Mineral and Toxicity Testing

Elements of the chemical periodic table include essential nutrients and toxins. Certain elements are critical to health — for example: potassium and sodium are crucial for proper heart function and calcium and magnesium are essential for bone development. However, other elements like mercury, cadmium and lead are highly toxic. Good health depends on having the right balance of nutritional elements and low levels of toxic elements. An easy and inexpensive way to measure these levels is through Hair Element Analysis.

Conditions Related to Toxic Element Exposure

Toxic elements are found nearly everywhere — from antimony as a fire retardant in clothing, to uranium salts in certain pottery glazes. Toxic elements may create an imbalance in essential elements or directly trigger a number of health problems including:

• Anxiety/Depression — Both lead and mercury toxicity can result in symptoms of depression. Arsenic and mercury have been associated with symptoms of anxiety.
• Memory Impairment — Lead toxicity can impair long term memory and cause confusion. Cadmium may also cause confusion.
• Heart Disease — Antimony toxicity may damage the heart. Cadmium toxicity increases blood pressure and may also damage heart muscles. Lead has been shown to increase blood pressure.
• Neurological Problems — Arsenic toxicity causes numbness and tingling in the feet and hands. Extremely high levels of bismuth may also cause neurological problems like muscle twitches, tremors or convulsions.
• Fatigue — Mild toxicity with any of the toxic elements can contribute to symptoms of fatigue.

How Toxic Elements Disrupt Nutrient Balance

Think of each nutritional element as having its own tunnel, with normal range being the number of cars that usually pass through that tunnel every day.

This diagram shows more calcium than expected and less magnesium, copper, and zinc exiting the tunnels. From these results, it might seem reasonable to supplement with magnesium zinc and copper and cut back on calcium intake. However, when nutritional elements are much higher or lower than expected, it usually means that there is some kind of blockage or traffic diversion in the tunnels. So, if you have a lot of lows and highs in your nutritional elements, there may be an overall problem with how those elements are getting transported in the body. Your family physician will focus on fixing those problems first, before supplementing with specific nutritional elements to correct the imbalance.

A common cause of large excesses or deficiencies of nutritional element levels is the presence of toxic elements like mercury. Think of toxic elements as being like a demolition crew — they go into tunnels, rip up the road and disrupt the normal traffic flow so that cars are forced to take different routes through the tunnels. If the traffic tunnel (i.e. nutritional elements) is significantly different than expected, it strongly suggests that a demolition crew (i.e. toxic element) is present and causing problems. So, rather than trying to force more cars through the slow tunnels and fewer cars through the busier than normal ones, it makes more sense to get rid of the demolition crew!

It’s also possible to have a genetic tendency to retain or excrete certain elements, or for poor digestion to affect nutritional element status. Your family physician will go through your test results and determine the best treatment for you.

Restoring Balance

Restoring the correct balance of elements often involves using supplements that bind up toxic elements so that they can be safely eliminated. It is also important to try and minimize exposure to toxic elements. Once the body is clear of toxic elements, your family physician may want to repeat your analysis to see if your nutritional elements are back in balance, or if you need further supplementation.

Why Should I Test for Mineral & Toxic Elements?

Good health has a lot to do with maintaining balance — with the right balance of work and play, the right balance of nutrients in the diet, and the right kinds of foods.

Element imbalances may contribute to symptoms and biochemical changes that eventually lead to illness.

Contact us to schedule a Toxicity Test.

About Elements

Essential Elements — Many elements are essential to the body. Essential elements include calcium, magnesium, sodium, chloride, phosphorus, and potassium. Other essential elements may be required as cofactors in biological processes. The right balance of essential elements is essential of maintaining optimal health.

Toxic Elements — Some elements can be toxic to the body. In particular, the elements referred to as ‘heavy metals’ are known to be toxic even in small doses as they replace essential elements and interfere with biological processes.

Conditions Related to Essential Element Imbalance

Aside from toxic element exposure, it is also possible to have a simple deficiency or excess of essential nutritional elements. For example, low levels of zinc and/or magnesium are strongly associated with increased risk of diabetes. If all or most the nutritional elements appear lower than normal, it can indicate that you have issues with absorption or digestion of food.