FAQ's

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Because of the way hair is formed, it contains all of the nutrient minerals and toxic heavy metals present in your body.  HTMA results reflect how much of these elements are in your tissues and provides a blueprint of your internal environment, or your biochemistry.  Not only can we see your nutritional status, but we can also learn how efficiently your body is working.  

Unfortunately when it comes to diagnostics, many doctors regard blood testing as the holy grail.  Blood tests definitely have value, but when it comes to minerals HTMA proves to be much more valuable.  

Minerals in the blood are tightly regulated under a very different homeostatic mechanism than minerals in tissue.  A blood test will accurately indicate your mineral levels at the time of the test only.  For instance, if you just ate a banana, your blood test can indicate high potassium, even though you may actually need potassium (hint...most people do!).   On the other hand, HTMA accurately indicates your overall cellular level of potassium, unaffected by that banana you just ate.

Urine simply measures minerals that are being excreted from your body, but it doesn't give us any information about how minerals are being used for fuel by the body.

Think of a blood test like a snap shot, catching a glimpse of your nutrient minerals in time, and think of HTMA like a video of your mineral retention over an extended period of time. 

Simply put, the magic happens in the cells not in the blood or urine.  This means blood and urine tests have relatively no equivalence to the cellular levels provided by HTMA.  These test lead to frequent misdiagnosis, leaving patients without the answers they need to restore their health. 

Your can find more information here  

Once upon a time, I consumed a healthy, well balanced diet and took a daily multi-vitamin, and my health and my minerals were a mess!  Keep reading to understand how, even when we make great choices, we are still vulnerable to imbalances.    

Glyphosate over spray from conventional farms settles on the majority of all crops, including organic crops, and depletes magnesium.  Heavily sprayed NPK fertilizers deplete our soils of copper, leaving iron unregulated.  And let's not forget that poor farming practices have left our soils in a nutrient depleted state, so we aren't getting the nutrients in our foods today like we did before 'Big Ag' took over. 

Copper suplhate is approved for use as an 'organic' fungicide for fruits and vegetables, contributing to copper toxicity. 

Chlorine and bromine, both toxic halides, are often used to prevent the growth of algae in pools and spas.  Both bromine and chlorine block iodine absorption which can lead to a deficiency.  Iodine is essential for production of thyroid hormones, which are used by every cell in the body.  

Stress is a natural, healthy response in the body.  However, long term stress, rather physical or emotional, will significantly alter the nutrient mineral levels in the body.  For example, the magnesium burn rate is greatly increased when we are under stress, and zinc and B-complex vitamins are also lost in greater quantities.  In addition to nutrient loss, absorption can also decrease when the body is stressed.   

Suppressed emotions and traumas live in the body and lock the nervous system into a chronic state of fight or flight, rapidly depleting your minerals.  Think you don't have supressed emotions?  Think again!   

Sadly, toxins are a normal part of our world today;  It is impossible to escape them.  They are in the air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink, the clothes we wear, and the products we use on our body and in our homes.  

A healthy body is designed with a very intricate detoxification system, and detox happens naturally when we are nutritionally balanced.   Unfortunately, the onslaught of toxins we are up against creates a huge drain on the body, depleting it of crucial nutrient minerals, and upsetting the balance necessary for health.   

Medications are often 'mineral muggers'.  For example, it is well known that diuretics cause sodium and potassium loss, and beta blockers beta cause a magnesium loss.  

Vitamins and minerals can even cause a mineral imbalance.  For example Vitamin C is necessary for iron absorption but too much can causes a copper deficiency.  Magnesium is required to keep calcium in our bones, but too much magnesium causes calcium leave our bones and deposit into our soft tissues.  

Mothers pass their nutrient profiles to their unborn child.   So if your mother had toxic levels of heavy metals then you were born with them too.  If you are a mom, your child will also inherit a version of your mineral profile.  

Birth control and plant based diets are both leading causes of copper and iron dysregulation in the body, often appearing as anemia and/or emotional and mental disorders.  

And finally - if your digestion is not optimal, you will not be able to properly absorb and assimilate nutrients, leading to mineral imbalances.