Two metals, one retest
When aluminum climbs between tests, check the iron line next
Analytical Research Labs classes iron and aluminum as synergistic minerals and records that they are often eliminated together. The retest shows it.
Analytical Research Labs (ARL) records that aluminum is often eliminated together with iron: when hair aluminum rises on a retest, iron often rises too. Its toxic-metal masking table states the same link from the iron side, listing iron as a metal that raises sodium and that often rises together with aluminum.
ARL's glossary gives iron and aluminum as its example of synergistic minerals, meaning two minerals that move in the same direction. Its toxic-metals text reports a significant correlation between iron and aluminum levels on hair analyses.
Three recorded facts connect them. First, the correlation between the two levels on hair tests. Second, ARL's material describes aluminum following the iron pathway in the body, competing for magnesium binding sites and binding ATP 7 to 10 times more strongly than magnesium does. Third, the one agent the ARL toxic-metals text names for raising aluminum elimination, deferoxamine, was developed as an iron chelator and lowers iron and copper along with aluminum.
Iron itself has no specific excretory mechanism. ARL records that 95 to 100 percent of absorbed iron is retained, that iron excreted in bile is largely reabsorbed in the intestine, and that menstruation is the most common route of iron loss.
ARL's retest rule is that higher toxic metals on a retest usually mean the body is actively eliminating them, not that exposure has increased. Aluminum fits this closely. Hair aluminum correlates with bone aluminum, and ARL records that several hair tests may be needed before aluminum appears, because it is tightly bound in tissue and several months on a mineral program may be required to mobilize it. Its storage sites include the lungs, liver, thyroid, bone and brain.
Iron has a second reading. The ARL toxic-metals text records that a high hair iron may represent iron loss from protein breakdown and release of iron from cells, and to suspect this when iron is elevated and the sodium/potassium ratio is below 2.00:1. So an iron rise beside aluminum is read against the Na/K ratio before it is read as elimination. The Na/K ideal is 2.4 (Trace Elements) to 2.5 (ARL).
ARL also states that blood levels of aluminum do not indicate total body load, which is why a hair retest is the tool for tracking this pair across 3 to 5 month intervals.
Aluminum. Trace Elements sets the upper limit below 1.0 mg%. ARL's reference is 0.05 mg% or less. A reading between the two is inside the Trace Elements limit and above the ARL reference.
Iron. Trace Elements' current ideal is 2.2 mg%, revised from 2.8 mg% in its 1985 to 1993 set. ARL case work cites 3.5 mg%, and ARL flags iron above 5.0 mg% as elevated, with a diabetes trend attached.
Iron against its partners. The iron/copper ratio has a 2010 Trace Elements ideal of 0.9 (acceptable 0.2 to 1.6), and Trace Elements reads an elevated Fe/Cu as a potential chronic bacterial infection trend; its 1988 iron paper, written when the ideal was 1.12, put that threshold above 2:1. The calcium/iron ratio has an expected value of 15. The iron/lead minimum is 4.4:1 and the iron/mercury minimum is 22:1, both from the 2010 Trace Elements set.
ARL lists iron among the metals that raise the hair sodium reading, together with cadmium, mercury, copper and nickel, and records that aluminum and manganese at times do the same. A raised sodium lifts the sodium/magnesium ratio, which is the adrenal ratio, with an ideal of 4 (Trace Elements) to 4.17 (ARL).
ARL's instruction is to look at every chart for these metals when evaluating the adrenal ratio. When aluminum and iron rise on the same retest, the Na/Mg reading on that retest is checked against both before it is taken as adrenal activity. The hidden toxicity page covers the same principle for the toxic ratios.
ARL records that aluminum usually causes few symptoms as it is eliminated, and names extra vitamin C as its support. Iron elimination is recorded with temporary joint symptoms, because iron accumulates in the joints, with a metallic taste as iron leaves through saliva, and with a greater awareness of feelings of anger, which ARL attributes to iron stored in the amygdala.
The support for the two metals conflicts on one point. Vitamin C supports aluminum elimination, while the ARL iron protocol reduces vitamin C, because vitamin C increases iron absorption. For iron it names GB-3, extra manganese, or in some cases copper instead. When both metals rise on one retest, the two recorded vitamin C instructions point in opposite directions, and the full report decides between them.
A hair tissue mineral analysis is a screening test for nutritional and toxic-element patterns. It does not diagnose, it does not establish a cause, and it does not measure what is circulating in blood today. Each mineral reading reflects roughly 2 to 3 months of hair growth. Where the laboratory literature describes a trend, that trend belongs to the mineral pattern rather than to any person reading about it. Anything medical belongs with your own licensed provider.
When aluminum rises on a retest I read the iron line next, then the Na/K ratio beside it. If Na/K sits above 2, I read the pair as moving out together. If Na/K is below 2, I check iron for protein breakdown before calling it elimination.
Then I read Na/Mg with both metals in mind, because each one can lift the sodium reading, and I read the vitamin C question against both metals, because the recorded instructions for each differ.
ARL records that aluminum is often eliminated together with iron, classes the two as synergistic minerals, and reports a significant correlation between their levels on hair analyses.
ARL's retest rule reads higher toxic metals on a retest as active elimination in most cases. Aluminum is tightly bound in tissue and may take several tests to appear.
Aluminum: under 1.0 mg% on the Trace Elements set, 0.05 mg% or less on the ARL reference. Iron: a Trace Elements ideal of 2.2 mg%, with ARL flagging readings above 5.0 mg% as elevated.
Yes. ARL records that high hair iron may reflect iron released by protein breakdown, and to suspect this when the sodium/potassium ratio is below 2.00:1.
A full hair tissue mineral analysis reports aluminum, iron, sodium and the Na/K ratio together, so a rise in one metal can be checked against the other on the same retest.
Published 2026-08-30 · Updated 2026-08-30
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; anything medical belongs with your own licensed provider. Wellness Shopping Online is operated by Nuco Enterprise Solutions LLC.
