by Lawrence Wilson, MD

HAIR ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION METHODS AND LABORATORIES

by Dr. Lawrence Wilson

All information in this article is for educational purposes only. It is not for the diagnosis, treatment, prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.

Contents

I. Introduction

II. The Current Situation In Regard To Mineral Testing And Laboratories

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I. INTRODUCTION

Most healing arts are not well-suited for 21^st century health challenges such as extreme environmental toxicity, widespread ionizing radiation toxicity, a depleted food supply and widespread electromagnetic field toxicity.

This is why health care costs are enormous and the results are not very good. Some are seeking better methods and this article is about some of these attempts.

HAIR TISSUE MINERAL TESTING

Hair mineral testing is a mineral biopsy of the body. Hair is used for testing with the development program because it is the only test that gives accurate readings of the tissue minerals. Blood, urine, saliva and other tests are not nearly as good for this purpose.

Using hair as biopsy material has other advantages. The readings are not affected by one's last meal or by one's emotional state, time of the month for young women, or other factors that can easily skew blood, urine, saliva and other tests.

Sampling is also very easy and non-invasive. Also, hair samples do not require refrigeration or any special handling.

Mineral testing using hair has been available for about 100 years. However, the test is not well known or well understood because the medical schools do not teach much, if anything, about it. We believe this is deliberate because it provides information that would upset the medical profession in a number of ways.

II. THE CURRENT SITUATION REGARDING HAIR MINERAL TESTING AND LABORATORIES

As a result of the above, here is the situation regarding hair tissue mineral testing:

1. Very few medical doctors and some nutritionists and naturopaths know about hair mineral testing at all. Most take little interest in it. Most medical practitioners have a negative view of it.

2. Of those that use hair mineral testing, most do so mainly for the detection of toxic metals.

3. A few doctors use the test to detect low levels of the nutrient minerals and trace minerals. However, most of these practitioners then do replacement therapy.

This means they supplement minerals that read low and they tell a person to avoid foods and supplements of minerals whose level is too high. This method of using hair mineral testing is extremely inaccurate and does not work.

4. A number of practitioners follow the advice of various mineral testing laboratories throughout the world. The problem is that most of this advice, in our experience, is not good.

5. Some practitioners follow the computerized recommendations of Analytical Research Laboratories. This is somewhat better advice. However, the advice has not been updated much in the past 20 years and could be much better.

Also, since February 2024, the mineral readings from ARL are coming in low. They must be raised up for any accuracy. The lab computer does not do this so the programs are less accurate.

6. Some follow the basic development program and related advice on this website. For details about this program, which is the most advanced program of its kind that we know about, read Introduction To Development and Introduction To The Development Program.

I try to keep the basic program and the website up to date. I strongly advise reading the daily New Earth Newsletter for the most recent updates.

7. Some people are on the individualized, supervised development program. This is by far the best way to use hair mineral testing. It is kept up to date and we do a lot of research.

MORE DETAILS ABOUT THE ABOVE

Here is more detail about each of the uses of hair testing described above.

1. THOSE WHO HAVE A NEGATIVE VIEW OF HAIR MINERAL TESTING

Most physicians, nutritionists, dietitians and some naturopaths have been brainwashed by a few, well-publicized “hatchet jobs” that were purposely designed to discredit hair mineral testing.

This is similar to the propaganda that discredits chiropractic, for example, and other non-conventional or holistic methods of healing that work well, cost little, and may threaten the drug and medical device industries.

If doctors really understood the implications of hair mineral testing, they would stop using most medical drugs. Many operations would also become unnecessary.

The medical schools and medical journals are not informing physicians truthfully about tissue mineral testing. As a result, most physicians are ignorant about hair mineral testing.

The article, Introduction To Hair Mineral Analysis, explains a few of the fraudulent studies of hair mineral testing in detail. The Hair Analysis References on this site list some of the extensive medical literature from the past 80 years or so on the subject of hair tissue mineral testing. For other details, read Controversy With Hair Mineral Testing.

2. HAIR TESTING FOR TOXIC METALS ONLY

A few physicians and nutritionists use tissue mineral testing to identify toxic metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium, aluminum and nickel. This is fine as far as it goes. However, problems with this method are:

1. The mineral test does not evaluate the total body load of any toxic metal. It only reveals what is currently in the hair tissue. This is a common misconception.

2. A single hair mineral test, as with urine, blood, feces, and urine challenge tests, misses most toxic metals. This is because many toxic metals are stored deep in the body organs and glands, and are thus hard to find on any single test.

We use repeated hair mineral testing. In this way, we can detect more toxic metals as they are being eliminated through the hair during a development program.

3. Testing for toxic metals misses much of the value of the test. Much more can be learned from the test, if it is performed and interpreted correctly.

4. Reading the test is not that simple. The main problem is that those who cannot eliminate toxic metals very well often have very low tissue levels of toxic metals. We discuss this in the article entitled Poor Eliminator Pattern.

5. Most physicians who use the mineral test for detection of toxic metals recommend chelation therapy. We find this therapy is not safe and not necessary. It is also much less effective than a development program. For details, read Chelation Therapy.

3. ASSESSMENT OF NUTRIENT MINERAL LEVELS, ALONG WITH THE TOXIC METALS

A few practitioners use hair mineral analysis to assess:

- Macrominerals such as calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, phosphorus and sulfur.

- Trace minerals such as iron, copper, zinc, manganese, chromium, selenium, lithium, boron and perhaps others.

This use of hair testing is valid. However, problems with it are:

1. The accuracy of testing of most labs is not that good. This appears to be because they wash the hair in various ways. This washes out some of the hair minerals.

2. Interpreting the levels, ratios and patterns of minerals is not simple. For example, many practitioners make the mistake of thinking that the mineral level in the hair reflects the total body load of the mineral. This is definitely not true. The hair reading only measures the amount of a mineral present in the hair at the time of the test.

In fact, many factors can affect the levels of all the minerals in the hair.

3. Most practitioners who assess nutrient minerals then use replacement therapy to correct the levels of the trace minerals and electrolytes. Replacement therapy is the use of either dietary restrictions or supplementation of minerals to normalize the hair levels of the minerals.

Replacement therapy does not work well. It does not balance body chemistry and does not adequately replace missing nutrients. For details, read Replacement Therapy.

4. ADVICE FROM VARIOUS MINERAL TESTING LABORATORIES

The difficulty with this is that most mineral testing laboratories are not very good, in our view. Here is what one must look for in a laboratory:

The mineral graph. The minerals must be listed in the correct order. Very few do this. Also, the ideal values must be identified and must be correct. Just showing ranges is not adequate.

Accuracy. Testing must be accurate. This is a big problem because most labs wash the hair. Analytical Research Labs, which we use, says they don't wash the hair. However, since February 2024 their numbers are low.

To raise them, increase calcium and magnesium by at least 25-50% and raise sodium and potassium by 100% or more. Readings that are most erratic are calcium, iron, manganese, aluminum and at times, cadmium and nickel.

Products. Some labs offer nutritional products to help correct the mineral levels, ratios and patterns. These need to be of high quality and consistent.

Interpretation advice. Some labs offer interpretations of the test. Most of them are not very good, in our view, because they follow medical thinking, not the development system.

Integrity. Some labs are not helpful or not honest about what they do.

Technical support. Many labs offer technical support. However, most of it is only fair.

Other. Cost of testing and customer service is occasionally a problem, but is minor in most instances.

Based upon the above, we recommend testing by Analytical Research Laboratory and not other laboratories.

5. THE COMPUTERIZED RECOMMENDATIONS PROVIDED BY ANALYTICAL RESEARCH LABORATORIES

Some practitioners use the computerized recommendations from Analytical Research Labs. This is better, but the recommendations have not been updated much in the past 20 years. For example, we would add to the recommendations more kelp, fish oil, adequate vitamin D, and trimethylglycine. Also, their numbers seem to be low (see the section above called Accuracy).

6. FOLLOWING THE ADVICE ON THIS WEBSITE

We believe this is better than other methods of using hair mineral testing.

Over the past 23 years we have been able to access much more information from a medical team consisting of souls and other researchers. We have found a number of new patterns on the hair test and have improved the supplement and dietary programs. These upgrades make the development program safer and more effective.

A problem is that it is difficult to do the program all by yourself. Therefore, we offer a supervised program:

7. FOLLOWING AN INDIVIDUALIZED, SUPERVISED PROGRAM WITH US

This works the best and is not very costly. One contacts one of the Helpers listed on this website. This person assists you to obtain a hair mineral test.

Then a healing team sets up your individualized program. This scientific system of healing works well for most health conditions. It is specifically geared for today’s health challenges, unlike most healing sciences that are older.

- Click here to begin the basic or ‘free’ program.

- Click here to find a Helper to begin a full program.

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