What is hair tissue
mineral analysis?
Hair tissue mineral analysis or HTMA is a soft tissue mineral biopsy that uses hair as the sampling tissue.
A biopsy is an analysis of a body tissue. Hair is considered a soft tissue, and hence hair analysis is a soft tissue biopsy. The test measures the levels of 20 or more minerals in the hair with an accuracy of plus or minus about 3%. This is about the same level of accuracy as most blood tests, or a little better.
As a result, minerals have a great deal to do with the health of our bodies.
Minerals are sometimes called the ‘spark plugs’ of the body. They are needed for millions of enzymes as co-factors, facilitators, inhibitors and as part of the enzymes themselves. By analyzing mineral imbalances in the body, one can learn a lot about the causes and correction of hundreds of common physical and mental health conditions.
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A specific class of minerals the toxic metals are also extremely important today due to a nutritionally depleted food supply and the presence of environmental toxicity almost everywhere on planet earth. Studying toxic metals is thus very important today to monitor their spread and learn about their many damaging effects upon the bodies of human beings, animals, plants and other organisms.
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Even more can be learned about human and animal health by studying the ratios of the major minerals in the body. This is a more complex area, but a very important and fruitful one. Finally, by studying more complex patterns of minerals in the body, one can learn even more about human health and disease.
Why use hair?
Hair makes an excellent testing material for many reasons:
Nutritional Balancing Assessment
The most important reason is that it works for nutritional balancing assessment. Exactly why it works, and why other tests such as those with blood, urine, muscle testing or electronic machines do not work, I don’t know. However, we have not been able to duplicate the hair test results using these other methods of testing the body.
Easy To Measure
Easy to measure mineral levels. Mineral levels in the hair are about ten times that of blood, making them easy to detect and measure accurately in the hair.
Non-Essential Excretory Tissue
A non-essential, excretory tissue. The body often throws off toxic substances in the hair, since the hair will be cut off and lost to the body. This is very helpful to identify toxic metals, for example, and other things.
Easier Detection
Easier detection of toxic metals. Toxic metals are easier to detect in the hair than in the blood. The body quickly removes toxic metals from the blood, if it can. For this reason, most toxic metals are not found in high concentrations in the blood, except right after an acute exposure.
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In contrast, many toxic metals accumulate in the soft tissues such as the hair because the body tries to move them to locations where they will do less damage.
Cost Effective
Cost-effective, accurate and reliable. Advancements in computer-controlled mass spectroscopy and other technologies have rendered the hair mineral biopsy an extremely cost-effective, accurate and reliable test when it is performed well. The US federal government licenses all hair mineral testing labs in this nation, and similar programs assure quality in other nations, as well.
Non Invasive
Simple and non-invasive. Sampling is simple and non-invasive.
Stable Biopsy Material
A stable biopsy material. Hair is a stable biopsy material that remains viable for years, if needed. It also requires no special handling, and can be mailed easily.
Rapidly Growing Tissue
Rapidly growing tissue. Hair is a fairly rapidly growing tissue. This enables one to obtain a recent biochemical picture of soft tissue metabolism.
Wide Variation
Wide variation in the readings. Mineral levels are kept relatively constant in the blood, even when pathology is present. This must be done because blood touches all the body tissues, and too much variation is dangerous. This is the reason many people have normal blood tests even when they are quite ill.
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Hair minerals do not circulate, and pose no threat to the body. Values often vary by a factor of ten or much more, making measurement easier and providing a tremendous amount of accurate knowledge about the cells and the soft tissue of our bodies.
Longer-Term Reading
A longer-term reading. Hair testing provides a long-term reading, while blood tests and urine tests provide a more instantaneous reading of the body. Both types of readings have value. For example, blood tests can vary from minute to minute, depending upon one’s diet, activities, the time of day and many other factors. This is beneficial in some instances, but is often less helpful when seeking an overall metabolic reading. At this time, (2015) blood tests do not work for nutritional balancing assessment.
What can a mineral analysis reveal?
Analyzing hair tissue for chemical elements is quite different from testing blood, urine or feces, although all have great value in the right situation. Hair mineral analysis can reveal the following:
Lifestyle Imbalances.
The test can reveal that a problem in a person’s lifestyle – such as drug use, a very unhappy relationship, or a work problem – is impacting the person’s health. This is extremely useful, in some cases.
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In addition, the test often reveals the highly toxic effects of cigarette and marijuana use (cadmium). It also reveals the toxic effects of body care products such as selenium-containing shampoo, aluminum-containing antiperspirants, and lead-containing hair dyes.
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It may also reveal the toxic effects of medical drugs such as Flonase (antimony), anti-acids (aluminum), and some diuretics (mercury).
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It can also sometimes reveal occupational or other exposure to toxins such as excess exposure to iron, copper, or manganese in those who work in these industries.
Dietary Problems
The test contains a number of indicators to help a practitioner discern that a person’s diet is inadequate or imbalanced. These include indicators for low protein intake (low phosphorus in some cases), excessive carbohydrate intake, some drinking water problems, and problems with vegetarian and vegan diets. In addition, the test can identify several foods that contain toxins such as Rooibos tea (nickel and lead toxicity) or eating fish (high in mercury).
The Metabolic Type
This is an important fact of body chemistry. It is most helpful to understand hundreds of symptoms, and to guide the dietary and supplement recommendations. It also helps to understand many emotional and mental symptoms as well.
Energy and Vitality
Energy is a common denominator of health. This means that if one’s energy is low, hundreds of symptoms can occur. Restoring one’s biochemical or adaptive energy is a key to healing. This is one of the most basic of healing principles. A properly interpreted hair mineral analysis is an excellent way to evaluate a person’s adaptive energy level, as well as to figure out how to correct it.
Gland and Organ Activity
Hair mineral testing can provide a number of indicators for the cellular effect of the thyroid and adrenal hormones, and at times the ovarian hormones as well. It can also be used indirectly to assess the activity of the liver, kidneys, stomach, intestines and perhaps other organs as well.
Carbohydrate Tolerance
The test can quickly screen for hypoglycemia and, at times, diabetes, although a glucose tolerance test (GTT) should be done if one suspects diabetes. Hair testing can, however, usually guide a practitioner to correct Type 2 diabetes and some Type 1 diabetes without the need for most drugs. Mineral imbalances and chronic infections are often involved with these conditions.
Toxic Metal Assessment
No method of testing can detect all the toxic metals in the body because most of them are hidden deep in the body organs and glands. When interpreted properly, however, a hair mineral analysis is often helpful to assess the general level of toxic metals in the body.
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Some patterns, such as the Poor Eliminator Pattern, provide indicators of the presence of hidden toxic metals, a most important concept.
Reducing Guesswork
Reducing guesswork in recommending diets, nutritional supplementation and detoxification methods. This is very necessary because natural methods can easily be applied incorrectly or a haphazard manner that can make matters much worse.
Trends For Over 60 Common Health Conditions
This is an amazing benefit. Research indicates that many health conditions are related to tissue mineral imbalances. The test may reveal them months or years before they manifest in the body. This makes possible a powerful preventive medical science. This is much less costly and more effective than waiting until a disease such as cancer or heart disease occurs.
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This aspect of hair mineral testing alone would save billions of dollars if it were used widely. For example, one can inexpensively and accurately screen for tendencies for diabetes, heart disease, chronic fatigue, cancer, yeast infections, and many other health conditions.
Monitoring Progress
Hair mineral analysis is often helpful to monitor a person’s progress on a healing program of any kind. Symptomatic changes alone are often not a good way to know if a person is progressing on a healing program. However, the hair test will often detect subtle changes in body chemistry, another wonderful benefit of this test.
Stress Patterns
A properly performed hair mineral analysis is superb to assess the stage of stress, as well as 30 or more stress response patterns of the human body.
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This type of analysis and interpretation is based on the stress theory of disease, a modern understanding of health and disease. It was the work of Dr. Hans Selye, MD some 60 years ago. However, it is still not used much by the medical profession. Understanding the stages of stress can enable the practitioner to reverse many types of pathology that do not respond well to either traditional medical care or holistic care.
Autonomic Nervous System Assessment
A properly performed hair mineral test can assess and guide the correction of the activity of the autonomic nervous system.
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Problems with this nervous system are very widespread today, and can cause hundreds of symptoms from digestive disturbance and inability to eliminate toxic metals, to sleep disturbances, blood sugar problems and even cancers. Few in the medical, holistic or naturopathic professions know how to address these issues.
Psychological / Emotional Assessment
One the most exciting uses of the hair mineral analysis is the assessment of causes for conditions such as depression, anxiety, panic attacks, attention deficit, brain fog, autism, schizophrenia, dementia, violence, and bipolar disorder. Hair mineral testing often shows why these conditions occur, and how to correct them at a deep level.
Can Reveal Trauma
Hair mineral testing can also reveal sociological issues such as some traumas, abuse, and criminality. For more on this topic, please read Trauma Release on this site.
Animal Health
The same test is extremely helpful to identify and guide the correction of health problems in animals, both large and small. The identical principles of interpretation apply to many animal species, just as well as they apply to human beings. This has the potential to save ranchers, farmers and others millions of dollars, and improve the quality of our food. Articles on this site discuss the application of nutritional balancing science and hair testing in Dogs, Cats, Horses, Cows, and Deer at this time.
Soil and Agriculture
The common soil analysis farmer’s use is identical to the hair mineral analysis. The principles of nutritional balancing science can be used to help balance the soil and improve crop yield and nutritional quality of our food supply. For more on this topic, please read Rejuvenating The Soil With Nutritional Balancing on this site.
More Possible
More is possible with hair mineral testing. One of the most interesting is identifying movement patterns. These have to do with a person’s lifestyle and current activities, in relation to the person’s life path or progress through life. This can be extremely helpful in counseling a person, and to understand illness, both physical and emotional.
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Deep insights into biochemistry, physiology, psychology, pathology and possibly more esoteric sciences, such as biological transmutation of the elements, are also possible using the hair mineral test. Some of these are briefly discussed in the article entitled The Theory of Nutritional Balancing Science.
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