Vitamin D levels can now be measured with your hair

Category: Health published by Shameen published: February 24, 2019, 5:37 pm EST Update: February 24, 2019, 5:37 pm EST

London: Researchers have discovered that human hair can measure vitamin D, paving the way for a better diagnosis of sun vitamin deficiency.

With more than one billion people affected, vitamin D deficiency – a risk factor for depression, cardiovascular disease, inflammation, diabetes and cancer – has reached epidemic proportions worldwide.

While traditional blood tests capture rates at a given time, the hair, which grows about one centimeter a month, could reflect vitamin D status over several months, capturing the large seasonal differences between levels.

"The study presents the idea that vitamin D is continuously deposited in the hair as it grows. It could drop more at times when the vitamin D concentration in the blood is high and less when it is low, "said Lina Zgaga, badociate, author Professor at Trinity College Dublin.

"Therefore, a test based on the hair sample could allow doctors to measure vitamin D status over time, and if the hair is long enough, it could even last for a few years," Zgaga added.

The results were published in the journal Nutrients.

However, further research is needed to establish the exact relationship between vitamin D concentration in the blood and in the hair over time.

It is also necessary to consider various factors that may affect vitamin D levels in the hair, the most obvious being the color and thickness of hair, or the use of hair products such as hair dyes, said Zgaga.

The discovery could also have other applications, because the hair (as well as the teeth) are among the most sustainable biological materials after their death. It is therefore possible to evaluate the vitamin D status of historical populations – Elizabethans, Vikings, Celts, Romans, ancient Chinese, Egyptians, the researchers said.

Source: IANS