Mineral Imbalances: The Overlooked Key to Restoring Digestive Health

2nd April, 2025

By Raluca Schachter

Contributing writer for Wake Up World

Healing is not possible without the correct and precise detection of mineral imbalance in the body.

A solid foundation for your health can be established by respecting this clinical hierarchy of the body. This means restoring balance in order, first at a cellular level, then at an organ and system level.

How can you restore the balance of your digestive or immune system when there is this chaos at a cellular level?

Other health programs mostly overlook this approach. However, skipping this stage can be dangerous and ineffective when seeking proper healing.

Why are minerals so essential for your health?

No healing program will be successful in the long term without proper mineral balance. Mineral imbalance is a root cause of most diseases and negative symptoms.

If you disregard your mineral imbalances, any other “treatment” you start will eventually stop working, will not have the desired effect, or will even have the opposite effect!

This is because all systems below are affected by mineral imbalances:

• Digestion
• Hormones and neurotransmitters
• Antioxidants
• Energy (ATP production)
• Hydration
• Sleep
• Muscle contraction/relaxation
• Glycemic fluctuations are also greatly influenced by a balance in minerals, especially calcium, magnesium and chromium.

Any symptom or condition can be traced back to mineral imbalance and heavy metal toxicity!

What is the connection between minerals, heavy metals and digestive function?

Zinc, phosphorus, and sodium are essential for good digestion, while excess copper and certain toxic metals can massively inhibit digestive processes.

Sodium, chlorine, and zinc are essential for producing stomach acid.

A calcium deficiency can affect the ability of nerves to communicate with each other in the digestive tract.

Zinc is essential for the function and protection of the integrity of the intestinal mucosa.

Electrolytes such as calcium and magnesium depend on adequate stomach acid levels for absorption. Many magnesium supplements are not absorbed due to insufficient stomach acid!

Aluminum toxicity is associated with constipation, stomach pain, flatulence, heartburn, reduced intestinal activity, but also a low immune system, liver dysfunction, skin problems, poor sleep quality, spleen pain, low energy, headaches, etc.

The combination of aluminum and a lack of calcium is associated with an increased incidence of allergies. As allergenic foods are consumed and the immune response is pathologically stimulated, other nutrients, such as zinc, will be depleted by the increasingly severe immune reactions.

Then, as zinc is depleted, mercury, cadmium, and lead can accumulate, worsening digestion and leading to increased intestinal inflammation.

Leading factors preventing mineral absorption

There are several factors that can prevent the absorption of minerals, even when they are available in your diet, including:

• Existing digestive dysfunctions, especially leaky gut syndrome
• Lack of stomach acid (hypochlorhydria)
• Phytic acid intake
• High-stress lifestyle
• Massive overexposure to heavy metals
• Soil depletion through industrialization
• Extreme or incorrect diets

Digestive disorders, especially leaky gut syndrome, and a lack of stomach acid will reduce the absorption of essential minerals such as zinc, sodium, copper, magnesium, manganese, selenium, iron, and chromium, leading to more symptoms.

Phytic acid also remains a real problem. It is in all commercial breads that use yeast, and decreases the absorption of minerals such as zinc, calcium, and iron. Phytic acid from grains can be reduced only by germination or fermentation. However, it’s also found in seeds, nuts, and legumes. Nuts and seeds can be hydrated overnight in water with added salt to reduce the amount of phytic acid.

The most effective ways to ensure adequate levels of minerals in the body are:

• following a healthy, nutritious diet that fits your metabolic type
• consuming concentrated bone broth, rich in bioavailable minerals and amino acids
• consuming unrefined salt
• consuming mineral rich water
• supplementing with deficient minerals

Supplementing with minerals

The most accurate and correct way to determine exact mineral deficiencies is by correctly interpreting hair analysis and knowing your metabolic type.

It’s often ineffective and even dangerous to supplement minerals at random. If you randomly supplement with one mineral, you can decrease or increase up to 9 others in your body, about which you know absolutely nothing… All minerals and vitamins work in synergy and in antagonism with each other, and each person’s biochemistry is unique!

Heavy metals also work in antagonism with minerals in the body. When heavy metals accumulate, they further influence the deficiencies of certain minerals. This causes even greater complexity when analyzing the correct state of minerals in the body.

In conclusion, it’s essential to know what you are supplementing with, why, and what exactly you are aiming for.

Case study

Two women I worked with in my integrative program (metabolicenergy.eu) presented symptoms of palpitations, shortness of breath, fatigue, tingling, agitation, insomnia, and low blood pressure.

They went for a cardiology consultation, which resulted in good test results and no cardiac conditions. They were prescribed magnesium.

After investigations within my program – including hair tissue mineral analysis – one did not have a magnesium deficiency, and the other, in fact, had an excess of magnesium.

Instead, they had other mineral imbalances, including….POTASSIUM! This mineral is responsible for the symptoms they experienced, so potassium supplementation resolved the associated symptoms.

On a side note, this phenomenon has also been observed in many people who had COVID and subsequently suffered from severe potassium deficiency.

Many health experts still recommend supplements based on your symptoms, following the all-too-common model of “for symptom X, take supplement Y.” This is a superficial and incorrect model that only tries to treat symptoms on the surface, not heal imbalances and dysfunctions in depth.

With the help of the metabolic test and hair analysis (metabolicenergy.eu), you can know precisely what mineral therapy you need, their interaction with heavy metals and how it correlates with your symptoms. Complex issues can be made simple with the right strategy.

About the Author

Raluca Schachter is a Clinical Nutritionist and Metabolic Typing Advisor, specializing in digestive healing. She began her clinical nutrition practice in the USA 16 years ago, after she was able to naturally reverse the chronic health conditions she was struggling with most of her life. She now uses her knowledge to guide as many people as possible to do the same.

Her original integrative program—with a focus on balancing digestion—was founded on her own health experiences, the journeys of hundreds of her clients, and the unique professional training she has acquired over the years. She approaches health holistically, in three key areas: nutritional, clinical, and energetic.

Her mission is to help you connect with your body’s natural wisdom, learning its unique language so you can respond to its needs with clarity and confidence.

Healing is about more than just getting rid of symptoms—it’s about embracing a deeper journey of transformation.

Raluca is ready to support you in discovering that your body has the incredible ability to heal itself, as long as it’s given the right care, balance, and nourishment.

Raluca offers her online services for local and international clientele. You can connect with her at metabolicenergy.eu and facebook.com/MetabolicEnergyInt