Hair Elements analysis provides information regarding recent and ongoing exposure to potentially toxic metals and the time-averaged status of specific nutrient elements. This noninvasive screening test requires only 0.25 grams of hair.

 

Concerning its contained elements, 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.

 

Toxic elements may be 200 to 300 times more highly concentrated in hair than in blood or urine. Therefore, hair is the tissue of choice for detecting recent exposure to elements such as arsenic, aluminum, cadmium, lead, antimony, and mercury. The CDC acknowledges the value of hair mercury levels as a maternal and infant marker for exposure to neurotoxic methylmercury from fish.

 

Through recent vast improvements in technology, instrumentation and application of scientific protocols, hair element analysis has become a valuable tool for providing dependable and useful data for physicians and their patients. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency stated in a recent report that "...if hair samples are properly collected and cleaned, and analyzed by the best analytic methods, using standards and blanks as required, in a clean and reliable laboratory by experienced personnel, the data are reliable." (U.S.E.P.A. 600/4-79-049).

 

Hair, however, is vulnerable to external elemental contamination using certain shampoos, bleaches, dyes, and curing or straightening treatments. Therefore, the first step in interpreting a hair element report is to rule out sources of external contamination.

• Aluminum (Al)
• Antimony (Sb)
• Arsenic (As)
• Barium (Ba)
• Beryllium (Be)
• Bismuth (Bi)
• Cadmium (Cd)
• Lead (Pb)
• Mercury (Hg)
• Platinum (Pt)
• Thallium (Tl)
• Thorium (Th)
• Uranium (U)
• Nickel (Ni)
• Silver (Ag)
• Tin (Sn)
• Titanium (Ti)

Trace elements detected:

• Calcium (Ca)
• Magnesium (Mg)
• Sodium (Na)
• Potassium (K)
• Copper (Cu)
• Zinc (Zn)
• Manganese (Mn)
• Chromium (Cr)
• Vanadium (V)
• Molybdenum (Mo)
• Boron (B)
• Iodine (I)
• Lithium (Li)
• Phosphorus (P)
• Selenium (Se)
• Strontium (Sr)
• Sulfur (S)
• Cobalt (Co)
• Iron (Fe)
• Germanium (Ge)
• Rubidium (Rb)
• Zirconium

Specimen Requirements:

Hair strand

Average processing time (after receiving in the lab):

8 ±3 days