Hair tissue mineral analysis (HTMA), is an analytical test which measures your mineral content and heavy metal exposure. Test results reflect how much of these elements are in your tissues and provide a vivid picture of your internal environment, that very few tests can reveal.

Have you ever wondered…?

• Am I getting enough essential vitamins and minerals?
• Am I eating foods that provide enough or perhaps too much of a particular nutrient?

Did you know…

• 90% of people unknowingly have toxic metals such as mercury from fillings, vaccines and pollution.
• Simply taking one-a-day multivitamins doesn’t ensure you are getting everything you need.
• Even if you take supplements, you may not be absorbing them.
• Many nutrients work together so a balance in their relationship is just as important as individual nutrients
• Health concerns such as fatigue, weak immunity and sleep problems can stem from nutrient imbalances?
• Nutrition supplements, when properly used, can have tremendous therapeutic effects. However, taking supplements without first knowing what the body needs, may actually have unintended consequences like causing shortages of other nutrients. This only further complicates health problems by upsetting the natural balance of the body.
• Calcium supplements or high-calcium-containing foods can help prevent osteoporosis in one person, but actually contribute to brittle bones in another.
• Zinc is commonly known to help fight the effects of a virus, but too much zinc can contribute to bacterial infections.
• Copper is an essential nutrient, but excessive amounts can cause depression, weight gain, PMS symptoms and frontal headaches.
• Iron is necessary to prevent anemia, but too much can cause a different type of anemia, and contribute to migraines, arthritis and cancer.

Your nutrient levels vs. the ideal range

• due to our individuality, everyone takes in and absorbs nutrients differently and thus it is important to see the levels of each to insure they are in the optimal range for good health

Ratios of fundamental nutrient pairs

• Minerals do not exist in the body in isolation, but all work together and have a delicate balance. When one mineral is out of proportion it affects its counterparts and can cause problems

Your absorption and efficiency of the nutrients reaching the cellular level

• Just because you consume a specific food or take a nutritional supplement, doesn’t mean your body has the means to properly absorb and use that nutrients. Hair test result show your true nutrient status.

Your metabolism

• Mineral ratios are able to show your metabolism speed. Calcium, while essential, in excess can slow down metabolism and looking at the ratio of calcium to phosphorus shows this

Thyroid Function

• Your thyroid gland is responsible for your energy and metabolism. Many people are frustrated when blood thyroid tests come back normal but they feel sluggish and are gaining weight. The reason for this is blood panels test for a snapshot of the thyroid hormone. The hair test looks at the ration of your calcium to potassium which shows the function of the thyroid and how your body is actually absorbing the thyroid hormone. We catch early thyroid issues years before they are able to be seen in blood. By catching the problems early we are able to naturally correct the thyroid with nutrients and herbs to prevent patients from going on a thyroid medication for the rest of their lives.

Adrenal Gland Function

• Looking at the ration of Sodium to Magnesium shows general adrenal function. The adrenal glands are responsible for dealing with stress and provide energy as well as govern the thyroid gland. The hair test shows if the adrenal glands are sluggish or overactive.

Heavy metal presence

• metals such as mercury, lead and aluminum are very common and can be passed from mother to baby or acquired in life from pollution, preservatives, foods, personal care products, dental materials and vaccinations. They are toxic to the body and interfere with all glandular functions causing fatigue. They can also pass the blood brain barrier and deposit in the brain predisposing people to Alzheimer’s and dementia. If metals are found, we use a natural approach to gently detox and remove them safely from the body reestablishing better function or all organs affected.

With these results we will develop a precise nutritional and supplement program customized specifically for you.

You will maintain the supplement program for 2-3 months and then retest to insure the levels are then optimal. All the correction nutrients are meant to be short term and taken over the course of the 2-3 months. Once the levels are optimal, you can discontinue the regiment and a balance diet would be enough to keep the levels in check. It is important to do the original program however because just changing your diet and making it balanced will not correct the past imbalances. Once those are corrected with your custom nutrition program you can keep it going with a balanced diet. 

Optimal nutrient levels in the blood are so essential to the proper function of all of your body’s organs and tissues, that it has various compensatory mechanisms to keep those levels as stable as possible. While this is a great way to avoid health disasters on a daily basis, it is very inconvenient for finding shortages as they are rarely seen until larger problems have developed.

For example:

• Calcium loss from the body can become so advanced that severe osteoporosis can develop without any appreciable changes noted in the calcium levels in a blood test as blood would pull calcium from the bones to always appear perfect.
• Symptoms of iron deficiency can be present long before low iron levels can be detected in the blood
• 30 to 40 days following an acute exposure of metals such as lead, elevated blood levels of lead may be undetectable. This is due to the body removing the lead from the blood as a protective measure and depositing the metal into such tissues as the liver, bones, teeth and hair.

HTMA reflects the storage levels of minerals rather than just what is being transported in the blood, thus there is no compensation. As the hair is being formed, prior to extrusion from the scalp, it is exposed to the blood, lymph, and intracellular fluids. During this time, it accumulates constituents present in this internal environment – minerals, vitamins etc… As the cortex of the hair shaft hardens and protrudes from the scalp, the evidence of this internal metabolic environment is preserved as a convenient record.

Furthermore, since hair is a fairly slow growing tissue, there are no daily fluctuations. For instance, if you eat bananas before having a blood test, your blood potassium level may be high that day. If you have your blood tested the next day and did not eat bananas, your blood potassium may be normal, or even low. The HTMA potassium level will be reflective overall, of long term dietary habits rather than what is consumed just in a day or two.

Hair is also an ideal tissue for sampling and testing because it can be cut easily and painlessly and can be sent to the lab without special handling requirements.

There are many factors to take into consideration, such as:

Diet – Improper diet through high intake of refined and processed foods, alcohol and fad diets can all lead to a chemical imbalance. Even the nutrient content of a “healthy” diet can be inadequate, depending upon the soil in which the food was grown or the method in which it was prepared.

Stress – Physical or emotional stress can deplete the body of many nutrients while also reducing the capability to absorb and utilize many nutrients.

Medications – Both prescription and over-the-counter medications can deplete the body stores of nutrient minerals and/or increase the levels of toxic metals. These medications include diuretics, antacids, aspirin and oral contraceptives.

Pollution – From adolescence through adulthood the average person is continually exposed to a variety of toxic metal sources such as cigarette smoke (cadmium), hair dyes (lead), hydrogenated oils (nickel), anti-perspirants (aluminum), dental amalgams (mercury and cadmium), copper and aluminum cookware and lead-based cosmetics. These are just a few of the hundreds of sources which can contribute to nutrient imbalances and adverse metabolic effects.

Nutritional Supplements – Taking incorrect supplements or improper amounts of supplements can produce many vitamin and mineral excesses and/or deficiencies, contributing to an overall biochemical imbalance.

Inherited Patterns – A predisposition toward certain mineral imbalances, deficiencies and excesses can be inherited from parents.