What is it?
To keep it simple Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA) is a helpful screening test to detect your body’s mineral levels and ratios in your tissues. This test has become one of my favorites for all of my clients due to it being a simple, cost-effective, and an accurate way to get a comprehensive view of your overall health. Your body uses and processes minerals once consumed, then pushes it out through the hair in very specific patterns making it an accurate representation of your nutrient status from the past 3 months.
What will it tell me?
The results of this test will tell you any and all mineral imbalances, mineral deficiencies, and heavy metal toxins. Heavy metal toxins can interfere with your digestive function and how your body absorbs nutrients. This is valuable insight for people of any age and in any health condition. This could be the information you are looking for to finally support long-awaited results.
Mineral imbalances and deficiencies can impact your adrenals, digestion, thyroid, anxiety, cortisol and blood sugar and having this data can give us insight into how to better fuel these systems.. This test can also inform us of your metabolic rate (fast or slow oxidation), letting us know if you are not using and absorbing your nutrients properly.
What is the difference between Tissue and Blood testing?
Your body processes nutrients first through your GI tract, then enters into supportive organs, cells and tissues, and lastly into your blood. When you get your bloodwork done, it is important to see how your body is supporting itself, how it is operating, and what it is up against through the nutrients in your blood.. The benefit of the HTMA test is that you are looking at the nutrients stored into tissues before it gets into your blood. This can be a helpful tool because minerals and nutrients work synergistically and sometimes if they’re trapped in the tissues, they may just need their co-factor nutrient to help push them out of the tissue and into the blood. On a blood test, it could look out of range, when reality is, you may just need supportive nutrients to be properly delivered to and through the tissues on the way to being delivered to the blood.. When it comes to looking at what your body is needing, it is advantageous to look at both of these tests for different outcomes and a more comprehensive approach to a customized plan of action.
Why are minerals important?
A mineral is a nutrient that is needed in small amounts to keep the body healthy. Mineral nutrients include the elements calcium, magnesium, and iron.1 Minerals work alongside vitamins and other co-factors allowing biochemical reactions to occur – hence why minerals are considered the ‘Spark Plug’ of the body! We get minerals through eating whole foods, but due to a gradual decline in the quality of our soil over the years we are not getting the proper mineral consumption.
The effectiveness of your cells and its impact on your mental and physical health are influenced by the levels of nutrient minerals and their connections with other essential nutrients – we refer to this connection as Ratios. The job of a mineral is to feed a vitamin. You may be taking your daily dose of vitamins, but if you’re lacking in minerals your body is going to have a hard time absorbing the vitamins. For example, Magnesium and Calcium have a very tender relationship with one another. If your Calcium levels are too high, you need more magnesium to help your body absorb the Calcium.
How can I start making a change?
You are in the right place! There are a few different routes you can take to prioritize your mineral levels – one of my favorite and most effective being an HTMA test and we offer them here at Karpós Wellness.. Once your results come in, you have the option to have a custom mineral blend created for you with all the needed minerals that you can put into your water once or twice a day to balance out your nutrient levels or just a list of nutrients you can source through foods and other supplements.
If you are waiting to take the test, in the meantime you can still get minerals! A great way to do so is by making an Adrenal Cocktail, Electrolytes, or a pinch Himalayan Pink Sea Salt in your water. Below is one of my favorite Adrenal Cocktail recipes!
My favorite products to increase your body’s minerals: Click here!
Citations
1 NCI Dictionary of Cancer terms. Comprehensive Cancer Information – NCI. (n.d.). https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/mineral#:~:text=(MIH%2Dneh%2Drul),calcium%2C%20magnesium%2C%20and%20iron
