These 2 supplement preparations became popular about five years ago, when a tape of a lecture entitled "Dead Doctors Don't Lie" given by a veterinarian/naturopath was circulating. It touted the benefits of a colloidal mineral potion based on a discovery of a Utah rancher some 75 years ago. As the story goes, the rancher found an Indian spring that supposedly had healing powers. He extracted minerals formed as humic shale (plant remains originating from a prehistoric rain forest) and gave them out in a liquid form. From this concept, supplement manufacturers developed colloidal mineral solutions and capsules (they don't contain any vitamins). Each manufacturer claims theirs is the real thing. The marketers of colloidal minerals state that you only absorb a small amount of minerals from other types of (non-colloidal) supplements. And what about from food? They claim the soil in which food is grown is depleted of minerals. Manufacturers of colloidal minerals assert that their products are absorbed almost 100 percent because they have a "natural negative electrical charge," allowing them to enter cells more easily.

So, is there any truth to this concept? First, for those of us who slept through science class, here's a little review... A colloid is simply a particle suspended in a liquid or a gas. Milk is an example of a colloid (it's a protein suspended in liquid). Most minerals occur in nature as ions, meaning they are negatively or positively charged particles.

Ionic minerals, on the other hand, supposedly are dissolved in water or in a water-soluble form (as opposed to a colloid, which is a suspension). Ionic mineral manufacturers say that their product is assimilated more quickly and efficiently into the body than colloidal minerals, which they claim aren't absorbed as well as touted. Many of these ionic minerals are available in individual mineral solutions. Some of the ones on the market are not vital for human life, such as platinum, gold, and silver