Hair Test Analysis
Your hair is made of keratin, which are dead protein cells that are extruded from your body through the hair follicle. Because of this, hair contains trace elements of vitamins, minerals and chemicals that are present in the body at the time the hair shaft is extruded. For this reason, hair test analysis is being used more often for workplace drug screenings, health tests for vitamin deficiency and forensic analysis.
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Function
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Hair test analysis can give a complete picture of a person's health history by indicating internal exposure to many substances. It may be used for pre-employment drug screenings to determine the presence of marijuana, cocaine or methamphetamines. It also can be used by nutritionists to check for vitamin and mineral deficiencies, or by doctors to screen for heavy metals such as mercury and pesticides or food chemicals such as aspartame.
Significance
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Hair is the second most active tissue, metabolically speaking, in the human body. Hair cells can be affected by blood content, perspiration, genetics, hormones, environment and enzymes. A single hair shaft can give a history of what has been going on inside the body at a submolecular level for several months.
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Misconceptions
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Some objections to hair samples include the possibility of outside contaminants, such as shampoo or marijuana smoke, possibly giving a hair analysis test a false reading. However, since a hair analysis only studies what is in the hair itself, a shaft of hair can be cleaned and sterilized before being analyzed. This eliminates the possibility of outside contaminants. Other misconceptions include the belief that scalp hair is the only hair that can be tested, and that the root of the hair must be included to accurately test the hair. In fact, a hair from the body can give an accurate reading for a hair test analysis. The hair sample can be clipped from the body or scalp; it does not need to include the root.
Benefits
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The benefits of a hair analysis include the accuracy of the test. Most hair tests are more accurate than blood or urine tests. It is also harder to contaminate such tests. Finally, for the purposes of pre-employment drug screening, it is harder to cheat on a hair analysis test. The only limiting factor in a hair analysis test is that the test is limited by the length of hair that can be collected in the sample. The longer the hair, the more complete history of health a person may obtain.
Process
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To complete a hair analysis, a lock of hair is snipped from close to the body and placed in a plastic collection bag. The bag is then sent to a testing facility for analysis. After analyzing the hair, the testing facility returns the results to the client who sent in the sample.
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References
- Photo Credit Photo by J. Durham
