Hair analysis has come a long way over the years. To the point that now it is considered a reliable way of measuring the toxic burden of heavy metals in your body and equally as important are the levels of minerals you have heard of and those you haven’t. Some of the common toxic substances that can be measured include; aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury and uranium. Some nutritionally helpful elements you may not be familiar with are: chromium, molybdenum, boron, lithium, rubidium and vanadium to name a few.
Do you think it might be helpful to find out if your aluminum is high early in life considering its association with Alzheimer’s disease? Or that Cadmium found in cigarette smoke may still be your system years after quitting smoking? How about that fact that chromium and vanadium are implicated in hypoglycemia and diabetes? Did you know that boron is an important element in the prevention of osteoporosis? The list goes on and on.
Unlike blood and urine, hair acts as a storage depot for elements. The growing hair follicle is richly supplied with blood vessels, and the blood that bathers the follicle is the transport medium for both essential and potentially toxic elements. Thus, element concentrations in the hair reflect concentrations in other tissues.
It is very easy to have a hair analysis performed and compared to other test very cost effective too.
Randy Schaetzke, D.C., D.I.B.A.K.