Physiological parameters affecting the hair element content of young Italian population

Hair element characterization of homogeneous population (no-smoker teenagers, 15-19 years, 27 males, 104 females) along with the relationship between elements (32 analyzed by INAA) and some physiological parameters is reported: the inorganic fraction content varies according to sex, hair natural color and hair type. Correlations between elements allowed to extrapolate interesting considerations. Hair color shows slightly positive correlation values for S, Zn, Ba and Mo whereas hair type does not show significant correlations among various elements. Finally, a canonical analysis showed high positive coefficients for some alkaline-earth elements and other of exogenous origin. (author)