Calcium shell with three or four highs
A calcium shell with sodium or potassium raised beside it
The pattern workbook names the combination of a calcium shell with a Three Highs or Four Highs pattern. Which minerals are raised decides which ratios are fixed by the pattern.
The pattern workbook Eileen reads charts against defines this pattern as a calcium shell combined with a Four Highs or Three Highs pattern. It defines the calcium shell as calcium above 200 mg%, and notes that a shell can be present at lower levels: above 165 mg% in women and 155 mg% in men. Three Highs is 3 of the 4 macrominerals above ideal with the fourth below it. Four Highs is calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium all above ideal.
The workbook adds that a low sodium/potassium (Na/K) ratio can accompany the pattern but is not needed for it. The live calcium shell and Three Highs articles cover each half on its own.
The calcium ideal is 40 mg% at Analytical Research Labs (ARL) and 60 mg% at Trace Elements (TEI) since 2008, with a TEI range of 22 to 97 mg%. A reading above 200 mg% is five times the ARL ideal and more than three times the TEI ideal.
The workbook gives the mechanism: sodium and potassium keep calcium and magnesium in solution in the blood. When the adrenal glands are depleted of nutrients and sodium and potassium fall too low in the tissues, calcium and magnesium precipitate from the blood and deposit, which the hair test reflects as a shell. ARL notes that magnesium usually rises with calcium in a shell, so the calcium/magnesium (Ca/Mg) ratio is often maintained. The workbook lists bone spurs, arthritis, calcium build-up, muscle tightness or cramps, trouble sleeping, headaches, skin rashes, hot flashes and fatigue as trends of the shell.
Calcium is one of the raised minerals by definition, so a shell with Three Highs has three possible shapes. On ARL ideals (calcium 40, magnesium 6, sodium 25, potassium 10 mg%) each shape fixes some ratios by arithmetic:
| High | Low | Ratios fixed by the levels (ARL ideals) |
|---|---|---|
| Calcium, magnesium, sodium | Potassium | Ca/K above 4; Na/K above 2.5 |
| Calcium, magnesium, potassium | Sodium | Na/K below 2.5; Na/Mg below 4.17 |
| Calcium, sodium, potassium | Magnesium | Ca/Mg above 6.67; Na/Mg above 4.17 |
The second shape is the only one that guarantees an inverted Na/K, which is the optional low-ratio version the workbook mentions. The first shape guarantees a slow Ca/K. The workbook's Three Highs definition places the pattern almost always in a slow oxidizer under stress or a secondary alarm reaction.
In the workbook's Four Highs definition, elevated calcium and magnesium indicate an underlying slow oxidation or exhaustion pattern, and elevated sodium and potassium indicate an alarm reaction at the same time. ARL's depression material places the calcium shell in slow oxidation, when tissue calcium and magnesium exceed about 200 mg%.
The workbook adds a retest caution for Four Highs: the pattern is less reliable on retests because the body often eliminates biounavailable calcium, which produces a falsely elevated Ca/Mg ratio. Its trends for Four Highs include inflammation, metabolic syndrome, demineralization, low thyroid and impaired adrenal trends, and copper toxicity. The overtraining article covers Four Highs with a Ca/Mg over 9.5 and an Na/K over 5.
ARL reads hair calcium as an indicator of stored copper: "One's calcium level is an excellent indicator of the amount of copper being stored." Its hidden-copper indicators include calcium above about 80 mg% and a Ca/K above 30. Its premenstrual document lists calcium above 200 mg% and a Ca/K above 16 among its copper-imbalance criteria.
ARL also records that calcium tends to rise temporarily while copper is being eliminated, and that "a drop in one's calcium level is indicative of a reduction in copper storage." A shell on a retest is therefore read beside the copper reading and the previous calcium figure.
The workbook defines two shell movements between tests. A calcium rise of at least 50% between tests can produce a shell. The second is a fall of at least 50% in shell calcium from the previous test.
Each hair reading averages 2 to 3 months of growth (ARL Glossary), and Eileen retests every 3 to 5 months, so a shell is compared chart to chart, along with which macrominerals are raised beside it on each test.
Calcium comes first: against 200 mg%, and against 165 or 155 mg% for women and men. Then the other three macrominerals against magnesium 6, sodium 24 to 25 and potassium 10, to decide between Three Highs and Four Highs and which mineral is low.
Next: Na/K against 2.4 to 2.5, Ca/K against 4 to 4.2 and above 30, and the copper level. On a retest, calcium is compared with the previous chart for a 50% rise or fall.
A calcium shell, with calcium above 200 mg% (or above 165 mg% in women and 155 mg% in men), on a chart that also shows a Three Highs or Four Highs pattern.
No. The workbook states that a low Na/K can accompany the pattern but is not needed for it. Of the three Three Highs shapes, only the one with low sodium guarantees a low Na/K.
ARL reads calcium as an indicator of stored copper, with calcium above about 80 mg% among its hidden-copper indicators.
The workbook calls it less reliable on retests, because eliminating biounavailable calcium can produce a falsely elevated Ca/Mg ratio.
A full hair tissue mineral analysis reports calcium beside magnesium, sodium and potassium with the Ca/K, Ca/Mg and Na/K ratios, which together decide which version of this pattern a chart shows.
Published 2026-10-31 · Updated 2026-10-31
By Eileen Durfee — Practitioner, NBS (Nutritional Balancing Science), NASM-CPT; wellness educator, inventor and author.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Hair tissue mineral analysis is a screening test and is not diagnostic. This article is for educational purposes only. Wellness Shopping Online is operated by Nuco Enterprise Solutions LLC.
