The Best Test For Assessing Nutrient Minerals And Toxic Metals

No test out there will give you the total status of minerals or toxic metals because we would have to biopsy every cell.  

I believe the best test out there for assessing nutrient minerals and toxic elements is hair tissue mineral analysis (HTMA). 

For patients under my care, I use serial HTMAs in order to monitor changes in minerals and ratios over time. 

This is the best way for us to see progress as we evict toxic metals. 

When evaluating a mineral, the anti-nutrient—or toxic metal—must be figured into the equation, otherwise you will never get the full picture of the actual mineral status of the body.

The antagonistic effect of a toxic metal on a nutrient mineral is not figured into the equation in blood and urine test results. 

On an HTMA initially, we may see zinc is at a normal level then we may see it decline on a retest when we begin systematically dumping toxic metals. 

That means zinc will take its parking space back on the enzyme that was previously stolen and corrupted by heavy metals—most notably cadmium and mercury.

Therefore, zinc declines because it is now getting inside the cell where it belongs and is not spilling into the hair as much, causing a decline. 

So, the retest will now reveal the truer status of zinc even when it goes lower over time as toxic metals like copper are evicted out.  

HTMA retests will give a more honest status of mineral levels in the body that we did not initially get on the first HTMA. 

This is why serial HTMAs are the best for assessing mineral status.

While magnesium, potassium, and zinc are about 98% intracellular (inside the cell), the extra 2% is in the blood or urine so you‘ll always want to look inside the cells for the most accurate reading.

It is most important to know what is going on with the nutrients inside the cells because that is where biochemistry is happening, not the blood!