it totally so we'll just keep it at a low level oh that inflammation in the mouths well we'll just keep it at a low level oh that immune system well we don't have enough energy to keep it highly charged so we're going to just kind of sort of keep it going and then you get sick you know many times in a year and why is this so let's look at a little bit why this is it's really because of our food supply so in nature all of the structure in the world is made of minerals.

15:42If you actually look around your room and the chair you're sitting on or the room, the house, the building, all of the plants, even when a baby grows in a mother, the way all of the structure in that baby is created from pulling minerals from the mother's body. So in nature, a plant grows and at some point it dies and it decomposes and that mineral content goes back into the soil where it's available for the next plants that are going to grow. But what we've done is we've done production farming where we cultivate, we grow plants in soil, we harvest them, we take them away from where they were grown, we eat them, and then we dispose of their waste far away from those fields.

16:31And so over time, the soils become more and more deficient. There's a 2014 study that was done, and they compared foods grown in 1950 and 1999 and found significant declines in protein, vitamin, and mineral content. So what it means is that we are overfed, but we We are undernourished and our bodies simply do not have enough of the basic fuel necessary to power all of the functions in the body. I know that Sophie has got a really interesting question that she wants to ask you about what's going on in the soil. So let's just hold that thought. But for now, I'm pretty sure that everyone listening, including me, will think I need more minerals.

17:17Quick, quick, quick. So can you walk us through the various different ways we can get more minerals and your personal experience with standard mineral supplements? which is what I'm taking. I don't know about you, Sophie. You know, the big problem with standard mineral supplements, and I like to explain this to people because it's so important. I've spent a lot of time in the aisles in the health food stores where they have all the bottles of mineral pills, talking to people who are picking up a bottle and looking at it and going, oh, is this the right form? Is this, you know, is this going to be the right mineral supplement for me.

17:51And sometimes they have four or five bottles of minerals, pills in their cart and, or basket. And I asked them, you know, how do you know what minerals you need? And they say, well, you know, my trainer told me I need to take magnesium and my mother told me I should be taking zinc. And my friend told me I need chromium. And my other friend said, oh, you've got to be taking selenium or biotin or whatever. So they're taking all of these things. But the problem is that most mineral supplements are made from rocks, shells, and bones. Now, we'll talk about salt-based electrolytes separately, but those three, and they'll be taking 500 milligrams of calcium or so many milligrams of chromium, etc.

18:42And the problem is that these don't break down well in the human digestive tract. Most of what you take goes straight through you, which is why they say modern humans have the most expensive urine ever, because most of what you take just is going to go straight through you. So this is what I call supplementation as opposed to replenishment. What we need to do is understand how does replenishment actually work in natural ecosystems and then provide the minerals into that ecosystem in a way and a format that that ecosystem can actually utilize and absorb. So through Beam, you offer what you call totally pure plant-based bioavailable minerals.

19:29What are plant-based minerals and how are they different to the kinds of standard mineral supplements that many of us might be taking? Let me explain. First of all, plant-based minerals are not like taking plants and grinding them up and drying them and making a powder out of them. That is not what they are. These plant-based minerals come from ancient decomposed rainforests. So 65 million years ago, the earth was covered with rainforests and a meteor hit the Yucatan area and it killed 75 % of all life on earth in a few hours. And all of those rainforests around the earth died and decomposed. And they left deposits of this incredibly rich mineral substances in the earth.

20:16So in the Himalayas, they have something called shilajit. And in the UK, they have peat. And in South America, there's something called terra preta. Here in North America, we have a couple of materials called leonardite. and humate. And these materials, they're not only just inactive minerals like ground-up rocks. No, this is plants that have decomposed. And when freshwater plants decompose, there's a microbial process that occurs. And the result is these incredibly active molecules called humic and fulvic. And these two molecules are literally stored energy. They are like the Earth's ecosystem method of storing energy for use at a later time.

21:14So in our products, we use this material called humate, which is a powder, a black crystalline powder. And we extract out of that these two molecules, humic and fulvic. And these two molecules, then we suspend in water. So we actually ionically, like chemically bind them with water so that when you drink them, they're immediately available to your body. They require no digestion at all. So when you take a pill of calcium or potassium, first of all, you're only getting calcium and potassium and you put them in your mouth, you swallow them. Now they have to digest. and a very, very small percentage of it actually gets digested.

22:00And then if you have any challenges with absorption in your gut, maybe your gut lining isn't healthy, you've got SIBO, IBS, you've got Crohn's, you've got other gut problems, then you struggle with absorption, which means getting the minerals from inside your gut into your bloodstream. And then many people have struggles with the linings of their cells, their cell linings due to eating all sorts of processed foods etc are not really healthy so they also struggle with the process of getting those minerals into the cells now if you remember we talked about those mitochondria that need the minerals and amino acids they're inside the cells so it's one thing to get a lot of minerals into your gut but if it never makes it into your bloodstream and they never make it into your cell they don't really help you at all so sadly many of the single or mineral supplements or those salt-based electrolytes that people are taking, they're just going straight through.

22:58We're just doing supplementation. We're not doing replenishment. The beautiful thing about the humic and fulvic molecules is that they are nature's solution for getting minerals and other nutrients into cells. You've also mentioned that women over 40 should really hone in on mineral replenishment. Can you tell us why and specifically how mineral deficiency impacts perimenopause? I've also read that low testosterone in men can be linked to mineral deficiencies. So perhaps a little 101 on minerals and hormones in general would be good for men as well as women? Yes. So as we age, one of the big things that happens in the body is mitochondrial function.

23:43So remember all those mitochondria inside the cells, many of them become inactive. So that means you need to provide more minerals and amino acids, which you get mostly from your food and your body makes. So you don't have to concentrate as much on amino acids, but you definitely have to make sure you are getting enough full spectrum of minerals. Now, many people have heard about magnesium, or maybe they take salt-based electrolytes that has sodium and potassium and magnesium in them. The problem with these is that they create imbalance in your system. So one of the big signs of perimenopause can be issues with sleep, women not sleeping well, and they start waking up in the night, and then they use magnesium for sleep.

24:33The problem is, or another issue for women can be elimination issues, constipation, and they often use magnesium for making them go. The problem is that you're creating constant imbalance in your gut microbiome. So the way I like to describe this is if you think about your gut, it actually operates a lot like a forest. So when a forest is healthy, there's all these plants that are decomposing and they're delivering a full spectrum of minerals back into the soil so that all that plant life on the floor of the forest is growing. And then there's the big trees that are, you know, seeking sunlight.

25:15And they have like big roots that gather lots of minerals from the soil. And then you've got water and streams that are running through, rain. You have even air that is bringing, the wind brings minerals to the soil. So in a forest, if you took that a wheelbarrow of magnesium, which is like you taking a pill of magnesium and throwing in your gut, the plants in that area aren't going to thrive and neither is your gut. So your gut says, I've got a concentration here and now I need to balance it. And what does magnesium balance with? Balance with phosphorus and calcium. And And when you do that on a regular basis, putting lots of magnesium into your system as a single mineral, your body has to continually balance that.

26:06And where does it get it? From your teeth and your bones, which is exactly what happened to me. I was so deficient that my body started to have to pull minerals from my teeth and they became very, very unhealthy. When I replenished my minerals, then my teeth became hard again, my gums cleared, and I actually began to have vitality in my body. So particularly for women who are going into perimenopause, your body is starting to go through a major change. So not only do you need the regular, just standard minerals that your body just needs to operate, but now it's also transforming. So particularly for women who've had multiple children, what happens in the body is to grow that child, the fetus takes minerals from your body.

26:58So after you've had multiple children, you have to even more replenish your mineral stores. And this is why so many women struggle after having a child with weight loss, with all sorts of energy issues, with postpartum, with all sorts of things. because their body literally started in depletion. Then they grew a baby and now they're in deep depletion. That was certainly my experience. I wish I had known because I went to so many doctors over the years trying to figure out what was wrong with me. So many practitioners. I mean, I've probably done everything that you could imagine. And nobody ever said, gee, maybe you're mineral deficient.

27:40Well, as Sophie said, we don't often think about it, do we? it's not a conversation that really is not happening in this health and wellness space. What about men and testosterone? Because that's interesting. Yes. So again, same thing with men, all your hormone production in your body, all biosynthesis process is fueled with minerals. So if you do not have enough minerals, and so many men as they age, get into their 40s, late 40s, 50s, they start struggling with weight issues, They struggle with energy issues. They struggle with low testosterone. By the way, women also struggle with low testosterone and perimenopause and menopause.

28:21It is definitely something, if you're a woman, you should get your testosterone levels checked. Yeah. So I take two minerals. I take magnesium threonate for brain health and I take magnesium glycinate to support my sleep. I also take zinc. I take selenium. I imagine, Sophie, you have a similar stack. Caroline, I wondered what feedback you get from Beam customers. So for example, are people noticing big differences with things like brain health and sleep? I'm sure I know the answer to this question already, but I just would be interested to hear feedback because I think my minerals work, but then again, I haven't tried your minerals and I'm also really interested in adrenal fatigue as well.

28:59So here's the thing is that those minerals will work. The minerals that you were taking, they're working at a low level. okay so the bioavailability of those is low relative to plant-based minerals because they require digestion and most of it is going through you I'm not saying you're not getting any of it you are it's definitely helping you but what it is doing is it's creating constant imbalance in your gut. And so now you end up taking other things to support your gut microbiome, maybe you're using probiotics or prebiotics, etc. So you're constantly dealing with this imbalance. So what I want you to think about is back when scientists were looking at the body, and they realized that people actually soldiers and athletes were having mineral deficiencies, and they were having critical mineral deficiencies, electrolyte levels were low and they were crashing, they had to find tools for helping people get minerals back in the body.

30:10And what they did is they went in their labs and they did a whole bunch of studies and tests and they came out with these recommended daily allowances. And you see them in nutritional facts panels, supplement facts panels on the back of food and supplement packaging. The problem is that they're ludicrous. They absolutely have no relationship to you personally. They don't take into account that you're a woman, that you might be in perimenopause, or you might be pregnant, or you might be trying to get pregnant, or you might be a young woman who's suffering from menstrual problems, or you're an older woman.

30:49Maybe you're 65 and you're postmenopausal, or maybe you're an athlete, you know, or a child. You know, all of these people have different mineral requirements. Now, what those scientists didn't do is they didn't go out into nature and say, wow, how does nature do this? Because guess what? There's been cellular life on this planet for 100, I have no idea, how many millions of years? Lots. Okay. And all cellular life had to get minerals into the cells and amino acids inside the cells. So how does nature do it? Now, here's the cool thing. Is that plant-based minerals, they represent nature's technology for replenishment of minerals and nutrients into all cells.