Tom Audette: Max, one final mineral that we haven’t spoken about today is manganese. Manganese is one that we sometimes see in multi-mineral formulas but I don’t think most people know very much about it. Can you tell us a little bit about it? Max Motyka: Yes, I think that’s really the truth. Manganese, it sounds like magnesium almost, and people don’t talk about, “Oh, I need to take my manganese.” It’s just not spoken about. And, like you said, it’s probably because people have no idea what manganese is useful for. Manganese is actually a very, very important trace mineral. It’s involved in a number of important functions in the human body, and I could name a few of them very easily. Number one, manganese is a metal or mineral that is a critical factor in the formation of cartilage in spinal discs, things such as that, connective tissue. It’s part of the chemical reaction that knits together the connective tissue. You hear of people taking gloucosamine for arthritis but if they don’t have manganese that gloucosamine doesn’t get utilized to form your connective tissue that you’re trying to use the gloucosamine for. So, manganese is important there, but not only that, manganese is important for some of your antioxidant functions. Manganese goes to form manganese SOD, and it’s present in high concentrations in places like your white cells that help fight against infections and things like that. Manganese is actually an antioxidant mineral as well. It [has] a number of very key functions. The thing about manganese is that you can get by in terms of a minimal amount with 2 to 5 mgs, so it doesn’t require a lot. But then, you talk to people who have connective tissue problems, or people who are into certain types of athletic functions, you know, weight lifting, things that require power, [and] that puts a lot of stress on the cartilage and ligaments in your body [which] manganese is important for. See, manganese also helps maintain the flexibility of your ligaments and cartilage so that you’re not as prone to being injured as you would be if you weren’t getting enough manganese. Tom Audette: That’s very important, and I think that, as you mentioned, very few people, or at least the majority of people are not very familiar with it and I would imagine that is also true for a lot of doctors who don’t probably even recommend this to people. Max Motyka: Oh, I don’t think that if you walked into a typical doctor’s office they would know what you’re talking about, unfortunately, [when it comes to] manganese. It’s not something that’s spoken about quite frankly. The doctors who do use manganese or recommend it are very oftentimes people involved in adjustments of the spine and things like that. It’s very, very highly recommended to people who are seeing a chiropractor because it helps the ligaments be flexible so that they can function properly when they need to be adjusted.