S8 E03: Everything You Need to Know About Minerals for Your Child’s Health | Nina Marie

Posted on September 29th, 2025

Master your minerals. Harmonize your hormones. Start your mineral journey here.

What if the root of your child’s health struggles isn’t another cream, pill, or quick fix, but something much deeper?

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Nina Marie Rueda, a naturopath who works with children and families through a functional, integrative lens. Her own journey started during her first pregnancy, when she realized how little she’d supported her body and baby with nutrition. This pregnancy completely changed her perspective, and she went from wanting to become a university professor to birth work, nutrition training, and eventually naturopathy.

We get into why minerals matter so much for kids, especially when it comes to challenges like picky eating, eczema, and sleep struggles. Dr. Nina explains how testing works, why hair analysis often gives a clearer picture than blood work for children, and what common mineral patterns she sees in practice. The conversation is raw, practical, and full of insights for parents trying to make sense of their kids’ health struggles without getting lost in overwhelm.

You’ll Learn:

How a Bradley Method class shifted Dr. Nina’s path to naturopathy
What minerals actually do in kids’ bodies and why they’re essential
The link between taste buds, zinc, and picky eating
Why hair mineral tests show the long game while blood work is a snapshot
Common mineral patterns seen in children with eczema
How heavy metals disrupt gut microbes and fuel skin issues
The mineral imbalances behind sleep struggles in kids
Why parents’ own mineral status affects mealtime stress
The reason some kids’ multivitamins should avoid iron and copper
How minerals shape digestion, detox, and resilience in children

Timestamps:

[00:00] Introduction

[05:47] Why minerals are the non-negotiable foundation for children’s health

[07:40] Hair testing versus blood work for understanding mineral balance in kids

[13:05] Why picky eating in kids often comes down to mineral imbalances and taste buds

[22:46] Eczema in kids and the role of mineral imbalances and heavy metals

[39:43] How mineral imbalances and heavy metals disrupt children’s sleep patterns

[45:22] Choosing the right multivitamins for kids and why avoiding copper and iron matters

[49:10] Making supplements part of daily family routines

Transcript:

[00:00:00] Hi, Nina. Thank you for being here. I’m so excited to finally have you on the podcast. I feel like this has been a long time coming. I have literally been in every course that Nina has ever offered. I’ve done it, I’m pretty sure. Um, I look up to her so much as a mentor and just such a very bright light when it comes to children, their health, and just like the holistic health space in general.

[00:00:24] I feel like there’s not a, there’s not a lot of great information out there, um, when it comes to kids in a, with an approach that I think is doable. So I’m so excited to have you on. Thank you for being here. Thank you for having me. I’m really excited to be here. I have followed along your journey for a very long time as well, so it’s an honor, truly.

[00:00:41] So let’s get into, before we we’re gonna talk about Minerals and Kids. In this episode, we have a lot to cover, but I wanna know like. How did you start, get started in this field as their naturopath? What made you wanna work with kids? So I, it goes all the way back to my first pregnancy. I would say [00:01:00] before that pregnancy, which is now 10 years ago, um, I was a very standard American person.

[00:01:09] Like it wasn’t until then, and it, like halfway into my pregnancy, um, all of the women in my church took a, uh, labor and delivery class, a Bradley method class. And there was one woman at the church who was a doula and led that class. And so if you got pregnant, you went to Julie’s class. Um, and the first, and it was like every week for 12 weeks.

[00:01:32] Um, the first class was all about food and how what you were eating in pregnancy was extremely important for not only your ability to like. Be comfortable in pregnancy, but for your baby as well. And like, my brain was rocked and I remember thinking, oh my gosh, I have not done anything to help my body in pregnancy.

[00:01:55] Or I have not done anything to make sure my baby has what he or she needs. [00:02:00] Um, and it, that first class is what, like, made me start to research. ’cause I’m, I’m a big researcher. I’m a nerd. I love, I’m a serial researcher. Um, I wanna know all of the things about all of the things. Um, and through that I fell in love with birth work.

[00:02:20] And so the first, I, I never thought in a million years I would be where I am today. I did not go to, um, I did not think that I would ever prepare for a career in like healthcare. Um, I wanted to be a teacher, so, which I still kind of am. Um, so like. It just that pregnancy is what led to where I am now. I became a doula and then doula’s, like ear working with conventional care most of the time.

[00:02:50] Um, and they started to ask me about like how food played a role in their health or in their child’s health. And that I started [00:03:00] after working with women in pregnancy, I went through nutrition training and then through nutrition training, ended up going through, um, to get my certification in naturopathy because there’s just so much to know when it comes to functional, integrative, naturopathic, whatever you wanna call it.

[00:03:22] Um, health and the questions of my clients have always helped to like. Form me in my work, if that makes sense. Totally. I learned so much from my clients. I always say that it’s like such a growth experience. Um, okay. Very interesting. What were you doing when you, for your career, you were, so you were in school to become a teacher?

[00:03:43] So I wanted to become a professor in a university and I wanted to teach world religion. Um, that was my plan. I went to bible college and I don’t know, somewhere in the middle of Bible college. I was [00:04:00] like, I, I don’t know. At the end of end of school I was pregnant with my first. And so, um, I was also working at a health clinic at that point.

[00:04:10] Um, I managed an eye clinic for, I don’t know, three, four years. Um, and then took a step back from working outside of my home altogether. Um, and had, it was after the. The birth of my first, where I started to delve very deeply into like nutrition, science. Okay. Very, I, because I can’t picture anything but science, but the neither that I know, I’m like, oh, I’m sorry, what?

[00:04:35] So that’s like funny to hear as someone that has like. Gotten to know you over the last year. Um, it’s so like, I don’t know. Your, your life will go where it needs to go. Yes, a hundred percent. And like that interest was definitely probably always in you. It just like got pushed towards something else. Um, okay.

[00:04:52] So we are gonna dig it into minerals for kids. I think that pretty much anyone listening to this podcast, prob, I’m assuming, has listened to [00:05:00] some of my podcast episodes on minerals. Obviously that is my major focus. It was my turning point and my healing journey and that the results I saw with clients as a result of focusing on minerals was just more than I had ever seen with like, hormones, gut.

[00:05:14] Not that I’m against those, but like minerals. I’m like they’re foundational. Um, but in case anyone is new here, ’cause I think I’ll probably get some new listeners that just wanna hear about kids. Can you just do a quick rundown on what are minerals and like why are they so important for children, especially those struggling with their health?

[00:05:31] Absolutely. So the illustration always used is that minerals are spark plugs, right? Um. I am not a mechanic, and so that analogy kind of goes over my head. Another analogy that I think could be more helpful or more targeted to a wider audience is think of minerals as a backstage crew. At a concert, they run the whole show.

[00:05:55] If you don’t have that backstage crew, if you don’t have minerals, the performance isn’t [00:06:00] there. So in a child or in a person dealing with eczema or sleep struggles, ADHD picky eating, constipation, pick a thing, minerals are going to always be in the picture. There are tiny little managers behind the scenes telling every system in the body to get its job done.

[00:06:16] So, hey, gut, you need to eliminate this waste. Or, Hey, brain, it’s time to focus or skin stop freaking out. It was just some dairy, or you just touched some grass, right? So if our minerals are out of whack, if they’re imbalance, we start to have chaos in the body. Chaos like a. Toddler with a sharpie on your white walls, like it’s just not what you want.

[00:06:40] They, they are necessary for rebuilding the body, for repairing the body, for detoxification, for calming down, for sleeping, for waking up for growing. They’re not a nice to have. It’s a non-negotiable. And so if we have a child that is struggling, it’s not another cream that’s needed for the eczema, it’s not, [00:07:00] oh, they’ll grow out of it.

[00:07:01] We need to zoom out and ask ourselves, does my child have the raw materials that he or she needs to actually heal? And this is where minerals are gonna come in because they’re vital to every system in the body. Love that. Love that analogy. That is really good. I’m like, this could be a good like meme or like rail or something.

[00:07:21] Um, so now when it comes to like, so we know minerals are really important, I think it makes a lot of sense to people when they hear that, they’re like, oh. So they kind of connect the dots. They’re why these functions are able to happen in the first place. But then the question is, how do I test them? And so I’m curious of like, you obviously use hair tissue mineral analysis.

[00:07:41] Um, why do you use that to evaluate, evaluate minerals? Is there a place for blood work as well in that picture? Um, and then like, is, is it specific to kids or is there like a difference between how you would approach a child and an adult? So HTMA is gonna show you the long game. [00:08:00] Um, you can think of blood work.

[00:08:03] As an Instagram story, it’s showing you what’s happening right now, the last 24 hours, the last X amount of time, right? For the most part, especially when it comes to nutrients. HTMA can be like a highlight reel. It shows you what’s been happening over the last few months and how the body’s actually coping.

[00:08:21] And so your body’s gonna do everything. It absolutely can to keep blood levels normal, which means it can rob your tissues, your bones, your organs, whatever necessary to keep the levels of various things in the blood, very, very tightly knit. And that’s be, and there’s a reason for that. Like your blood is where life is happening.

[00:08:42] It’s a 9 1 1 emergency system. It’s gonna hide the mess in the closet while your guests are there. Uh, but HTMA is like your nosy best friend that’s opening the closet and it’s like, um, there’s copper hiding here and where’s your magnesium kind of thing. And so. There’s a [00:09:00] place for both. Sometimes you want to see what’s happening just over the last, I don’t know, day or two, but minerals are, are showing you.

[00:09:09] Uh, HTMA, I should say, is showing you mineral storage, mineral losses, stress patterns, even exposure to heavy metals or how the body can detox things that. Blood doesn’t catch early. And so blood work does have a place and especially when we have, like you can see signs as well on HTMA that may point to, we might wanna get some blood work, um, infections, maybe vitamin levels because we’re not gonna see that on HTMA, uh, for sure.

[00:09:38] When we’re looking at iron, we need to go to blood work. There’s so much more to look at than just the couple things you might see on HTMA. And then if there’s anything like acute or inflammatory blood work might be really important there. So it’s not a either or. There’s, it’s definitely a both and, but I always start with HTMA, especially for kids because you don’t have to worry about needles or the [00:10:00] drama or we have a whole lot more useful data for root cause healing and it’s a much simpler way to track progress over time.

[00:10:10] Um, so to like sum up blood work is just a quick snapshot and HTA is telling you the whole story and we want the whole story before we start building a protocol. Yeah. And I just love that it’s non-invasive for kids. Like, I had so many people ask me like, should I do blood work for my child or a hair test?

[00:10:25] I’m like, start with a hair test. I, my older daughter had to get blood work. It was so traumatizing. It, and she is like, chill. So I, she’s like the best case scenario for a kid getting blood work and it was extremely traumatizing. So, um, I was, I’m like, man, this is, it made me very, I’m like, this is why I do hair testing.

[00:10:43] But, um, I think it’s so helpful, but a lot of people are like, can I do this in kids? Is it like accurate is usually the question or like, can I, are like the ranges and stuff different for HTMA or blood workable htma h So some of the markers, [00:11:00] well, I’ll put it this way, with HTMA, the research that went into establishing the reference ranges of normal.

[00:11:09] Utilized samples from infants and other early childhood as well as adolescents all the way up through, I don’t know, I think it’s like seventies and eighties. And so that reference range of normal includes children as well. There are some, uh, markers that I would actually expect to see a little bit outside of that normal pattern for kids.

[00:11:32] Um, like I want kids to be in a faster metabolic state, so that requires less calcium in relation to phosphorus, right? Um, there might be things like zinc and not zinc, excuse me, sodium and potassium. Those are usually elevated in children because growing and developing is a beneficial stressor to the body.

[00:11:56] And so, and you want that growth and development to be happening. It’s [00:12:00] going to utilize sodium and potassium much more readily than a slower growth pattern or. A pattern where we’re just maintaining our height and size. Right. And so there are some things that I would say like, oh, if it’s a little bit high or a little bit low, that’s no big deal that we should expect that for the most part.

[00:12:19] But generally the ranges there can still be utilized to judge if a child’s levels are normal or not. Yeah. And it, I think it’s always just helpful to know like, oh, ideally they’re a fast type, you know? ’cause with adults it’s obviously not like that. So, um, that’s like the major difference. But I’m like, yes, you can use hair testing for kids.

[00:12:38] I think it’s so helpful. Um, and again, minerals play a crucial role. So we’re gonna go through, I, I tried to pick, I’m like, what are the biggest areas that parents are struggling with with their kids? And they’re kind of going to other places and often like, don’t get relief. And it’s like a long road. So [00:13:00] we’re gonna start with picky eating first.

[00:13:02] Um, what do you, yeah. What do you think is at the root of picky eating for most kids? So, I think it’s just that taste buds aren’t functioning well. Now, I don’t wanna, I don’t wanna pretend like there aren’t potential behavior issues here that absolutely could be the case we’re dealing with a child. Right?

[00:13:24] Aside from working with your child on behavior, I think that there’s a biological issue at play and minerals play a role in it. So kids have twice as many taste buds than adults do. I think it’s 10,000 and we have about 5,000. And each of those taste bud cells are loaded with special cells that are like chemists that are scanning every single bite of food for sweetness and saltiness and bitterness and potential danger.

[00:13:53] And so with children, their taste buds are wired for survival. In [00:14:00] nature, bitterness often can mean poison. So if your toddler is spitting out kale, it’s likely because we need to work on what’s going on behind the scenes. They’re, they may be interpreting that taste as, I should not have this. So like, green vegetables are often a really big number one like problem with kids.

[00:14:23] And it’s because taste buds are biological tissue. So they need nourishment like everything else does. Um, and they’re like, they’re like chemical detectors, right? And we need them to work properly. Zinc is gonna regenerate our taste cells every 10 to 14 ish days. Um, iron helps to deliver oxygen to these cells so they can actually function the right way.

[00:14:45] Magnesium is needed so that it can send signals from your taste buds to your brain. Uh, calcium and phosphorus is needed to regulate how strong and clear that signal is. And so. If we are low in any of those [00:15:00] minerals, the taste bud system goes from being this really smart filter to a constant fire alarm.

[00:15:06] So you have fruit that is supposed to taste sweet now taste sour. Uh, bitter vegetables are now interpreted as toxic. I shouldn’t have this meat is too metallic. And so, and now all your kid wants is some crackers and chicken nuggets and whatever other bland ish food because that feels safe. And so the problem with that is, however, that when we aren’t eating real food, we’re getting fewer minerals.

[00:15:34] And contrary to like popular opinion, you should be getting most of your minerals from food, not from adding electrolytes or mineral drops to water. Um, and so if we’re not eating real food, we’re getting fewer of those minerals. If we have fewer minerals, our taste buds are gonna function even less. Or, or they won’t function as well as they should.

[00:15:54] And then the worse those taste buds are functioning, the more we’re gonna reject real food. And so this [00:16:00] is where like we just have this cycle of how do I get my child to get from where they are now to, which is like three or five foods that they’ll eat to having a robust, diverse diet. Right? And so in the beginning with my clients and picky eating, I actually think it’s really important to just start with a general multi, because it helps to bring some of those nutrients in that they’re not getting from the foods that they refuse.

[00:16:24] Um, and this is why I’ll also add, while I love and wholeheartedly think that there is a place for like feeding strategies, offer a food 15 times and they’ll finally come around. Sometimes it takes up to 15 times for them to want a food or whatever it might be. If your taste bud system isn’t working, that doesn’t matter.

[00:16:45] And so if minerals are gonna be deficient, it’s like. It’s like a song that’s played through messed up speakers, right? Like it’s just gonna sound staticky. We need to fix the speakers before we try and play the music. [00:17:00] And that’s what’s happening here. We need to fix the mineral imbalances to support, um, taste buds in order for the body then to enjoy the food that’s coming in.

[00:17:09] Does that make sense? It makes total sense. And I’m just like, I’m still on that, like that The kids have so many more taste buds than we do. I’m just like, wait a minute. That’s like really cool, um, question. And they like experience food very differently. It makes, if you a kid, when you think about a kid, like, especially like a baby, like I think about my 17 month old eating food.

[00:17:30] It’s like a whole experience, right? Even my, my 3-year-old. So that’s really funny. Very cool. I am curious of. It’s 14 times. That study was 14 times. I remember I was in dietetic school and we learned about that and the whole bitter foods and everything and how like for kids even like up to like tweens, I think it was, it takes 14 exposures, especially for bitter foods for a kid to then, and I think the reason it takes 14 exposures oftentimes is because [00:18:00] you have to go through such a long process of your taste buds to regenerate.

[00:18:04] Yeah, that’s real. So then when you were like saying the timeline of things, I’m like oh my gosh, this makes so much sense. It’s really interesting there. ’cause there I do think there’s another piece and I will say I have like some clients that have kids. With autism where it’s obviously like, I do think there is a mineral piece and we’ll talk about A-D-H-D-I don’t think we’re gonna get into autism maybe in the bonus episode.

[00:18:25] But, um, I think that, yeah, there can be more, there’s always more nuance guys. We can never cover everything in whole episode, but I have definitely seen that. But they do really go with mineral support, so, yeah. So it’s like, I think there’s like, it’s multifactorial. I’m curious, like, do you see, ’cause I, I’ll see this sometimes and I’ll, I’ll get a lot of questions from it from parents.

[00:18:44] Where do you think it’s a digestion issue as well with food? So I do think that these two things are connected because the minerals involved in your taste buds working well. A lot of them are also involved in your [00:19:00] digestive system working well. So I would say the picky eating and poor digestion are BFFs.

[00:19:06] Rarely are you gonna have one without the other. And so let’s like, let me think through a few of them. Zinc. Is really important for making stomach acid, which is gonna break down protein. If you don’t have zinc, your taste buds aren’t working. And now we have a meat aversion, right? If we don’t have enough zinc, your food just sits in your stomach and it’s undigested.

[00:19:29] It’s also needed for enzyme functioning and healing your gut tissues. If we don’t have enough magnesium, that is necessary for running your smooth muscle function. So eliminating waste. This is why we pair or understand that low magnesium is connected to constipation and sluggish bowels and tummy aches.

[00:19:49] And so it also calms the nervous system so the body can actually digest our food. And we need a calm, nervous system at mealtime. If, if [00:20:00] mealtime is like stressful, we’re burning through that magnesium as well. Um, calcium and phosphorus support, um, enzyme activation. Nerve signaling in the gut. If we have an imbalance with those, we can have weird reactions to food, gas, bloating, even picky eating with textures.

[00:20:19] That one also is connected with iron being low. And so all of those are involved in how the body processes its food, and then also enjoys food right at the onset. Okay. That, and I, ’cause I, it’s like it does, they do line up. ’cause a lot of the, if you don’t have it for your taste buds, you don’t have it for your digestive juices either.

[00:20:42] And I’m like, and the other thing is like, this is why parents need to support their minerals as well because the amount of stress so many parents have around mealtime. I’m like, but we’re supposed to be chilling during this time. Like we’re supposed to be enjoying our time with our kids. And I know if they’re not eating, that is stressful.

[00:20:58] It’s very stressful. [00:21:00] I mean, I, I, I just had a conversation with my 8-year-old son this morning. I, and I’ve had this same conversation a million times with all of my kids. They will tell me I’m hungry as soon as they wake up, and they’ll keep repeating it and they’ll see me making breakfast and they’re still telling me I’m hungry.

[00:21:18] And so my conversation is always, I am now primed as your parent to be consciously aware that you need to eat. Like you do not have to tell me that you’re hungry. I know that you need to be fed. Like I, there’s like, and when I, when I see that you aren’t eating, like it is a huge problem for me as a parent now, like that there’s a shift when you become a parent.

[00:21:39] And so having a child not eat, like, not only does it, not only is it problematic for the child, but it like goes against. Our nature is parents, and that just sends us in a spiral for sure. So all your parents, I think the, the focus is often on the child, which I don’t, I’m, I’m not against that. We need to [00:22:00] focus on the child, but I’m like, if you are incredibly dysregulated, your kid will be too.

[00:22:05] So that whole, like I often tell parents like, you need to let go of the pressure of your one bite rule, like make mealtime meal preparation. All of that needs to be fun. Your body needs to be in a parasympathetic state. Otherwise, if you’re stressed the whole time you’re making your kid eat their broccoli or steak or whatever, like, they’re not gonna use the nutrients as well as they could if this was an enjoyable, relaxed time.

[00:22:31] So that’s always a huge part of. Helping a child eat better. And it is okay if you’re do, like, I have to remind my husband of that a lot. I’m like, she’ll eat the food. Like with our older one, I’m like, she’ll eat the food. We just, if you tell her what to eat first, like he wants her to eat all our protein first.

[00:22:46] I’m like, she’ll eat it. Like she’s gonna eat eventually. And I’m like, I still eat every meal. Trust me, she’s gonna do it. But I’m like, I understand the need to want to like control it, and it’s okay if you find yourself doing that. I would also be gentle with [00:23:00] yourself as a parent. But, um, it, I just made me laugh because I’m like, yeah, if the, if you’re especially a mom, if your kids are little, like they’re gonna really reflect you.

[00:23:08] So work on your minerals too, mom. Um, let’s get into eczema probably. I mean, I feel like who doesn’t deal with eczema now with kids? It’s crazy. Can you share? Any experience like as far as like common patterns that you see where you think the root causes of eczema? Obviously there’s not just one, but like what do you see with the eczema issue and like why do you think so many kids have eczema?

[00:23:34] now Oh gosh. I think eczema is probably the number one reason parents are coming to work with our team. Um, I, I would say it’s definitely the majority of the children that we see and or at least it’s one of the things alongside others. Um, there are quite a few like things that I’ve seen repeatedly with our eczema kids.

[00:23:56] So zinc is often imbalanced. The [00:24:00] body’s either not utilizing it well or it’s so, so depleted. If, if I, if I had a dollar for every time a kid with eczema had low zinc, I could buy the world new Berkey filters or something like. It is almost always there. Um, and it is the number one skin, skin repair mineral.

[00:24:22] It helps to rebuild the skin barrier. It calms inflammation. It supports the immune system so that the body can actually fight off infections from scratching. And so when kids are, or individuals are low on zinc, we have the slow wound healing. We have the white spots on the nails. We have picky eating because these things often go together.

[00:24:42] We have, um, constant infections, constantly getting sick or eczema that’s like raw and crusty and doesn’t calm down. And then, and the side here, like there are metals that can block zinc absorption. So even if we’re getting the right foods, we might not be using them well [00:25:00] because metals might be present.

[00:25:01] Um, calcium and magnesium is also another big one. Um, because they are important for skin barrier health. Um, they’re like the construction crew of the skin. So calcium can help lay the bricks out. So it, it’s directing skin cell formation. Calcium tells skin cells where to go when healing is necessary. Um, magnesium is like a chill foreman that’s like, Hey, let’s keep our skin hydrated.

[00:25:30] And so in eczema cases that I’ve seen, you can have one of two patterns. You have really high calcium with low magnesium, and that’s when skin cells are just being built wrong. And then we don’t have like something to calm the skin, skin down. We don’t have the chill needed from magnesium. Or you can have low calcium and low magnesium and this is when your skin barrier is like thin and inflamed and constantly freaking out.

[00:25:59] Either [00:26:00] way, we’ve got flares and dryness and a reactive skin That’s just nothing is helping it. It’s not catching a break. Another thing that I see is low iron, and so I mentioned at the onset like you really wanna look at blood work with iron. And iron often shows up as low on an HTMA, and so even when I see it at normal, I’m like, huh, I wonder why iron is normal.

[00:26:27] It’s typically not normal. It’s typically under, especially if you see it high, and so you don’t always need blood work. There have been some cases with clients where I’m like, I think it would be really important to see what’s going on with iron here. Um, some signs of like iron dysregulation could be bruising, easily pale skin or gums, um, and eczema that’s getting infected.

[00:26:51] And that’s because if we don’t have enough iron, we are not getting enough oxygen transported to our skin cells so they can’t repair themselves. And now [00:27:00] eczema is just gonna linger forever and iron is needed to help with collagen formation. That is huge. It’s key for rebuilding strong, resilient skin.

[00:27:12] Then from there we have a copper zinc imbalance. I have seen super, super high copper in, um, eczema cases, and then copper, just like almost non-existent. And copper has really important benefits for the immune system. Antiviral, antifungal, antimicrobial, and oftentimes. Um, with eczema we see these like synergistic pathogens.

[00:27:37] Um, if we don’t have enough copper in relation to zinc as well, it can like make eczema go out of control. So zinc is like a firefighter and copper is the flame. We need to have some of that flame, but if we don’t have enough zinc to balance it, then the fire is just out of control. And [00:28:00] then I think a couple other mineral things that I might see.

[00:28:04] Um, low potassium, I have to cough. Excuse me. Low potassium is I import, or looking at potassium is important because it helps the skin to actually hold onto moisture. So. I, I don’t know how many parents are like, I just am always lathering up with this cream and their skin still feels dry. Well, that’s a potassium issue because it’s a hydration gatekeeper.

[00:28:29] It keeps water inside the cells. And so if you don’t have enough potassium, you’ve got flaky cracked skin, no matter how much your moisturizing, topically and potassium is gonna partner with calcium to rebuild that skin barrier. So if we have both of them low, then we’ve got a double whammy there. And then low iodine.

[00:28:49] And the HTMA isn’t measuring iodine, but you can have some clues on what’s going on with iodine from it. But if we don’t have enough iodine, then our skin is going to heal slowly. ’cause iodine [00:29:00] is a purifier. It’s helpful for the immune system, and we know that it plays a role in how quick or how slow our metabolism can be.

[00:29:10] If we don’t have enough iodine, metabolism can slow down, which means our skin cells aren’t regenerating as well as they should either. And then we’ve got this recurring eczema off and on all the time as well. And I know you’ve talked about heavy metals quite a bit with the gut microbiome in skin. And I’m curious ’cause I, I feel like this isn’t really talked about a ton.

[00:29:32] Um, ’cause obviously minerals are important and the only time I see heavy metals really being talked about is typically with like behavioral stuff for the most part. And I love that you mention it here especially because obviously there’s a huge connection with our mineral status. Can you talk a little bit more about like how heavy metals can contribute to eczema and then how, you know, we don’t necessarily wanna do heavy metal protocol.

[00:29:57] It’s like so much more than that when it comes to addressing [00:30:00] them. Absolutely. So. With metals and eczema. So Mercury is gonna block zinc. It inclu increases your inflammation and it can mess with your protein structures. Lead disrupts your calcium, which can slow healing. Arsenic is gonna break down the skin barrier and trigger chronic inflammation.

[00:30:17] Aluminum and cadmium are messing with blood flow to the skin, and that creates oxidative stress. And so oftentimes I’ll see on HTMA, um, varying heavy metals interfering, right? So when it comes to the connection with gut health, especially, there are metals that can, how do I put it? Like they, they can disrupt the microbial balance of the GI tract and we know that there is a direct connection between what’s happening in the GI tract and our skin.

[00:30:51] Eczema in particular. So mercury, arsenic, lead, cadmium, aluminum, they’re all metals that significantly disrupt the [00:31:00] human gut microbiome. Mercury, um, alters bacterial community composition and it can actually decrease your beneficial microbes. It’ll, it’s also been shown in some studies that it’ll increase akkermansia.

[00:31:15] And Akkermansia is a microbe that like feeds on mucus, and the only reason that mucus is often produced is because inflammation is present. So if Akkermansia is going up, inflammation is also going up. And Mercury can actually inhibit the growth of different lactobacillus strains. And we know low lactobacillus is often connected to eczema and it will decrease beneficial microbes that create butyrate.

[00:31:45] And butyrate is, uh, the, one of the like most popular, um, short chain fatty acids and it helps to like feed your colon sites, coal, inflammation, et cetera, arsenic, um, even just like [00:32:00] environmental exposures. So like normal environmental exposures, it can reduce the richness of gut bacteria and the short chain fatty acid producing microbes.

[00:32:11] Um, it is known to like decrease, I think it was firmicutes strains. I’m pretty sure that’s correct, which is like a huge part of your beneficial bacteria. Yeah, it’s a huge, huge part. Many of your beneficial microbes are gonna fall under your faeces, um, family of microbes. Then we have lead. Lead is actually one that I see pretty often in kids and I’m like, oh gosh, we really need to work on that one.

[00:32:34] ’cause that could be a big problem. It will also decrease your microbial diversity. It also disrupts normal developmental like paths for kids. Um, it can, um, I think it also decreases your short chain fatty acid production. Um, cadmium is particularly toxic to your gut microbes. Um, it decreases, again, a [00:33:00] lot of these are just gonna decrease anything that’s gonna produce your butyrate.

[00:33:04] Um, cadmium also is going to increase specific strains of. Enterococcus and enterobacter, both of those have been connected to eczema. There is one strain of lactobacillus that can increase high when cadmium is present and you don’t, you don’t want super high levels of lactobacillus that can also be problematic.

[00:33:28] Um, and then aluminum can actually decrease beneficial microbes like Roseburia or Ruminococcus, both of which are really important for pediatric development. And it can increase a lot of the microbes related to eczema as well, pre patella, esia, et cetera. And so we see these connections, direct connections between metals and our skin because of what they do in the GI tract.

[00:33:54] And this is where like being really intentional on food sourcing is gonna be [00:34:00] important because the. That is the main way that these metals would be getting into the GI tract, aside from potential inhalants of something. And like you’re also, your kids are gonna get those in utero from you, just like you got them from your mom.

[00:34:12] And, and I, that’s like one thing with heavy metals that I’m just like, you can’t drive yourself crazy. Do you wanna be smart with your exposure? Of course we do. It’s like you’re never gonna get rid of all sources of heavy metals. It’s impossible. Like they’re the earth’s crust, you know? But it’s like if you don’t have the mineral resources to actually stand up against them, like minerals get depleted, that’s when they’re gonna accumulate.

[00:34:36] You know? So, and then the like accumulation of heavy metals is a protective mechanism that the body is doing. The reason that it’s allowing for metals to be present at those receptor sites is because another nutrient is missing. And so instead of that receptor site being left empty, which then means a function in the body is not going to be happening, it’s gonna choose [00:35:00] lead because calcium didn’t show up so that some of the function gets done.

[00:35:04] And so I, I would love for clinicians and parents to see, like if metals are accumulating, yes, definitely something we wanna address, but it’s not. Just we need to detox, detox, detox. These metals, it’s the body’s trying to protect itself and ensure that function keeps occurring. Why don’t we bring in what’s needed so that those metals don’t have to stick around anymore because the body’s smart enough to say, calcium, you belong here, not lead.

[00:35:31] Lead. We can let you go now. And it one interesting thing, like my youngest, ’cause both my kids had eczema, different types and at different ages. But my youngest, she had eczema. I did a hair test on her and I eventually did a stool test too. And she had very high metals, which is also really common in kids.

[00:35:48] ’cause again, their, their metabolisms are fast. They’re detoxing really quickly. So I think some people see the heavy metals on their kids’ hair, dust, and they’re like, ah, why They have so many heavy metals. It’s like, it’s not necessarily always an [00:36:00] accumulation. It could be. Their body’s getting rid of it.

[00:36:02] And I was looking at her heavy metals and she had very low digestive enzymes on her soul test. So then I’m down the rabbit hole and a lot of heavy metals impaired digestive enzyme production too. And I was like, okay, this makes so much more sense because I’m like, she’s so teeny, like she should be making so many more enzymes.

[00:36:19] Um, and I, it just goes to show like, I think so many people think eczema and they think let’s remove all these foods, right? Dairy, gluten, sugar, soy, like the whole that maybe they do a food sensitivity test on their child, remove the foods, do all the topicals, do gut work. And I feel like the missing piece is always minerals.

[00:36:39] And I’m like, you can do all the gut work you want, but if you have heavy metals, you’re not dressing minerals. It’s just not gonna do anything. Exactly. A hundred percent. And then. If heavy metals are present, we’re lacking on those minerals, right? Those minerals play a special role in gut health as well.

[00:36:54] We need varying minerals for moving out waste. We need minerals for [00:37:00] increasing those microbes that produce our short chain fatty acids. I know that zinc has a connection to making sure that lactobacillus and bifido bacterium stay within range, which then help protect against different pathogens. Zinc is also really important for your microvilli.

[00:37:15] So if you don’t have enough zinc, you start to have the microvilli destroyed leading to leaky gut, which now can lead to its own host of issues. If we don’t have enough calcium, our digestive enzymes aren’t activated, we don’t have our signals for proper peristalsis. Um, calcium’s actually needed for the beneficial microbes in the Clostridium family to be present.

[00:37:39] So there are all of these minerals that are connected to specific strains of bacteria that are commensal or beneficial to the human. Body that without them, we now have metals present, which allow for pathogens to be present. So like I said at the beginning, any system in the body, any issue that you may be concerned over in your [00:38:00] child minerals are playing a role.

[00:38:02] And I get this question all the time, I guarantee you do as well. And I’m like, I should ask Nina this, ’cause you probably answer this more gracefully than I do, is when it comes to the gut stuff, people always think they wanna know. But if I have a lot of gut issues, couldn’t it impair my mineral absorption?

[00:38:20] And so should I work on my gut first? If I’m not absorbing minerals, how am I ever gonna fix my mineral status? If I have gut issues go. I mean, is it, it’s a chicken egg problem, right? It’s your, do you, do we think that bringing in more lactobacillus now is going to just stick around because we brought in more.

[00:38:43] Um, you need, you don’t need a, a probiotic to help you with enzyme production. You need minerals to help with enzyme production. You need minerals for the production of your stomach acid. You need minerals to trigger those enzymes to enter the small intestines. You need minerals [00:39:00] for your gallbladder to release bile, to produce bile in the liver.

[00:39:03] Like every single aspect of the digestive tract is going to need minerals to function appropriately. So that’s why I would start there. And then even if you go in with a gut protocol that eradicates all of the pathogens, you still need all of that other stuff to help ensure that those pathogens don’t come back.

[00:39:22] As I mentioned, if you don’t have those minerals, those metals get to sit there. And if those metals sit there, we now have something that’s feeding those opportunistic microbes or those pathogens to allow to hang around again. So minerals are where we need to start for gut protocol. Even when you’re using something like a GI map.

[00:39:41] That’s why, that’s why a lot of gut health protocols include zinc or include sodium and potassium for your HDL. Like there’s no way around it whatsoever. Minerals are gonna be involved. Yeah. And, and that’s like usually my answer. I’m like, it doesn’t have to be you do one or the other. It, you know, it, it’s like they can happen [00:40:00] together, but you cannot do gut without minerals.

[00:40:03] Like you could do minerals without gut support, but you cannot do gut without minerals. So I love that. Okay, let’s get into sleep issues. My goodness. Uh, this has to be one of the top things people see you for. It’s gotta be right up there with eczema. Is it? It is. I was like, yeah. Yeah. Sleep is a big one.

[00:40:19] And what do, there’s gotta be, I’m sure you’ve seen many different patterns with hair testing. Um, what do you see typically, and I’m sure there’s gut stuff involved, like nervous system stuff involved as well, but like what patterns or what kind of like root issues do you typically see when it’s coming to with sleep issues?

[00:40:36] So. I, I am answering this question, putting aside normal development, right? But if your child cannot fall asleep alone, isn’t sleeping alone is waking up over and over, um, this might be more than developmental things going on also because I, I feel like that ma like babies, [00:41:00] obviously that’s not gonna happen.

[00:41:01] But yeah, I would say by like nine-ish months at that point, I would say if it, if your nine month old is still sleeping like a two week old, there’s something else going on. Um, because sleep isn’t just a routine. It it, I’m like burping excuse. Okay. We have a great editor. Sleep isn’t just a routine. Like it’s not just, uh, I need to make sure we have a bath and then read a book and have the calming light, like there’s biochemistry behind.

[00:41:34] Its good. Is built molecule by molecule through the production of neurotransmitters and sleep hormones, and none of those are going to work well without minerals. We need melatonin, we need gaba, dopamine, serotonin, all of those things. But without like the four main minerals, I would say you are not gonna have those things working appropriately.

[00:41:56] So one of the first ones for sure is magnesium. [00:42:00] This is, everyone’s like, yes, I give my child magnesium at night. Do you know why? Well, magnesium is needed to convert tryptophan into serotonin, into melatonin. So it’s a huge support for getting someone to sleep. It calms the central nervous system by supporting GABA activation.

[00:42:18] And if we don’t have enough magnesium, we’re gonna have restless sleep, we’re gonna have anxiety, we’re gonna have body tension, we’re gonna have that wired, but tired energy. And so your child, when magnesium is low might be tossing and turning, have, have trouble staying asleep, or even hyperactivity right before bed.

[00:42:37] The other mineral that I see is calcium. This is essential for the pineal gland to make melatonin. So I mentioned magnesium’s needed for the conversion process. If the, if the pineal gland doesn’t have calcium, that doesn’t matter. That conversion process still isn’t going to happen. Um, it’s also needed to transmit sleep signals in the brain and maintain your circadian rhythm.

[00:42:59] And [00:43:00] so if we don’t have enough calcium, we have trouble falling asleep and trouble staying asleep. And so you might have night wakings light sleep, sleep, bedtime drama, they only sleep on you kind of thing. Another one is iron. I mentioned like this is what carries oxygen throughout the body, but it’s that oxygen delivery to the brain is needed for deep sleep repair and for dopamine production that’s gonna regulate your sleep timing and limb movement.

[00:43:29] So sometimes like your body jerks and you’re awake again, iron might be one of those things for a child. That’s why restless legs might show up with low iron fidgeting, um, bedtime squirming. Um, and then the hyperactivity with fatigue combo as well. Um, and then the last one is zinc. So that is also needed to convert serotonin and some melatonin.

[00:43:55] It calms the brain. And if we don’t have enough zinc, we’ve [00:44:00] got frequent wake-ups, we have vivid dreams or nightmares. So sometimes that sleep issue is like they’ve got night terrors. Zinc might be one of the re reasons why, or sometimes the sleep troubles is every time a child gets sick, their sleep is terrible.

[00:44:14] It’s often because of the immuno immunological component to it as well. Um, and then again, you can have metals disrupting here. So lead is gonna interfere with your dopamine signaling. Um, it can disrupt brainwaves during sleep. Um, mercury can block zinc and selenium, and those are needed for your calming neurotransmitters.

[00:44:37] It can also impair gaba melatonin pathways. Aluminum can impair the pineal gland. So an illustration I’ve used with clients is if your pineal gland is like a clock, you need all of those minerals for all the wheels to be turning to create melatonin. Aluminum makes those wheels rust so they don’t work as well.

[00:44:57] And so we wanna ensure that we [00:45:00] have enough of those minerals to keep, uh, aluminum at bay. And then other metals can mess with like different functions in the body that will impair sleep as well. Like your liver or your kidney, your thyroid. They’re all related to sleep wake cycles too. I just think of magnesium and zinc needed for aluminum, you know, that’s like the first place my brain goes.

[00:45:21] Okay. That’s so interesting. Do you ever do like topical sources of magnesium for your clients with kids? Yeah. A lot of kids. A lot of my clients already have some sort of topical source. I think it’s great, but I don’t know that topic. I mean, I go back and forth with this. Like, I wonder oftentimes if.

[00:45:44] Topical is enough. I know that it bypasses your digestive system, which can be really great. But I haven’t seen topical magnesium make a dent on its own for like, sleep in htma tests. Sleep. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. It’s same. It’s usually, it’s just so nuanced, like, ’cause all [00:46:00] the minerals work together, but I was like curious if you’ve seen that.

[00:46:03] It’s, it’s like an easy, very low barrier thing to like try first. And I love like putting FSO salt in my girl’s bath. Like, it’s like, and it’s good timing, like at nighttime and stuff, but, and I know, I know parents are thinking it. And because you’ve, you mentioned, um, multivitamins before. Do you have ones that you like for kids?

[00:46:24] There’s a couple actually. I think I just created a resource recently of like, because I, I have so many people like, does this one work? Does that one work? And I’m like, okay, I’m just gonna go through different supplements that I use and put ’em all in one place. Um. I’m not gonna find it. Okay. I know I have used in the past Brain MDs, um, multi, um, I have used trace elements or No, the concept trace one.

[00:46:55] Yeah. Yeah. You have a kids multi. It’s, it’s like, it’s okay, what are you [00:47:00] looking for? Is it you’re trying to avoid copper and iron? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. That’s the main thing that I don’t want in there. I think that’s helpful too, because it’s like, I don’t think there’s just one that’s perfect. Mm-hmm. But if you’re looking at one and why would you wanna avoid a multi for kids with co you?

[00:47:16] Why would you not want it to have copper and iron? I mean, for anyone? Yeah. I’m almost never supplementing with iron. Mm-hmm. Um, fast oxidizers could do well, but I would prefer for copper to come from food. Mm-hmm. Um, um, never for a slow oxidizer. Yeah. It’s like I feel like I. Iron and copper, for the most part, you should be able to get from food.

[00:47:42] Mm-hmm. Um, as long as we’re supporting digestion and absorption, fine. And it’s new, like some people just don’t need more copper and you know, I a lot of, I’ve seen so many kids’ hair tests recently with really high copper, which I hadn’t seen previously, but I’m, I’m looking at more like, um, eight to 10-year-old [00:48:00] girls, which has been like wild.

[00:48:02] Um, and they all have super high copper and are probably going through puberty too early. But, um, yeah, it’s like I, that’s like the, a big question I get and I’m like, I think you have to find a brand you feel comfortable with, but also like, you know, do you don’t want copper and iron in there? And you and I because, so if you can’t do a hair test, ’cause not, obviously not everyone can like, that can be a supportive way.

[00:48:23] And then especially as you’re working on things like the picky eating and stuff like that, I also get questions about iodine a lot. Like, should they have iodine in it? You know, so, uh, should, should they have iodine? You can do, I mean, this is not H-T-M-A-I. If I need to see what’s going on with iodine, I’m doing a urine test.

[00:48:46] You can do a spot iodine urine test with kids if they’re under the age of 12. And that’s just like a one time sample to see what was excreted. And that can help you to see if it’s needed. I, I just think for the most [00:49:00] part, people aren’t getting iodine from food and so I’m okay with iodine being in a, um, multi, I just found my resource.

[00:49:09] So there are quite a few that could be helpful. There’s only one that I see immediately that doesn’t have iron, but most of them do have copper in it. Um, for, it’s like low amounts but still present. So it is something like what you wanna pay attention. Like if we have a test and they’re copper and you’re thinking if their copper showing up as potentially hidden, um, or.

[00:49:32] Overtly obvious that it’s too high, then those are the ones that you’re gonna wanna stay away from. But vital nutrients has one without copper and iron. Okay. I saw that. It’s like kinder, it’s like the Fluex brand too. It had one that had no copper, no iron, and it does have iodine. Hmm. Oh, zymogen also has one and it’s a powder.

[00:49:53] Whereas the, the, um, the vital nutrients is, uh, two capsules. So [00:50:00] xymogen’s active nutrients doesn’t have copper or iron. Okay. That’s, that one is probably easier for kids. The concentrate one is nice ’cause it’s liquid. That Kinder Fluex one is nice ’cause it’s also liquid, but you never, you’re like, will your kid drink it?

[00:50:12] We don’t know. Good luck. Good. You gotta make it a whole thing. People ask me that a lot. I’m like, it’s a whole event when we do supplements, man. It’s like mm-hmm. It’s a part of our routine. My older daughter asked for them. She’s like, it’s time for me to take my supplements vomit. And I’m like, thank God you reminded me.

[00:50:28] I actually recently just put a reminder on our Alexa. Oh. Twice a day. I was like, every day at this time in the morning, and every day at this time in the afternoon. ’cause sometimes we forget in the morning. Yeah. Even though we have the alarm. So that has been the best help. It’s, that’s something we did over the last week.

[00:50:44] That’s a really good idea. Um, that’s funny. Okay, so we are at, like, we’re coming up in an hour, so I’m gonna pause this and we’re gonna switch to the Patreon bonus episodes. We have questions from our Patreon members, and then we’ll talk about minerals and A [00:51:00] DHD over there. So I hope that you guys found this podcast episode helpful.

[00:51:04] Please if, if you did leave a rating interview, go follow Nina. My goodness. At Dr. Nina Marie. Is it Nina Marie Ruda, or just Nina Marie. Okay. Um, and her website is Dr. Nina Marie Ruda. Right. How do I keep adding then? Just dr numar marie.com. Um, and I’m gonna put the link to her, uh, kids and Minerals course that she has in there.

[00:51:28] I’ve been through it. It’s amazing. Uh, and then she’s got a ton of free resources, like the Gut and Minerals one. You have a picky eating one, don’t you? I have a Picky eaters protocol. I have a ton of things. Yeah. So I’ll put all her helpful freebies in the links of the show notes. So if you guys wanna learn more, just get ready to nerd out.

[00:51:46] Check out her course. If you have been struggling and looking for support for your child, um, and anywhere else, anywhere else, they can find you. This is gonna come out end of September. Then by the end of September, I will [00:52:00] have a Substack. So that’ll be fun. Oh, I’m so excited. I did not know that. Okay, we’ll link to your, we’ll, we’ll grab that link too.

[00:52:06] We’ll link to Nina’s Substack as well. So thank you so much for being here, and we’ll go record Patreon now. Thank you for having me. Alright, so we did not get to finish the A DHD and Minerals discussion from the main episode. So we’re gonna start with that here, guys, and then we’ll answer your questions.

[00:52:22] So this is a huge topic. Another thing I feel like it, it’s constant and, and I feel for the parents like struggling with this and they’re like, I don’t know what to do. I feel so torn. Um, a lot of times they feel like there’s not really a great approach. There’s not really a solution out there. Um, and so I’m very curious.

[00:52:40] Obviously there’s a connection with minerals. Can you talk about one, do you work with this a lot in your practice? And then two, like what are the big imbalances that you’re typically seeing? I actually see a DHD quite often. I had an influx, I wanna say in the spring this year of. Parents who wanted [00:53:00] help with their children with A DHD.

[00:53:01] And generally in practice, I’m actually running HTMA alongside a genetics test because some of these parents want to know if they should be considering medication or not. And the genetics test that we utilize helps us to see if a particular medication would be a good idea or not. Wow, that is so cool.

[00:53:21] It is absolutely amazing to be able to say, Hey, because of this genetic snp, the common medication here would actually be a terrible idea. We need to go a different route. Um, so that brings a lot of peace, especially I’ve had so many clients too who have started medication and like things just got worse.

[00:53:41] And you do the genetic testing and you are like, well that’s definitely not the one you should be using. ’cause that will make things worse. And so it helps. Regardless of whether or not you take medication or want to go that route altogether, there are always mineral components involved with A DHD, it is not a [00:54:00] behavior issue.

[00:54:01] It is a hundred percent a biological thing going on. And time and time again, I’ve seen like huge transformation in kids. And so the main element, or the main two I would say, are gonna be magnesium and zinc. You’ve heard those two repeated so much. I know today they’re so important. Like they’re so important.

[00:54:22] Um, magnesium helps to make gaba, which is your brain’s chill out chemical. Um, if you have a deficiency here, we have hyperactivity, we have anxiety, we have bedtime issues. 95% of kids are low in magnesium. Hmm. With zinc. I I mentioned before, like that helps make dopamine. And that if we don’t have enough dopamine, we don’t have.

[00:54:45] The ability to focus, and we don’t even have our, our brain doesn’t have the ability to have motivation. It’s gonna support emotional regulation. If we don’t have enough zinc. There’s meltdowns, there’s immune issues, there’s picky eating. Um, iron is the next [00:55:00] one. So the third test, I make this optional with parents depending on their child.

[00:55:04] I mean, it’s always optional, but parents get to decide whatever. But I recommend, especially if their child is older, having an iron panel done because iron is also a really big factor with children with a DHD. It’s really important for that dopamine production as well. And if we don’t have enough iron, this is where you start to see kids like zone out.

[00:55:27] Uh, and the HTA isn’t just, it’s not gonna be enough to see what’s going on. Yeah. And then potassium and sodium, that ensures that we’re having a brain that can run its electrical signals. If we don’t have enough potassium and sodium. We’ve got like brain static, the energy crashes and irritability. And so without any of those main minerals, a child will have symptoms of or can even be diagnosed with a DHD.

[00:55:57] Um, I also just like really [00:56:00] quickly parents, I don’t want you to think that you’re crazy for thinking that something deeper is going on because there really is, and aside from minerals, metals may be involved as well because they block that mineral absorption. They can hijack your brain’s chemistry and some of them can actually lead to like a double whammy with a DHD symptoms when present like lead.

[00:56:25] Um, so we don’t want our child’s brain to be running on fumes and trying to detox trash at the same time. Yeah, and this is where an HTMA test can be so vital because you get to see what’s going on with these really important elements that we need and then see if there’s any potential nettles present that need to be supported for elimination through the rebalancing of minerals and gently supporting detox pathways.

[00:56:50] Um, and. In doing so, I also want to let you parents know, like this isn’t some like fringe thing. This really is important [00:57:00] to the biochemistry of your child’s brain and body. So I highly encourage mineral testing and it’s fun. I see this a lot like in my, I’ve also seen more A DHD and like OCD diagnoses in women.

[00:57:12] Mm-hmm. Like so much, I would say in the last two years, but especially the last year, and I’ve had so many women go through my course with that as their main concern, and they’re like, my OCDs gone. Why? Why be, think about it. If magnesium and zinc were the top two, stress, were burning through that magnesium.

[00:57:31] We have research showing that women just stress more, and then zing is related to that progesterone. And so if we have this hormonal imbalance occurring, I wouldn’t be surprised that you have that many women with this. Yeah, it, it, I think there’s also like, there’s so much more information out there now about it and so they can actually like advocate for themselves and like get answers to like things that they’ve kind of always thought were just like them or their personality and they’re like, oh, it’s actually like, I think I have a [00:58:00] bigger imbalance going on.

[00:58:01] Uh, so I’ve seen it a lot. I haven’t worked with any kids with a DH, adhd, but I’ve seen it so much in women in OCD and like it is crazy the difference. Another big one I would say, and I actually do use this even with like five and six year olds, is lithium, like lithium plays a big role as well, and low dose lithium can make the biggest change, child or adult.

[00:58:26] And that is also measured on the hair test in the additional element section. So I know a lot of people are afraid of lithium and I’m like, it’s, I think it’s one of the like more underrated. Nutrients. Uh, it’s so important for detoxification, obviously like mental health and stuff as well, but it is really important for detox.

[00:58:41] And if these kids are burnt out, they’re depleted, they’re not detoxing well, it, it would make total sense to incorporate that. Um, and let me see, oh, what was I gonna ask? Do you see a lot, like, one thing I see a lot, I see a lot of high zinc [00:59:00] on hair tests. Um, like it’s being used up. Usually the kid has, it’s funny ’cause it’s a lot of times in eczema, like sky high, zinc, and you mentioned low zinc before and I’m sure in, I’m curious with this pattern too, do you ever see that zinc is like either dumping or just mm-hmm.

[00:59:17] Yeah. I would say that I more often than not would see low, but I ha I’ve seen quite a few cases where it is elevated and I think what’s happening there is you’re catching the burnout before it has occurred. Yeah. Before it drops. Yeah. Um, okay. So that, I think that’s incredibly helpful. I hope that that gives people a little peace of mind.

[00:59:40] Oh, the last thing I was gonna ask you with this whole puzzle, ’cause obviously you are, your practice is very big on the foundation and like whole Foods having good lifestyle, getting outside, getting in the sun. Do a lot of your clients with their children have a DHD are, do they have a good foundation and they’re still struggling?

[00:59:59] [01:00:00] Or are you like also making a lot of those foundational changes at the same time? I would say most of them have a pretty good foundation in place. Yeah. And they’re like, we’re doing all the things. Why is this still mm-hmm. An issue. And just so that your Patreon members know you want unfiltered sunshine, you want sleep.

[01:00:16] Mm-hmm. You want good movement, you want laughter. Like create an environment where your child is laughing and playing. I even just created this guide yesterday for a mom of a 2-year-old who was having difficulty regulating emotions. And I’m like, okay, well during those really hard days and meltdowns. Try to get her to sing.

[01:00:34] ’cause that’s gonna be vagal toning and that just calms your central nervous system down or teaching our children breath work. There’s, there’s a, an Instagram account. I don’t think she’s very active anymore, but she still has all of her stuff up. Um, a, b, c breath, work for kids, really great resources there.

[01:00:53] Free to teach your child how to control their breathing to help them relax. Um, a jump rope or a trampoline, [01:01:00] any of those things. Getting your kid outside in green in the sun and sweating, like all of that can be so is not candy is so important to anyone’s health, especially children because we’re like priming their stress response for the rest of their life.

[01:01:19] Um, so those are the things that my clients usually are already doing. And mineral testing is what’s gonna like. Bring it all home. Yeah. And that’s, I just, I mean I’m, most of the people on this Paton will already be doing that anyway, but I always like to mention it ’cause it’s like you can do all the mineral stuff, but like if your kids are then still not in a good environment and like their circadian rhythm’s not supported would before when talking about sleep and you’re like, how it’s like the trytophan converting to serotonin like requires magnesium.

[01:01:47] And I was like, do you know how to build up that serotonin pool light exposure in the morning? You know? So it’s like there’s always like that lifestyle piece of the puzzle. Um, but I was like, I’m sure most people are. I also ask [01:02:00] parents like, how are you doing? How is your relationship with your spouse?

[01:02:04] Like, ’cause if there’s any parental or family stress, even if you think you’re keeping your child out of it. There, like there’s a reflection of that in your child’s response to things. And so the greater family unit also needs to be in a really good place for your child and yourself to heal. A hundred percent.

[01:02:22] Okay. We’ll go to the Patreon questions now. And I have one that I was gonna ask when we were talking about sleep, but I forgot. Um, grinding at night, teeth grinding, what do you often see? Is that, does that kind of just fall under the same sleep issues or would you kind of look at that differently? Uh, there are two things that come to my mind.

[01:02:44] I’ve seen teeth grinding with parasites, and then I’ve also just seen teeth grinding with like breathing issues. And so yes, partially related to the sleep, but there might be a couple other things [01:03:00] related. I often will, um, have clients see either a biological dentist, a malfunctional person, or even something like tooth pillow to get some sort of assessment because.

[01:03:12] At that point, I think it’s more than minerals. Now there is a nervous system component to that and minerals plays into that. Um, but I would, I would definitely say, hey, yes we can have a minerals test done, but these are other things that we wanna look at too. Okay, that makes sense. Um, I always think nervous system and like stress and stuff with that.

[01:03:32] Okay. This is a good one. I get a lot of questions, especially lately about HTMA, like minerals and the connection between our dental health. And so this teacher I remember asked, wondering about the relationship between enamel wear and mineral status. For context, I have a 2-year-old girl who has some enamel wearing and using, been using remineralizing toothpaste and spray on her teeth.

[01:03:53] But do you see this often? And if so, what minerals are they usually deficient in? So. [01:04:00] Enamel wear isn’t just a dental issue, it’s gonna be a red flag for mineral status, especially in toddlers and especially if you’re like brushing and avoiding juice and avoiding crackers and doing all the quote unquote right things.

[01:04:14] So when it comes to minerals, low calcium and low phosphorus is going to lead to a soft enamel. Um, magnesium deficiency often means that we have poor enamel function, and then there are trace elements like boron that can lead to a weak tooth matrix. And this is where you don’t wanna see strontium, which is in the additional elements portion of your test.

[01:04:39] You don’t want that below detectable limit because that helps with your enamel as well. Then there’s the fat soluble vitamins, A, D, and K. They help minerals get into your bones and teeth. So without them even mineral balancing may not be enough. And then we’ve got things like poor stomach acid where minerals aren’t being absorbed from our food in the first place.

[01:04:58] So yes, [01:05:00] enamel is often a sign that our child isn’t absorbing or utilizing those minerals properly. And a topical remineralizing toothpaste may just be scratching the surface. Yeah. But have you seen improvements in that with mineral balancing? So I actually have quite a few parents come, uh, to us for cavities.

[01:05:21] And I, I could, I have at least a couple off the top of my head where they’ve seen cavities reversed, um, or at least halted, they didn’t get worse. Um, and so I definitely think that mineral balancing should be a part of dental health for sure. Did you ask about the enamel growing? Yeah. Can it come back?

[01:05:42] Yes. So, but not, not in the way that we think. Like it’s, it’s not like it regrows like our skin or our hair does, but we can halt further erosion. Um, we can strengthen what’s left. And then [01:06:00] with children, especially if it’s caught early, we can see visible improvement in the enamel density and coloring.

[01:06:07] After mineral imbalance, mineral imbalances are corrected. Yeah, that makes sense. I’ve seen it like reverse cavities for myself, so I’m like, I, I feel like everything’s easier in kids. One of, one of the guides that I’m working on is the Ultimate Guide to Cavities, so I’m really excited to show that, to like, have that one.

[01:06:25] I I’m, it’s really good. It’ll, it’ll be, yeah, because, and it’s like, ’cause a lot and like I was researching too and like molybdenum was really important for dental health and stuff like that. And then it makes me think copper and, you know, I don’t, again, minerals are so synergistic and they work together.

[01:06:43] Um, but obviously like our bones are made up of them, so that’s, that makes total sense. Okay. This is another one. This is a good one. I’m curious to your answer on this. I, my best friend’s son has been suffering from migraines. They tend to come on once a month and he finds relief once he throws up. He has had a CT scan and [01:07:00] the neurologist has confirmed everything looks normal and it’s most likely just migraines.

[01:07:04] His mother has started a supplement protocol involving magnesium and coq 10. She hasn’t made any dietary changes because he’s never presented gut symptoms and is very regular. He’s a bright, thriving three year olds. Boy, these migraines have come outta nowhere. Do you have any potential root causes she should explore or thoughts on supplements, homeopathy, et.

[01:07:24] I’m really glad she mentioned homeopathy because that’s where my brain first goes. So one, I’m really glad mom, um, had imaging done because migraines and toddlers is a really big red flag. So you want to ensure that nothing major is going on. That’s not a random event. Um, even with kids who quote unquote don’t have gut issues, migraines are almost always a downstream effect of mineral dysregulation, blood sugar in instability, and like maybe some hidden inflammatory triggers of sorts.

[01:07:59] The [01:08:00] top three things I think I would try to explore would be magnesium loss, not just deficiency. So it could be high or low because if he’s under stress, even like if he’s under stress, he might be burning through magnesium faster. Right? And magnesium can look normal. In those cases, depending on when the test is happening.

[01:08:26] So I, I would wanna be looking at magnesium, definitely would be thinking about copper. One of the main places after the li or the main place after the liver that copper gets deposited in the body is the brain. Um, same thing for really high calcium that is often, um, a trigger for migraines. And so those are the three elements that I would look at, like top three.

[01:08:49] And then I would be thinking about blood sugar crashes too, because his blood sugar could be like roller coastering, big spike, big crash, migraine and vomiting. [01:09:00] And that vomiting, bringing relief. That tells me that the vagus nerve is talking like there’s too much tension in the nervous system, or even too much histamine building up in the gut brain access that vomiting is acting like this reset button.

[01:09:15] And so it’s discharging that overload. So vomiting is not the problem. It’s a signal that something else is happening. So in regards to that protocol, the magnesium and coq 10, I think that’s a really good place. We wanna definitely make sure that the form of magnesium is gonna be the best type. So that could be glycinate or ate.

[01:09:35] Those are really great for neuro calming. We don’t want oxide, we don’t want citrate. Um, for homeopathy, I would consider Bella, Donna, or I would consider Bella, Bella, Donna if the headache is coming on suddenly, if he has a flushed face, if he’s got dilated pupils and if he has sensitivity to light. Those are the main, um, like symptom [01:10:00] grouping that I would consider that remedy for.

[01:10:03] Then there’s iris s color, and that’s when the headache is like periodic with nausea and visual changes. I don’t think we mentioned visual changes that may not work for this kiddo. And then Nat Mer is when headaches are being triggered by an emotional upset. Or after sun exposure. So like this is where we wanna pay a little bit more attention to what could be happening right before the headaches are happening.

[01:10:29] And then food is still really important here. Even though he might be having regular bowel movement doesn’t necessarily mean his gut lining is optimal. And so I would maybe consider a GI test of sorts if we think that’s needed because there’s that vagal thing going on. I think that it would be beneficial to look at.

[01:10:52] Um, but bottom line, I don’t think it’s just migraines. I think it’s a nervous system telling you I’m over loaded, I need [01:11:00] a reset, and minerals are gonna be a really big key to rebuilding that resilience. Um, so it could be beneficial at least to have an HTA done. And I’m curious with the homeopathy. Would you be giving him those?

[01:11:14] Not preventatively. It’s only if he has the symptoms, right? Yeah, those are, if the symptoms come on. Okay. That was so helpful. I’m sure that her friend is gonna be very grateful for that answer. Um, okay, two more questions. And this one is kind of like one that I’m gonna combine with another one about yeast overgrowth.

[01:11:34] And I’m like, I want, I’m sure you see this a lot in practice, but she, this ma member asked, would love to hear her approach to yeast overgrowth confirmed via oat test that shows up as frequent diaper rashes in a 4-year-old, no longer wearing diapers. We are working on mineral support, eat super gray, added in cod liver oil.

[01:11:51] Thank you. And I also have this other woman that she, her daughter is like recurrent yeast issues, not necessarily sh showing up, [01:12:00] um, as like diaper rash, but like she did like a stool test and a note test and it’s like on there. Um, and she’s super constipated. Like that, that’s like her main kind of issue.

[01:12:12] If she adds in any supplement, she’s very histamine sensitive, I think. Um, but I would love to hear your approach. Yeast overgrowth. Okay. So I’m really glad that you mentioned the OAT for both of these because the stool test often miss this, or the yeast infection could just be outside of the GI tract. Um.

[01:12:33] What is my approach? Okay. There. I know, and I, I know it’s gonna be nuanced, but yes, like candida, talk us through it. Yeah. There, there’s definitely mineral elements that we wanna look at as well. But we wanna know, or I think something that we should understand is that yeast is opportunistic. It’s not evil.

[01:12:53] So we don’t, like, I don’t want everyone to think we need to declare war on our candida infections. [01:13:00] What we really need to be asking is, why does yeast feel so comfortable here? If, if we know that it’s opportunistic, why did my body give it an inch to take or two inches, right? And so usually the gut flora is depleted.

[01:13:13] And that could be because of antibiotics, it could be because of a c-section birth. It could have, it could be because of early weaning. Um, or it could be liver drainage is sluggish. Or it could be that sugar or carb metabolism is struggling even with a clean diet. So number one. Yeast is opportunistic, not necessarily evil, and we need to figure out why it’s given the opportunity to flourish.

[01:13:39] Two, we needed to support the drainage funnel first. I am a classic example that if you too quickly go after candida, you are gonna feel like trash. Like if you don’t open up your elimination pathways as well, the liver, lymph, bowels, you’re gonna stir it up without a way out, and that [01:14:00] can flare in different ways.

[01:14:02] And so we need to ensure elimination is working really good before we go after it. It’s also really important, I, I won’t ever forget learning this. I think this was like two years ago at a um, conference of one of the major labs who does oat testing. One of the speakers was talking about candida and how it creates different sorts of biofilm and now.

[01:14:28] The illustration often uses, like biofilm is like the green scum on the top of a pond. Like it’s protecting the water underneath and the organisms underneath the water, right? Or in the water. And so this biofilm is a protective mechanism for that opportunist. And with candida, the, there’s different types of biofilm that it creates, and its biofilm can move.

[01:14:50] So it doesn’t just, like, it’s not just stagnant, it’s not just a bunker. It’s, it’s a, it’s a tank. It’s constantly moving. And so it may have been in one place [01:15:00] and then it moves to another place. And so that’s something that’s really important. You need to ensure that you have biofilm disruptors in order to, well eliminate or at least keep candida in check because it’s an opportunist.

[01:15:14] Um, molybdenum is actually a really important mineral here. Um, it helps to break down the toxic aldehydes that you are measuring in your oat and protect the nervous system from them. And now molybdenum is also an antagonistic copper and copper can feed candida, so that’s another reason here. Zinc is also critical for your gut lining repair.

[01:15:39] Magnesium kin function is an antifungal, and then we need that sodium potassium balance for lymph flow and detoxification For kids, something that could be really helpful is the caprylic acid that we might get from coconut oil, and so bringing coconut oil in could be. An easy, gentle way to [01:16:00] support candida eradication.

[01:16:02] Um, I like starting really gentle with children. Even with homeopathy. I have a homeopath where we can, uh, source no sos of candida albicans to help the body. Um, so sometimes you just can’t do an herbal protocol. Someone’s really sensitive. Homeopathy can be be really great. So the whole, like my whole way of addressing this is I’m not just chasing yeast.

[01:16:27] We need to address the terrain. Um, it’s a signal here that our pathways need supporting microbial balance, may need supporting. And then again, there are specific minerals that could be feeding that infection that we need to make sure are in check. And this is that copper, even high iron. And so depending on the age of your child and funds blood work could be helpful there too.

[01:16:50] And I’m so curious, do you see a lot of high iron in kids? I, I do. Do you on an HTMA? I do. I No, but what about on blood? Oh, [01:17:00] no, no, no. Yeah, the body is shunned. It’s just sequestering it. Yeah, because I, I, I’ve never seen, I’ve never really seen a high iron level on blood in kids, um, even in teens. And I see it in, obviously I see it adults all the time.

[01:17:15] Uh, so that, I was like curious about that. ’cause obviously that, you know, with yeast, with, with a lot of women, especially PCOS and stuff, it’s like a huge issue. Um, okay. Last question. And I’m like, oh, is this gonna be a doozy? I love to hear her thoughts on pandas. I have a friend whose child is suffering from this, and it seems like this symptom set could be a couple of different things all related to toxic overload.

[01:17:43] I, and, and listen, we’re not gonna get into pan all of pandas right now, but. What basically, like what are your thoughts on it experiences? I’m sure you’ve worked with many children with pandas. Like tell us like what is it, what do you think the root causes are and like how do you kind of address it in your [01:18:00] practice?

[01:18:00] Okay, so pandas, it has a cousin pans. Uh, so PANDAS is pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with strep. And then pans is the same thing, just no strep, right? This is the child or person’s immune system freaking out over whatever the infection is and it’s now mistakenly attacking their own brain tissue.

[01:18:25] And those are especially the areas of the brain that are regulating behavior, movement, and mood. And so you see things like OCD symptoms, ticks, or unusual movements you might see rage sleep, aggression, severe anxiety, like kids don’t wanna go to school now they’re afraid of going to school. Even some food restrictions or sensory issues.

[01:18:46] Um, but something that I think is really important. It’s not the infection, it’s not the strep. Like that is the, the straw that broke the camel’s back. There was something already building up and now this is just what made the whole thing tumble. [01:19:00] And so it’s an immune system issue. It’s an inflammation issue, and it is also a toxin issue.

[01:19:05] The, it’s like a trigger happy immune system that’s become overwhelmed. And so that’s the first thing that I would say about pans Pandas. Now, some things to look at when it comes to this diagnosis or concern. Mold exposure is huge because mycotoxins can literally open the blood brain barrier and allow immunological chaos to hit the brain.

[01:19:30] And then kids who are in moldy environments, even if they don’t have respiratory symptoms. Are often way more vulnerable to post-infectious autoimmunity. So there was a kid that I worked with, with Candace, but she was eight, and she was also diagnosed with, um, Hashimoto’s. And I was like, what in the world?

[01:19:52] I Right. I know. So like, you have this because the immune system is just trigger happy. It’s going after everything. [01:20:00] Um, there’s also other infections at play here. So I’ve seen Lyme, it’s co-infection. Bartonella, EDV, candida Overgrowth, all of these. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. They’re, they often coexist like. Like an orchestra, a really terrible orchestra for your body.

[01:20:23] Um, you, you, I for sure in the 8-year-old girl, there were tons of medals. So mu I think she was lead, cadmium, and mercury, like they were always super high. Um, and then there were minerals that she also had super high copper on hers. I think the two kids that I’ve seen with pandas in the last year had really high copper.

[01:20:44] That’s a huge histamine overload and your brain’s on fire. So immunologic you need support the immune system. And then there’s the inflammation issue in the brain because I think it’s the basal ganglia cells that are most affected. And this [01:21:00] is why we don’t just treat, quote, unquote treat or go after the infection there.

[01:21:05] It really is a terrain issue. And so we need to address the terrain. That could be mold, metals, infections, even gut health. Um, we need to support drainage and detox pathways before going after anything big for sure. Rebuilding Mineral Foundation because we need to build up some of those neurotransmitters.

[01:21:24] Um, and I often use, I not often, there have been some, um, individuals that I’ve used a couple peptides with as well, so BPC 1 5 7 is a big one, and then frag four I think is the other one. They help the brain in major ways, especially with like ticks. Um, I want this person to know it is not a quick fix that I’ve seen kids like come back.

[01:21:52] They’re, they’re the parents. Like, I feel like my kid’s back again. But it, it is, it is a long road. And I also [01:22:00] want, like this person’s friend to know that their kid isn’t broken. Their brain is brilliantly trying to protect them. It’s just using the wrong map to do so, and we need to rewrite that map so that we can lower its load and give the body the safety it needs to heal.

[01:22:17] So they need to start slow, they need to be steady and know that it’s, it’s, you have to be in for the long haul, but the change absolutely can come and both you and your child will be for the better. And it, it’s almost sounds like MCOs, but for kids. Mm-hmm. It’s like brain MCOs for kids. Mm-hmm. That’s a great way to put it.

[01:22:41] Right? Because I’m, I’m like, man, this sounds just like a, like it’s the same co-infections for adults. Yep. Pretty much they trigger mast cell activation syndrome and then it’s literally trigger happy, like you said. And, but instead of it just affecting like brain, it’s like all over. And there’s definitely a lot of like [01:23:00] antihistamine supports that we bring in for kids with pan spanda.

[01:23:02] So that makes sense. That’s really interesting. Um, okay. I’m that, that was, that was a good, succinct, succinct way to do it. I was like, I like hate to even ask questions like that sometimes. ’cause I’m like, this is, how do we narrow this down? But, um, thank you so much for doing this, Nina. I appreciate you so much.

[01:23:21] We’re gonna have Nina back in the fall. Don’t worry guys. We’re gonna do ’cause not only is Nina just so great with minerals, you got a little hint, a little teaser of the homeopathy. Um, that is also another big thing that I’ve learned about so much from you. And so we’re gonna bring her back and we’re gonna talk about.

[01:23:39] All the things you guys wanna know with, like, what can I keep in my medicine cabinet? What do I do if we get sick? Uh, obvi Nina has an amazing resource for that. Um, her book that I have, it’s like full of protocols and stuff, so we’re gonna have her back. Don’t worry. We’ll touch on that. And I, I do wanna touch on homeo prophylaxis, I think in that episode, which I’m like, do we [01:24:00] want to do it?[01:24:00] But we’re gonna do it. So thank you for being here. We’re gonna bring her back and we’ll see you guys in the next episode. Thanks, Amanda.

S8 E03: Everything You Need to Know About Minerals for Your Child’s Health | Nina Marie

Amanda Montalvo

Amanda Montalvo is a women's health dietitian who helps women find the root cause of hormone imbalances and regain healthy menstrual cycles.

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