Hair Strands Detect Eating Disorder

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Wednesday, October 18, 2006; 12:00 AM

By Caroline Penn, Ivanhoe Health Correspondent

ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Researchers have figured out a way to biologically determine if someone has an eating disorder, and all it takes is a few hairs.

Researchers at Brigham Young University's Department of Integrative Biology in Provo, Utah, have developed a method for testing hairs to determine whether someone has an eating disorder or not. People with eating disorders often go to extreme measures to hide their behavior. They often won't admit they have a problem or are in such denial they don't realize they have a problem.

Anorexics and bulimics may bend the truth on surveys, wear multiple layers of clothing, or even put heavy items in their pockets when being weighed. With this new test, a clinician can quickly and accurately get the dietary history of a patient, rather than relying on a physical exam or a questionable survey.

Kent Hatch, an assistant professor at BYU and lead author of the study was already devising a hair test to determine how much meat black bears were eating in various areas, when a colleague pitched the idea to him.

The test works by examining a human hair -- from the scalp -- for differences in carbon and nitrogen amounts. Researchers chop up the hair and burn the segments so they can record the carbon and nitrogen ratios. A computer analysis using a mass spectrometer looks at variation in ratio changes that may signal signs of an eating disorder. A freshly plucked hair can hold the results of what was or wasn't digested as early as seven days prior.

Researchers collected hair samples from 20 patients at Orem's Center for Change, a clinic that specializes in eating disorders. Hairs from fellow biology students served as the control group. The tests were able to positively indicate eating disorders 80 percent of the time. "...That we could be so accurate in diagnosis, to have that good of a result the first time through is incredibly encouraging," Hatch told Ivanhoe.

However, there is a high rate of eating disorder relapse after release. This technology could enable clinicians to monitor an out-patient's recovery, simply by taking a hair sample every couple of months.