PERSONALITY AND NUTRITION

By Lawrence Wilson, MD

© Revised, June 2008, The Center For Development

ARTICLE SUMMARY

The research associations or trends we will cover in this article are the following:

A. Primarily lifestyle-related patterns:

· Spiritual Defensiveness – need for a lifestyle change

· Sympathetic Dominance – pushing hard/worry

· Four Lows. – spinning the wheels

B. Oxidation type patterns:

· Fast Oxidation – anxious, irritable, nervous, paranoid, speedy, fast oxidation with high copper is a super copper type.

· Slow Oxidation – sluggish, tired, depressed, apathetic, despairing, suicidal, phobic

· Mixed Oxidation – variable depending on ratios, temporary pattern

C. Ratio patterns:

· Low Na/K – frustration, resentment, hostility, lowered awareness and traumatized if less than 1:1.

· High Na/K – anger, acute stress, inflamed

· Low Ca/Mg – possible lack of defensiveness or double pattern reinforces low Na/K ratio.

D. Other visual electrolyte patterns:

· Four Highs - Paranoid, guarded, holding back, manic

· Bowl Pattern - feeling stuck

· Hill Pattern - moving forward in life

· Step Up - very resentful, frustrated, hostile in a fast oxidizer, difficult personality

· Step Down - hard to please, rugged, defensive but positive

E. Individual electrolyte patterns

· Calcium Shell – psychological withdrawal, sensitive person, emotionally suppressed or repressed

· Low Calcium – irritable, nervous, distracted, lack of buffers, aggressive, angry, paranoid if extreme

· Low Magnesium – belligerence, nervous

· High Sodium – volatile, fast oxidation

· Low Potassium or Sympathetic Dominant – pushing or worrying too much.

F. Trace mineral patterns:

· High Iron – rage and anger

· High Copper – too emotional, many symptoms

· Hidden Copper – same as high copper above

· Low Zinc - same as high copper above, emotional instability

· High Manganese – none if mild, mood swings, schizophrenic, violence or aggression if quite high on repeat tests

G. Toxic metal patterns:

· Lead – dullness, violence, retardation, ADD symptoms

· Mercury – crazy, emotional, scared, timid and more

· Cadmium – macho, brittle, hardened, superficial toughness

· Arsenic – dullness, mainly.

· Aluminum – spacy, forgetful, dementia

· Nickel – extreme toxicity, depression and more

· Beryllium – extreme toxicity, rarer

· Uranium – mostly cancer, other nonspecific

QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE AND SUMMARY OF THIS ARTICLE

ADD and ADHD – fast oxidation, slow oxidation with copper imbalance, all toxic metals, low Na/K ratio,

Alcoholic - low zinc, high copper, (alcohol depletes zinc and magnesium and B-complex vitamins), fast oxidizers may crave acetates in alcohol. Slow oxidizers may crave sugars in alcoholic beverages and use alcohol to maintain blood sugar levels.

Anger – fast oxidation, slow oxidation with low Na/K ratio, calcium shell, low Na/K ratio, spiritual defensiveness, high Ca/Mg ratio greater than 12:1.

Anxious – copper, slow or fast oxidation, mercury

Apathetic – low energy, usually a very slow oxidizer, possibly other toxic metals that go with slow oxidation.

Anorexia – high copper, low zinc (low appetite), low Na/K and see Awareness, lowered.

Awareness, reduced - calcium shell, very slow oxidation, elevated copper, low zinc, low Na/K ratio, four lows.

Brain Fog – copper imbalance, usually a slow oxidizer, aluminum and others possible such as mercury

Bipolar disorder – mixed oxidation, four highs, four lows, very slow oxidation rate

Compulsive - four lows, fast oxidizers at times, low K at times

Defensiveness – Ca/Mg ratio greater than 9:1, spiritual defensiveness pattern, high Na/K ratio, very low Na/K ratio, fast oxidation often

Depression – very slow oxidation and low Na/K ratio, also toxic metals such as nickel, cadmium and others

Developmental delay (PDD and many other labels) – zinc deficiency, toxic metals

Effeminate (homosexual tendency) – excess copper in men, especially.

Emotional repression – calcium shell

Heart-centered – low K, sometimes high Cu.

Hidden severe emotional trauma – Na/K ratio less than 1:1, very slow oxidation with a calcium shell (often a very sensitive person)

Irritable, nervous – fast oxidation, high copper, toxic metals such as mercury, cadmium and others

Learning disorders – many imbalances, low energy, all toxic metals, copper in gifted children

Libido, low or low sex drive – slow oxidation, calcium shell (numbed or suppressed), low energy patterns

Macho (toughness) - cadmium

Manic – fast oxidation, high copper, toxic metals, mercury, in particular

Mood swings – see bipolar disorder

Not as heart-centered - K greater than 20 or so

Obsessive-compulsive disorder – many possibilities depending on age and other factors, fast oxidation with high copper, high copper alone, toxic metals, aluminum

Paranoid – Low Na/K ratio, very slow oxidation, some with a calcium shell, other.

Passive-Aggressive – four highs, high calcium more with low Na/K ratio.

Phobias – low zinc, high copper, low Na/K ratio and others

Psychosis – high copper and most toxic metals

Schizophrenia – copper toxicity, possibly Hg or other metals

Self-esteem, low – bowl pattern (high Ca/Mg with low Na/K)

Sexual dysfunctions - high copper, very low copper in a fast oxidizer, toxic metals, very slow oxidation, for men only: low zinc, high cadmium, high copper associated with impotence and erectile dysfunction
Spacy or detached – copper in slow oxidizers

Trying too hard – low K and sympathetic dominance, high Ca/Mg ratio,

Vitality, low – four lows, P less than 10.

INTRODUCTION

Nutrition and body chemistry have a tremendous impact on our feelings, thoughts and behavior. This is often not obvious to many people. However, a properly performed and properly interpreted hair mineral analysis can usually reveal much about a person’s behavior and emotions.

This article discusses the emotional and mental impact of a number of nutritional patterns that can be often seen on a hair analysis. In this article, I call the correlations either trends, patterns, correlations, tendencies or research associations. These words are used interchangeably. Several points are important before we discuss them.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

Procedural:

1. Hair must not be washed at the laboratory for best results. Only two labs offer this service that I am aware of in 2008. This topic is discussed in a separate article, Hair Analysis Controversy.

2. Simple, calibrated scales on the graph page of the hair analysis are very helpful. Otherwise, identifying the patterns requires mathematical calculations that are difficult for most people to do without pen and calculator.

We highly recommend the graph style used by Analytical Research Labs. It shows many patterns easily that are in this article.

Interpreting The Patterns:

1. Do not “diagnose” or even suggest a psychological disease based on the information in this article. The information presented is for educational and research purposes only. It is not designed to substitute for regular medical and psychiatric diagnosis or treatment.

2. Always use caution when discussing these patterns with patients. Patients may not be interested and the pattern is only a tendency for a condition or behavior, not a diagnosis.

Also, some of the following tendencies can be due almost entirely to physical or nutritional causes, not emotional ones.

3. The order of importance of the patterns is significant. The ones to begin with are four lows and four highs. Others that are primary are the hill and the bowl pattern.

The next ones are the oxidation rate and the step up, step down patterns. Then look into the individual ratios patterns and finally the individual mineral patterns.

This is more for correction uses, but can be helpful as well for learning how to interpret the test in terms of personality patterns. This is explained as we go through the patterns in the section called ‘Notes’ at the end of each pattern.

4. All the tendencies can change, quickly at times, with a nutritional balancing and lifestyle program. None are fixed and none need to persist.

The severity of a physical or emotional disorder never dictates how rapidly or how completely it will respond to nutritional balancing or other methods of correction.

5. Consider these tendencies as an important aspect of hair test interpretation. However, do not give them undo importance in all cases. Each situation is different.

WHY THE TRENDS OCCUR?

1. The brain is a biochemical organ. This means it has significant nutritional needs that must be met for its optimal functioning. This is well known to brain researchers, but not to the public or the medical or psychological professions nearly as well.

It means that fluctuations in blood sugar, for example, can have profound effects upon various parts of the brain. Nutrient deficiencies and thousands of subtle biochemical imbalances may also affects its activities.

The role of toxic metals as neurotoxins is also well-understood by toxicologists but not by medical and psychological professionals, in general. If it were, many of the trends we will discuss would be common knowledge.

An area of research today is the effect of neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine, epinephrine and others. These are biochemical substances that greatly impact thinking and behavior.

2. Glandular balance has profound effects on behavior, emotional expression and thinking in some cases. This is also known, but not appreciated nearly enough by medical people today. For example, subclinical hypothyroidism is associated with feelings of fatigue and even depression, but most doctors do not check for this imbalance in the body.

3. The function of various organs and even certain tissues can also influence thinking and behavior. For example, a diseased liver can cause anger. Expressions in our language attest to these relationships, such as “He has a lot of gall”. This refers to the gall bladder. Others are “she is venting her spleen”. Another one is “He is a pain in the neck”. Even an upset stomach is often called a “sour stomach” because it can make one feel sour.

These represent older expressions from the days when we were much less focused on drug therapies and recognized that physical body functions influence or thinking and our behavior much more than we may believe today. mechanisms that medical science is just beginning to understand.

4. Lifestyle factors such as fatigue also have important influences on behavior. This is one reason why the news is filled today with warning that getting too little sleep affects judgment, school performance and can have other emotional and behavioral consequences.

The hair analysis, be giving a rough reading of the activity of the thyroid and adrenal glands, for example, provides a measure of a person’s actual energy level, regardless of how wide awake one may seem.

BENEFITS OF KNOWING PERSONALITY TENDENCIES ON A HAIR MINERAL TEST

1. They offer often amazing insights about both emotions and behavior. Millions of people have thoughts and feelings that make little sense. Many are frightened by this and turn to doctors and counselors hoping to explain them.

Counselors and drugs will always be helpful in selected cases. However, many if not many aberrant feelings and behaviors can be understood, at least partially, in biochemical and nutritional terms. Furthermore, correcting the nutritional imbalances will lessen or even eliminate the emotional or behavioral pattern. However, this may take a few years of undoing biochemical imbalances and toxicity.

2. Some of the insights cannot be learned easily from counseling or other forms of assessment. For example, ADHD is often related to copper toxicity that is not revealed on standard serum or other tests.

Other important concepts include the effects of energetic imbalances, either underactive or overactive glands and much more. Such insights, if they are gleaned from psychotherapy at all, usually take months to come up with. Using the hair test, do the same with mathematical precision, in a few minutes at far lower cost and far less invasively.

3. They can help one identify causes, rather than just suppress symptoms, as is the rule in drug medicine. For example, no one has a Prozac or Valium deficiency. Zinc deficiency and copper toxicity, however, are very common. These can easily produce symptoms that are treated with drugs that suppresses the symptom, rather than addressing the deeper causes.

4. The correlations help build a new science of the intimate relationships between our minds and bodies. A few of the correlations are simply empirical, but most can be explained by glandular patterns, hormonal activity and nutrient interactions. Further elaboration in a technical way will have to be left for a more in-depth article in the future.

5. The insights can often guide a person in making constructive changes in the lifestyle. This applies particularly to the patterns we call Spiritual Defensiveness, Sympathetic Dominance, Four Lows and perhaps the others to a lesser degree. These first three are almost entirely related to one’s lifestyle and much less to nutritional imbalances.

6. This information and the corrective programs enhance all aspects of health, both physical and emotional. The nutritional balancing programs we recommend to correct the tendencies on the test can help each person to think and feel better on every level of their being.

This can raise a person to a higher level of functioning and assist each to fulfill his or her highest potential. This, in turn, benefits us all.

It means improvements in the children, and ramifications for the teachers in the schools, for the employers and employees at companies, for our legislators and for many others.

It also and most importantly means that illnesses will be passed on less from this generation to the next as mothers-to-be and fathers-to-be correct their body chemistry at the deepest levels. Now let us discuss the individual patterns.

It is, in this sense, opposite of the drug approach to mental illness, which actually causes more toxicity in the bodies and worsens general health.

THE MAJOR TRENDS

A. PRIMARILY LIFESTYLE-CAUSED PATTERNS

Spiritual Defensiveness. A Calcium/magnesium ratio greater than about 13.5 or 14:1 appears to indicate an increased tendency for defensiveness. In particular, it has to do with factors in one’s lifestyle that are not working well.

For example, this could be a job or occupation, a recreational activity that takes up a lot of time, a relationship, a location or even just an attitude. However, what is in common is that it is not the diet or the nutritional supplements.

This pattern is called ‘spiritual’ defensiveness for the reason that it may indicate a need for a life change of some important type. It can mean that something in the life of the person is holding them back, so to speak, from moving ahead with life.

Notes. 1. This pattern, more than some others, is reinforced if it appears on several retests, providing the person has been faithfully following a nutritional balancing program.

2. The elimination of so-called metastatic or excess calcium on a retest can and often does skew the calcium/magnesium ratio and can mimic this pattern. This should not persist, usually, on more than one or two retests, however.

3. This is a newer correlation that may not be discussed in early articles by myself, Dr. Paul Eck or others. However, it is discussed a little more in another article about entitled Spiritual Defensiveness or Sympathetic Dominance.

Sympathetic Dominance. This important pattern is present whenever the hair tissue potassium level is between 1 and 4 mg%. It indicates a person who pushes himself or herself, either physically, mentally, emotionally or even spiritually.

It further indicates a person who is tired, both physically and often emotionally or mentally as well. The person is overusing the sympathetic nervous system, hence the name sympathetic dominance.

This is not the same as a sympathetic state of body chemistry, which is a fight-or-flgiht state or fast oxidation state. Instead, this is a mental tendency to overuse the sympathetic system a lot of the time. It is also associated with worry and too much concern for self or others or some work, goal or other project.

Notes: 1. The tendency is most severe when the potassium is lowest. That is, a potassium level of 1 mg% is far more severe than a potassium level of 4 mg%.

2. A secondary indicator for this pattern is an elevated sodium/potassium ratio greater than about 5:1.

3. This pattern is placed here because it is primarily a lifestyle pattern. However, the presence of copper and other toxic metals can definitely sustain and even cause or contribute heavily to the pattern.

4. For more insight into this important biochemical imbalance, consult the articles, Sympathetic Dominance and to some extent the article Spiritual Defensiveness Versus Sympathetic Dominance.

Four Lows (or four low electrolytes) is another vital lifestyle-caused or lifestyle-related pattern. It signifies a person who is "spinning the wheels" and making little progress in their health and often other areas of life as well. In this sense, it is a spiritual pattern as well. This is a fascinating pattern from both a biochemical and lifestyle point of view.

Chemically, it is a very chronic stress pattern in which there is a disconnect to some degree in the hypothalamic-pituitary axis. This means that the signals from the brain do not translate into accurate hormonal regulation of the body.

Lifestyle plays an important part in creating the pattern as well. The person is usually a former fast oxidizer personality type (see below) who refuses to slow down, even though the body is exhausted. This is why it is like spinning one’s wheels in the snow or ice. The person does not have the energy to keep going as they were, but they try anyway, usually not knowing better or out of fear and anxiety over the future of their lives.

This racing inside oddly feels good, sort of a feeling of aliveness that one might get from racing the car motor on the ice. However, like being stuck in a ditch, the person is often exhausted inside. This false sense of aliveness is what keeps them in the pattern.

Their relentless mental and emotional and sometimes physical activity just uses up a lot of energy and nutrients without satisfactory outcomes. Eventually, severe physical problems occur that are very resistant to all forms of treatment or medication.

These individuals often must continually prove themselves and tend to be compulsive and hard on themselves. It often takes a bit of counseling to explain to them to relax and slow down if they ever want to get well.

These people have often been to many doctors and clinics in the hope of getting well. The emotional aspects of their condition are often minor in comparison with the physical exhaustion, muscle tightness and cramps, insomnia and other physical difficulties that eventually occur with this so-called sub-oxidizer pattern.

Notes. 1. As with all the patterns, the longer it has been present the more likely symptoms will occur. Practitioners are sometimes baffled because this pattern will occur, yet the person has few complaints. This is because in the early stages the person has some energy and is able to just keep going without too many problems.

2. The lower the calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium readings, the more extreme the pattern.

3. For more information, view the article Four Lows.

B. OXIDATION TYPING PATTERNS

This is an important topic that has to do with the stage of stress a person is in. Certain emotions, mental states and attitudes are highly correlated with the stage of stress and oxidation type. With the oxidation types, we must distinguish healthy emotional trends from the extremes. This is explained below in each case.

Fast Oxidation. This is an earlier stage of stress, if it is what we call healthy past oxidation. This requires that the mineral ratios be somewhat near the ideal ratios. It also requires that the sodium/potassium ratio be about 2.5 to 5.

Healthy fast oxidizers, which are rare, are forward-looking, positive people. They are often more physically-oriented with interests in sports and social pursuits. They often are quite sexual as well. They tend to be outgoing or extroverted in most cases. Their body shape is sometimes called the adrenal type. That is, they are usually not as tall and somewhat stocky with more weight in the middle and thin arms and legs.

Unhealthy Patterns. As the oxidation rate becomes faster, these individuals are prone to a number of emotional imbalances. These include feelings of anxiety, anger, aggressiveness and belligerence. They may also become nervous, irritable, with muscle tightness and cramps. When extreme, the person may feel somewhat paranoid. Often they become very showy and superficial as well.

Fast oxidizers are in the alarm stage of stress. This is an active fight-or-flight reaction with all the emotions that go with fight or flight. For example, if the oxidation rate is excessively rapid, one is often hypersensitive, hyperalert and anxious about the future, those around one and everything else. There is a deficiency of the buffering and sedative minerals on the hair analysis, calcium, magnesium and zinc.

Children. Everyone is born in fast oxidation. We see extremes of this pattern often in children diagnosed with ADD and even moreso in ADHD and even autistic children. In autism, however, the tendency for anxiety and irritability is turned inward, apparently, until mercury and other toxic metals are cleared so that the brain functions better. Other methods to bring the child out of his self-imposed world can be most helpful as well.

This pattern is also common in many learning disorders and behavior problems of young children, especially those under age 3 or 4. Later, most become slow oxidizers with copper toxicity and other toxic metal problems.

Extreme fast oxidizers have trouble slowing down and at times are avoiding problems by running away from them. They can, in fact, be what may be called stress-seekers.

Vampirism. Fast oxidizers in adults often take energy from others. This is sometimes called psychic vampirism and is quite common among fast oxidizers. This is seen in some children and some men, in particular, though it occurs less often in women, too.

Those who live with or work with fast oxidizers often do not understand what motivates the fast oxidizer to behave so emotionally, not realizing that in so doing the fast oxidizer takes energy from those around him or her.

Self-Involvement. Fast oxidizers are also a little more involved with themselves, as a rule, than others. Many are emotionally immature, which is related to the section just above. Those who get to know them, however, always understand this, usually through negative experiences.

Everyone is born in fast oxidation. Babies are generally happy, outgoing, expressive and announce their needs without hesitation. About age 3 to 10, most of us change to slow oxidizers, and this is happening at earlier and earlier ages today.

Some children are simply ill and they “run out of steam” by age 3 or 4. Others have a difficult home life and the stress causes them to “burn out” to some degree at an early age. Others are becoming much more spiritual and tend to turn inward, a slow oxidizer quality. Others change for complex reasons from illnesses, vaccines, infections, nutrient deficiencies and other reasons too numerous to discuss here.

Notes. 1. The faster the oxidation rate, which is based on certain hair mineral ratios, the more extreme the symptoms associated with it.

2. Most babies, children and adults are unhealthy fast oxidizers today. This influences the tendencies listed above as often they have other patterns to be discussed later in this article and elsewhere on our website.

3. For more information about how to calculate the oxidation type and more, read The Oxidation Types.

Slow oxidation can also be of a healthful nature or unhealthful. The extreme is unfortunately quite common.

Healthy slow oxidizers tend to be quieter people, more introverted and may be less energetic than fast oxidizers. They become fatigued more easily. They are often more pleasant to be around and can function quite well in society and at home. They tend to be far more spiritually aware as well.

They are in a resistance stage of stress, according to the stress theory of disease put ofrward by Hans Selye, MD. This indicates they are in a more advanced stage of stress in which the fight-or-flight response is not as powerful. They resist stress but do not fight it as hard and are more fatigued than healthy fast oxidizers. Most adults are in this stage of stress or the exhaustion stage below.

Unhealthy slow oxidizers are those in whom either the oxidation rate is very slow, other ratios are imbalanced or one has a lot of toxic metals or other nutrient deficiencies.

These individuals, who are very common among our adult population, especially women, are much more “burned out” biochemically and often emotionally as well.

Their energy level is much lower, even if they seem to run around a lot.