Adequate supplies of neutralizing minerals are essential to keeping our internal environments in tip-top shape. We get a variety of minerals and other nutrients when we eat a variety of foods. Virtually all foods have minerals and other nutrients – even acid-ash foods.

The question is: Why are vegetable and fruit minerals better than red meat, poultry, fish, and cheese minerals?

Plants that live in rich soil take nutrients and minerals from the ground through their roots – carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, potassium, nitrogen, calcium, iron, magnesium, and small amounts of other elements. These raw minerals, straight from the soil, aren’t very usable to us as humans – our digestive systems can’t easily break them down in that form.

But here’s where plants do something amazing: they actually “repackage” those minerals into organic forms that our bodies can use. Scientists who study plant nutrition have found that fruits and vegetables naturally bind minerals to proteins and acids, which makes them more bioavailable for us (in other words, easier to absorb and put to work in the body). So, in a sense, plants are the first responders, making soil minerals digestible for humans.

Now, let’s look at the numbers. A hamburger patty has about 9 mg of calcium. Sounds decent, right? But compare that with a carrot, which has 19 mg of calcium – more than double. And here’s the kicker: the burger also comes with 134 mg of phosphorus, an acid-forming mineral that actually increases the body’s acid load. That carrot? Just 32 mg of phosphorus.

Nutrition researchers have been pointing this out for years: diets heavy in animal protein tend to increase what’s called the “acid load” in the body. When that happens, your system has to pull alkaline minerals like calcium and magnesium from your bones to keep your blood chemistry balanced. Over time, this can weaken bone health. That’s one reason studies consistently show that people who eat more fruits and vegetables have stronger bones and fewer fractures later in life.

Yes, you do get minerals from meat and cheese. But they come with a trade-off. By the time you’re eating the steak or cheese, the minerals have been processed through another body, and they’re often packaged alongside higher amounts of acidifying elements like phosphorus, sulfur, and nitrogen. Researchers in Europe found that heavy meat consumption tilts the acid-base balance in a way that can stress the body’s mineral reserves.

Cheese, while tasty and a good source of calcium, is another example. It’s also concentrated in phosphorus, which can cancel out some of that calcium benefit. In fact, when scientists reviewed dozens of studies on dairy and bone health, they found that high cheese intake didn’t automatically translate to stronger bones. Instead, fruits and veggies turned out to be much more protective.

Fruits and vegetables, on the other hand, give us minerals in their most useful form – ready to be absorbed and put to work. On top of that, they come packaged with extra bonuses like fiber, antioxidants, and phytonutrients that meat and cheese simply don’t provide.

So, while you can get minerals from both plants and animals, the “packaging” makes all the difference. Plant-based minerals are easier to use, more balanced, and come without the acidifying baggage of animal foods.