Description
Hair analysis is a form of testing that determines mineral imbalances and toxicities in the body. It is also often used to detect drug use.
This technique is commonly employed to detect levels of potentially toxic heavy metals, particularly aluminum, cadmium, lead, and mercury, in the body. Calcium can also be analyzed to determine a variety of nutritional deficiencies. Using this approach, imbalances and/or toxicities can be detected early and dealt with as per the recommendations of your naturopath or other health practitioner. A personalized nutritional and lifestyle program typically follows to correct metabolic imbalances or flush toxins before they manifest into additional conditions.
As your hair more closely reflects the presence or absence of minerals in your cells and organs (especially toxic metals), a hair analysis is more accurate than a blood or urine analysis, which only reflects levels of circulating minerals. For this reason, your hair will often indicate heavy metal toxicity when a blood or urine analysis will not.
How It Works
To perform a hair analysis, approximately 2 tablespoons/1g of hair is cut from recently grown hair on the nape (back) of your neck. The sample is stripped of all foreign matter and chemically washed. A specific amount is then dissolved in acid and analyzed with an emission spectrophotometer / atomic absorption photospectrometer where minerals are isolated and measured in parts per million (ppm). The results quantitatively indicate mineral concentrations in the body and the values can be processed by computer to determine a correlation between the minerals/toxins in question.
A hair analysis may be performed at a later date to determine the effectiveness of treatment.
