What do minerals have to do with our gut health? Everything! But seriously, they have a big impact on many different aspects of gut health from supporting digestion to ensuring our immune system is functioning properly to avoiding imbalances of bacteria and fungus. They really impact every aspect of our gut health. One of the top questions I receive on this topic is what to do if you aren’t absorbing minerals well because of poor gut health and if in that case, someone should focus on gut health first. My answer is we don’t have to choose one, but minerals need to be included. When I recommend focusing on minerals prior to embarking on a gut protocol or stool testing it’s primarily because minerals are foundational for digestion, which is typically where most gut issues begin. When our digestion isn’t adequate and we aren’t making enough digestive juices, like stomach acid, things start to go downhill. We don’t break down our food as well, which can lead to inflammation and issues with the immune system. This also means our beneficial gut bacteria may have a hard time thriving off of the undigested food, which leads to imbalances in our good and bad bacteria. This is a recipe for pathogens, parasites, overgrowth, and immune system dysfunction (when the immune system can’t do its job properly and get rid of guests in the gut that shouldn’t be there). This sets you up for long-term gut issues that will likely have you seeking support with gut health. Your first instinct may be to do stool testing and a gut protocol to fix imbalances. Gut protocols and stool testing can be incredibly beneficial. We use them in our 1:1 practice, but most people do them prematurely before they have worked on the foundations to ensure that the changes they make and areas they address with the gut protocol will stick long-term. Otherwise, you end up doing gut protocol after gut protocol without sustained relief.
I could go through A LOT of minerals here, but to make this easier to understand, I’m going to break this down by digestion, microbiome, and immune system.
Sodium and potassium are a big part of what makes up stomach acid. We need adequate levels of both of these minerals in order to produce enough. They are also important for getting nutrients and glucose inside our cells. Depleted levels can lead to low energy, blood sugar imbalances, and poor digestion. Zinc also impacts stomach acid as it helps our bodies make stomach acid.
The top two minerals that can impact the balance of bacteria in the gut are copper and iron. Copper is important for our immune system, which helps fight off any pathogen that should not be in the gut, but it also is a natural anti-fungal and antibacterial. We need adequate copper to help keep a balance of beneficial bacteria in the gut. We also need adequate copper to keep iron in check. Copper is what helps support a healthy iron recycling system and ensures iron levels stay in balance. Pathogens can feed off of iron. Free iron is toxic to our bodies, which is why we have to store it in our tissues and then use the iron recycling system to transport it from those tissues for use in the body, but we will also sequester iron when pathogens are present since pathogens feed and thrive off of iron.Bacteria are just like us, they require iron in order to thrive and in their case, replicate. Luckily, most of our iron is stored intracellularly, with very little free amounts for the bacteria to thrive. Bacteria can attack ferritin and hemoglobin and gobble up that iron and then thrive and create imbalances and inflammation in the gut.
When I think about minerals that are important for our immune system, I tend to think of copper, zinc, and selenium as the big three. I already mentioned copper and its importance for keeping iron in check and being a powerful anti-fungal and antibacterial agent for the gut. Selenium is a powerful antioxidant. This is part of why it’s so beneficial for our immune system as well. The way selenium impacts the immune system is complex. More selenium is not always better. It has been shown to be helpful for certain viral infections, allergies, asthma, aging immune systems, and against certain cancers, but an important factor to consider is someone’s selenium status. Supplementation was the most beneficial for those that have a deficiency. Zinc is crucial for our immune system health. We need it for the normal development and function of our innate immune system. Phagocytosis, intracellular killing, and cytokine production are all affected by zinc deficiency. These are some of the main ways our immune system protects us from pathogenic bacteria.
Focusing on sodium and potassium is a great place to start, especially if you haven’t done any lab testing like a hair mineral test to confirm your mineral status. We can sodium from sea salt and regularly salting meals is a great place to start. I always recommend going slowly with increasing sodium intake since doing so too quickly can lead to fluid retention. You also want to make sure you increase potassium at the same time. I like doing this with adrenal cocktails (learn more here).
The adrenal cocktail is a great staple to include, but if for some reason you cannot make it work for you, prioritizing potassium-rich foods is a great one to focus on instead (or in addition to the adrenal cocktail). Here are some examples.
Supporting your minerals can have beneficial impacts on many areas of health, but it can be especially helpful for those with hormone and gut issues. I hope this was helpful and can get you started!
Here are some more resources on how to support your gut health:
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