I just called my chiropractor and he says he has to call quest lab for info on pricing for intercellular magnesium test. Before I go with him on this, can anyone here tell me the best test to do to determine IC mag? Is this a blood or saliva test? Approx cost and does ins. cover it?

Hi Faith,

In the U.S. the only 'true' intracellular magnesium test is by ExaTest - (Intracellular Diagnostics, Inc.) It is covered by insurance, including Medicare.

[www.exatest.com]

IntraCellular Diagnostics, Inc.™
945 Town Centre Drive, Suite A
Medford, OR 97504
Tel. 541-245-3212

This may have changed since I checked several years ago with them, but Exatest also said that if one does not have insurance, they will offer a discounted price... but only if you assure them you will not try to submit for insurance reimbursement in any manner. I also seem to recall that they said that not all insurance carriers covered it universally.

Jackie

I just got off the phone with them and my ins. will cover the test. Price $570 CPT code 88348 in case anyone else is interested.

Best test is a hair analysis by far. My exatest showed all my level as normal, even though I had weekly episodes of AFIB..Exatest is BOGUS! Don't waste your money!!!!!!!


THE BEST test is the hair analysis. The results show a detailed graph showing exactly waht I was deficient of and I was showed how to correct it using supplements. Showed my results to a "T", with calcium and sodium too high and magnesium and manganese too low. I had another test 3 months later showing a marked improvement due to supplementation. Something the exatest would never show.


it only cost about 80 bucks.

I am unable to get Exatest where I am in any event; the MD's know nothing about it as well.

Please advise more about this lab that provides results based on hair samples.

The question then arises, depending on the length of your hair, do they know how old the results are? (i.e. My hair is, say, 6" long and I cut some off to send - how do they know where to sample and how old the sample might be?)

And, of course, you have to have hair in order to get the test done.

Please answer on the back channel if you desire. At $80 I'd give it a try straight away.

Murray-at-Lampert-dot-ca
or click my name at the top to send me an email I believe.

Ivan - there is a lot of controversy over hair analysis as a reliable test for mineral and metal testing.

Some say that what is excreted and therefore deposited in the hair is just that... what the body manages to excrete... and indicates nothing about the stores inside the cells. In in the case of magnesium, that's where it counts...inside the cells...not what's in blood/serum or hair.

Exatest is not bogus. You can be sure that if it were at all suspect, Medicare would not pay for it and neither would most insurances.

Jackie

Thanks Erling and Jackie
I will move forward with the Exatest with my chiro if he will do it.
I did have the hair analysis done a few times years ago when I was a patient of Dr Mercola. He didn't seem to know very much about heart nutrition and told me to take atenolol and klonopin!

I'm afraid I won't be able to get the exatest. My nutrionist chiropractor told me he recommends a several hundred dollar blood test which ins. won't cover. He says this is better than exatest but I can't afford this one. It's not intracellular and it's called spectracell blood test. He won't budge. I guess I'll have to find another doctor to order this test.

ExaTest is 'bogus'?

Because of its utility in space flight medicine NASA was a sponsor in development of this non-invasive technology (EXA = "energy-dispersive X-ray analysis" - see [en.wikipedia.org]) The methodology is apparently in use on the International Space Station for tracking intracellular mineral status of long duration crew members.

A few studies from Exatest's website: (links at [exatest.com])

11. Effects of Simulated Microgravity on Intracellular Ion Concentrations in Sublingual Cells and Skeletal Muscle. (Full Text). B.B. Silver, S.B. Arnaud, B.A Harris, and J Vernikos-Dannellis. IntraCellular Diagnostics Inc., Foster City, CA & NASA Ames Research Center, Moffet Field, CA 94035 Aerospace Medical Association, Washington D.C, 1989 .

12. Application of a Novel Method to Measure IntraCellular Ions as Applied to Space Flight. S.B. Arnaud & B. B. Silver, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffet Field, CA, 94035, IntraCellular Diagnostics, Inc, Foster City, CA, 94404, NASA Technology 2000 Proceedings, Washington, D.C. 1990.

13. Life Science in Space: Intracellular Measurements of Calcium, Phosphorus Loss in Microgravity. S.B. Arnaud & B. B. Silver, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffet Field, CA, 94035, IntraCellular Diagnostics, Inc, Foster City, CA, 94404, NASA, Bone and Mineral Conference, Indianapolis, IN, 1987.

14. NASA –Russian Study: Space Flight Effects on Intracellular Ions in Sublingual cells of Non-Human Primates. S.B. Arnaud, R. Dotsenko, P. Fung, M Navidi and B. Silver, Life Sciences Division, NASA Ames Research Center, CA 94035, Institute for Biomedical Problems, Moscow, Russia, and IntraCellular Diagnostics, Inc. Foster City, CA 94404, Aerospace Medical Association, 1994.

Thanks everyone.

Ivan,

Hair analysis questionable for accurate IC minerals and Exatest is not bogus at all! Just because you are taking some oral magnesium doens't mean you are getting good IC levels as a result.

What were you Mag and Potassium levels on Exatest? Did you do more than one of jsut one test?

Sure hair analysis gives a number but what is it measuring exactly??? that is the question. It does have some legitimate uses for detecting the presence of certain heavy metals and other chemicals but it is highly dubious what correlation there is between many of the claims that are made by some hair analysis firms and the current active biological state of those chemicals in the body.

For a counter argument, here is an excerpt from an article on Hair analysis you might want to explore:

Hair Analysis- a waste of your money



"Introduction

Hair analysis has been commercially available since the 1970's. A small sample of a person's hair is sent to a laboratory for measurement of its mineral content. It is claimed that by measuring trace element and mineral concentrations in the hair that a persons overall health and nutrition status can be determined. Some performing hair analysis have even claimed to be able to diagnose disease conditions. Labs performing hair analysis typically test for multiple elements.

Legitimate uses for hair analysis

Hair analysis, when used by a proper analytic laboratory, can detect the presence of certain toxic heavy metals such as lead, arsenic and others that should not be present under normal circumstances. It is not useful in correlating concentrations present in the hair with concentrations present in the body.

Hair analysis may have limited use when studying differences in heavy metal concentrations or certain minerals between population groups as a whole.

Problems with hair analysis

Multielemental hair analysis uses a single test to determine values for many minerals simultaneously. This sort of test is used by chiropractors, physicians performing chelation therapy, "nutritional consultants", and other "shady" practitioners claiming that hair analysis can help them diagnose a wide variety of diseases. These "practitioners" then recommend supplements.

Why multielemental hair analysis is not useful

1. Except in extreme deficiency states, mineral concentrations in hair do not correlate with other body tissue levels.

2. "Normal" ranges for hair minerals have not been defined.

3. Many factors can effect hair mineral concentrations including:

exposure to substances such as shampoos, bleaches and hair dyes.
levels of certain minerals can be affected by the color, diameter and rate of growth of an individual's hair, the season of the year, the geographic location, and the age and gender of the individual.
4. The accuracy of laboratories performing commercial hair analysis is very poor!

An investigator sent hair samples from 2 healthy teenage girls to 18 laboratories between 1983 & 1985. The reported levels of most minerals varied considerably between identical samples sent to the same laboratory, and from laboratory to laboratory. The laboratories also disagreed about what is "normal" or "usual" for many of the minerals, so that a given mineral value might be considered low by some laboratories, normal by others and high by others."

References

1. Hambidge KM. Hair analyses: Worthless for vitamins, limited for minerals. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 36:943-949, 1983.
2. Klevay LM and others. Hair analysis in clinical and experimental medicine. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 46:233-236, 1997.