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Reveal Your Imbalances With Hair Analysis
Hair analysis is a test which measures the mineral content in your hair. As your hair grows out, your body deposits minerals in the hair tissue giving an imprint of health. The mineral content of your hair reflects the mineral content in your body tissues. The hair closest to your scalp reveals the most recent state of the body tissues.
Hair analysis is effective at revealing the following:
- Mineral excess or deficiency - Too much or too little within the body
- Mineral bioavailability or bio-unavailability - How well utilized a mineral is within the body
- Organ, gland and tissue function
- How well your body extracts energy from the food you eat (oxidation type)
- Energy Loss
- Toxic metal load
- Likely causes of mental and emotional conditions
- Which types and proportions of food will work best in your body
- Your need for specific supplementation - Note: A deficiency in a particular mineral does not necessarily indicate a need for supplementation of that mineral. We recommend supplements based on a sophisticated reading of the entire test as a whole. This method of reading the hair test as a whole was pioneered by Dr. Paul Eck and is the foundation of nutritional balancing.
Why do we use hair and not blood?
Maintaining the minerals and contents of blood within very strict limits is incredibly important for life. The body will maintain the health of its blood at the cost of almost every other body system. Your hair, on the other hand is a safe place for your body to dump out excess metals and toxins, since the contents of your hair will not interact with any other body systems.
Hair is much better as predicting trends which may lead to future disease. Imbalances in minerals tend to show up in the hair well before they would ever present in the blood. If an issue is present in the blood, it has likely been present in the body tissues for a significant amount of time.
While blood tests are valuable for determining cholesterol, hemoglobin levels and other markers of health, the hair reveals long term metabolic trends and chronic heavy metal poisoning. Hair is recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency as a preferred way to determine toxic metal exposure. A 1980 report by the EPA stated that hair can be used effectively for monitoring the highest priority toxic metals.
Two examples help illustrate why hair is more predictive and can provide a more accurate picture of health than blood.
1. Let's say you were exposed to a large amount of lead. The lead levels in your blood would remain elevated for approximately 34 days while your body attempted to detoxify itself. Some lead would filter out through your liver and kidneys and be expelled from the body, but the rest will be deposited in your tissues, including your hair. After 34 days, your blood work will no longer show elevated lead. Your hair will continue to reveal elevated lead until you successfully remove the lead from your tissues. Unless you are on a specific program to detoxify your tissues, this may never happen. For more on detecting toxic metals, please reference this article by Dr. Lawrence Wilson.
2. The second example concerns iron. If your blood tests show you are anemic, a common condition, especially among women, you may be told to take supplementary iron. With a hair test, we can determine the cause of your anemia and recommend an effective protocol for correcting it. Anemia caused by iron deficiency is rare in industrialized nations as compared to anemia caused by a copper imbalance in the body. Although blood test results will be the same for both types of anemia, hair analysis will differentiate the cause. Giving extra iron to a person with copper-related anemia is not helpful and may actually be harmful. Iron is highly toxic to the body in excess. This article by Dr. Lawrence Wilson contains a thorough explanation of anemia and hair analysis.
Why do we use Analytical Research Labs, Inc. to test the hair?
The hair closest to the scalp reveals the most recent state of health. The hair analysis we use is done by Analytical Research Labs, Inc. This laboratory uses a state of the art mass spectrometer to determine the mineral content of hair in parts per million or parts for billion for 20 minerals and metals. The results are presented in a calibrated chart with ideal values aligned. This makes it easy to see which minerals are present in excess and which are deficient at a glance. Analytical Research Labs, Inc. is one of only two labs in the United States which does not wash the hair it receives. Washing hair at the lab is known to erratically reduce the levels of minerals in the hair, giving an inaccurate and non-repeatable result.
Analytical Research Labs, Inc. calculates and reports the four major mineral ratios and the oxidation rate that we use to determine your ideal diet, assess your organ, gland and tissue function, and recommend supplements. These are:
- Calcium:Magnesium - The Blood Sugar Ratio
- Sodium:Potassium - The Vitality Ratio
- Sodium:Magnesium - The Adrenal Ratio
- Calcium:Potassium - The Thyroid Ratio
- Calcium:Potassium and Sodium:Magnesium - The Oxidation Rate (Fast/Slow/Mixed)
Why is my hair imbalanced?
Your minerals in your hair may be imbalanced due to:
- Improper diet
- Improper supplementation
- Medications
- Birth Control Pills and/or IUDs
- Stress (emotional and/or physical)
- Toxic metal exposure (environment, job, hobby,
- Inherited imbalances from your parents
References:
Analytical Research Labs, Inc. What Can Hair Analysis Reveal?
Analytical Research Labs, Inc. www.artlma.com
Wilson, Lawrence D, MD. Why Use Hair Mineral Testing To Design Nutrition Programs
