The unknown about the use of hair

A new study has just said that eating information stored in hair can help diagnose eating disorders.

Women who suffer from eating disorders often cannot recognize their disease or try to hide it. This makes diagnosis and treatment very difficult. However, new research published in the journal Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry has demonstrated that carbon and nitrogen analysis in hair fibers can tell whether a person actually has an eating disorder. .

(Photo: goldentouchacademy) The hair grows longer by adding new proteins to the main components of the hair and growing more and more from the roots. The structure of these new proteins will be influenced by the current nutritional status of the hairdresser. This nutritional status is affected by eating patterns that of course include eating disorders. Because hair grows continuously, each strand of hair can become a chemical diary, recording the nutritional status of each person from day to day.

The study has just been published this week and is carried out by a group of interdisciplinary scientists from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utal (USA). The study began the analysis of the structure of carbon and nitrogen molecules in hair fibers.

Leading scientist Kent Hatch, Department of Integrative Biology, Brigham Young University said: ' This analysis needs to be tested further before being put into use for daily medical examination but we believe that Current research has proven that this method is really solid and effective. '

He added: 'For some other objective methods such as methods based on low weight compared to age and height to diagnose eating disorders, doctors and houses are up to now. Science is still largely based on information from patients and 'quality' conversations with them. However, Information obtained from this way is often subjective and requires a patient to be honest. Therefore, hair analysis is likely to provide an objective physiological method of diagnosing eating disorders. '