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Mineral Concentrations in Hair of Belgian Elementary School Girls: Reference Values and Relationship with Food Consumption Frequencies

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Abstract

Although evidence suggests that hair elements may reflect dietary habits and/or mineral intake, this topic remains controversial. This study therefore presents age-specific reference values for hair concentrations of Ca, Cu, Fe, Na, Mg, P and Zn using the LMS method of Cole, and investigates the relationship between dietary habits (i.e. food consumption frequencies) and hair mineral concentrations in 218 Belgian elementary school girls by reduced rank regression (RRR). Hair minerals were quantitatively determined via inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry after microwave-assisted acid digestion of 6-cm long vertex posterior hair samples. The Children’s Eating Habits Questionnaire—Food Frequency Questionnaire was used to obtain information on food consumption frequency of 43 food items in the month preceding hair collection. The established reference ranges were in line with data for other childhood or adolescent populations. The retained RRR factors explained 40, 50, 45, 46, 44 and 48 % of the variation of Ca, Cu, Fe, Mg, P and Zn concentrations in hair, respectively. Although this study demonstrated that a large proportion of hair mineral variation may be influenced by food consumption frequencies in elementary school girls, a number of food groups known to be rich sources of minerals did not show a relation with certain hair minerals. Future research should focus on mechanisms and processes involved in mineral incorporation and accumulation in scalp hair, in order to fully understand the importance and influence of diet on hair minerals.

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Acknowledgements

The project was financed by the European Community within the Sixth RTD Framework Program contract no. 016181 (FOOD) and the research council of Ghent University (Bijzonder Onderzoeksfonds). Barbara Vanaelst, Tineke De Vriendt, Krishna Vyncke, Isabelle Sioen, Lieve Balcaen and Maite Aramendia are financially supported by the Research Foundation—Flanders (grant no.: 1.1.894.11.N.00, 1.1.746.09.N.01, 1.1.905.10.N.00, 1.2.683.11.N.00, 1.2.031.09.N.01 and 1.2.031.09.N.01, respectively). Nathalie Michels is financially supported by the research council of Ghent University (Bijzonder onderzoeksfonds). María R. Flórez is financially supported by Gent University (project BOF 01SB0309) and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (project CTQ2009-08606). The authors wish to thank the ChiBS children and their parents who generously volunteered and participated in this project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health, University Hospital, Ghent University, De Pintelaan 185, 2 block A, 2nd floor, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Barbara Vanaelst, Inge Huybrechts, Nathalie Michels, Krishna Vyncke, Isabelle Sioen, Tineke De Vriendt & Stefaan De Henauw

  2. Ph.D. fellowship of the Research Foundation—Flanders (FWO), Egmontstraat 5, 1000, Brussels, Belgium

    Barbara Vanaelst, Krishna Vyncke & Tineke De Vriendt

  3. Dietary Exposure Assessment Group, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC/WHO), 150 Cours Albert Thomas, 69372, Lyon CEDEX 08, France

    Inge Huybrechts

  4. Post-Doc fellowship of the Research Foundation—Flanders (FWO), Egmontstraat 5, 1000, Brussels, Belgium

    Isabelle Sioen, Maite Aramendía & Lieve Balcaen

  5. Department of Analytical Chemistry, University of Zaragoza, c/Pedro Cerbuna 12, 50009, Zaragoza, Spain

    Maria R. Flórez & Martin Resano

  6. Department of Analytical Chemistry, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281, S12, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Maria R. Flórez, Lieve Balcaen & Frank Vanhaecke

  7. Centro Universitario de la Defensa—Academia General Militar de Zaragoza, Carretera de Huesca s/n, 50090, Zaragoza, Spain

    Maite Aramendía

  8. Department of Health Sciences, Vesalius, Hogeschool Gent, Keramiekstraat 80, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Stefaan De Henauw

Authors
  1. Barbara Vanaelst
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  2. Inge Huybrechts
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  12. Stefaan De Henauw
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Correspondence to Barbara Vanaelst.

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Laboratory information

Atomic and mass spectrometry (A&MS) research unit, Department of Analytical Chemistry, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281-S12, 9000 Ghent http://www.analchem.ugent.be/A&MS/

Appendix

Appendix

Annex 1 Instrument settings and data-acquisition parameters used for the measurements with an Element XR sector field ICP–mass spectrometer
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Annex 2 Analytical method validation figures
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Annex 3 Evaluation of the precision in terms of the reproducibility (expressed as relative variation) and limits of detection (calculated as three times the standard deviation of the procedural blanks divided by the slope of the external calibration curve) for the analytical method
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Vanaelst, B., Huybrechts, I., Michels, N. et al. Mineral Concentrations in Hair of Belgian Elementary School Girls: Reference Values and Relationship with Food Consumption Frequencies. Biol Trace Elem Res 150, 56–67 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-012-9495-5

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