Liquid colloidal minerals are touted as being superior to their more traditional counterparts, citing increased absorbability due to the fact that the minerals are already “pre digested” or broken down into small enough parts that very little has to be done to make them available for absorption. It is also claimed that absorption itself is increased due tot the fact that the minerals are ionized or charged, making them more bioavailable (available for your body to use).

Liquid colloidal minerals

Colloidal liquids are liquid mediums with tiny particles suspended throughout, like milk for example. The nutrients in colloidal minerals stay emulsified in liquid because they are so small that they don’t settle out. The charge on these small particles also keeps them from settling out as they attach themselves to water molecules.

Traditional minerals

Traditional (dry) supplements are often criticized for being hard to swallow, indigestible, and composed of certain forms of nutrients that the body cannot utilize (low bioavailability). While this is true in some of the lower quality and cheaper brands, there are many brands that provide a high level of bioavailble nutrients. Some tablets are difficult to digest because of coatings made for increased production speed and the tightly packed nature of these pills, but capsules allow for easy release of nutrients in a compact form The nutrients become readily available when the gel cap is dissolved.

Claims

So are the claims made by colloidal mineral manufacturers about increased absorption beyond what you get from a “dry” multivitamin/mineral pill true? The first assertion is that because of their small size the body can absorb more of the nutrient. The second assertion is that because of the particles are charged they allow other nutrients to be better absorbed by the digestive tract and the negative particles bind and remove toxins. There is little to no research to back these assertions up. As for the first assertion, while it is true that some tablets are hard to digest (see above paragraph), capsules and high quality tablets are designed to fully dissolve in the digestive system. The second claim may be partially theoretically correct in that negatively charged particles could bind with positively charged toxic metals like mercury or lead. The claim that the negative charge will aid in absorption of other nutrients is not correct, however.

Conclusion

Liquid colloidal mineral supplements do not seem to live up to their claims of superiority. While they may outperform cheaper, lower quality supplements, they do not outperform the high quality variety of more traditional supplements. They are also less durable and less portable. There are also some dangers that I neglected to mention in regards to colloidal minerals, but you can click the link to read more in depth about these.

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