American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 25, 376-379, Copyright © 1972 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc.

Hair chromium concentrations of human newborn and changes during infancy

¹ From the Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado Medical Center, Denver, Colorado 80220

Hair concentrations of chromium are significantly higher in the first few months of postnatal life than at any subsequent age. The decline in hair chromium concentration that occurs in the latter part of the first year and/or the second year of life has been demonstrated by analyses at different distances from the scalp of the same hair sample in addition to serial sampling from the same subjects. The similarity between high chromium concentrations in the hair and that in other tissues in the first few months of life and the subsequent decline with increasing age strongly suggest that hair analyses can provide a useful index of chromium nutrition.