Wednesday, August 22, 2007

HAIR ANALYSIS

Very interesting question. The Hair analysis is the chemical analysis to measure mineral content etc. of a hair sample usually taken from the back of the neck.. Hair may be considered for retrospective purposes when blood and urine are no longer expected to contain a particular contaminant, typically for a year or less. Its most most widely accepted use in Forensic and environmental Toxicology e.g. detection of Alcohol or drug abuse or for monitoring of these patients treatment. But Hair analysis is worthless for assessing the body's nutritional status or serving as an aid for dietary or supplement recommendations. Some practitioners use this to diagnose wide variety of conditions or even predisposition to certain diseases and not just hair loss.This is on the basis of mineral deficiency heavy metal pollutants, mineral imbalance in the hair. Well the fundamental flaws in Hair Analysis are mineral content can be affected by shampoo, dye bleach etc.; the concentration of minerals do not correlate with that of the hair & it can be affected by the color, diameter and rate of growth of an individual's hair, the season of the year, the geographic location, and the age and gender of the individual. Following link is worth checking: http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/hair.html For majority of hair conditions diagnosis is reached by History, clinical examination and by using dermascopy.