HTMA FAQ's
Why shouldn't I use a blood test?
Unfortunately many physicians still rely on blood testing for metal toxicity and mineral imbalances. Misdiagnosis or non-detection is common as a result of such outdated practice, since blood testing does not accurately depict cellular mineral levels. Minerals do there job in the cells, not in the blood. The blood can show high levels immediately after or during acute exposure (useful for hour by hour monitoring), but ignores long term stored and bio-unavailable levels or cellular deficiencies.
Example 1: A blood test can show a perfectly 'healthy' level of copper even in the presence of copper toxicity in the tissues. This is very common.
Example 2: Forty days after acute lead exposure, lead is undetectable in the blood, though it's still in the body.
Example 3: When blood calcium drops, calcium is removed from bone to replenish the blood - meaning the blood calcium can appear within normal range even though bones are being demineralized and osteoporosis is developing.
Example 4. An intracellular magnesium loss or potassium loss may be occurring at the cellular level even when the blood shows normal or high.
Example 5: Even the more advanced RBC (red blood cell) test for magnesium lacks logic. Only about 1% of the body's magnesium is in the blood - The majority of it is in the mitochondria of the cells - and red blood cells don't have mitochondria! A person can be depleted of magnesium before it shows up in a blood test.
These are just a few examples of excesses and deficiencies that are missed in the blood but can seen on an HTMA. Even more importantly, blood testing fails to provide key mineral ratios which are the essential indicators that must be examined to accurately determine the extent of mineral deficiency or toxicity, and the subsequent supplementation program to balance your minerals. Without this vital information, supplementation and detoxes are being done blindly.
"HTMA is truly the gold standard to determine the status of magnesium in the body! Not even the hailed Mg RBC test can challenge HTMA with the accuracy and insight that this tissue analysis provides, especially when comparing blood levels of the nutrient minerals and toxic metals to the tissue samples." ~Dr. Robert Selig
Why is hair superior for mineral testing?
Blood is simply a system of nutrient transport, and it always works to return quickly to a homeostatic balance. The blood level does NOT reflect the stored tissue levels of metals and minerals at the cellular level.
HTMA offers the following key benefits:
- It's quick and painless!
- Mineral and Toxic Metal levels are much more accurately detected in hair than in blood.
- Blood serum tests are misleading because excess minerals are not stored in the blood, they are stored in tissue!
- Since hair is a non-essential, excretory, storage, soft tissue of the body, the body tends to deposit more excess
minerals and dangerous metals here than in many other tissue areas of the body. - As the hair gets formed it's exposed to blood and intracellular fluids, and as the hair shaft hardens it preserves this 'blueprint' of what is happening in the body.
- Hair results are not subject to hourly or daily fluctuations of levels, allowing for a much more reliable reading.
- HTMA provides key ratios & indicators which can detect imbalances that individual mineral 'levels' don't show.
- Hair remains stable for biopsy for months or even years. it is extremely cost effective, accurate, and reliable.
"Hair is formed in the dermis from a cluster of matrix cells that make up the follicle. During the growth phase, metabolic activity is greatly increased, exposing the hair to the internal metabolic environment. This includes the extracellular fluids, circulating blood, and lymph. As the hair reaches the surface of the skin, its outer layers harden, locking in the metabolic products accumulated during this period of hair formation." ~David L. Watts, Ph.D.
If I eat healthy can I still have a mineral imbalance?
Chances are very high that you will! Everyone has mineral imbalances, it's just a matter of to what extent. Often, those who believe they are living the healthiest seem to have the greatest imbalances. A good example of this would be vegetarians who are committed to living healthy, yet almost always have signs of copper toxicity, zinc deficiency, and potassium deficiency. Magnesium is one of the most important minerals and almost everyone is deficient in it. Magnesium is chelated by glyphosate (the main ingredient in Roundup, the herbicide sprayed on most conventional crops). Magnesium is rapidly depleted when one is under stress. Everyone experiences stress at some point in their life. Also applicable to everyone is daily exposure to environmental toxins , through the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink. Those toxic elements can then replace our essential minerals at receptor sites. Calcium for example might be replaced with strontium; zinc might be replaced with mercury, etc. We are also exposed to toxic levels of some metals in utero, beginning life with imbalances. In addition, many individuals are on one form of medication or another. Medications for pain, heartburn, depression, thyroid disease, cholesterol, high blood pressure, etc can deplete iron, magnesium, calcium, zinc, potassium, and various vitamin levels. Organic crops are often sprayed with 'organic' copper sulfate which numerous studies show is toxic to humans. Also, our soils today are so greatly nutritionally depleted that even if you do all you can to eat 'healthy', the food itself is lacking in mineral content. Even taking a multivitamin, does not ensure that you are actually absorbing those minerals, nor are those nutrients customized for YOUR body. Most people have low stomach acid, and this poor digestion further affects the absorption of minerals - even if you consume enough of a mineral it simply may not be getting absorbed.
Choosing A Practitioner
The power of HTMA lays in the correct interpretation of the charts. Not everyone offering HTMA is properly trained to understand the data, nor do all labs follow proper testing protocol. Learn what key things to look out for when deciding who to work with.
Purchase a HTMA
If you could do one test for the benefit of your health HTMA should be THE one!
"HTMA may be the most important health test that exists! Only when you and your doctor know for sure your mineral status and important ratios can you adapt your diet, minerals and supplements to work toward proper balance." ~Dr. Robert Thompson, MD (author of The Calcium Lie)