What is a Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis?

A hair tissue mineral analysis (HTMA) simply stated, is a screening test that measures the mineral content of your hair. However, a hair tissue mineral analysis is much more than a test for minerals. Providing a blueprint of one's biochemistry, a hair tissue mineral analysis can provide pertinent information about your metabolic rate, energy levels, carbohydrate tolerance, stage of stress, immune system and glandular activity. This screening test can also be used to reduce the guesswork involved when recommending nutritional supplements and dietary modifications.

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Is Hair Analysis A Valid Basis For Evaluation Of A Person's Chemistry?

Blood tests and urine tests obviously provide important information about a person's biochemical status, but they only evaluate the fluids in the body. However, the vast majority of biochemical functions actually take place inside the cells themselves. Of course, we can't conveniently take snips out of the various organs of a person's body in order to evaluate what is going on in the cells, but there are cells conveniently available to us, the cells of the hair. Through extensive research and correlation of data, it has been established that there are reliable relationships between the levels of minerals in the hair and other tissues of the body. Thus, analysis of the mineral content of an individual's hair can provide us with a general 'blueprint' of the mineral content in the rest of the body's tissues. Since these minerals are crucial to the functioning of enzymes, hormones and other biochemical systems which sustain life, it is possible to read this 'blueprint' and see where metabolic patterns are deviating from normal.

Another benefit of hair analysis is that it may be used to assist the health care professional to pinpoint the development of metabolic dysfunctions often before symptoms manifest. While mineral imbalances in the body do eventually show up in the blood serum, they will not do so until the condition is so advanced that the individual is often experiencing overt symptoms. Tissue mineral analysis allows us to determine that an imbalance exists, before the imbalance begins to manifest disturbances on a symptomatic level. Therefore, the imbalance can often be corrected through nutritional therapy even before a person begins to suffer from metabolic symptoms.

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Why Does My Lab Report From Analytical Research Labs Vary So Much From Other Hair Analysis Reports?

Mineral levels and ratios as determined by Analytical Research Labs for each individual are measured against an 'ideal' standard of health, rather than an 'average' standard as used by other laboratories. This renders our results more sensitive and meaningful to those people who aspire to optimum levels of health.

We work with precise mineral levels and ratios rather than with the broad ranges employed by the majority of professionals engaged in hair analysis. As a result, we identify even slight deviations from 'ideal' values responsible for some disorders which would escape detection by other labs.

Our tests recognize biochemical individuality through determination of three basic oxidation types, thus providing a sound basis for an accurate and specific selection of nutrients based on the individual's metabolism. Detrimental health effects arising from mismatching of nutrients with individual metabolism are therefore avoided.

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