Setting the Record Straight: What OligoScan says about hair analysis (HTMA)
HTMA: Setting the Record Straight
What OligoScan says about hair analysis – and what the peer-reviewed evidence shows
InterClinical Laboratories © 2026 – Practitioner Only – Not for Public Distribution
OligoScan and its sellers routinely characterise Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA) as inferior, unreliable, or limited – in order to position OligoScan as the superior alternative. Each of these characterisations is directly contradicted by peer-reviewed science.
This document quotes each claim verbatim from OligoScan’s own materials, then presents the scientific evidence that responds to it. Every source is cited. Nothing is presented as opinion without evidential support.
Claim 1 – “Hair is a measurement of excretion”
| ✗ OligoScan Claims | ✔ The Evidence |
| “Measurement of hair is also a measurement of excretion, which has taken place over the last three months.”
OligoScan Australasian distributor FAQ — oligoscan.co.nz [Accessed 19 May 2026] |
This is biologically incorrect. Hair is not an excretory organ.
Minerals enter hair through vascularised hair follicles during the anagen (active growth) phase. As the hair shaft forms, minerals and metals circulating in the bloodstream are incorporated into the developing keratin structure through follicular cells. This is tissue incorporation during keratinisation – a vascular process. It is not excretion. Excretion refers to elimination via kidneys, bowel, sweat or bile. Hair does none of these things. |
What the research says
A 2024 landmark review in TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry (Hsu et al.) describes hair follicles as “vascularised structures that capture chemicals circulating in the bloodstream, which are then incorporated into the hair shaft during keratinisation.” The authors explicitly frame hair as an exposome archive – a biological record of systemic circulation.
✔ Hsu J-F et al. TrAC Trends Anal Chem. 2024;178:117825. doi: 10.1016/j.trac.2024.117825
A 2025 systematic review in Biochemistry and Biophysics Reports (Florou et al.) describes hair as a “chronological biological archive” capable of reflecting physiological changes and environmental exposures over time – language that is the opposite of excretion.
✔ Florou VA et al. Biochem Biophys Rep. 2025 Jul 5;43:102129. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrep.2025.102129. PMID: 40688495; PMCID: PMC12272604
The 2025 UC Irvine study (Shahverdian et al., co-authored by Dr David Watts, Trace Elements Inc.) published in Biological Trace Element Research confirmed that blood and hair measure different biological compartments – blood reflects tightly regulated circulating levels at a single point in time, while hair reflects an extended temporal window of mineral metabolism. The study found no significant correlation between blood and hair mineral levels for nine minerals tested – confirming they are measuring different things, not different degrees of the same thing.
✔ Shahverdian A, Torabzadeh S, Watts D et al. Biol Trace Elem Res. 2026;204(3):1915–1927. doi: 10.1007/s12011-025-04793-w. PMID: 41275064; PMCID: PMC12992362
A 2025 systematic review in International Journal of Molecular Sciences (Gramala et al., Poznan University of Medical Sciences) describes hair as providing “a robust long-term matrix for selected elements that strongly bind to keratin and accumulate over time”. This is accumulation, not excretion.
✔ Gramala Z et al. Int J Mol Sci. 2025;26(24):12145. doi: 10.3390/ijms262412145. PMCID: PMC12733699
Claim 2 – “Poor excreters show false negatives in hair”
| ✗ OligoScan Claims | ✔ The Evidence |
| “If patient is a poor excreter, as seen with many individuals, notably with the chronically ill, the toxic elements may appear under-represented in hair tissue compared to Oligoscan.”
theoligoscan.com [Accessed 19 May 2026] |
This claim is built entirely on the false premise of Claim 1.
If minerals enter hair through blood supply during keratinisation – not through excretion, then an individual’s capacity to excrete has no bearing on hair mineral levels. A person with impaired detoxification may actually show elevated toxic metals in hair because those metals remain circulating in the bloodstream for longer periods, resulting in greater incorporation during follicular growth — the opposite of what OligoScan claims. No peer-reviewed study has compared OligoScan and HTMA results in chronically ill patients. The claim is entirely unverified. |
| Evidence: Shahverdian A, Watts D et al. Biol Trace Elem Res. 2026;204(3):1915–1927. PMID: 41275064 | Hsu J-F et al. TrAC Trends Anal Chem. 2024;178:117825 | Luxometrix-IPC. Oligoscan Training Confidential. May 2015, Slide 12: “This type of measure is not (yet) a reference to measure the minerals and metals in the body.” |
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What the research says
The Shahverdian et al. 2025 study found that hair mineral analysis demonstrates “a unique clinical utility for long-term trends and imbalances”. The study’s conclusion explicitly positions hair as capturing a different and complementary window of mineral status – not as an inferior or unreliable method for sick patients.
✔ Shahverdian A et al. Biol Trace Elem Res. 2026;204(3):1915–1927
No peer-reviewed study has compared OligoScan and HTMA results in chronically ill patients with impaired detoxification. The claim that OligoScan would show higher heavy metal levels in such patients than HTMA is entirely unverified. OligoScan itself has no independent validation study comparing its results against any reference analytical method.
✔ Luxometrix-IPC, Oligoscan Training Confidential, May 2015: “This type of measure is not (yet) a reference to measure the minerals and metals in the body.”
Claim 3 – “Hair only shows the past, not current status”
| ✗ OligoScan Claims | ✔ The Evidence |
| “Hair mineral analysis limitations are another concern. While hair testing does reflect mineral and heavy metal exposure, it primarily shows past excretion over several months rather than current status. You get a snapshot of what your body has eliminated — not what it’s retaining.”
youholistic.com [Accessed 19 May 2026] |
The 2-4 month window is a clinical strength, not a weakness.
Blood serum provides a snapshot of tightly regulated circulating levels at the moment of collection – it can appear ‘normal’ even when tissue stores are severely depleted. Hair captures what was circulating and metabolised across weeks of growth – a time-integrated record blood cannot provide. For identifying chronic exposure, long-term deficiencies, and toxic metal accumulation patterns, hair’s temporal window is precisely what is needed. Consider: A 2024 study in Scientific Reports (Nature) : 2,026 subjects, CHA University Medical Centre, South Korea — used hair mineral analysis to predict low bone mass with clinically meaningful accuracy (AUROC 0.744). The key predictive minerals were magnesium, copper, phosphate, sulphur, and sodium. These are not toxins being eliminated. They are essential minerals incorporated into tissue, and their hair levels carry meaningful clinical signal. |
| Evidence: Shahverdian A, Watts D et al. Biol Trace Elem Res. 2026;204(3):1915-1927. PMID: 41275064 | Kang SJ et al. Scientific Reports. 2024;14:18792. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-69090-3 | Jenkins DW. EPA/600/4-79/049 (NTIS PB80103997). US EPA, 1979. |
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What the research says
The Shahverdian et al. 2025 study stated directly: “These two types of tests serve different clinical utilities: blood tests are useful for assessing the immediate status of mineral levels, while hair analysis offers insights into long-term trends and imbalances.” The paper presents the difference as complementary, not hierarchical.
✔ Shahverdian A et al. Biol Trace Elem Res. 2026;204(3):1915–1927
A 2024 large-scale study in Scientific Reports (Nature Publishing Group) Kang et al., 2,026 subjects, CHA University Medical Centre, South Korea – used hair mineral analysis to predict low bone mass with clinically meaningful accuracy (AUROC 0.744). The key predictive minerals were magnesium, copper, phosphate, sulphur and sodium – all captured in the hair’s 3-month window. These are not toxins being eliminated. They are essential minerals incorporated into tissue, and their hair levels carry meaningful clinical signal. This predictive capacity exists because of hair’s temporal window, not despite it.
✔ Kang S et al. Scientific Reports. 2024;14:18792. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-69090-3
The US Environmental Protection Agency reviewed over 400 published studies and concluded that hair is “a meaningful and representative tissue for biological monitoring for most of the toxic metals” when properly collected and analysed. This institutional position reflects decades of recognition of hair’s longitudinal window as a scientific asset.
✔ Jenkins DW. Toxic Trace Metals in Mammalian Hair and Nails. EPA/600/4-79/049. US EPA, 1979.
Claim 4 – “Hair is contaminated by shampoos, dyes and environment”
| ✗ OligoScan Claims | ✔ The Evidence |
| “Hair can also be contaminated by shampoos, dyes, or environmental factors, skewing results.”
youholistic.com [Accessed 19 May 2026]. Similar claims appear on multiple OligoScan-affiliated sites. |
External contamination is a real and acknowledged limitation of HTMA, and accredited laboratories address it with validated protocols.
Standardised washing sequences using deionised water and acetone are designed to remove surface contamination while preserving endogenous mineral content bound within the hair shaft. Worth noting: OligoScan’s own 2023 Operation Notes acknowledge that metals on the palm from handling metal objects can affect its results – confirming surface contamination is a concern for OligoScan too. No validated decontamination protocol beyond basic hand washing is described in any OligoScan document. |
| Evidence: LeBlanc A, Dumas P, Lefebvre L. Sci Total Environ. 1999;229(1-2):121-124. PMID: 10418166 | Shahverdian A et al. Biol Trace Elem Res. 2026;204(3):1915-1927 | Gramala Z et al. Int J Mol Sci. 2025;26(24):12145 | OligoScan Operation Notes v3.10, 2023. |
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What the research says
A peer-reviewed study in Science of the Total Environment (LeBlanc et al.) examined the effect of commercial shampoos on hair trace element levels and found measurable effects for some elements. This is a genuine consideration – which is precisely why accredited HTMA laboratories apply validated washing protocols and why collection guidelines exclude recently dyed or chemically treated hair.
✔ LeBlanc A, Dumas P, Lefebvre L. Sci Total Environ. 1999;229(1–2):121–124. doi: 10.1016/s0048-9697(99)00059-5. PMID: 10418166
The Shahverdian et al. 2025 study excluded subjects with dyed, permed or bleached hair and used controlled collection and washing protocols – demonstrating that the contamination concern is actively managed in rigorous HTMA research.
✔ Shahverdian A et al. Biol Trace Elem Res. 2026;204(3):1915–1927
The Gramala et al. 2025 systematic review specifically highlighted the importance of “validated washing procedures and certified reference materials” as part of ICP-MS HTMA methodology – underscoring that the field actively addresses this limitation through standardisation.
✔ Gramala Z et al. Int J Mol Sci. 2025;26(24):12145
Claim 5 – “OligoScan is far superior to HTMA”
| ✗ OligoScan Claims | ✔ The Evidence |
| “The Oligoscan is a far superior way of testing!”
londonnaturaltherapies.co.uk [Accessed 19 May 2026] |
No peer-reviewed study directly comparing OligoScan and HTMA in the same patients has ever been published. A claim of superiority without a comparative study is marketing, not evidence.
HTMA uses ICP-MS with results traceable to certified international reference standards. OligoScan’s own manufacturer training document states its output figures are “no longer really ppm but Luxometrix own laboratory standards” -proprietary, self-constructed values with no external validation. OligoScan’s own manufacturer acknowledges the device is “not (yet) a reference to measure the minerals and metals in the body.” If the manufacturer says this, the claim of superiority over an ICP-MS laboratory method is without foundation. HTMA using ICP-MS has been endorsed by the US EPA (400+ studies reviewed), cited by the ATSDR, and used as the validated biomonitoring method in peer-reviewed clinical research across cardiovascular disease, bone health, metabolic syndrome and neurodevelopmental conditions. |
| Evidence: Luxometrix-IPC. Oligoscan Training Confidential. May 2015, Slides 12 & 16 | Jenkins DW. US EPA, 1979. EPA/600/4-79/049 | ATSDR Hair Analysis Panel Discussion, 2001 | Gramala Z et al. Int J Mol Sci. 2025;26(24):12145 | Kang SJ et al. Scientific Reports. 2024;14:18792 |
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What the evidence actually shows
OligoScan’s own training document (Luxometrix-IPC, May 2015) states: “This type of measure is not (yet) a reference to measure the minerals and metals in the body.” If OligoScan’s own manufacturer acknowledges the device is not a reference method, the claim that it is ‘far superior’ to an ICP-MS laboratory method is without foundation.
✔ Luxometrix-IPC, Oligoscan Training Confidential, May 2015, Slide 12. slidetodoc.com [Accessed 19 May 2026]
OligoScan’s validation consists of internal comparison against clinical symptoms. No independent peer-reviewed study validates OligoScan results against ICP-MS or any established reference method. The three studies promised in the 2015 training document with expected publication dates of 2015, 2015–2016, and 2017 have not been published as of May 2026.
✔ Luxometrix-IPC, Oligoscan Training Confidential, May 2015, Slide 16.
HTMA using ICP-MS has been endorsed by the US Environmental Protection Agency (400+ studies reviewed), cited by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), and used as the validated biomonitoring method in peer-reviewed clinical research across cardiovascular disease, neurodevelopment, bone health and metabolic syndrome.
✔ Jenkins DW. US EPA, 1979. | ATSDR Hair Analysis Panel Discussion, 2001. | Gramala Z et al. Int J Mol Sci. 2025. | Kang S et al. Scientific Reports. 2024.
The Biology: How Minerals Enter Hair
This is a settled area of biology. The mechanism of mineral incorporation into hair has been studied and confirmed across multiple independent research groups. In plain terms:
- Hair grows approximately 1cm per month from follicles supplied by blood capillaries in the scalp.
- During the anagen (active growth) phase, which encompasses approximately 90% of scalp hair at any time, minerals and metals circulating in the blood are incorporated into the developing hair shaft through metabolically active follicular cells.
- Once the hair shaft is formed and keratinised, the minerals are structurally bound within the keratin matrix. They are stable and do not wash out under normal conditions.
- A standard 3 – 4cm scalp sample represents approximately 3 months of mineral metabolism – a time window determined by hair’s growth rate, not by the body’s excretory capacity.
- This process is entirely vascular and follicular in origin. It is not excretion.
Hair’s function as a biomonitoring matrix was formally recognised when the US EPA, after reviewing over 400 studies, concluded that properly collected and analysed hair provides valid data on toxic metal exposure. This institutional recognition has not been withdrawn, and continues to be cited in current peer-reviewed literature published in 2024 and 2025.
What HTMA Offers – And What It Does Not Claim to Be
HTMA does not claim to replace blood testing, urine testing, or any other analytical method. It measures a different biological compartment across a different time window. Used in the right clinical context, the three main testing modalities are complementary:
- Blood – tightly regulated circulating levels at a single point in time. Essential for acute assessment and monitoring of analytes with rapid turnover.
- Urine – reflects renal excretion. Useful for assessing immediate excretory capacity and for provocation/challenge testing of extracellular metal burden.
- HTMA – time-integrated mineral metabolism over 3 – 4 months. Validated for chronic exposure patterns, long-term deficiency trends, and toxic metal biomonitoring.
The Shahverdian et al. 2025 study – the most current peer-reviewed comparison of blood and hair mineral levels in healthy adults confirmed that blood and hair “serve different clinical utilities”, with hair offering a time-integrated record of mineral metabolism that no blood test can provide. A 2025 systematic review from Poznan University of Medical Sciences (Gramala et al.), published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, adds that hair provides “a robust long-term matrix for selected elements that strongly bind to keratin and accumulate over time.”
The growing body of 2024 – 2025 peer-reviewed research in cardiovascular disease, bone health, metabolic syndrome, and neurodevelopmental conditions consistently uses ICP-MS hair analysis as a validated clinical and environmental biomonitoring tool. This evidence base is not the product of a single laboratory or advocate. It is international, multi-institution, and published in indexed peer-reviewed journals.
References
Florou VA et al. Human hair as a diagnostic tool in medicine. Biochem Biophys Rep. 2025 Jul 5;43:102129. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrep.2025.102129. eCollection 2025 Sep. PMID: 40688495; PMCID: PMC12272604. Institutions: Johns Hopkins School of Medicine; Lund University.
Gramala Z et al. Essential and toxic elements in cardiovascular disease: pathophysiological roles and the emerging contribution of hair mineral analysis. Int J Mol Sci. 2025;26(24):12145. doi: 10.3390/ijms262412145. PMCID: PMC12733699
Hsu J-F et al. Hair specimens in exposome-health research: Opportunities, challenges, and applications. TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry. 2024;178:117825. doi: 10.1016/j.trac.2024.117825
Jenkins DW. Toxic Trace Metals in Mammalian Hair and Nails. EPA/600/4-79/049 (NTIS PB80103997). United States Environmental Protection Agency, Washington D.C., 1979. Available: https://cfpub.epa.gov/si/si_public_record_Report.cfm?Lab=ORD&dirEntryID=45357
Kang S et al. Preventive machine learning models incorporating health checkup data and hair mineral analysis for low bone mass identification. Scientific Reports. 2024;14:18792. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-69090-3
LeBlanc A, Dumas P, Lefebvre L. Trace element content of commercial shampoos: impact on trace element levels in hair. Sci Total Environ. 1999 May 7;229(1-2):121-124. doi: 10.1016/s0048-9697(99)00059-5. PMID: 10418166
Luxometrix-IPC. Oligoscan Training Confidential. Luxometrix-IPC.EU, May 2015 [23-slide manufacturer training presentation]. Available: slidetodoc.com [Accessed 19 May 2026]. Original PDF verified 19 May 2026.
OligoScan. Australasian distributor FAQ. oligoscan.co.nz/faq.html [Accessed 19 May 2026]
OligoScan. Operation Notes & Pre-testing Information, v3.10, 2023 sp. oligoscan.com [Original PDF verified 19 May 2026]
Shahverdian A, Torabzadeh S, Watts D et al. Comparison of mineral levels in blood and hair samples of healthy adults: Evaluating the clinical utility of hair mineral analysis. Biol Trace Elem Res. 2026;204(3):1915-1927. doi: 10.1007/s12011-025-04793-w. PMID: 41275064; PMCID: PMC12992362
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