Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA) is a test that measures the minerals in your hair with precise accuracy (we're talking parts per million!).
It's totally safe and non-invasive! This test gives you insights into the nutrients and toxic elements present in your body tissue.
Many integrative doctors, naturopaths, nutritional therapists, and even the Environmental Protection Agency*, consider HTMA to be one of the most valuable screening tools out there for everyday and preventative health care. *HERO ID 1398355
Your Health Deserves More Than Guesswork!
Importance of Minerals
Minerals are essential for growth, healing, vitality and wellbeing. They provide structural support in bones and teeth, and maintain the body’s pH, water balance, nerve activity, muscle contractions, energy production and enzyme reactions. They are the basic ‘spark plugs’ of life.
Imbalances and Toxins
Our health and wellbeing may be aggravated by mineral imbalances and toxic metal excesses, aggravating conditions including pregnancy, breastfeeding, cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, migraines, learning difficulties and hyperactivity in children, to name just a few.
What can HTMA Help You With?
• Mineral deficiencies
• Mineral excesses
• Nutrient absorption
• Toxic buildup in kidneys and for neurological conditions
• Preconception
• Pregnancy
• Postpartum
• Menopause
What is Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA)?
Hair tissue mineral analysis (HTMA), is an analytical test which measures the mineral content of the hair. 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 tested in a licensed clinical laboratory.
Why use hair? Why not blood?
Hair is ideal tissue for sampling and testing. First, it can be cut easily and painlessly and can be sent to the lab without special handling requirements. Second, clinical results have shown that a properly obtained sample can give an indication of mineral status and toxic metal accumulation following long term or even acute exposure.
A HTMA reveals a unique metabolic world: intracellular activity, which cannot be seen through most other tests. This provides a blueprint of the biochemistry occurring during the period of hair growth and development.
Examples:
• Thirty to 40 days following an acute exposure, elevated serum levels of lead may be undetectable. This is due to the body removing the lead from the serum as a protective measure and depositing the metal into such tissues as the liver, bones, teeth and hair.
• Nutrient loss from the body can become so advanced that severe health conditions can develop without any appreciable changes noted in those same nutrient levels in a blood test.
• Symptoms of elemental deficiency can be present long before low levels can be detected in the serum.
Hair is used as one of the tissues of choice by the Environmental Protection Agency in determining toxic metal exposure. A 1980 report from the E.P.A. stated that human hair can be effectively used for biological monitoring of the highest priority toxic metals. This report confirmed the findings of other studies in the U.S. and abroad, which concluded that human hair may be a more appropriate tissue than blood or urine for studying community exposure to some trace elements.
Why test for minerals?
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.
In the words of the late author and noted researcher, Dr. Henry Schroeder, trace elements (minerals) are "...more important factors in human nutrition than vitamins. The body can manufacture many vitamins, but it cannot produce necessary trace minerals or get rid of many possible excesses."
***Please note due to state licensing laws, if you live in California, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, or outside of the United States we will not be able to accommodate your testing needs.