Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA)
The sampled hair, obtained by cutting the first inch and one-half of growth closest to the scalp at the nape of the neck is prepared in a licensed clinical laboratory through a series of chemical and high temperature digestive procedures. Testing is then performed using highly sophisticated detection equipment and methods to achieve the most accurate and precise results. |
Your HTMA test report will provide us the most complete and comprehensive evaluation and discussion of significant mineral levels, ratios and toxic metals as tested in the hair. Included is a listing of individual foods and food groups that the are recommend to eat or avoid in accordance with food allergy indicators and individualized metabolic requirements.
Benefits of Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis
Hair is an excellent biopsy material. It is easy to sample, easily preserved and transported, represents a soft tissue of the body, and is a storage and eliminative tissue. As hair grows it forms a permanent record of the body’s nutritional deficiencies or excesses.
This information, along with dietary and nutritional evaluations, will provide the basis for a nutritional balancing program to establish and maintain optimal levels of wellness. By correcting tissue mineral levels and ratios with proper diet, supplementary nutrients and lifestyle modifications, many physical and behavioral health conditions can be prevented or reversed.
This information, along with dietary and nutritional evaluations, will provide the basis for a nutritional balancing program to establish and maintain optimal levels of wellness. By correcting tissue mineral levels and ratios with proper diet, supplementary nutrients and lifestyle modifications, many physical and behavioral health conditions can be prevented or reversed.
Why use hair? Why not blood?
Hair is ideal tissue for sampling and testing. First, it can be cut easily and painlessly cut and sent to the lab without special handling requirements. Other benefits:
- Research shows that trace minerals and metals are accumulated at concentrations that are 10-50 % higher in hair.
- Blood and urine tests give an instantaneous reading that may be affected by many factors. Urine screening is a most effective tool in measuring the progress of detoxification/chelation treatments.
- Hair analysis gives a long term reading that is unaffected by recent meals, activities such as exercise, or emotional states.
- Toxic metals rarely remain in the blood or urine for long, but often deposit in the hair where they can be measured over a three month period.
Why test for minerals?
High levels of toxic metals inhibit the body’s ability to process and assimilate specific nutritional elements that are essential to good health and have a proven link to many types of diseases.
Trace minerals are essential in countless metabolic functions in all phases of the life process.
Trace minerals are essential in countless metabolic functions in all phases of the life process.
- Zinc is involved in the production, storage and secretion of insulin and is necessary for growth hormones.
- Magnesium is required for normal muscular function, especially the heart. A deficiency has been associated with an increased incidence of abnormal heart conditions, anxiety and nervousness.
- Potassium is critical for normal nutrient transport into the cell. A deficiency can result in muscular weakness, mild depression and lethargy.
- Excess sodium is associated with hypertension, but adequate amounts are required for normal health.
What causes mineral imbalances?
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.
Is Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis supported by research?
Hair tissue mineral analysis is supported by an impressive body of literature in a variety of respected national and international scientific publications.
- Over the past twenty-five years hair mineral testing has been extensive. Each year in the United States alone, federally licensed clinical laboratories perform over 150,000 hair mineral assays for health care professionals interested in an additional screening aid for a comprehensive patient evaluation.
- This does not take into consideration the thousands of subjects used in numerous continuing research studies conducted by private and government research agencies.