Clays and other inorganic earth-based sources are known to be abundant in minerals. The question that arises is: “Are the minerals from geological deposits bioavailable to the body in their present form?”
It is wrongly believed that plant-based minerals are more bioavailable to the body than earth-based minerals. This misunderstanding stems from the belief that if a plant has assimilated a mineral then it will be readily assimilated by the body as well.
The truth is, that the plant itself will not assimilate a mineral without earth-based ligand (binding) compounds already existing in the soil that permit the roots of the plant to take up the minerals from the soil medium.
The same is true of the human cell. The human cell will not be able to utilize a mineral unless the mineral is first bonded with a ligand (a specific kind of nutrient escort & chelator). Ligand escorts must first exist in the earth-based medium (soil) before a mineral will enter into the plant, and similar ligand escorts must remain with the mineral or exist in the body to escort the mineral through the cell wall. Once inside the cell the chelated mineral, but not the unchelated mineral, can then provide its benefits to the cell. Certain herbs and clays act as mineral/nutrient chelators to facilitate this process.
By the way, since the question will arise, chelation therapy and mineral chelation are two very different processes. Chelation therapy uses toxic compounds that strongly bind with certain metals and disrupts your overall mineral balance (resulting in a number of potential side effects). Ligand chelators are natural compounds that make both inorganic and organic minerals bioavailable to plants and humans.
Ligand escorts come in a number of varieties, (silicic acids, humic/fulvic/olmic acids, sulfur amino acids, citric acids, etc.) and are found in abundance in amorphous silica clays (Sacred Clay & Ormalite for the human; Silica Rich and Liquid Gold for the farm or garden), seaweeds & algae (Earth & Sea Greens, Thyroid Balance), whey, nettle leaf, cilantro, parsley, garlic, citrus fruits, amalaki berry, rose hips, camu camu (Herbal C), and numerous other whole food/herbal sources.
Without these ligands, nutrients do not become bioavailable. With these ligands, minerals and nutrients are more able to enter the cells and perform their vital functions.
With respect to clay, the younger a clay deposit is, the more likely it will contain a built-in ligand-forming mineral called amorphous silica. "Amorphous" means: noncrystalline; without definite form nor apparent structure. Silica in the amorphous form is in contrast with quartz silica which is held in a rigid crystalline structure.
Younger clay deposits (like the one associated to Sacred Clay) tend to carry more amorphous silica than older clay deposits, because as a clay deposit ages (as in millions of years) the silica in the clay will gradually form into a structured crystalline matrix (quarts). Quartz silica is unavailable to the body and therefore less valuable in terms of making mineral nutrients bioavailable.
The amorphous (unstructured) silica common to fresh volcanic lava (subsequently converted to clay, often due to steam and pressure from underground aquifirs, referred to as hydrothermally altered clay) is more versatile and has several beneficial properties not shared by its older quartz form. The analogy is something like the young athlete that is capable of feats today that he or she will not be able to perform years later as the body changes with age.
The intelligent part about a young clay deposit with greater amounts of amorphous silica in it, is that the amorphous silica in the clay will convert to orthosilicic acid when mixed with water. Orthosilicic acid is recognized as an anti-aging nutrient given its essential role in the formation of collagen and tissue repair.
Sacred Clay stands out as having been created differently than lava ash clays (bentonites & montmorillonites), or rolling lava clays (zeolites). Sacred Clay (a smectite clay) was formed underground in the presence of underground aquifers. This underground interaction between the molten lava soup and underground water produces enormous amounts of steam and pressure causing the lava to cool, then break down into a clay over time. This process leaves more amorphous silica intact and converts to quartz silica more slowly due to the lack of exposure to the weather, as it remains fully underground until a human unearths it.
Sacred Clay does not clump or swell like a sodium bentonite, it falls apart easily in water due to its weak van der Walls bond, which allows it to disperse easily throughout your digestive fluids, absorb toxins, convert to silicic acids and escort your nutrients through the cell walls – thus it has its own intelligence, surpassing others in the clay world.
Silicic acids from Sacred Clay make excellent ligand escorts for minerals and nutrients passing into the roots of a plant as well as through the cell walls of the human body. Silicic acids from an amorphous silica clay are one of Nature’s many ways of nourishing both plants and humans with bioavailable minerals and other nutrients.
Many blessings of health & success,
Enjoy the simple gifts of Nature!
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