HTMA

What is Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis?

 A Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA) is a tissue mineral biopsy meaning it uses hair as the sample tissue to measure your levels of over 20 minerals and toxic metals. It provides great insight into your mineral status and overall health.

Why Measure Minerals?

A minerals function ranges from providing structural support in the formation of bones and teeth, to maintaining acid-base balance, nerve conduction, muscle function and much more. They are needed for millions of enzymes as co-factors, facilitators, inhibitors and as part of the enzymes themselves. Minerals play a great role in the running of and health of our bodies.

Minerals in adequate amounts are essential for optimal health and well being except, too much or too little of a mineral leads to toxicity or deficiency within the body and a loss of health and wellness as well. Just like you are in relationship with your partner, work colleagues or kids your minerals are in relationship with each other. TOO MUCH or TOO LITLE RELATIVE to another is proving to be just as important (perhaps more) than their individual levels. Toxic metals also have a negative effect on our mineral levels and need to be measured and assessed when dealing with health in the 21st century. 

At the end of the day we need to measure. Taking a broad spectrum multi-vitamin is extremely unlikely to address an individual's unique levels and needs and could very well slow your progress. Guessing with individual supplements can lead to toxicity or continued deficiency as well.

Measure first, take corrective action and then retest is a huge reason to use HTMA.

Why use Hair?

Hair makes an excellent biopsy material for many reasons:

  1. Sampling is simple and non-invasive.
  2. Mineral levels in the hair are about ten times that of blood, making them easy to detect and measure accurately.
  3. Hair is a fairly rapidly growing tissue.
  4. Toxic metals are easier to detect in the hair that the blood.
  5. Hair testing gives a three month history of time, blood an instantaneous reading. Both are valuable but you must use the right test at the right time. You wouldn't have a blood test when you need an x-ray to assess a broken leg would you?
  6. It is cost-effective, accurate and reliable.
  7. The American Environmental Protection Agency has accepted HTMA as an effective means for monitoring of toxic heavy metals

Benefits That a Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis Can Reveal

  • Specific diet and supplement recommendations (take away the guessing)
  • Mineral deficiencies and imbalances
  • Heavy metal toxicity
  • Metabolic type (rate).
  • Stress and its effect on energy and health
  • Screening for disease trends (prevention and early detection)
  • Cellular energy levels
  • Insight into the biochemistry of most diseases

How to Prepare and Cut the Hair

Step by Step Instructions:

1. Sampling

Hair should be clean and dry when it is being sampled. The sample should be taken between four and twenty four hours after washing. If the hair is dyed or bleached ensure it has been washed at least 5 times prior to sampling. If dyed, it is best to take a sample just BEFORE you get it treated.

2. Sample Location

Head hair is to be taken from the nape of the neck only as shown in the illustration below.

3. Cutting a sample

Comb and lift a section of hair as illustrated.

Either pin or clip the section or have the person hold it up out of the way. Separate a smaller section as shown in the photo and video and cut the hair off as close to the scalp as possible with CLEAN scissors. Use only the 3cm of hair that was closest to the scalp and discard the rest of the hair if it is long.

4. Weighing the sample

Set up the provided card weight scale, following the instructions printed on it. Placing the small samples inside the circle on the card, continue sampling until the scale tips, indicating that there is approximately 125mgs in the total sample. Once the sample is taken put the hair into the provided sampling envelope.

5. Mailing the sample

From Australia Post an International Express Post envelope can be purchased to send the sample. This is highly recommended as ordinary mail significantly lengthens the time it takes to get the results back.

 


 True test results below of a client.

Heavy metals

 
 
Heavy metals interfere with the metylation cycle, among other things. What does this process look like when it’s broken? After reading the following, you will be able to envision the implications of defects or mutations.
The following is an example of the health problems that might occur.

1. Poor nerve function leads to muscle twitching, numbness, and weakness yet misfires can cause seizures, fatigue, memory loss, word groping, clumsiness (with falls & injuries), and visual or hearing loss in those with MS, CFS/ME, or Autism Spectrum Disorders.

2. Depending on the neuro-talker, imbalances often lead to a variety of disorders including: depression, anxiety, panic attacks, irritability, mood swings, OCD, ADD/ADHD, Parkinson’s, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, spaciness, insomnia, and poor concentration and focus.

3. Gene expression can lead to many unwanted disease processes such as malignancy/cancer (melanoma, breast/uterine/ovarian, prostate, MDS, leukemia), neurological (ALS, MS, Parkinson’s), autoimmune (CFS/ME, lupus, ulcerative colitis, mixed connective disease), endocrine (diabetes, pituitary, thyroid, and adrenal disorders), Gastrointestinal (pancreatitis, Crohn’s, stomach/colon cancer, hemochromatosis), or Heart/cardiac (blood vessel disorders, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart attacks), etc.

4. Deficiencies in RNA & DNA lead to poor growth & development, poor healing, and lack of bowel or brain cell regeneration so that as cells die, they cannot be readily replaced.

5. Poor communication between the brain and the immune system means the difference between successfully fighting off a simple cold vs. allowing the virus to develop into a more severe bacterial infection, such as meningitis or pneumonia.

6. Inability to utilize sulfur leads to toxic sulfites and can substantially reduce glutathione production. As the backbone of the immune system and major antioxidant, glutathione deficiency leads to poor immunity & inability to naturally clean up accumulating toxins, leading to widespread collateral damage.

7. Cholesterol accumulation leads to fat deposits around organs and within blood vessels, which may cause strokes or heart attacks, whereas inability to use cholesterol can lead to Vit D shortages as well as imbalances within testosterone, estrogen, & insulin.

8. Lack of hormone regulation leads to diabetes, as is the case with insulin, or breast & endometrial cancer, as often occurs with high estrogen levels.

9. Too much histamine allows for an overactive allergic response, such as the near fatal reaction to eating peanuts or strawberries, whereas low levels may lead to anxiety disorders.

10. Poor protein repair and production has far-reaching effects including: a). Shortages in amino acids allow for poor detoxification, immunity, healing & growth, b). Lack of oxygen via hemoglobin leads to poor cell & tissue repair and more infection & damage to tiny blood vessels, c). Low antibody formation causes immune deficiencies due to lack of T & B cells, d). Without sufficient elastin & collagen, there’s greater risk for injury & musculoskeletal dysfunction with weakness as well as poor healing.

11. RNA acts as both a translator and chemical messenger to DNA for cell identity so that any interference allows room for error within genetic coding. This contributes to genetic typos or SNPs (snips).

12. DNA methylation allows for accurate cell identity & errors here may impede proper cell function. Diseases include cancer, Cystic Fibrosis, Sickle Cell Anemia, & Hemophilia.

13. When the cell isn’t able to regulate its’ contents, electrolyte imbalances (potassium, calcium, magnesium, sodium) occur, limiting cell communication. Alzheimer’s, autism, MS, and Crohn’s Disease are all cases in which poor cell membrane fluidity plays a significant role.

14. Without filtering, toxic accumulation of heavy metals, ammonia, sulfites, phenols, glutamates, & other substances lead to toxic threshold. Many feel this is a significant factor behind regressive autism, CFS/ME, MS, ALS, neuropathy, dementia, cancer, and many other chronic diseases and disorders.

15. The inability to govern and repair free radical damage causes widespread cell, tissue, & organ damage and is instrumental in the aging process as well as headaches, lethargy, and symptoms of fatigue or disorders such as autism, CFS/ME, neuropathy and chronic pain.
16. Improper methylation of histones is a known trigger behind tumors & malignancies such as leukemia and a variety of cancers.

17. High homocysteine (HCY) levels are related to heart disease, strokes, and cancer. Recent studies reveal an association between mothers with high HCY levels & children later developing schizophrenia.

18. The inability to convert nutrients into useable forms is highly associated with heart disease, strokes, clotting disorders, infertility, spina bifida, cancer, and a multitude of diseases and disorders.

19. Poor cell turnover, repair, and maintenance are a prime example of why so many have developed inflammatory bowel disorders, leaky gut syndrome, and yeast overgrowth as well as neurodegenerative disorders such as dementia & autism.

20. Without adequate BH4, we cannot make the neuro-talkers we need to maintain health and happiness, neurological function, waste cleanup, or nitric oxide in order to protect the heart and brain.
 
Important points include:
  • Mercury and other heavy metals have a high affinity for sulfhydryl groups, inactivating numerous enzymatic reactions, amino acids, and sulfur-containing antioxidants, with subsequent decreased oxidant defense and increased oxidative stress. Translated that means that the heavy metals attach themselves to sulphur containing enzymes in the body, preventing them from neutralizing free radicals.
  • Mercury causes the energy producing mitochondria to not function properly, depletes the important antioxidant glutathione and increases the oxidation of lipids (i.e. it rusts fat).
  • The overall vascular effects of mercury include oxidative stress (damage from free radicals), inflammation, thrombosis (blood clotting), vascular smooth muscle dysfunction, endothelial dysfunction, abnormal cholesterol, immune dysfunction, and mitochondrial dysfunction.
  • Mercury and other heavy metals inactivate an enzyme known as COMT which is usually responsible for breaking down adrenaline. This therefore leads to high blood pressure.
  • The clinical consequences of mercury toxicity include hypertension, coronary heart disease, heart attacks, carotid artery blockages, strokes, generalized atherosclerosis, and kidney failure.
  • Selenium antagonizes mercury toxicity.
  • Heavy metal toxicity, especially mercury and cadmium, should be evaluated in any patient with hypertension, coronary heart disease, or other vascular disease.
 
 
 References.
 
 

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