If you suffer from any of the following, a hair tissue mineral test can help pinpoint the reasons why and more importantly what to do about it:
allergies
poor sleep patterns/insomnia
stress/ anxiety/ depression
infertility
PMS/ hormone imbalance/ mood swings
migraines/ headaches
fatigue/ lethargy
high blood pressure/ high cholesterol/ diabetes
Why test for minerals?
Minerals are essential inorganic compounds needed by the body for every function it carries out to keep you well. They are either macrominerals or trace minerals. Ideally these should be obtained from food, but poor diets and modern lifestyles mean that this is rare. Testing helps to provide an accurate picture of health and is a valuable, non-invasive screening tool.
What is Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis?
Hair tissue mineral testing is a scientific laboratory test which measures the mineral composition of hair. It is valuable to screen not only for potential future disease tendencies but can also help correct everyday ailments and improve health and wellbeing.
Why hair tissue?
Hair is a tissue in the body, made up of mostly dead keratinised cells fused together. The shaft of the hair is formed from a cluster of matrix cells. During growth phase, metabolic activity exposes the hair to the internal environment. As the hair reaches the surface of the skin, its outer layers harden, locking in metabolic products accumulated during the period of hair formation. Mineral concentrations in the hair can provide a reliable indicator of mineral stores throughout the body.
What can cause a mineral imbalance?
Diet
High fat, high sugar, excess salt, artificial food additives, processed foods, alcohol and caffeine can all cause the body to be deficient in essential minerals both because these foods do not contain the necessary minerals but also their effect upon absorption of nutrients, even if healthy elements are included in a person’s diet.
Stress
Physical and emotional stress can both deplete the body of essential nutrients as it uses more when stressed but additionally can prevent the absorption of nutrients from food.
Medication
Pharmaceutical drugs can cause of vitamin and mineral deficiency either by blocking metabolic pathways or because the body uses up extra nutrients in attempt to process these drugs.
Pollution
In addition to vital minerals, the human body can be exposed to toxic minerals. The world we live in today exposes us to a variety of external sources of toxic minerals from air pollution, exhaust fumes, cigarettes, unfiltered water, dental amalgams, copper and aluminium cookware, bath and body products and household cleaning products to name a few.
Supplements
A surprising one – but a large number of people take a multi vitamin or mineral without knowing whether they actually need that nutrient, therefore potentially taking something that is doing more harm than good! A hair mineral test clearly indicates which nutrients are lacking and which are present in the body in excess.
Click here to purchase a Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis kit.