Hair Mineral Analysis of Normal Korean Children

Kim, Gina; Song, Hae Jun

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Minerals play important roles in biological processes. They can cause disease through deficiency, imbalance, and toxicity. Many chronic diseases of children may be related to mineral status. But difficulty in sampling enough numbers and amount of body fluid to see long term mineral status for those children have been obstacles for detailed clinical studies. Though measurements of body mineral status are usually done for body fluid, hair mineral analysis method showed potentiality as a useful clinical tool. It could provide a continuous record of nutritional status and exposure history to heavy metal pollutants. Also it has advantages in sampling and observing the profiles of multiple minerals simultaneously. But lack of normal reference values of hair mineral contents focused on Korean children prevented us from conducting further studies.
OBJECTIVE
The purposes of this study were to survey reference range of hair mineral concentration of Korean children 2 to 7 years old and analysis its characteristics.
METHODS
Mineral concentrations of hair were measured in 78 children 2 to 7 years of age, living in the same area. The contents of fifteen nutritional elements(Ca, Mg, Na, K, Cu, P, Fe, Mn, Cr, Se, B, Co, Mo, S), eight toxic elements(Sb, U, As, Be, Hg, Cd, Pb, Al), and fifteen additional elements(Ge, Ba, Bi, Rb, Li, Ni, Pt, Tl, V, Sr, Sn, Ti, W, Zr) were determined by an inductive coupled plasma mass spectrometry(ICP-MS). Data are analyzed by meticulous statistical approaches.
RESULTS
Though direct comparison was impossible in statistical manner, the suggested reference values of normal Korean children were different in K, Cr, Hg, Pb, Sn, Mg, Sb, Zn, Ge, and U content with American reference value. In normal Korean children, the contents of Ca, Mg, Fe, S, Al, Ba, Ni, Sr, U were higher in girls, and Na, Cr, As, V, Bi were higher in boys. Zn and Sr contents were increased with age, Rb, K, Ti, Pb, Mo, Sn, and V contents were decreased with age.
CONCLUSION
There are considerable differences in hair mineral contents of normal population by race, age, sex. So it is important to use proper reference values to interpret the hair mineral analysis result correctly. We hope future study conducting for the children living in different geographic regions could verify our suggested reference data as a Korean reference value.