What Does a High Copper Mineral Hair Analysis Indicate?

Hair analysis measures a sample of a person's hair for its chemical contents. This type of test can detect for high levels of metal in the body, vitamin and minerals. The laboratory results are supposed to serve as a basis for diagnosing illness or nutritional deficiencies; however, it may not be the best way to detect copper excess or toxicity.

Significance

• The hair represents what is going on internally because it is an active tissue affected by blood, perspiration, hormones and the environment, according to HairAnalysisTest.com. Deficiencies and toxicity can be analyzed through testing hair for mineral content.

Copper

• Copper is a trace mineral, which means it's needed by the body but only in very small doses, unlike essential minerals. It's important for nerve function and bone growth, and it helps your body use iron, according to the Mayo Clinic website. Deficiency is rare, but excess can be acquired through ingestion or absorption or inherited genetically.

Hair Analysis

• Hair analysis can detect excessive copper when the body has accumulated so much copper that it excretes it into hair follicles, according to Complementary Compounding Services, a pharmaceutical service. The overflow can occur into hair tissue and thus be detected.

Copper Toxicity

• Merck Manuals, an online medical library, doesn't list mineral hair analysis as a form of diagnosis. Although high levels of copper could indicate diseases such as cirrhosis of the liver or Wilson's disease, liver biopsy is the standard way of diagnosing copper toxicity.

Warning

• Some health experts claim that commercial hair analysis is unreliable. Dr. Stephen Barrett of QuackWatch.com claims the practice is "worthless for assessing the body's nutritional status" or as "basis for dietary or supplement recommendations." Dr. Anthony Kane of the ADD ADHD Advances website cites an investigation in which several laboratories returned results with large discrepancies and different recommendations, all based on the same subject's hair.