Posted by Larry Hoover on November 27, 2003, at 9:27:26
In reply to amino acid chelate, what is it good for?, posted by Jai on November 25, 2003, at 20:03:21
> I had someone ask me what is amino acid chelate? I could not answer her because I really didn't know what that really is all about. I got no handle on that one? I am not a chemist but I know some of you out there are. Can you help me?
> JaiOh, goodness. We are at risk of TMI here. (too much information)
The term is usually applied to certain types of mineral supplements, usually the more expensive ones, generally thought to provide a more bioavailable form of the mineral.
Minerals that you want to supplement are ions. For example, magnesium has twice lost electrons, and it is stable as the Mg++ ion. It will form salts with negatively charged ions, like chloride (Cl-), as an example. You'd need two chlorides to balance the charge on the magnesium, so mag chloride is MgCl2. Chloride likes to dissolve in water (consider sodium chloride), so mag chloride dissolves nicely.
Chelates also dissolve readily. A chelate is even more loosely bound to e.g. magnesium than is the chloride ion. The word chelate comes from the Greek chela, or claw. The idea here is that a single molecule (the chelating substance) grips the mineral ion multiple times (like a pincer). The mineral ions can get out of the pincer easily, in the stomach's acid environment.
What makes chelates unique is that you're really supplementing two (potentially) bio-active substances simultaneously. The mineral ion has physiological effects, but so do pure amino acids. There have been many discussions about the different mental effects of different magnesium chelates, such as mangesium taurate and magnesium glycinate. The differences arise from the chelating amino acids, taurine and glycine, not from the magnesium.
More questions welcome.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:283788
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20031122/msgs/284410.html