HTMA Lab Test
Dr. Kimberly is affiliated with Trace Elements Inc Lab. Through her certification in HTMA Mineral Mastery and partnering with TEI Labs, she is able to utilize the knowledge revealed through a Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis test to give you a comprehensive protocol plan for bringing the body back to homeostasis through mineral balancing. She believes that just as we are made from the dust of the earth (minerals) by Our Heavenly Creator, so should we return to our healthy balance as intended by “letting the dust settle”, (as she puts it), through taming the crucial mineral ratios and their antagonistic toxic heavy metal counterparts.
Dr Kimberly is accepting appointments via mail kits and additional phone consultations are available, also when she is in her Illinois Discovering Wellness Holistic Healthcare Clinic. She is also available to discuss results remotely via zoom or phone call.
Fees are as follows:
Initial Analysis & In Depth Reports and Protocol Plan: $279
Phone Consultation: $50 per 30 minutes.
Follow Up Analysis: $179
Dr Kimberly is a Board certified Naturopath specializing in Live Blood and Dry Cell Analysis for over 25 years. She is proud to bring HTMA to the healing table as she believes that you cannot go any deeper into the human body for healing than what it is made up of, minerals, blood and tissues. HTMA and Live Blood and Dry Cell Analysis are the best of both worlds used in a collective and complimentary state of healing and homeostasis. Blood work fees are additional.
If you have suffered illness or disease and cannot get to the root issues, HTMA is the direction that is most beneficial for longterm healing, stability and optimal wellness.
What can a HTMA lab report reveal?
A hair tissue mineral analysis (HTMA) is used worldwide by scientists and clinicians, and is considered a standard medical test for biomonitoring.
Hair tissue is stable over time and provides several months of biochemical activity in a single sample. Obtaining the sample is inexpensive and non-invasive, and can be done without medical intervention.
Physical, biochemical and emotional stressors deplete the body of essential nutrients. Chronic illness develops in stages over time, and environmental illness is result of exposure to environmental toxicity. These combined health assaults result in the accumulation of toxins in tissue and disrupt normal body chemistry.
The HTMA lab test quantifies deficiencies or excesses in essential mineral levels and ratios, and identifies toxic heavy metals of concern.
A comprehensive lab report uses charts, graphs and supportive documentation to show an individual's unique metabolic status, and provides corrective recommendations to address mineral imbalances, reverse physical degeneration and revitalize cellular metabolism (energy).
Progress Evaluation
After 2 - 6 months, a progress retest is recommended. Often, the results are very different from the previous test when one follows through with their recommended specific plan and protocol. An updated, revised corrective protocol will then be recommended. Retesting promotes progressive improvement and helps address potential adverse reactions due to toxin removal and the readjustment of mineral ratios and levels. Progress retests are repeated until a healthy biochemical balance is achieved.
The HTMA retest is one of the most biochemically revealing methods for monitoring detoxification progress and rebalancing the system.
Hair is recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a preferred tissue for determining toxic heavy-metal exposure. A 1980 EPA report states that hair can be effectively used for biological monitoring of the highest priority toxic metals. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. Like other body tissues, it contains minerals that are deposited as the hair grows. HTMA uses the same analytical technology as is used for soil testing and testing of rock samples to detect mineral levels.
Hair growth begins inside the hair follicle. The only ‘living’ portion of the hair is found in the follicle. The hair that is visible is the hair shaft, which exhibits no biochemical activity and is considered ‘dead.’ The mineral composition within the cortex remain intact (indefinitely) as the hair continues to grow out.
A one to 1-½" long sample of hair cut close to the skin provides information about the mineral activity in the hair that took place over the past three to four months, depending on the rate of hair growth. Taking a sample correctly does not generally show through the hair style if taken carefully and just enough for testing.
Four important areas of the report findings include:
1. Toxic Elements
2. Toxic Ratios
3. Nutritional Elements
4. Significant Ratios
Toxic Elements:
The toxic elements section displays the results for each of the reported toxic elements. It is preferable that all levels be as low as possible and within the lower white section. Any test result that falls within the upper dark red areas should be considered as statistically significant, but not necessarily clinically significant. Further investigation may then be warranted to determine the possibility of actual clinical significance. The toxic minerals (heavy metals) are well-known for their interference upon normal biochemical function. These toxins are commonly found in the environment and therefore are present to some degree in all biological systems. However, these metals clearly pose a concern for toxicity when tissue accumulation occurs to excess.
Toxic Ratios:
Every person is exposed to toxic metals to some degree. The retention of these toxic metals, however, is dependent upon the individual's susceptibility. The balance of the protective nutrient minerals within the body in relation to the heavy metals can frequently be the determining factor to this susceptibility. As an example, the accumulation of lead will have a more detrimental effect upon body chemistry when sufficient levels of calcium and iron are not available. By examining the toxic metal levels in relation to the protective minerals, the extent to which the heavy metals may be involved in abnormal chemistry can frequently be seen. This is done by examining the toxic ratios.
Nutritional Elements:
Extensively studied, the nutrient minerals have been well defined and are considered essential for many biological functions. They play key roles in such metabolic processes as muscular activity, endocrine function, reproduction, skeletal integrity and overall development.
Significant Ratios:
The significant ratios section displays the important nutritional mineral relationships. Mineral relationships (balance) is as important, if not more so, than the individual mineral levels. The ratios reflect the critical balance that must be constantly maintained between the minerals in the body for healthy metabolic function and optimal cellular energy production.
Continuing research indicates that metabolic dysfunctions occur not necessarily as a result of a deficiency or excess of a particular mineral level, but more frequently from an abnormal balance (ratio) between the minerals. Due to this complex interrelationship between the minerals, it is extremely important that imbalances be determined. Once these imbalances are identified, corrective therapy may then be used to help re-establish a more normal biochemical balance.
Trace Elements Inc shares this ~ Hair is used for mineral testing because of its very nature. Hair is formed from clusters of specialized cells that make up the hair follicle. During the growth phase the hair is exposed to the internal environment such as blood, lymph and extra-cellular fluids. As the hair continues to grow and reaches the surface of the skin its outer layers harden, locking in the metabolic products accumulated during the period of formation.
This biological process provides a blueprint and lasting record of mineral status and nutritional metabolic activity that has occurred during this time.
The precise analytical method of determining the levels of minerals in the hair is a highly sophisticated technique: when performed to exacting standards and interpreted correctly, it may be used as a screening aid for determining mineral deficiencies, excesses, and/or imbalances. HTMA provides you and your health care professional with an economical and sensitive indicator of the long-term effects of diet, stress, toxic metal exposure and their effects on your mineral balance that is difficult to obtain through other clinical tests.
It is important for the attending healthcare professional to determine your mineral status as minerals are absolutely critical for life and abundant health.
They are involved in and are necessary for cellular metabolism, structural support, nerve conduction, muscular activity, immune functions, anti-oxidant and endocrine activity, enzyme functions, water and acid/alkaline balance and even DNA function.
Many factors can affect mineral nutrition, such as; food preparation, dietary habits, genetic and metabolic disorders, disease, medications, stress, environmental factors, as well as exposure to heavy metals. Rarely does a single nutrient deficiency exist in a person today. Multiple nutritional imbalances however are quite common, contributing to an increased incidence of adverse health conditions. In fact, it is estimated that mild and sub- clinical nutritional imbalances are up to ten times more common than nutritional deficiency alone.
The laboratory test results and the comprehensive report that follows should not be construed as diagnostic. This analysis is provided only as an additional source of information to the attending doctor.
Test results are obtained by a licensed clinical laboratory adhering to analytical procedures that comply with governmental protocol and standards established by Trace Elements, Inc. U.S.A. The interpretive data based upon the results is defined by research conducted by David L. Watts, Ph.D.
References
1. Jenkins, D. (1980). Biological Monitoring of Toxic Trace Minerals - Vol. II, Toxic Trace Metals in Plants and Animals of the World. - Pt 1. (EPA600380090). Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C.
2. Nutritional balancing.org
3. PLEASE BE ADVISED: HTMA is considered a very accurate screening test for mineral and toxic elements, however it is only as accurate as the hair sample is free of contamination. Any contamination (shampoos, dyes, environmental factors) may lead to certain mineral levels being affected.
Blessings In Health,
Dr Kimberly Kaye Castaneda