Just got my mineral hair analysis done.

steve198329 · Just got my mineral hair analysis done.

I am going to continue to do tests on myself until I find out how to optimize this diet because I still feel as if everything is not %100. I will share the results with this forum so I can get feedback. Here is my mineral analysis. I mostly eat 0 carb wit occasional salad. If I do eat carbs I usually don't eat more than 15g per day.

steve198329

LOOPS

Hi Steve -

thanks for sharing your results. I don't visit here much anymore due to no longer being zero carb - but I'm still interested in others' results.

It looks like you have a high copper:zinc ratio which really will make you feel like crap. This is very interesting as a zero carb diet is high in zinc and low in copper according to the nutrition tables - but who knows when they were made - maybe the content of animal meat has changed. Also high copper can come from either wasting too much zinc or taking in too much environmental copper.

I bring this up because my own recent experience has been that after moving to a new house with new copper pipes I started to have depression - and this also coincided with feeling bad on zero carb and gaining weight. Taking chelated zinc for awhile will probably sort you out - it's doing wonders for me (I take 30mg chelated zinc a day). Taking a chelated form apparently won't interfere with copper if you're worried about that. I like Optizinc which increases glutathione levels.

Anyway I hope you sort it out. Potassium salt might help your Na/K ratio, and not that you want my opinion, but I would think ONLY supplementing with Mg for awhile without calcium (then adding in a bit of calcium later) might bring your levels up a bit higher.

The zinc thing though is really really important. Zinc also supports thyroid function - not that you have sluggish thyroid.

I hope you feel better soon!
Loops

steve198329

There was more to the analysis but it was not relevant to post. It talked about diet suggestions and what metabolic type I am so I did not post it.

My sodium levels were most likely high because the day I cut my hair, I had exercised hard and sweated a lot. Sweat contains large amounts of sodium. I was surprised by the high amounts of copper. I eat a lot of beef and beef is very low in copper and the zinc to copper ratio is like 35:1.
This would explain the diarrhea I get every time I eat liver because liver is very high in copper. I tried fixing my molybdenum deficiency through supplementation but I did not see any results. I supplemented for about 3 weeks. The reason my molybdenum is so low is because of copper toxicity which competes for moly absorption not form lack of it in the diet. Molybdenum is a ubiquitous mineral and there has not been many cases of deficiency.

So now I have to figure out why my copper levels are so high. I am thinking it could be from low iron levels. A hair analysis is not a good indicator of iron status so I am going to get tested by blood. Iron competes with copper storage in the liver. So low iron intake could be causing this. I know that meat contains a lot of iron but what if it is not enough. What if blood provided our iron needs. What if 0 carb changes our metabolism to being more aerobic and requiring more oxygen hence needing more iron. My other guess is that estrogen increases the amount of copper in the body which is why women have higher copper levels than men. What if the hormones stored in animal fat are contributing to this?

I am going to do more tests and find out what is going on. I will keep you posted.

steve198329

Loops my zinc is at normal status but I am going to try it anyway to see what happens. I do have copper pipes and have been drinking from them all my life. However I did not start feeling copper toxicity symptoms(low thyroid symptoms) until I started 0 carbing.

LOOPS

I hope you find your answers!

I have numerous orthomolecular books which all cover copper toxicity - I think taking manganese along with molyb and zinc is supposed to help excrete excess copper. Taking vitamin C with meals increases iron absorbtion, and if you take really high levels of C you can reduce copper (but zinc too so you have to supplement).

Be aware that initially taking more copper antagonists might make you feel worse for awhile. Apparently this is copper coming out of storage or something like that - not sure how true that is but just so you know. I had to go slow with the zinc or I got anxious. I started off with 10mg twice a day. Now I take 15mg twice a day.

You don't eat dairy right? Probably a good thing as it interferes with zinc uptake and craps on magnesium too.

Avalon

Good Morning,

Could it possibly be your drinking water?

http://dnr.wi.gov/org/water/dwg/copper.htm

You never know. Or, do you Happy

Best wishes,
Avalon

Plasma

what lab did this test?
did you order it yourself and what was the cost?

You would think Iron would be a lot higher because of all the meat.

steve198329

Loops, to answer your question about dairy, I don't eat it at all.

Plasma, there are many companies that do hair analysis. Trace Minerals is the best company to use but is more expensive and I don't think you can use them dierctly without a physician taking a hair sample. If you go to hairanalysiskit.com or google it, you can cut the hair sample yourself and send it in through them. They will then send it to Trace Minerals. hairanalysiskit.com is kind of like a middle man so you don't have to use a physician.

The cost of the test was $225 but there are cheaper ones out there that will range you anywhere from $50-200.

LOOPS

Steve -

do you eat egg yolks? I think they are a good source of molybdenum and also folic acid. Maybe eating lots of them would help you. I also read that egg yolk combines with copper in the gut and excretes it - something that initially worried me but in your case it would seem to be beneficial.

One thing is for sure - correcting mineral imbalances is really powerful stuff. I used to be permanently on edge until I started taking magnesium and LOTS of it. It also helped clear up my eczema - something no-one ever addresses (magnesium is part of the system for producing GLA from LA). I can't say enough about taking Mg and Zn - for me anyway. And to think all those years I was taking multivitamins with 2mg of copper in them and no way enough absorbable zinc.

You just have to really educate yourself with this stuff - obviously in order to get benefits and not blindly take whatever. Most people seem to think a multi will cover them, but sometimes - as with the case of copper it can make things worse.

Loops

adwred

Which supplements to do you take, all together, and how much of each, Loops?

LOOPS

Hi Red -

I take a multi with v. low copper and natural beta-carotene (food grown multi), cod liver oil, zinc, magnesium, sometimes calcium if I don't eat cheese, vitamin C (a bit - depends), B complex (food-grown), sometimes extra thiamin. The multi is really for the other minerals coz I haven't found a multi-mineral that doesn't have copper - also for some extra vitamin E. Oh, and sometimes some taurine.

It sounds like a lot but considering I was severely bulimic for a long time before embarking on low-carb and had numerous mental/physical problems I totally think it's in order.

Now you've got me started, I must add that I had some really really good improvements taking magnesium chloride early on in my low-carbing for my eczema. I don't have ANY eczema now - but I still take Mg.

I used to never be able to take B complex - made me really hyper and on edge. I currently think that kind of reaction is due to low zinc/magnesium/calcium levels. The minerals are SO important - much more important to correct those first before taking extra vitamins IMO.

Also taking calcium/magnesium without extra zinc was bad for me - I mean, I got really good initial improvements in sleep etc, but after awhile I got some acne again and felt a bit off. It wasn't until I added in some chelated zinc taken away from anything with calcium in it that I felt much better.

You just have to really balance everything carefully and be aware of interactions. Take B3 and B5 for instance. Some people mega dose those vitamins and initially feel good but then go downhill. Best to take Bs together if you're going to take large doses.

I'm pretty sure some people feel great not taking anything - I find this stuff really helpful though.

Stuff I didn't find very helpful at all -
messing around with aminos (apart from taurine which has a GREAT affect on me). All the stuff like 5-htp and tyrosine always just made me feel worse - good at first, then worse.

Too much calcium - fine balance with Mg and Zn

SAM-e - urgh - mega insomnia and rapid heartbeat

Lithium orotate - great at first, but really not to be mixed with a low-carb diet as it lowers bs even more - I only took 1 tab a day (4.9mg elemental lithium).

Loops