Hair Analysis: Top 5 Reasons Over 50’s Should

With ageing our health becomes more important. I’m not telling you anything profound or new there. What a lot of people don’t know is that valuable insights into your bodies nutritional status can be determined with a simple inexpensive test called a hair analysis. We’ve written a lot about this before and you can check it out here but in this article we are exploring the top five reasons why over 50’s should consider doing a hair mineral analysis.

Deficiency

This is so simple and important; yet commonly overlooked. Here is the rule that you must always remember: all cells require nutrients to function. If the nutrient is not present, the cell will not function at its best. A simple example is oxygen. Without it, we have no life. Without our minerals and vitamins, we would face similar fates. With today’s lifestyles and diets, it is not surprising that deficiencies are commonplace. Magnesium, zinc and iron are common deficiencies but all minerals need to be in the correct range.

Excess

In our consumer-driven society, we are often led to believe that more is better. We buy into this in many subtle ways. One way is by using multivitamins indiscriminately. We tend to buy them as insurance policies and think that if we just keep putting more in, it will be good for us. This logic couldn’t be further from the truth! Let’s take Vitamin C as an example because, as it turns out, Linus Pauling had it wrong. He thought there was no way to have too much vitamin C, but the reality is that just as deficiency is an issue, excess is as well. If you have too little vitamin C, you will be immuno-depressed; if you have too much, you will become immunosuppressed. Either way, you experience a similar outcome. Copper, sodium and manganese are examples of minerals that are often found in excess.

Imbalance

Simply put, this is about getting the balance of your chemistry correct. The minerals in your body, for example, are in relationship with each other in a similar way that you are in relationships with your family and friends. Whatever you do, you need to take into account the effect it may have on your body. When you raise the level of a single nutrient, such as magnesium, you will affect the levels of other minerals. A very important example is the relationship between copper and zinc as well as Vitamin D and calcium.

Toxic Metals

Toxins have a far greater influence on your body than most people think—and everyone must deal with this growing problem. Toxins have the adverse effect of substituting or replacing the preferred nutrients in the body and they have the devastating effect of blocking the ability of the body to use nutrients, EVEN IF the nutrient is already present. Common toxic metals that are detected in excess are mercury, lead, aluminum amongst others.

Metabolism

Valuable information about your body’s oxidation/metabolism rate can be detected with hair analysis. As we age we become more fatigued and it becomes vital to ensure our mitochondria and metabolism are functioning as well as possible. While not an exact science we can gain insight into our metabolism and specifically if it’s running fast or slow. Fast is usually the result of stress and we tend to see high sodium and potassium. Slow is far too common and we tend to see high levels of calcium and magnesium in the hair analysis. Slow oxidation has the added detrimental effect of reducing our ability to eliminate toxic metals.

Hair Analysis

I would acknowledge that a hair analysis test is not that well known and has limitations. I would also point out though, that all tests have limitations and you wouldn’t get a blood test if you suspected a broken bone. If you are having health issues and suspect that there may be some deficiencies, excesses, imbalances, or toxins it would be a good idea to investigate getting a hair mineral analysis done. In the hands of a practitioner who can properly interpret it based on the actual science that exists you can get insights you can act upon.

Personalised health care is the result.

To learn more you can visit our website blog HERE

To order a test you can do so at Lifestyle Integration

Here is a condensed video version to watch or share with those interested.

We care deeply about your metabolic health here at Lifestyle Integration.

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