HTMA Testing: Can I Find Out How Stressed My Adrenals are From a Hair Test?

Your HTMA test results can reveal how well your adrenal glands are functioning. I will explain the relevant markers needed to get further insight. Please always remember to correlate lab data with your main complaints.

Quick Background Information on Adrenal Glands

Adrenals have 3 main functions:

  • Regulate blood sugar and inflammation
  • Regulate mineral balances, particularly sodium and potassium
  • Produce a variety of hormones

Your adrenal glands are constantly responding to stressors both internal and/or external.

Internal stressors can include:

  • Pathogens (parasites, bacteria, yeast/fungus, virus)
  • Infections
  • Food sensitivities
  • Toxic metals

External stressors can include:

  • Injury from accidents
  • Extreme cold/hot weather
  • Arguments

HTMA Individual Mineral Markers and Levels to Look at:

  • Na <25 mg%
  • K <10 mg%

If sodium (Na) level is below 25 mg%, it trends toward lower function. If potassium (K) is 10 mg% or below, it also trends toward lower function. If both are below these levels, adrenals trend towards lower function.

HTMA Significant Mineral Ratio Markers to Look at:

  • Na/K is known as the Adrenal Strength Indicator/Vitality Ratio/Stress IndicatorThe ideal Na/K ratio is 2.5. If the ratio is higher, it shows strength or stress depending on the extent. If below 2.5, this points to weakness or burn out. The ratio always needs to be correlated with your main complaints. The ratio is on a scale- so the further from the ideal, the more potential for problems.
  • Na/Mg is known as the Adrenal Ratio. The ideal Na/Mg ratio is 4.17. If the ratio is higher, the adrenals trend toward being overactive. If lower, underactive adrenal function. 

Learn more about my HTMA Package. You can always schedule a free discovery call to talk to me.

Video Transcript

Hi. I’m Keiko and I’m a holistic health coach at KTMHolisticHealth.com.

Today, I’m going to show you which HTMA markers to look at to get insight about your adrenal function. Please remember to correlate lab data with a person and their complaints.

So just a quick background on the adrenals. Adrenals have three main functions: number one is to regulate blood sugar and inflammation, and number two is to regulate mineral balances particularly sodium and potassium, and number three, it produces a variety of hormones.

Your adrenal glands are constantly responding to stressors both internal and external. Internal will be things like pathogens, infections, and toxic metals and external can be things like rattlesnakes and arguments.

Now, let’s look at the markers. The first two we’re going to look at are sodium and potassium. So if sodium is 25 mg percent or less, you’re looking at lowered adrenal function; and if potassium is 10 mg percent or less, you’re also looking at lowered adrenal function.

Now let’s look at the two ratios to get further insight into your adrenal function. The first ratio we’re going to look at is the sodium to potassium. This is known as the Adrenal Strength Indicator or Vitality Ratio or the Stress Ratio.

The ideal is 2.5 and if it’s over we’re looking at strength or stress depending on how far it is from the ideal. So the further away it’s going to be the higher stress, and below it, we’re looking at weakness or burnout. The further away you are from ideal, you’re going to be further burnt out.

The next ratio we’d be looking at would be the sodium to magnesium. This is known as the Adrenal Ratio. The ideal is 4.17, which is right here. If it’s over it, you’re looking towards more activity or overactivity, and under is underactivity. And again, this is a spectrum so it just depends on how far away you are from the ideal.

So two things to note. If the sodium to magnesium ratio is below 1, that would really indicate that you’ve got pretty exhausted adrenals and you generally won’t see much toxic metals being eliminated from your hair. The other thing is since both of these ratios utilize sodium, you want to make sure that if you have a water softener or swim in seawater that you are rinsing your hair in distilled or reverse osmosis water to make sure there is no sodium contamination.

Make sure to take this information within a bigger context. Since I’m trained as an FDN-P, I have also run other functional lab tests to correlate the information I get from the HTMA to get a better picture. So I’ve used the DUTCH, which is the dried urine test for comprehensive hormone, as well as the Biohealth HPA stress profiles using saliva. They correlate really well with the adrenal function HTMA markers.

If you’d like to learn more about my HTMA service, please visit my website. You can always schedule a discovery call and talk to me. If you like this video, please let me know by Liking it and making a comment.

Please have a beautiful day and thanks for watching.