The Hair, Tissue, Mineral Analysis

(HTMA) test.

What is an HTMA?

What health information can it tell you?

HTMA is Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis:

It’s a functional lab test that uses a small amount of hair to evaluate the hair’s mineral and heavy metal content. This information is valuable because it gives us roughly 3-4 months’ worth of cumulative data about what the body is being exposed to and eliminating. We test the hair because it is one of many places in which the body removes minerals and heavy metals!

The HTMA results will show various nutritional elements and mineral levels in your body such as calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, copper, iron, zinc, selenium, and more. It even tests for heavy metal content such as aluminium, uranium, arsenic, mercury, and lead.

HTMA is a non-invasive diagnostic method that assesses the mineral content of your hair. It can provide a snapshot of the body's cellular activity, revealing imbalances, toxicities, and deficiencies that can contribute to a myriad of health challenges.

What the HTMA will tell you: 

Mineral Levels: Understand crucial minerals like calcium, magnesium, zinc, and more.

Toxic Elements: Uncover exposure to toxic elements such as lead, mercury, arsenic, etc.

Metabolic Rate: Learn if you’re a fast or slow metaboliser, which affects nutrient needs.

Adrenal Health: Gauge your adrenal function and its implications for your health.

Thyroid Activity: Receive insights into your thyroid's performance based on mineral patterns. (*note this is not a Thyroid test and it is advised to run a full comprehensive Thyroid panel see more functional tests for this option)

Nutrient Imbalances: Identify ratios of vital minerals that can impact health if out of balance.

Why It Matters: The HTMA allows you to customise your protocol, dietary choices, and supplement intake to address specific needs and challenges. This test can be especially useful for individuals with chronic conditions, guiding them toward more targeted and effective treatments.

You can always click here to work with Alison (Book a Discovery Health consultation here) and to arrange your test to be delivered to and collected, directly from your own home, we deliver internationally.

Hair is essentially an excretory tissue rather than a functional tissue. Hair element analysis provides important information which, in conjunction with symptoms and other laboratory values, can assist the physician with an early diagnosis of physiological disorders associated with aberrations in essential and toxic element metabolism. As protein is synthesised in the hair follicle, elements are incorporated permanently into the hair with no further exchange or equilibration with other tissues. Scalp hair is easy to sample, and because it grows an average of one to two cm per month, it contains a temporal record of element metabolism and exposure to toxic elements. Nutrient elements including magnesium, chromium, zinc, copper and selenium are obligatory co-factors for hundreds of important enzymes and also are essential for the normal functions of vitamins.

The test is very simple to complete and return, you must have at least 30 days of growth, post colour, if you colour, perm or chemically treat your hair.