Clean Run - May 2015 - 24

the exchanges of energy in the combustion of foods and the building of living
tissues depend. " -Henry A. Schroeder,
M.D., The Trace Elements and Man

only "living" portion of the hair is found
in the follicle. The hair that's visible is the
hair shaft, which exhibits no biochemical activity and is considered "dead." The
mineral composition within the cortex
remains intact (indefinitely) as the hair
continues to grow out. A sample of hair
cut close to the skin provides information about the mineral activity in the hair
that took place over the past three to
four months, depending on the animal's
rate of hair growth.

Tissue Mineral Testing and
Analysis (hTMA)

Elemental Mineral Diagnostics
Due to the circulatory system's homeostatic regulation, testing for mineral levels
in blood has not been adequate. This is
because minerals are usually maintained
in the blood at the expense of tissue
concentrations.What this means is, a tissue deficiency of an element can develop
without noticeable deviations occurring
in the blood levels. For example, bone
loss of calcium can become advanced
enough to cause increased fragility and
fractures while blood calcium levels remain within normal limits. Here's another example: symptoms of iron deficiency
anemia can develop long before low iron
levels can be detected in the blood.These
examples help to illustrate that the
minerals being retained (or lost) in the
body's tissues, are equally as important
as the nutrients contained in the diet.

Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis or hTMA
is an accurate and comparatively inexpensive means of determining the body's
storage levels of minerals. It uses the
same analytical technology that's used
for soil and rock testing to detect mineral levels. The hair contains minerals that
are deposited as it grows. Hair growth
begins inside the hair follicle, and the

The graph in Figure 1 shows the initial
hTMA test results for Bonus, an 8-yearold male Border Collie, agility athlete,
and companion of Clean Run editor,
Monica Percival. The results indicate that
only a few of the key essential nutrient
mineral levels appear within the ideal
reference-range. Also apparent, are several notable imbalances in the nutrient
elements.This is despite the fact that the
dog is fed a high-quality raw diet with
additional nutritional supplements. Most
agility trainers do take excellent care of
their dogs, yet regardless of best efforts,

NUTRITIONAL ELEMENTS
HIGH

1

375

114

2.7

28

51

17.1

.630

0.22

0.30

1.13

.050

.042

6685

173

37.0

290

88

2.2

24

43

13.5

.480

0.17

0.23

0.86

.038

.032

5785

129

27.0

205

62

1.7

20

35

9.9

.330

0.12

0.16

0.59

.026

.022

4885

85

17.0

120

36

1.2

16

27

6.3

.180

0.07

0.09

0.32

.014

.012

3985

41

REFERENCE RANGE

47.0

7.0

35

10

0.7

12

19

2.7

.030

0.02

0.02

0.05

.002

.002

3085

0.2

8

11

K

Cu

Zn

P

Fe

Mn Cr

Se

B

Zinc

Phosphorus

Iron

Manganese Chromium

Selenium

Boron

LOW

217

Ca Mg Na
Calcium

Sodium

Potassium

Copper

76
24

Magnesium

14.4

34

6

0.8

14

2185

29

2.0

.074

0.05

0.17

1.74

Co Mo
Cobalt

.001

S

Molybdenum Sulphur

.004

4119

Clean Run | May 15
Clean Run - May 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - May 2015
