Reading a toxic metal
The level is the smaller half of the reading
Mercury has an upper limit, and it also has three separate nutrient pairings it is measured against. A result can pass the first and fail the others.
On the Trace Elements set the upper limit for mercury is under 0.10 mg%.
That is where most readings stop, and where the useful part begins. Mercury is judged against three nutrients as well:
A mercury figure comfortably under 0.10 can still sit below one or more of those minimums, and that is the situation the ratios exist to catch.
Worth knowing if you are comparing against older material. The Fe/Hg minimum was 28 in the earlier set and is 22 in the current one — the requirement was loosened, not tightened.
The same happened to Fe/Pb, from 5.6 to 4.4. Quote a toxic ratio with the set it belongs to, in the same way an element ideal needs its laboratory named.
Hair reports, in part, what is being eliminated. So a very low mercury result has more than one reading: little present, or little being released.
That second possibility is what the poor eliminator pattern describes, and mercury is one of the nine minerals it applies to. It is the reason a clean-looking toxic panel is read alongside everything else rather than on its own.
This also means a mercury figure that RISES on a later test is not automatically bad news. A metal appearing on a retest has often started moving rather than newly arrived.
A hair tissue mineral analysis is a screening test for nutritional and toxic-element status. It does not diagnose mercury toxicity, it does not establish a source, and it is not a blood or urine measurement.
This page describes how the figure is calculated and what it is judged against. Anything medical — including any concern about exposure — belongs with your own licensed provider.
I read the three pairings before the mercury figure itself. A number under the limit tells me very little; a Zn/Hg sitting under 200 tells me what protection is actually standing there.
And when mercury goes up on a retest I want the rest of the page beside it. Movement in a toxic metal is a change in the pattern, and the pattern is what I am reading.
Under 0.10 mg% on the Trace Elements set. The level is only part of the reading — mercury is also judged against zinc, iron and selenium.
Zn/Hg at least 200:1, Fe/Hg at least 22:1, and Se/Hg at least 0.8:1. The Fe/Hg minimum was revised from 28 to 22, so quote it with the set it belongs to.
Usually, but not automatically. Hair reports in part what is being eliminated, and mercury is one of the minerals a poor eliminator pattern applies to. A low figure is read alongside the rest of the report.
A full report gives the toxic metals alongside the nutrients they are judged against, so a failing pairing is visible rather than hidden behind an acceptable level.
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.
