Diagnostic Tests

Hair Mineral Analysis

Mineral & Metal Toxicity

This test is provided by Mineralcheck and can be arranged with Monica Mcsherry.

Minerals are vital for life, and unlike some vitamins they are not produced naturally in the body. You need the right amount and balance of the required minerals for you to operate at your best.

Mineralcheck is the simple way of checking your body's mineral levels - through a small sample of hair. It can be sampled and transported easily.

Vital information about the body's chemistry is locked into every strand of hair, reflecting your energy, diet, environment and wellbeing.
Mineralcheck tells you whether your body has all the minerals you need - and in the right quantities.

When hair reaches the skin's surface, its outer layers harden and lock in a blueprint of the nutritional metabolic activity during the past 1 to 2 months. A properly obtained sample indicates your body's mineral levels and accumulation of toxic metals. You can detect what the levels are right now and see how the levels have changed during the last month or two. A blood test cannot do this.

Fee: £49

Possible Minerals looked at are:
 
Zinc deficiency can cause infertility in men.
 
Calcium strengthens bones and helps the heart work efficiently.

Iron enriches the blood, assisting oxygenation. Most people's average iron intake is only one third the recommended daily intake.

Selenium is widely believed to offer protection against some cancers and many ageing conditions. Selenium defficiency is common in the UK.

Phosphorus is linked to endurance. Deficiency can cause mental confusion, irritability and low resistance to infection.

For enquiries or to arrange a test, please contact:

Monica Mcsherry 
Nutritional Therapist

t: 020 8299 6040 (Healthmatters)
m: 07984 511 959

Evidence for Food Intolerance Testing:

Food elimination based on IgG antibodies in irritable bowel
syndrome: a randomised controlled trial

Background: Patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) often feel they have some form of dietary intolerance and frequently try exclusion diets. Tests attempting to predict food sensitivity in IBS have been disappointing but none has utilised IgG antibodies.

Aims: To assess the therapeutic potential of dietary elimination based on the presence of IgG antibodies to food.

Patients: A total of 150 outpatients with IBS were randomised to receive, for three months, either a diet excluding all foods to which they had raised IgG antibodies (enzyme linked immunosorbant assay test) or a sham diet excluding the same number of foods but not those to which they had antibodies.

Methods: Primary outcome measures were change in IBS symptom severity and global rating scores. Noncolonic
symptomatology, quality of life, and anxiety/depression were secondary outcomes. Intention to treat analysis was undertaken using a generalised linear model.

Results: After 12 weeks, the true diet resulted in a 10% greater reduction in symptom score than the sham
diet (mean difference 39 (95% confidence intervals (CI) 5–72); p = 0.024) with this value increasing to 26% in fully compliant patients (difference 98 (95% CI 52–144); p,0.001). Global rating also significantly improved in the true diet group as a whole (p = 0.048, NNT= 9) and even more in compliant patients (p = 0.006, NNT= 2.5). All other outcomes showed trends favouring the true diet. Relaxing the diet led to a 24% greater deterioration in symptoms in those on the true diet (difference 52 (95% CI 18–88); p = 0.003).

Conclusion: Food elimination based on IgG antibodies may be effective in reducing IBS symptoms and is worthy of further biomedical research.

Source: www.gutjnl.com
read full research paper (29/10/2004)