The Importance of Hair In Health

Extensive research established that scalp hair element levels are related to human systemic levels. The strength of this relationship varies for specific elements, and many researchers consider hair as the tissue of choice for determining toxin and nutrient levels.

Unlike blood, hair element levels are not regulated by homeostatic mechanisms. Thus, hair element levels can be a valuable preliminary tool for predicting the development of physiological abnormalities and health degeneration.

What Is The Importance Of Your Hair?

With respect to its contained elements, hair is essentially an excretory tissue rather than a functional tissue, so the hair element analysis provides important information. In conjunction with symptoms and other laboratory values, the hair test results can assist any physician with an early diagnosis of physiological disorders associated with essential and toxic element metabolism.

As protein is synthesized in the hair follicle, elements are incorporated permanently into the hair with no further exchange or equilibration with other tissues. Scalp hair is easy to sample, and because it grows an average of one to two cm per month, it contains a “temporal record” of element metabolism and exposure to toxic elements.

Nutrient elements including magnesium, chromium, zinc, copper and selenium are co-factors for hundreds of important enzymes, and are essential for the normal functions of vitamins. The levels of these elements in the hair are correlated with levels in the organs and other tissues.

Determining these levels is a wonderful tool when health concerns are present.

About Our Lab, Doctor’s Data

Since 1972, Doctor’s Data, Inc. has performed over four million hair elements tests for physicians and other health care providers, accumulating what is probably the largest database regarding this procedure.

Toxic elements may be 200-300 times more highly concentrated in hair than in blood or urine. Therefore, hair is the tissue of choice for detection of recent exposure to elements such as arsenic, aluminum, cadmium, lead, antimony, and mercury. The CDC, for example, 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 in 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 by means of certain shampoos, bleaches, dyes, and curing or straightening treatments. Therefore, the first step in the interpretation of a hair element report is to rule out sources of external contamination.

Hair element analysis is a valuable and inexpensive screen for physiological excess, deficiency or maldistribution of elements. It should not be considered a stand-alone diagnostic test for essential element function, and should be used in conjunction with patient symptoms and other laboratory tests.

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Dr. Hull's Hair Test is $180 USD which includes a lab report and her detailed interpretation with nutrition recommendations.

About Dr. Janet Starr Hull

Janet Starr Hull, PhD, CN has been offering the hair analysis service since 1995. She is the leading expert in environmental toxicology and holistic health and nutrition. Dr. Hull is the first nutritionist to offer the hair analysis through the internet. Connect with Dr. Hull on Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus.