About Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA)

FUR ANALYSIS IS A MINERAL BLUEPRINT

LifeExtend Method is a philosophy for wellness that Dr. Ava Frick have studied and successfully applied to many animals over the past 20 years. With the LifeExtend Method, she is helping you achieve your wish; to have a Happy, Healthy, and Naturally Rejuvenated Animal. Her philosophy and approach focus on exercise, nutrition, and a body with good postural alignment, for a life without stress and pain.

Providing a mineral blueprint of one’s biochemistry a fur tissue mineral analysis can provide pertinent information about your animal’s metabolic rate, energy levels, sugar and carbohydrate tolerance, stage of stress, immune system and glandular activity. A hair tissue mineral analysis is considered a standard test, used around the world for the biological monitoring of trace elements and toxic metals in humans and animals species. Fur, like all other body tissues, contains minerals that are deposited as the fur grows. A sample of fur cut close to the skin provides information about the mineral activity in the fur that took place over the past three to four months.

Hair analysis on dogs and cats can help Dr. Frick determine what is happening with the thyroid, adrenal, and pituitary glands. It will give an indication of how that animal deals with carbohydrates, sugars, available protein, enzymes, and their energy level. Changes in key minerals, mineral ratios, and the presence of toxic metals can affect personality and behavior in ways we find unhealthy and undesirable, but the animal cannot help it. Understanding the animal’s oxidation rate, we know how quickly they are changing food to energy. With all that valuable information a very customized nutritional assessment, supplements, and dietary recommendations can be made.

Dr. Frick and her research was published by the Journal of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association in the Fall 2017 issue. She is very excited about this recognition. Read the publication below.Then contact us or her to see how she can help you help animals by utilizing this test modality.

Watch Dr. Ava Frick talk about Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis:

WHY DR. AVA FRICK USE FUR MINERAL TESTING TO CUSTOMIZE NUTRITION PROGRAMS FOR YOUR ANIMALS.

There are many ways to assess nutritional status including the clinical animal nutrition survey, iridology, kinesiology, dietary guidelines, computer analysis, blood tests, etc. One often missed method is by measuring tissue mineral levels. Here are 12 reasons that validate the comprehensive information gleaned from this testing method.

A Window into the Cells

Nutritional physiology begins at the cellular level, not within blood or any other location. What you feed your pet is only part of the picture. More importantly, is what is actually reaching the body cells. Tissue mineral analysis (TMA) is unique in that it provides cellular activity information – the main site of nutritional metabolism.

Assessing Organ, Gland and Tissue Function

Levels and ratios of tissue minerals relate to the activity of specific organs and glands. By calculating rations on a TMA, the function of major glands and organs can be assessed, often long before abnormalities appear on radiographs or blood tests.

Constructing a Picture of Individual Body Chemistry

The correct interpretation is key to constructing a metabolic picture of the way your pet’s body is functioning and responding to stress. There is no other simple and inexpensive test that gives the doctor so much valuable information about overall body cellular physiology and function.

Determining Oxidation Types

Dr. George Watson discovered that some bodies burn food at a more rapid rate than normal, and some at a slower rate. Knowing the metabolism, or oxidation rate as he called it, can help determine which foods are most needed, and which nutrients would be most helpful to restore balance.

Detecting Toxic Metals

Toxic metals are a serious problem, contributing to many metabolic disorders including infections, heart disease, allergies, lethargy, erratic or behavior changes, digestive disturbances, cancer and diabetes. While routine blood tests cannot detect chronic heavy metal poisoning, TMA is one of the few methods by the Environmental Protection Agency for detecting toxic metals in the body.

Rebuilding the Body’s Energy Mechanism

Having an adequate energy level is essential for health. All body activities including healing depend upon adequate energy synthesis. TMA can be used to assess the efficiency of the energy system of the body including carbohydrate/sugar and citric acid cycles, and to recommend nutrients and foods that will assist in rebuilding the energy system.

Understanding Emotions and Behavior

Biochemical imbalances can contribute to many mental and emotional conditions. There is no other tool that even comes close to TMA to predict, explain, and offer nutritional solutions for such common complaints as fearfulness, anxiety, hyperactivity, phobias, insomnia, and cognitive dysfunction.

Identifying Trends

One of the most useful benefits of TMA is the ability to identify trends before they occur, so that action can be taken to avoid them. I like to call it a Crystal Ball. Twenty or more trends can be identified from a properly interpreted TMA. The ability to identify trends alone makes TMA an invaluable test. This is the way to help your new pet not go down the same trail that your others have in the past.

Monitoring Progress

A common problem in nutritional therapy is determining if the animal is actually improving, especially if some conditions persists or new issues arise. Repeat TMA tests compared to previous tests can often provide answers as to whether improvement is occurring, why some conditions persist, and what to expect in the future.

Exact Amounts of Supplements and Proportions of Foods

One problem in designing nutrition programs is determining how much and which nutrients and foods to recommend. Because of its mathematical nature, fur TMA offers a way to determine supplements needed and proportions of food ingredients and types with greater accuracy.

Superiority Over Blood Tests

Blood tests will always be valuable to determine cholesterol, liver, and kidney function and many other parameters. However, blood tests are incapable of providing the information that we get from TMA. Mineral levels in blood are ten times less than they are in the tissues, making measurement difficult. Also, blood levels are kept within very narrow limits by the body for various reasons, so that reading vary but little and less information can be gleaned. Blood test are subject to daily fluctuations due to foods eaten, medications, activity, and emotional states, etc. Fur analysis will not vary from day-to-day, and provides a long-term metabolic blueprint. Understanding this difference avoids much confusion.

Accuracy and Reliability

Computerized mass spectrometer testing is a very technical system that can yield accurate results. Analyzing samples that are not washed at the laboratory prior to testing gives the truest mineral levels within the body. Washing samples will reduce the levels of loosely bound minerals and effect the final report.

SCIENTIFIC REPORT: TISSUE MINERAL ANALYSIS PATTERNS IN 564 DOGS

Abstract: Tissue Mineral Analysis (TMA) is a technique using soft tissue hair or fur biopsy that provides a reading of the mineral deposition in the cells and interstitial spaces of the hair over a 2 to 3 month period. TMA can be used to understand metabolism. It is another scientific measure that can expand our understanding of health and processes that impact illness in dogs. Mineral excess or deficiency is known to produce certain physical and psychological symptoms. The correlation of TMA results with clinical signs seen in patients is discussed in this paper.

Tissue mineral levels and electrolyte patterns of calcium(Ca), magnesium (Mg), sodium (Na), and potassium (K) were analyzed in 564 dogs (300 male, 264 female; 99% neutered or spayed) of variable breeds. Their ages ranged from 1 to 15 years. Cases included all dogs presented to the authors within a 12-year period.