Minerals are the essential building blocks that our body uses to regulate metabolic function through enzymatic reactions. Hormones, tissues, neurotransmitters are all made up of minerals. Therefore, balancing minerals by addressing depletions and removing any excess of toxic or elevated minerals is a HUGE leverage point in healing. Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis is a methodology designed to help develop a nutritional balancing plan by evaluating not only the absolute levels of minerals, but also by understanding what different ratios of minerals tells us about neuroendocrine function.
In other words, the art of Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis involves an understanding of the DYNAMIC synergistic and antagonistic relationships that minerals have to minerals, minerals have to vitamins, and minerals have to hormones and vice versa.
This is a very useful lab test, one that I have found to be incredibly accurate and insightful when it comes to finding very powerful leverage points for healing.
David L. Watts, founder of Trace Elements lab (the lab I use for all my HTMA client’s hair) says:
“Mineral relationships can be compared to a series of intermeshing gears which are all connected, some directly and some indirectly. Any movement of one gear (mineral) will result in the movement of all the other gears (minerals). The extent or effect upon each gear (mineral) will depend upon the gear size (mineral quantity), and the number of cogs in the gear (number of enzymes or biochemical reactions the mineral is involved in). This meshwork of gears goes beyond just the mineral relationships, extending to and affecting the vitamins, hormones and neurological functions.” (Source)
These mineral dynamics have been established over the years not only in human physiology, but also in veterinary science and in soil health. While the effect of minerals is different on humans, animals, and plants, each according to their unique metabolism, the dynamics of minerals to each other is consistent.
Hair is a tissue of excretion, which is distinctly different than blood, which is a tissue of transport. Therefore hair lab results shouldn’t be interpreted as though they are blood results. Blood results and hair results often do not match up, not only because they represent vastly different timeframes (1 hour compared to 3 months) but also because the two tissues serve different purposes in the body.
A general understanding of mineral and vitamin dynamics becomes even more valuable when applied to an understanding of your personalized mineral profile. That’s where HTMA comes in! If you’d like to get your own HTMA lab done along with a coaching call and analysis by Marya, use the button below.
Marya has been helping people to balance their minerals for the past seven years, with a big focus on helping people with chronic migraine headache, over at her brand Minerals for Migraines. Marya serves people in the Hood River OR, White Salmon WA, and Columbia River Gorge region, as well as worldwide.
