Find out if your dog has been exposed to heavy metals
Have you ever thought about what it would be like to travel into the past? Some scientists suggest that time travel is theoretically possible, but no matter what scientific calculations suggest, talking to your great-grandmother or visiting your late friend is unlikely to happen within our lifetime.
Most canines carry hundreds of thousands of time capsules, and most humans do as well — except for those hair-challenged people like me, whose DNA tells their bodies to expand their forehead by several inches and turn it into an owl landing field. To explain, a few years back, I was swooped and clawed by a very territorial owl twice within 30 minutes during my first (and last) outdoor CrossFit class.
By now, you may have figured out that the time capsule I am writing about is HAIR, and if you are puzzled about what hair has to do with time travel, let me tell you.
Every piece of hair is rooted in a hair follicle supplied with blood. As the hair grows, the blood and nutrient-rich plasma content are sealed inside the hair shaft, creating a time capsule of the mineral and heavy metal content over the past several months.
One of the most common questions I receive is about how to create a balanced diet and how to recognize whether something is missing, and hair analysis is one of the most accurate and inexpensive methods to determine if there are any mineral deficiencies.
Farmers have understood the importance of soil nutrient balance for a long time. They analyze nutrients, add what is needed, and know that the key to healthy plants and plentiful crops is to provide everything plants need to thrive.
Here comes my question.
Has your doctor ever asked you about your supplements and diet?
Unfortunately, most doctors seem too busy and often forget to ask if people are taking the essential nutrients. Without minerals and other nutrients, the body can’t function optimally and will be prone to disease; this is where hair analysis can help.
The method used for hair analysis is called the inductive plasma method, where a hair sample is dissolved into plasma under extremely high temperatures created by heating argon gas in an electromagnetic coil tube.
As soon as the hair sample is dissolved into plasma (a matter “dissolved” into individual particles such as ions and electrons), a sensor can register the mineral and heavy metal levels with high precision.
An inch of hair represents approximately the past four months of nutrient content, depending on how fast the hair grows.
Why blood tests are insufficient for assessing nutrition
A blood test provides only a snapshot of a particular moment without considering fluctuations or providing any information about mineral storage or heavy metal deposits.
To illustrate this, imagine sitting at a dinner table full of food — which portrays a picture of abundance.
The dinner table provides zero information about how much food is being kept in storage in the fridge or in the pantry. They both might be empty and your hosts used everything they had to feed you, or the pantry and fridge might be fully stocked. We have no way of knowing, as all we can see is the dinner table.
Going back to blood sample versus hair sample. A blood test provides us with a snapshot of the current moment in time, whereas the HairQ Test provides us with a much more accurate long-term nutritional profile of beneficial minerals, as well as heavy metals and toxins.
How often should a hair test be done?
If your dog is healthy and you want to ensure they are getting all the essential nutrients and heavy metals are not high, doing an annual test is sensible.
If you ran a previous test and the mineral levels were low, you could repeat a hair analysis test six months after starting them on the essential supplements. If the test results suggest elevated heavy metals, do a detox with LiverTune and then retest again in six months.
How do you get a HairQ Test?
The process is straightforward. All you need to do is purchase a HairQ Test online and you will be sent a digital download via email to print off. Follow the instructions for collecting a hair sample, and then submit it to us by mail. Once we get your dog's sample you can expect to receive results by email within four to eight weeks.
What do the test results look like? Here are three samples:
1. A sample from a dog that has received synthetic vitamin supplements at the time of collection
2. A sample from a dog receiving fermented natural supplements (The Fab4)
3. A sample from a dog with elevated mercury and arsenic levels from a fish and rice diet
