Mineral Guides

With minerals, the compound matters more than the number. Magnesium is sold as glycinate, citrate, oxide, malate and threonate; iron as sulfate, gluconate and bisglycinate; zinc as picolinate, gluconate and citrate. The compound is named on the panel and it changes what the milligram figure on the front actually represents.

That is the trap this section exists to explain. A label may state the weight of the whole compound rather than the elemental mineral inside it, and the two can differ several times over — 500 mg of magnesium oxide and 500 mg of magnesium glycinate do not deliver the same amount of magnesium. Where a panel gives both figures, the elemental one is the comparable number, and the percent Daily Value column is a reliable cross-check when it does not.

Serving size compounds the problem again, since many mineral supplements count two or three capsules as one serving.

These guides cover the forms, the elemental arithmetic and the medication interactions worth raising with a pharmacist — several minerals affect the absorption of common prescriptions, and the fix is usually spacing rather than avoidance. To compare products, the mineral comparison filters by type, strength, format and brand.