Is there a toxicologist who would like together with me to write a small article / letter about hair analysis of trace elements and toxic metals?

To detect things that shouldn't be there like arsenic, mercury, illegal drugs, yes. To determine whether someone has excess or deficient levels of nutrients, absolutely not.

Perhaps you will find some first hints here:

1: Mikulewicz M, Chojnacka K, Gedrange T, Górecki H. Reference values of elements

in human hair: a systematic review. Environ Toxicol Pharmacol. 2013

Nov;36(3):1077-86. doi: 10.1016/j.etap.2013.09.012. Epub 2013 Sep 30.

2: Shamberger RJ. Validity of hair mineral testing. Biol Trace Elem Res. 2002

Summer;87(1-3):1-28.

Most commercial laboratories do not pass validation , and sample preparation methods used are too sensitive to possible errors .

Dr. Barrett gives the example of when he sent his hair is proving to several laboratories , and all the results (and their interpretations ) were different. If he is sent to check two identical samples ( different positioning them ) then get different results within a single laboratory . The overall result of all analyzes was - large spiskok dietary supplements , which must be bought for what would improve their health.

  The content depends on the specific trace color , the diameter of hair growth rate , time of the year , geographic location, age and sex of the person.

Arsenicism. Mercury has better results on urine

Dear Geir

Unfortunately the field is beset with a good deal of quackery. Clearly if you can identify toxins or illicit drugs then that can be useful eg :

Pragst F., Balikova M.A.(2006): State of the art in hair analysis for detection of drugs and alcohol abuse; Clinica Chimic Acta 370 17-49.

Equally population studies may be performed e.g. Arsenic which is besetting China and Bangladesh ( See recent paper in Science) Q.V.

I.M. Kempson & E. Lombi (2011) Hair analysis as a biomonitor for toxicology, disease and health status. Chemical Society Reviews 40, 3915-3940

However its use in individual subjects / patients is fraught with difficulty, due in part to the factors mentioned by others in this forum.

Hope this helps

You can absolutely detect things that shouldn't be there like lead, mercury, illegal drugs, yes but to decide if someone has excess or deficient levels of nutrients, absolutely not.

Yes, several heavy metals such lead, zinc, arsenic, mercury, illegal drugs, can be detected in low concentration.

Hi Hair mineral analysis is a basic technique and it does give very good results. However, the crucial aspect of these results is the interpretation and further relationship with disease either in animals or humans. The results of hair mineral analysis give the previous history of mineral dyshomeostasis/ imbalances in an individual for many chronic diseases affecting both animals and humans. Such results ,if understood properly could form the perfect basis of control measures of various diseases. The most important criterion to apply these results are that the investigator should have the clear knowledge of very basic interactions of various minerals with each other as to antagonistic and or synergistic.

Jasmer Singh Ph. D.

The "Barrett paper" noted earlier is JAMA 1985;254:1041-1045

http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=400244

Barrett concludes that "...commercial use of hair analysis in this manner is unscientific, economically wasteful, and probably illegal."

On a side note a laboratory offering such analyses using hair as a sample is involved in litigation with Barrett since 2010:

http://bolenreport.com/feature_articles/ddvbarrett%20amend.pdf

One of the major problems with the interpretation of (quantitative) analytical results in hair analysis in general is to differentiate the portion of analytes originating from inside the body (via blood stream, sweat and/or sebum) from the portion coming from outside (external contamination from dust etc.). For some analytes, the detection of metabolites may help, but in the case of minerals or trace elements you will hardly be able to find out.

I understand the limitations in human samples, where there is variation in hair colour and hair products used, but what about the analysis of mineral content in large hairs such as the whiskers of leopards, lions or cheetahs? I would like to compare samples from free-ranging animals to those in captivity. Surely the whiskers can be washed to remove environmental containments?

Environmental contaminants are not washed off completely, because the analytes reach deeper areas of the hair matrix by diffusion - it is just a matter of time (and humidity for water soluble contaminants).

Hi all,

Hair is known to be rich in sulfur in the form of disulfide linkages because it made of fibrous proteins, but many factors as nutrition, pollution, and even the use of reducing and oxidising lotions, which can reduce or oxidise the disulfide linkages, for example the use of reducing agents can make sulfhydril groups readily available to combine with metals, especially in the polluted regions. So the great difficulty is related to the factors affecting hair contents of metals, which make the interprtation of the results hard to be understood.

Hi Hair mineral analysis is not a new technique and has been a recognized one since long for malicious poisonings. Even today hair mineral analysis is one of the authentic tests being used to diagnose many chronic diseases like Autism, Parkinsnism, Epilepsy, Migraine, to name a few, for which the literature extant is inundated with scientific publications.Hence, on the basis of some data from unrecognized analytic laboratories the hair mineral analysis technique in itself need not be considered redundant. We have used this technique for quite long time till today with most authentic results.

Jasmer singh Ph D .

Dear Geir

The hair provides a record of past and current levels of trace elements.

In contrast to the blood, hair is an inert substance which is a fibrous protein and trace elements. As hair grows, nutrients and trace elements are deposited from the blood flow to the hair follicle and hair shaft. Once a trace element is incorporated in the hair, it remains fixed.

A sample run is painless, and the transmission of the sample is not timely.

The analysis tests the hair requires meticulous sample preparation, during which the sample is freed from all external contaminants. Sample analysis is performed using the same criteria instrumentation laboratory diagnostics, which require metal to blood and urine tests.

Hair analysis, when performed properly, it is a reliable measure of the level of tissues. Source: Jenkins DW. Toxic Metals in Mammalian Hair and Nails. EPA Report 600, 1979

Hi all,

Once more: Please do not underestimate the possibility of contamination from dust, hair care products etc. - wet human scalp hair dwells to several times the volume of dry hair. This facilitates incorporation of substances from outside into the hair matrix (more lipophilic compounds diffuse along the cell membrane complex).

See e.g. Moosmann et al.: Hair analysis for THCA-A, THC and CBN after passive in vivo exposure to marijuana smoke. Drug Testing and Analysis 2014, 6, 119-125.

Volker

Hi The question is' Is hair analyssis of MINERAL and TRACE ELEMENTS reliable?' The hair samples for analysis are taken from closest area of its shaft which is inert biologicaly, hence, diffusion is not possible. Furthermore, before collecting samples no dye or shampoo etc., should be used for a week or so to avoid contaminants. However, for estimation of drugs samples of tissues, blood, urine etc are considered most reliable.

Jasmer singh Ph D

I've used hair analysis a number of times over the years. A mineral may be high in the hair because the person's body contains a more of it, or because the body is ridding itself of the subtance. One thng hair analysis can do is indicate the metabolic type, from whch one can determine the correct diet and supplements for this person. Hair analysis has had the greatest impact on my cases where there were toxic minerals, eg. Cadmium in someone working in a garage. I've also found cases where the patient had been supplementing with one mineral and totally thrown out their balance with it. You need to use a reliable and knowledgable laboratory which can interpret the results correctly.

I think it's ok

After taking all due care of collection (without dye,clean wash etc) of hair samples for analysis,the content of toxic elements in hair shows long run exposure of the same.

Adding rhe site of the hair which is used as a sample, you can evaluate the time when the intoxication did occured .

Yes, hair analysis for minerals and trace elements is reliable if it is done by a reliable laboratory with experience in this type of tests. In literature you can find a lot of papers where thiese tests are used for diagnosis of many diseases in humans.

Hi Hair mineral analysis is not only reliable but also the only technique which would give the previous history of mineral dyshomeostasis for about last three months. This is particularly true in case of chronic degenerative maladies like arthritis, AD, Autism, Migraine, Parkinson's disease, Leukoderma, ALS and many more which have been ignored , thus far. The most important aspect regarding trace minerals, metalloenzymes ( as catalysts), and other co-factors intricately involved in the degeneration/regeneration need full attention of scientific community in general and Medical fraternity in particular. These investigations would result in the evolution of simple and economical treatments (almost without serious side effects) of many disabling and economically most devastating afflictions of humans and livestock.

Jasmer Singh Ph D

Yes why not.It is a regular way to diagnose either trace element toxicity of trace element deficiency

Hair, urine or blood mineral analysis are not a regular way to diagnosis because are very expensive tests, and their execution is only done by specialized laboratories. However, even so, many high Clinical Centers in the world are using it.

Using flameless atomic absorption you can easily measure trace element content of hair

accurately.if you use flame you should ash it first dissolve in acid and then measure it.OK

Which are the elements that can be found in the hair sample of an individual?

Zinc determination in hair is one of the way to follow Zinc metabolism in Zinc deficient people.In trace element toxicity also use hair sample.

The most important question here is: are you interested in the past nutritional status or the present one? For the past exposure, such test might be great but for the present state it is almost worthless, when not considering the permanent damage from the past overdose. Although some diseases may represent a persistent nutrient deficiency, the logic says that the presence of the disease is a predictor of the nutritional status, without the need of expensive tests anyway. I am not an expert in this field, but I am sure that in order to assess the current nutritional status for a possible intervention, other biomarkers have to looked at and even those have their limitations.

I've looked into this in the past a bit and just recently saw this post referenced in another question.

Heavy metal and mineral analysis in hair in the past has had a mixed reception. On the one hand, it has been applied to legitimate scientific studies of diseases. On the other, it has been applied to some pretty shady businesses that use less-than-reliable labs to assess nutritional intake and then sell you vitamins that supposedly will cure your maladies.

I think that it has its uses assuming there is a sound sample collection and preparation methodology and robustly validated analytical method behind it. Some of the posts above have discussed the good applications of such an analysis.

now how to use UV photo spectrometer for such work from hair sample, can any body tell me standard methods/protocol for such work.

Is there a toxicologist who would like together with me to write a small article / letter about hair analysis of trace elements and toxic metals?

 I already uploaded one manuscript regarding the hair Hg analysis in Sri Lanka. Is that match with your requirement. We analysed some other metals also using AAS

yes ofcourse but you should reliable technique such as flame less atomic absorption spectrophotometry.

One has to watch for contamination due to hair colorants, hair preparation products, and even air pollutants.  The further from the scalp the sample is taken, the further back in time one is analyzing.  Various health conditions affect hair growth including aging. 

Hair analysis can be useful to screen for long term exposure to various heavy metals.  I'm uncertain that it always correlates nicely to body burden or that it is useful in deficiency screening.  A major advantage is that it is non-invasive, doesn't degrade or require refrigeration, and requires little technical skill to obtain a sample.

Hi  Hair mineral analyses is not a new technique but from time immemorial days , of course, whatever methods were available -qualitative etc., have been in use. However, with progress in technological innovations "Hair mineral analysis"  has made its mark as most dependable, precise and well recognized technique in clinical investigations. However, the interpretation of its analytical results needs thorough basic knowledge of interactions of minerals and the proteins e.g., enzyme catalysts, and their imbalances in molecular reactions in relation to disease.

Jasmer Singh 

Hair analysis  technique is very reliable especially for heavy metal such as Pb, Hg and Cd

 Substances in hair have been detected weeks or months after the period of ingestion/exposure/poisoning, depending on the amount of used. Also has many advantages as a preliminary screening method for the presence of toxic substances deleterious to health after exposures in air, dust, sediment, soil and water, food and toxins in the environment. The advantages of hair analysis include the non-invasiveness, low cost and the ability to measure a large number of, potentially interacting, toxic and biologically essential elements. To find ingestion/exposure/poisoning of the compounds, hair analysis is also useful method using segmental hair analysis.

Did you start to write article about hair analysis? If not, I can involve it..

I do agree with dagmer

Request a pdf file. Thank you very much. Hongxin

Thank you very much. Actually I have no access to the journal, so could you please upload or email me ([email protected]) the PDF file?

Best,

Hongxin

Honestly added:

unfortunately I don't have access to the article of Kruse-Jarres 2000.

If you visit PubMed [ inserting here the original URL creates the following:]Article Limited usefulness of essential trace element analyses in hair

therefore I shall add the original PubMed-URL with atwon additional "underline characters" which have to be deleted prior to clicking the pasted URL in your browser : < https__://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11010312 > you'll find (right margin of webpage, rectangle: 'Similar Articles') )some younger articles/reviews on the matter, like

Article Trace element analysis in hair: Factors determining accuracy...

Article [Methodical approaches to determination of microelements in ...

or: Article Evaluation of the use of human hair for biomonitoring the de...

(ending up in their Summary with:

".... Our findings suggest that while the idea of measuring trace elements in hair is attractive, hair is not an appropriate biomarker for evaluating Cu, Mn and Sr deficiency or Pb exposure."

Eventually - for further articles - also see:

PDF for: BASS et al. 2001: Trace Element Analysis in Hair: FactorsDetermining Accuracy, Precision, andReliability

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2ee2/0e14ced33cdf871a9f1054adfe5908d9f133.pdf;

https://www.atgcchecker.com/pubmed/11010312;

http://www.aetna.com/cpb/medical/data/300_399/0300.html ( =

Hair Analysis. AETNA-Clinical Policy Bulletins, latest review of article: 2019) ;

https://www.aetnabetterhealth.com/pennsylvania/assets/pdf/pharmacy/pharmacy-bulletins/0300%20Hair%20Analysis.pdf;

or also:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Hair_analysis_(alternative_medicine)