Molybdenum is a mineral that acts as co-factor to a number of the important enzymes needed for nutrition, fertility and the immune system.

Molybdenum helps your body manufacture enzymes, such as the ones needed for the use of the energy from the fats and carbohydrates you eat, as well as helping your body make use of the iron you ingest, sustain mental alertness, maintain fertility and potency, and prevent tooth decay. Molybdenum is also essential for blood sugar balance.

No RDA has been established, but safe intakes are thought to be between 150 and 500mcg per day. Most multimineral supplements contain around 100mg. Diabetics and people with low blood sugar should take a daily antioxidant food supplement that also contains chromium, vanadium and molybdenum.

Dark green vegetables, grains such as rice and wheat, beans, lentils, yeast, liver and kidney.

It’s unlikely that anyone with a balanced diet will suffer from a molybdenum deficiency, but taking molybdenum supplements have been shown to help relieve a number of conditions. Molybdenum content of food depends on the soil content of the mineral. As with chromium, the soil content of molybdenum is often very low. These include allergies: intakes or injections of molybdenum have been shown to lower allergic reactions and reduce the need for asthmatics to use inhalers.

Intakes of more than 10 000mcg increase the rate at which copper is excreted from the body. It may also raise the levels of uric acid in the body. Uric acid accumulates in the joints, which can lead to the development of gout.

If your diet is rich in refined foods and low in sources of molybdenum, such as cereals and vegetables, or for people who eat vegetables grown in soils depleted in molybdenum, such as where the water is very soft, molybdenum supplementation as part of an antioxidant combination is recommended.