The Basics of Mineral Balance

March 7, 2025

Mineral balance is either a term you’ve heard a lot, or something entirely new – we’re here to show you the basics because regardless of which camp you’re in, it’s often misunderstood.

Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA) is our favorite test here at Ember. It is hard to beat in affordability, but don’t let the price point fool you – it is, in our opinion, the most insightful test with the most concrete actionability. HTMA is a 3-4 month snapshot of metabolic activity inside the cell. It measures 21 elements (macrominerals, trace elements, and toxic metals) in the hair sample. While the test does not measure total body load of these elements, it provides the details needed to glean overall mineral and metal status.

While bloodwork measures what is in the blood at a given moment in time, hair analysis offers a good, reliable look at metabolic activity over time. The patterns and ratios in HTMA (rather than the individual levels necessarily) are what reveal the most about health status.

HTMA will not offer a diagnosis. HTMA is for someone who wants to dig to the root and is committed to a long-term approach of balancing minerals (foundational to every aspect of human health) and eliminating heavy metals (antagonistic to minerals and almost always involved at the root of health problems).

Why is mineral balancing so foundational?

First, we must get all minerals through diet. Unlike some other nutrients, the body cannot synthesize, or make, minerals. At the same time, minerals are integral to our structure, our cells, our brain, and everything else. Depletions and imbalances in these minerals leave the entire person vulnerable to toxicity and disease.

Minerals are essential to every process in the body, and are involved in the following:

Nervous system
Hormonal balance
Thyroid & adrenal health
Teeth and bone health
Fluid balance
Muscle activation
Organ health
Immune function
Cellular health

Minerals (and metals) even have their own personalities that influence the personality and emotional state of the person.

This doesn’t mean that women don’t need iron and zinc and men don’t need copper and manganese; but the balance and metabolism of these in the body will absolutely shape the person. Some have suggested that the personality differences between Germanic peoples who drank dark beer (rich in iron) and those of Southern France who drank white wine (rich in copper) can be somewhat attributed to the mineral patterns that resulted.

Another case – calcium is a calming, or sedative, mineral; if calcium is not being utilized well this can create what is called a “calcium shell” – common phrases associated with this state are psychological withdrawal, calcified, numb, traumatized, depressed. (It’s important to note that our experiences and lifestyle can influence mineral patterns regardless of diet – trauma can lead to a calcium shell, which then will need to be “broken” for deeper healing to occur).

This isn’t just guesswork – it is the result of decades of ongoing study of hair tissue mineral analysis (HTMA) with hundreds of thousands of samples, alongside symptom questionnaires and the monitoring of progress over many years. HTMA provides an intracellular mineral blueprint of one’s biochemistry over a period of approximately three months.

The patterns have very specific measurements; for instance, a calcium shell, mentioned above, is present with a calcium level of 165 mg% or more in women, and 155 mg% or more in men. And almost always, these results resonate with the client.

The Practical Application of Mineral Balance

Back to the typical health application of mineral balancing – let’s dive into the common phrase, “minerals run enzymes which run hormones.” This is important because it tells us that the work of minerals is far deeper than where many people start – hormones (we could also exchange hormones for other common starting points, like gut health). Working directly on hormones or gut health can be beneficial for many, but it might not always be the golden solution because it might not be where the problem begins.

If minerals are imbalanced, this will impact everything else. For instance, copper levels often correlate with estrogen; because of the delicate metabolism of copper, it’s often hidden and biounavailable – likewise, estrogen will often be hidden, causing symptoms of either estrogen dominance and estrogen deficiency (sometimes both!). Zinc, on the other hand, correlates with progesterone. When zinc is low (or simply out of balance with copper, which is quite common), progesterone issues will exist.

Additionally, if minerals are imbalanced, there is likely heavy metal toxicity (because heavy metals take up residence in the absence of bioavailable minerals), which will further exacerbate any and all problems.

The way to truly address heavy metal toxicity is by balancing minerals. And it’s important to ask questions like, “am I extra sensitive to EMF’s because I have a high metal burden?” or “am I more susceptible to mold illness than my spouse because of hidden metals?” or “would parasites be eating away inside me if they didn’t have heavy metals to feed on?” or “would my gene expression be healthier if metals weren’t acting as a mineral replacement?” or “would my cells function far better with a healthy sodium/potassium relationship?”

These are important questions, and the more one digs into them the more one begins to realize that minerals are a unique, and prominent, foundation of health.