May 6th, 2025 —Written By Tally Atkinson
How the HTMA Test Can Help You Heal - What is Mineral Nutritional Balancing?
In the last year I have been sharing with clients and shifted my nutritional therapy practice into helping them balance their mineral levels. There are many important reasons as to why someone may consider this as a way of addressing so many different health symptoms. Mineral Nutritional balancing is a distinct healing system that was developed by Dr. Paul Eck who was a biochemist and researcher in the ’70’s and ’80’s. This system is founded on the idea that minerals are very foundational to the human body.
Minerals are used in every body-system, every organ and by every cell in our body – they regulate nearly every level of our biochemistry. They act as catalysts for enzymatic reactions, work as components of the enzyme itself, are co-factors for our neurotransmitters and hormones, they regulate pH and fluid balance, appetite, our sense of taste/smell, sleep, blood sugar, blood pressure, digestive enzymes, and most importantly, they reflect what is happening with the stress response.
There is also a phenomenon known as the anthropomorphic quality of minerals, which states that since we store minerals in our body, certain characteristics of these minerals can be transferred to our thinking process and personality. One of the most critical components of a Mineral Balancing program is understanding how minerals reflect what is happening with our stress response.
To assess where your mineral levels are at, one tool is a Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA) test. The HTMA test is a root hair sample which gives information on the balances and ratios of our minerals and how they are being metabolized in our body. The test gives insight into our internal biochemistry, organ function and overall state of being.
In and of itself, using a hair test is not especially unique. Many functional and alternative health practitioners use hair testing for various reasons. However, the way in which the test is interpreted is the thing that separates this specific Nutritional Balancing Program from nearly every other healing protocols. This unique interpretation method Dr. Paul C. Eck discovered, while combining the research and ideas of George Watson Phd, Hans Selye MD, and Melvin Page DDS, along with his own discoveries, Dr. Eck created this unique and powerful way of looking at hair tests.
Essentially, he boiled hair tests down to a stress analysis of the body. He was able to do this because of how the stress response regulates the minerals. He found that replacement therapy, where one simply gives a mineral supplement of a low level of that mineral, doesn’t work at all. You can add in one mineral into the human body through diet and it will directly or indirectly affect every other mineral status.
So understanding how the minerals work synergistically and antagonistically within the body is very important to truly balance the body and the stress response. As we balance the minerals on a hair test, the energy efficiency inside the cells rises dramatically, and healing takes place.
This means, as we balance the minerals, heavy metals are eliminated, toxic chemicals or drugs you may have stored inside you are eliminated, infections are brought up to be dealt with, and you may have buried emotional traumas that come up to your awareness for processing. This also means that as you begin to help your minerals come into balance, your nervous system will begin to feel safe, and come of out the chronic stress response that it has been in for years. When this happens, other toxins and/or pathogens will also be detoxed out of your body.
It is truly a full body, root cause approach to addresses health issues.
Who should consider mineral balancing? If you are someone who:
Q: HOW DOES HTMA AND THE MINERAL BALANCING APPROACH DIFFER FROM A FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE OR NATUROPATHIC APPROACH?
A: Functional Medicine Doctors and Naturopathic doctors have worked hard and studied for many years in order to be able to serve their clients. They are often some of the most knowledgeable people in the community, and have many tools to treat various symptoms that you are experiencing.
In my opinion, HTMA and Mineral Balancing is a narrow and focused approach. Rather than treating specific symptoms like digestive issues or hormonal issues, we uncover the layers to see what is happening at the metabolic level. As we balance the minerals and eliminate toxins, our metabolic function improves and the symptoms that have been plaguing us start to disappear.
This is a more sustainable approach. The tests and supplements are affordable enough to commit to this approach as a lifestyle. Mineral nutrition balancing is not going to leave you with an unsure ending time. We work to get all your levels balanced and you will be able to see when that happens on the test. Often Functional Medicine protocols are very open ended and don’t really have a way to gage when your protocol should be over. It is way more cost effective (and effective in general) to be given clear guidance about exactly how long you should be taking a supplement for. The whole “just take these supplements until you come back next year” kind of a thing doesn’t make sense.
Minerals are used in every body-system, every organ and by every cell in our body – they regulate nearly every level of our biochemistry. They act as catalysts for enzymatic reactions, work as components of the enzyme itself, are co-factors for our neurotransmitters and hormones, they regulate pH and fluid balance, appetite, our sense of taste/smell, sleep, blood sugar, blood pressure, digestive enzymes, and most importantly, they reflect what is happening with the stress response.
There is also a phenomenon known as the anthropomorphic quality of minerals, which states that since we store minerals in our body, certain characteristics of these minerals can be transferred to our thinking process and personality. One of the most critical components of a Mineral Balancing program is understanding how minerals reflect what is happening with our stress response.
To assess where your mineral levels are at, one tool is a Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA) test. The HTMA test is a root hair sample which gives information on the balances and ratios of our minerals and how they are being metabolized in our body. The test gives insight into our internal biochemistry, organ function and overall state of being.
In and of itself, using a hair test is not especially unique. Many functional and alternative health practitioners use hair testing for various reasons. However, the way in which the test is interpreted is the thing that separates this specific Nutritional Balancing Program from nearly every other healing protocols. This unique interpretation method Dr. Paul C. Eck discovered, while combining the research and ideas of George Watson Phd, Hans Selye MD, and Melvin Page DDS, along with his own discoveries, Dr. Eck created this unique and powerful way of looking at hair tests.
Essentially, he boiled hair tests down to a stress analysis of the body. He was able to do this because of how the stress response regulates the minerals. He found that replacement therapy, where one simply gives a mineral supplement of a low level of that mineral, doesn’t work at all. You can add in one mineral into the human body through diet and it will directly or indirectly affect every other mineral status.
So understanding how the minerals work synergistically and antagonistically within the body is very important to truly balance the body and the stress response. As we balance the minerals on a hair test, the energy efficiency inside the cells rises dramatically, and healing takes place.
This means, as we balance the minerals, heavy metals are eliminated, toxic chemicals or drugs you may have stored inside you are eliminated, infections are brought up to be dealt with, and you may have buried emotional traumas that come up to your awareness for processing. This also means that as you begin to help your minerals come into balance, your nervous system will begin to feel safe, and come of out the chronic stress response that it has been in for years. When this happens, other toxins and/or pathogens will also be detoxed out of your body.
It is truly a full body, root cause approach to addresses health issues.
Who should consider mineral balancing? If you are someone who:
- Consider themselves to have a chronic illness or mystery illness, autoimmune issues, or haven't been able to get to the bottom of what is causing your symptoms with other modalities.
- Has a long-ish list of intolerances (environmental and/or foods)
- Has tried different protocols before (gut cleanses or detoxes) and seen some improvement while of the protocol or cleanse but once you get off of it get right back to where you were before.
- Struggles with anything related to fatigue and/or sleep. Our body can’t function properly without proper cellular energy.
- Also if you are looking to conceive or just optimize your overall health, improve your general wellness. Minerals are the catalyst to every reaction inside the body. The enzymes work better if they have the raw ingredients to work with - and those are our minerals!
Q: HOW DOES HTMA AND THE MINERAL BALANCING APPROACH DIFFER FROM A FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE OR NATUROPATHIC APPROACH?
A: Functional Medicine Doctors and Naturopathic doctors have worked hard and studied for many years in order to be able to serve their clients. They are often some of the most knowledgeable people in the community, and have many tools to treat various symptoms that you are experiencing.
In my opinion, HTMA and Mineral Balancing is a narrow and focused approach. Rather than treating specific symptoms like digestive issues or hormonal issues, we uncover the layers to see what is happening at the metabolic level. As we balance the minerals and eliminate toxins, our metabolic function improves and the symptoms that have been plaguing us start to disappear.
This is a more sustainable approach. The tests and supplements are affordable enough to commit to this approach as a lifestyle. Mineral nutrition balancing is not going to leave you with an unsure ending time. We work to get all your levels balanced and you will be able to see when that happens on the test. Often Functional Medicine protocols are very open ended and don’t really have a way to gage when your protocol should be over. It is way more cost effective (and effective in general) to be given clear guidance about exactly how long you should be taking a supplement for. The whole “just take these supplements until you come back next year” kind of a thing doesn’t make sense.
Interested in trying out an HMTA and Mineral Balancing for yourself? Head to my services page and request a 30 min free consultation for more information.
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