What is hair analysis?
Contextually, hair analysis is a term with broad meanings. Hair is a long-term recording filament used worldwide to detect illegal drugs, forensics, DNA, stress hormones (cortisol), healthy hair, microscopic hair strand analysis, nutritional and heavy metal content, and so on.
However, when used for nutritional/toxic mineral analysis, a “hair analysis” is synonymous with Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA) or Tissue Mineral Analysis (TMA). Hair analysis is categorized as Complementary and Alternative Medicines (CAM’s).
A hair tissue mineral analysis is a tissue biopsy.
Unlike blood and urine, tissues are comprised of cells and as such, a hair analysis is a cellular analysis. Keratin is formed by keratinocytes, living cells that make up a large part of skin, hair, nails, and other parts of the body (e.g., gastrointestinal, glandular, secretory cells, etc.).
Keratins are expressed in all types of epithelial cells (simple, stratified, keratinized, and cornified) throughout the body. In the hair, the cells slowly push their way upwards, eventually dying and forming a protective layer. K31-K40 and K81-K86 are keratins of the hair fiber.
Our hair analysis is performed in a federally licensed clinical laboratory, which measures the nutritional and toxic mineral content of the hair. The sampled hair, collected from the back of the scalp, is prepared in the laboratory through a series of specific procedures.
Testing is then performed using highly sophisticated detection equipment (ICP-Mass Spectrometry, etc.) where limit detections are in the part-per-million (ppm) and low part-per-billion (ppb) range.
To insure accuracy, results are based upon an hourly National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) traceable standard curve, a rigorous quality control validation for every 24 specimens and are compared to a representative reference range derived from the like analysis of an international collection of normal and “healthy” subjects.
Comprehensive Quality Control and Quality Assurance methods achieve the most accurate and precise results.
Hair analysis, when used in basic nutrition, is a screening tool for nutritional and toxic minerals. Hair analysis is not diagnostic!
“Your body records your eating habits in the hair. So, we can use that to tell the nutritional health of an individual,” said lead researcher Kent Hatch, an assistant professor of integrative biology at BYU. “As hair grows, new proteins are added to the base of each strand, pushing the strand up and out of the hair follicle. These proteins are influenced by what you eat. And the nutritional state of each individual is affected by his or her eating patterns. So, each strand of hair is a chemical “diary” that is a record of day-by-day nutrition,” the researchers said.
Advantages of Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA)
- Collecting a hair sample (at home) is quick, easy, and non-invasive.
- Hair analysis is among the most cost-effective mineral analyses.
- Hair is less susceptible to erratic changes in the blood affecting trace element levels.
- Hair provides a long-term record of mineral excesses and deficiencies.
- Hair provides an accurate long-term record of biological activity.
- Hair is E.P.A. recognized for the assessment of toxic metals.
- Properly interpreted, hair provides an excellent Rx for a healthy lifestyle!
A Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis is:
- SAFE – a noninvasive screening tool for young and old alike
- EASY – the hair sample is collected in the convenience of your home
- HOLISTIC – a natural approach to wellness through nutrition
- E.P.A. RECOGNIZED – “hair might be a more appropriate tissue for studying community exposure to toxic metals than blood or urine analysis.”
What a Hair Analysis is NOT!
As you will notice on every page, we reveal the usefulness of our hair analysis in many different examples of nutrition and health. As such, we would be amiss if we did not address what a hair analysis is not.
Therefore, a hair analysis is NOT:
- A diagnostic medical test – it is a nutritional/toxic element screening! Period! Albeit many inferred potentials may be drawn from the well-known nutrient/disease associations, inferred potentials are by no means to be construed as DIAGNOSTIC!
- A functional test – it is a direct measurement for the presence of nutritional and toxic elements. A functional test, on the other hand, provides information of a deficiency or excess of a particular nutrient/toxin in specific metabolic pathways.
- 100% accurate – as with every manmade technology, plus or minus (+/-) standard deviations always apply. It is simply understood in engineering terms. Deviations not only result from the technology itself, deviations also result from myriad factors that include sample harvesting, transport, lab prep, lab protocols, interpretations, and every other “human error” possibility. As such, there is NO such thing as a 100% accurate laboratory analysis of any type. In addition, due to all the potential deviations between each lab, it is simple to show enormous inconsistencies between every lab analysis – regardless the medium or analyte.
- The ONLY nutritional screening – on the contrary, there are myriad nutritional and toxic screenings available for both direct and functional analyses. Hair analysis is only one of these nutritional screenings available.
Hopefully, this helps put some perspective on hair tissue mineral analysis. We know that through our experience of having offered numerous other nutritional/toxin screenings (amino acids, fatty acids, organic acids, etc.), a hair analysis is simply the best primary nutritional/toxic element screening tool.
Additional articles you may enjoy include:
- Hair Analysis History: Hair analysis has been around longer than you may realize.
- Hair Analysis Controversy: Why is there so much controversy?
- Hair Analysis Sample Collection: Follow this simple protocol for your most accurate analysis.
- Hair Analysis Provider: The 7 most important questions to ask your hair analysis provider!
- Best Hair Analysis Lab: All labs are not created equal!
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