The short answer is yes, you can do a hair mineral test during pregnancy, but when do we recommend doing it during the TTC/pregnancy process? We recommend testing during the following:

• When you begin to start TTC or if you are having difficulty conceiving or maintaining a pregnancy: this helps you craft your own prenatal supplement blend to meet your needs based on your test results and health history.
• During the second trimester–typically close to the halfway mark: this helps you understand if there have been any major shifts in your minerals and how you can support your body.
• Close to the end of third trimester: this is to help you understand how to adjust your supplements and prepare for a successful postpartum season.

Common Changes In Minerals During Pregnancy

The biggest shift that happens during pregnancy is an increase in metabolism. In pregnancy your metabolism increases, so your oxidation rate on your hair tissue mineral analysis (HTMA) will too. This study shows that the physical intensity for pregnancy is like running a 40-week marathon. I think any woman that has ever been pregnant can attest that this is true. I see many women move from a slow metabolic type to a fast metabolic type during pregnancy. You don’t necessarily have to, you could go from a slow 1 to a slow 2, 3, or 4, but there is often a shift and it’s not a bad thing. It shows your body is doing what it’s supposed to.

What Is Oxidation Rate Or Metabolic Type?

Metabolic Type on an HTMA is giving us insight into a couple of things:

1. Nervous system dominance: whether you are trending more toward the sympathetic/fight or flight state or parasympathetic/rest and digest state.
2. Which endocrine glands are being prioritized: which gives you insight into whether or not adrenals and thyroid are synched up with your metabolism or not.

There are two major metabolic types:

1. Fast Metabolic Type: tends to be more closely related to the chronic overstimulation of the adrenal glands and shows sympathetic nervous system dominance.
2. Slow Metabolic Type: tends to be more closely associated with depletion of the adrenal glands and shows parasympathetic dominance.

The metabolic type is primarily based on the calcium and phosphorus ratio (we talked about this in our previous newsletter). Calcium is very sedative and phosphorus is very stimulating, which impacts how balanced our nervous system is. This balance in our nervous system is what changes our metabolic type.

• Fast = low Ca/P ratio
• Slow = high Ca/p ratio

The biggest thing to remember is that your metabolic type is not set in stone. It’s really more showing us your current state of stress and how your minerals are being impacted by that stress. This will likely change along your healing journey. This is one of the main reasons we don’t recommend avoiding certain foods based on your metabolic type.

Fast vs. Slow Metabolic Types

Let’s go a little deeper into each main metabolic type, mineral imbalances that occur, and what types of symptoms are associated.

Fast Metabolic Type

Fast oxidation occurs when the body exists in an actively stressed state and is prioritizing the fight or flight/sympathetic state over the relaxed state. Fast oxidation is showing that the body is under stress and is reacting to that stress in the moment. Those with a fast oxidation rate tend to be anxious, irritable, in a hurry, and aggressive if their oxidation rate is very fast. They are usually somewhat emotional, short-tempered and high-strung. They easily become anxious and wound up.

Their blood sugar can be on the high side due to higher cortisol levels. Their blood pressure tends to be on the high side because of salt and water retention. For the same reason, their tissues often have a watery appearance. They are often warm and sweat easily. Their brains often work well, with fast thinking. They usually have oily skin, and some tendency for frequent or loose bowel movements. They may gain weight in the area of the abdomen due to high levels of cortisol and cortisone. They are in a fight-or-flight mode too much of the time. This uses up certain nutrients and eventually can result in symptoms and illnesses associated with this metabolic type. These include high blood pressure, heart attacks, anxiety, panic attacks, arthritis, and others.

Fast Metabolic Type & Minerals

• Fast thyroid and adrenal activity
• High production of aldosterone = retention of sodium is higher
• Excess retention of sodium and potassium
• Calcium and magnesium are used up quickly and they are at risk for severe calcium and magnesium deficiency

Slow Metabolic Type

Slow oxidation means slow metabolism of nutrients. Basically, it takes our body longer and requires more energy for our cells to take the nutrients from the foods we eat and turn them into energy. This is what leads to slow thyroid function, slow metabolism, slow gut function, and fatigue/hormone imbalances. The slow metabolic type most often deals with fatigue, waking at night, feeling cold easily, hair loss, and constipation to name a few.

What occurs physiologically is lower levels of sodium due to adrenal and thyroid weakness or generally lower energy production reducing the solubility of calcium and magnesium in the blood. Sodium and potassium are solvents that maintain calcium and magnesium in an ionized form. As the solubility decreases, more calcium and magnesium precipitate out of the blood and begin to accumulate in the soft tissues of the body. This causes a rise in the hair tissue calcium and magnesium, relative to the sodium and potassium levels. In other words, calcium and magnesium rise in the hair as the tissue sodium and potassium levels decrease.

Slow Metabolic Type & Minerals

• Less production of aldosterone (an adrenal hormone that is primarily responsible for retaining sodium—eat lots of salt so surprised by this? Adrenals cannot retain it.)
• Poor retention of sodium and potassium leads to a sluggish thyroid = less retention of potassium
• Without proper sodium and potassium levels, calcium leaves the bone and builds up in the soft tissue (like the hair, muscles, joints, brain cells, etc.)
• Calcium and magnesium can’t dissolve and precipitate out. Higher levels of calcium and magnesium are anti-stress and slow us down. These minerals are also not bioavailable for use, so they still need to be replaced.
• When magnesium builds up it’s more of a displacement—when it is high you are losing magnesium from the cell and you can’t keep it inside. This does not mean you have too much magnesium.

An important note is that there is no perfect metabolic type. It’s just one piece of the puzzle and you really want to keep the entire picture of your hair test, how you feel, and what you’re currently working on in regard to nutrition and lifestyle. We don’t want to get wrapped up in one part of a lab test, but it is common to see this shift and change during pregnancy and it’s even a good sign if things speed up since that is physiologically normal during pregnancy.

If you want to learn more about HTMA testing you can listen to these podcast episodes from the are you menstrual? podcast:

• Understanding Metabolic Type on an HTMA
• what you can learn about your thyroid on an htma
• how to assess stress on an htma

You can discover your metabolic type and support your body in preparing for a healthy pregnancy and postpartum season with HTMA. We offer this inside our Nurture Your Fertility program.