Determination of trace elements in hair samples from normal and protein-deficient children by activation analysis

Abstract

Radioactivation analysis has been used by several workers to determine trace elements in hair. The present work describes investigations on samples of hair from normal and protein-deficient children in Indonesia. The motivation of the work was based on the following reasoning. Hair is a protein which acts as a slow mode of excretion for inorganic elements absorbed from the diet. If the diet is deficient in protein, the excretory pattern may change; for example the hair of protein-deficient children may change colour. It was hoped that some of the changes in metal content might be useful in diagnosing incipient protein deficiency.