Autism Heavy Metal Testing

Heavy Metal Testing for Autism

IMPORTANT: Testing your child for toxic metals is important, and highly recommended. When you know which metals your child is high in, you can chart your child's progress with the chelation and/or detoxification treatments you are using. In other words, you can know how well the treatments you are using are mobilizing the heavy metals out of their body.

Diagnosing Metal Toxicity in Children

Tests that help to diagnose heavy metal toxicity include blood tests, urine tests, and the analysis of hair, nails or other tissues. The most accurate of these are a chelation challenge test and the hair tissue mineral analysis (hair analysis).

Hair analysis test report

The chelation challenge test needs to be performed by a doctor who specializes in chelation therapy. The child is given a chelating drug, commonly DMPS or DMSA, and his/her urine is collected and analyzed over a 24 hour period. The drawbacks to this method are that it requires visits to a doctors office, it is expensive, unpleasant, and the chelating agents can have serious side effects.

Regular blood tests and urine tests are not accurate in diagnosing heavy metal toxicity, as they only tend to show what is happening in the body at that brief moment in time, and do not give the long-term picture. For instance, if your child was exposed to lead only 2 weeks ago, lead would appear in a regular blood test. However, if your child was exposed to lead 2 months or even 2 years ago, the lead would not show up, since it has already been deposited into the tissues and organs where it can stay sequestered indefinitely.

Therefore, the simplest and least invasive way to test what toxic metals your child is excreting is through a Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis, which is explained as follows.


Hair Tissue Mineral Analyses (HTMA)

A hair tissue mineral analysis provides a unique reading of heavy metal and mineral levels in the cells over a two to three month period. It takes into consideration that toxins are stored in the tissues of the body, not in the blood. For instance, you can have normal copper levels in the blood, but high copper levels in the tissues.

The reason hair is used for testing mineral status and metabolic activity is because of its very nature. Our hair is formed from clusters of specialized cells that make up the hair follicle. During the growth phase, the hair is exposed to the internal environment such as blood, lymph and extra-cellular fluids. As the hair continues to grow and reaches the surface of the skin, its outer layers harden, locking in the metabolic products accumulated during the period of formation. This biological processs provides a blueprint and lasting record of metal content and nutritional metabolic activity that has occured during this time.

The precise analytical method of determining the levels of minerals in the hair is a highly sophisticated technique: when performed to exacting standards and interpreted correctly, it may be used as a screening aid for determining mineral deficiencies, excesses, and/or imbalances. HTMA provides you and your healthcare professional with an economical and sensitive indicator of the long-term effects of diet, stress, toxic metal exposure and their effects on your child's mineral balance that is difficult to obtain through other clinical tests.

It is important for the attending healthcare professional to determine the mineral status as minerals are absolutely critical for life and abundant health. They are involved in and are necessary for cellular metabolism, structural support, nerve conduction, muscular activity, immune functions, anti-oxidant and endocrine activity, enzyme functions, water and acid/alkaline balance and even DNA function.

Many factors can affect mineral nutrition, such as: food preparation, dietary habits, genetic and metabolic disorders, disease, medications, stress, environmental factors, as well as exposure to heavy metals. Rarely does a single nutrient deficiency exist in a person. Multiple nutritional imbalances however are quite common, contributing to an increased incidence of adverse health conditions. In fact, it is estimated that mild and sub-clinical nutritional imbalances are up to ten times more common than nutritional deficiencies alone.

To get an idea of how helpful a hair tissue analysis can be, think about this: Researchers using tissue mineral analysis determined, more than 100 years after Napoloen Bonaparte's death, that he had been poisoned by arsenic. Even though his hair sample was tested more than a century after his death, it still revealed pathological amounts of arsenic that had gradually proved fatal.


Introducing the Comprehensive Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis
Hair Analysis Test

A hair analysis usually needs to be obtained through a health care professional (which can be expensive). However, we offer a service that allows you to get a comprehensive hair tissue mineral analysis from a federally licensed laboratory called Trace Elements, Inc.

Each hair analysis contains a detailed 10-15 page report from the laboratory itself, which shows bar graph readings indicating high, low and reference range levels for toxic metals, essential minerals and significant mineral ratios.

It also includes a metabolic profile, recommendations for diet and supplements based on individual results.

Unlike some labs that test hair tissue analysis, Trace Elements, Inc. does not wash the hair at the lab. Washing the hair removes some of the loosely bound minerals and can reduce some mineral readings by 50 percent or more. The hair sample is prepared in their licensed clinical laboratory by using a series of chemical and high temperature digestive procedures. Testing is then performed using highly sophisticated detection equipment and methods to achieve the most accurate and precise results.

Hair Analysis test report

The comprehensive Hair Tissue Analysis report details graph results for 8 toxic heavy metals/elements, 15 nutritional minerals/elements, 15 additional elements, 7 significant mineral ratios, and 9 toxic metal ratios.

Once you purchase the hair analysis from us, we send you a hair sample kit with instructions on how to take the hair sample.

hair analysis test report


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To purchase a comprehensive Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis, please click here or call 520-877-2637.

Want to ask a question about the comprehensive hair analysis? Email your questions by clicking here or call 520-877-2637.

Additional Useful Information for Parents of
Children on The Autism Spectrum

Autism Natural Therapies
Learn about the different alternative therapies you can use to help your child reach his or her full potential. From ways to detoxify heavy metals and toxic chemicals to diet and nutritional supplementation. 
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The ABCs of Autism
Autism is a disorder which is marked by impairments in social skills, behavior, and speech. Children with autism are often withdrawn, lack emotion and speech, and are extremely sensitive to sound and touch. 
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Signs & Symptoms of Autism
Since autism is a disorder and not a disease, it is not entirely accurate to refer to "symptoms" of autism. Instead, there is a range of signs and behavior patterns that indicate autism. 
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Diets for Autism
Find out what diets can help your child in their recovery process.
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Asperger’s Syndrome
Asperger’s Syndrome is an autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) that was first identified by physician Hans Asperger in 1944, but was only added to the DSM-IV in 1994.

As a result, many children have been misdiagnosed with Autism, Attention Deficit Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and even Schizophrenia. 
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Autism & Mercury Poisoning
There is now a great deal of information available that tells us in no uncertain terms that toxic metals and chemicals are a causative factor in many cases of autistic spectrum disorders.  These would include harmful toxins such as mercury, lead, arsenic, cadmium, insecticides and pesticides
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Resources for Parents
A list of autism resources for parents and caregivers of an Autistic, Asperger's Syndrome, or PDD child: 
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