Electrolytes s. Ions
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Everyone has heard of electrolytes and knows that somehow they are vital to health in some way. But who has ever heard of ions?
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In an interesting twist, it is ions that our bodies crave, and electrolytes are largely just a means to and end. What vital difference does knowing all of this make to our health?
The importance of knowing.
Every day the body completes a vast number of both chemical and electrical reactions, These processes require a constant supply of ions (charged atoms) to work.
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For example, as ions move in and out of cells they promote positive and negative charges on opposite sides of those cells., As these charges build, they allow an electric current to pass through the cells, enabling muscle or nerve contraction, Without ionic minerals, not a single muscle in your body would be able to function. Clearly, the body requires ions to function on eveyr level. Without an adequate source of ionic minerals we would quickly die.
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Electrolytes
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In chemical terms, and electrolyte is any chemical compound that produces ions when it is dissolved. When an electrolyte compound (such as table salt) is consumed, the digestive system needs to break it apart into its constituent ions. They ions can then be utilised by the body in many numerous functions.
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This is the role of electrolytes. They are not ions, but when digested or dissolved they produce ions. Despite numerous marketing (and even scientific) literature that uses these two terms interchangeably they are not the same. The body requires electrolytes for the purpose of turning them in to ions. But it is the ions that the body really needs.
Cells require ions to sustain life. Electrolytes produce ions.
​It is possible to source ions themselves, largely bypassing the need for electrolytes in our diet?
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The intestines have various mechanisms to cater for all varieties of minerals, including both negatively and positively charged ions and neutral electrolytes. It is ionic minerals that are most easily transported across the intestinal membrane. Because ions are charged, they body requires less energy to absorb these minerals in comparison to mineral compounds (electrolytes, colloids, chelated minerals, etc).
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Ionic minerals thus have the highest absorption rate of all mineral sources. This is great news for all, particularly those with damaged digestive systems. ions absorb readily and rapidly.
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