What’s the deal with Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis?
Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA) is a non-invasive, functional test that measures the mineral content of your hair with excellent precision. HTMA is used to explore the essential nutrients and harmful elements that may be present in your body's tissues. It can help uncover existing health issues, be used to direct treatment, and even identify potential problems before you have any symptoms!
With no blood-draw required or complex pee or poo collection, it is one of our favourite tests in the clinic and a test we would ideally love ALL client to complete.
The HTMA test covers essential nutrients, including calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, potassium, sodium and zinc. These minerals are essential for body functions including building proteins, and producing hormones and enzymes. When these minerals are out of balance, we can see processes such as digestion, mood and insulin sensitivity be affected.
HTMA also tests for harmful elements or ‘heavy metals’, such as arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury, which can have negative effects in the body at any quantities.
Why we use HTMA
Many integrative doctors, naturopaths, nutritionists, even veterinarians—swear by HTMA. It's like having a secret weapon in our toolkit to help uncover the root cause of our client’s health conditions, as well as for preventive health. Itallows us to look under the hood and get access to information about so many crucial aspects of our client’s health that are far too often ignored by conventional medicine: mineral levels, heavy metal toxicity, metabolism, immune function, mental health - you name it.
In an ideal world, the minerals in our body would be within range from eating a balanced diet; however, in the modern world, this is becoming less realistic. Between modern farming practices, soil depletion, and all the environmental toxins we're exposed to day-to-day, our bodies are fighting an uphill battle to keep our minerals and toxic elements in check.
This is why HTMA is such a valuable tool for our clients - it can pick up imbalances that may be missed by routine blood and urine tests and can be safely and easily used in children, who are often less than enthusiastic to complete these more invasive tests.
In combination with comprehensive microbiome tests, HTMA can provide a well-rounded picture of your health. This combination is particularly useful for those with digestive symptoms and those proactively planning a pregnancy and wanting to reach optimal health. Although, almost everyone can benefit from learning more about their gut health and mineral balance.
What is the process of completing a HTMA?
While the process of completing HTMA is pain-free and easy, it is important to follow the following guidelines to ensure your sample is as accurate as possible:
It is best to collect hair from the back of the head, freshly washed and uncoloured. You will need to cut the hair as close to the scalp as possible, ensuring the length doesn't exceed one and a half inches. For the most accurate results, you should get samples from different locations on your scalp. Often this is best left to your hairdresser!
Pubic or other body hair should only be used as a last resort, primarily for confirming elevated toxic metals found in scalp hair or ruling out contamination of your sample.
Once you’ve collected approximately one teaspoon of hair, you will need to place the collected hair in the paper envelope provided. We will be in contact as soon as your test results are ready to go through them with you.
In what situations is a HTMA helpful?
HTMA is extremely valuable in assessing mineral imbalances, identifying heavy metal toxicity, monitoring health and nutritional balances over time, and in developing personalised dietary, lifestyle and supplement plans.
When it comes to your health, HTMA can reveal how mineral imbalances and toxic burdens may be contributing to conditions such as growth and development delay, poor thyroid function, cardiovascular disease, poor mental health, and even learning and behavioural difficulties, as well as recurrent illness in children.
For those planning to start a family, HTMA can shed light on potential fertility issues and ensure you have optimal nutrition going into a pregnancy. For example, HTMA tests for a trace mineral called Molybdenum, which is crucial for testosterone - a hormone that plays an important role in male fertility. It’s a little bit like the story of Goldilocks, in that having either too much or too little of this mineral can negatively affect testosterone.
As toxic metals are passed from mother to baby in-utero and via breastmilk, optimising health BEFORE conception can also help optimise health outcomes for our future children.
Even during perimenopause, HTMA can offer valuable insights into hormonal balance and overall wellbeing, so you can pinpoint the root cause of any symptoms you may be experiencing, and then work with our team to begin regaining some balance.
Is HTMA accurate?
Absolutely, HTMA is considered a reliable and scientific pathology test that provides comprehensive insights into your health. With data on up to 35 minerals and toxic elements, along with over 25 mineral ratios, it offers a detailed picture of your mineral status. What's great is that hair is a stable indicator of mineral levels over time, unlike blood or urine, which can fluctuate rapidly. Blood tests may also only show recent exposure of heavy metals which tend to be sequestered away in tissue by the body to minimise their toxic effects.
When it comes to iron, a complete iron studies blood test panel is superior to assessing iron in isolation in hair and, in some cases, we like to confirm hair test results with serum or plasma markers if the results are somewhat alarming but for the most part, for most clients, we can get everything we need from the HTMA if no blood test data is available.
Research backs up the effectiveness of HTMA, with correlations between mineral composition of hair and health conditions such as asthma, vertigo, and migraines being confirmed (1).
Ok, I’m interested! How do I order an HTMA through The KAN Clinic?
Great timing! During March 2024 at The KAN Clinic, we are offering a discounted package to new clients that includes two one-on-one naturopath consultations along with the comprehensive HTMA test. This will ensure your health history and current health concerns are taken into account alongside the HTMA test.
Whether you’re interested in pinpointing nutritional deficiencies, uncovering potential toxicities, or getting to the bottom of your health concerns, save $70 by buying the discounted HTMA package today!
If you have missed out on this deal, don’t worry. The HTMA is a test we continue to offer all interested clients for $210 for children and $218 for adults.
If you are a current client of The KAN Clinic, mention the HTMA test at your next consultation and we would be happy to explore this with you!
Reference:
Michalak, I., Chojnacka, K., & Saeid, A. (2012). Relation between mineral composition of human hair and common illnesses. Chinese Science Bulletin, 57, 3460-3465. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-012-5385-7
