Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis

There are two major minerals (magnesium and copper) that are rarely assessed by any other laboratory tests besides the HTMA, yet research has shown that these two minerals are vital in supporting good health, energy, and vitality.

Magnesium

An extensive body of research shows how important magnesium is for supporting good health. Magnesium deficiency undermines energy production leaving people fatigued and exhausted. Magnesium is vital for hundreds of important enzymes for the body to function optimally. Magnesium is essential for maintaining a healthy heart rhythm and is nature’s anti-stress nutrient. Major health risks associated with substantial magnesium deficiency are sudden massive fatal heart attacks, serious glucose regulation problems, and anxiety and depression.   

A person’s magnesium status can be strongly impacted by intense stress, either physical or psychological.  Also, too much calcium and vitamin D can bring on a significant magnesium deficiency. A HTMA helps to explain how these magnesium deficiency effects can occur.  There is a strong reciprocal relationship between stress and magnesium. Stress is reflected in the HTMA sodium (Na) level and the stress ratio (Na/K). This is why the HTMA is so vital when choosing supplements including such an important mineral like magnesium. 

Copper
Health problems with copper are more complicated to explain. Fast metabolizers usually have an absolute copper deficiency, i.e., their HTMA copper level is below the ideal HTMA copper level. Slow metabolizer individuals, especially females, usually have excess stored copper that is often referred to as “copper toxicity”. However, the overall effect of the excess stored copper on the slow metabolizers’ mineral pattern is such that they can’t efficiently utilize copper metabolically. Therefore, in effect, they also experience a deficiency of copper even though they store an excess of copper. Fast and slow metabolizers respond differently to copper supplementation so determining your metabolic type and copper status through a HTMA is very important.

During the 40 + years that I have been thinking about health and the mind/body's mineral system,  some new thoughts and perspectives have occurred to me as I prepared to do another podcast on hair tissue mineral analysis (HTMA) on June 5th.  The HTMA is not just another lab test like blood or urine tests.  Yes, HTMA is a lab test, but it is much more than that.  To understand and properly interpret HTMA lab tests requires a unique set of concepts and principles that is like acquiring a whole new language and perspective on what supports good health. It's analogous to the conceptual difference between viewing the earth as flat or round.

Most people's understanding of health and disease is like the flat earth point of view.  It will work in certain situations and applications, but it is still too limited and, eventually, no longer makes sense.  The few of us who have studied and learned the HTMA concepts and principles developed by my mentors, Drs. Paul Eck and David Watts have transitioned into the "earth is round" viewpoint.  These are such different conceptual frameworks that it is next to impossible to communicate with believers in a flat earth. These worldviews are just too far apart to effectively communicate about the incredible mineral and health breakthrough that Drs. Eck and Watts achieved 45 years ago.  With their greater understanding of HTMA lab tests, they also advanced nutrition and health science to a whole new level.

As Dr. Henry Schroeder observed "minerals are the sparkplugs of life."  They are the foundation of health functions since  minerals regulate the nervous system, the energy producing endocrine glands, and the immune system.  Drs. Eck and Watts also introduced the concept of mineral balancing using HTMA lab tests as a guide to selecting nutritional supplements that were most needed by each individual at a particular point in time.

The videos and powerpoint slide programs that I have created to teach the Eck/Watts conceptual framework applied to HTMA lab tests have helped countless numbers of people move from the "flat earth" view of health and disease to the "round earth" view.  This transition makes a world of difference in how we view the health/disease world and how we deal with it.

  As I pointed out in my Galileo/HTMA article above, the concepts and principles applied to understanding and properly interpreting HTMAs provide us with what amounts to a whole new understanding of the role of minerals in supporting so many different health functions. This is like learning a completely new health "language" that is far different from what Rachel has described as the "allopathic thinking disorder". When we understand this new HTMA health language, then we can easily think in terms of minerals and mineral dynamics. When we try to communicate with other people who still cling to the allopathic thinking disorder, it is virtually impossible to effectively communicate with them. They simply don't have the "language" to understand what we are talking about. In this context, it is a waste of time to show your HTMA to your medical doctor, psychiatrist, nurse practitioner, etc. because most of them don't know as much about HTMAs as you do. HTMAs are unique laboratory tests. Health care practitioners who have been trained to use blood and urine tests simply lack the proper training to understand HTMAs.

If HTMA concepts and principles were incorporated into health education from the jr. high level up through high school and college, millions more people would have a solid basic understanding that would empower them to really take charge of their nutrition and personal health care. We would have a much healthier population enjoying good health and vitality throughout their life span.