How to check trace elements

There are many kinds of trace elements, the most common ones are calcium, iron and zinc. These three elements are also the most easily deficient in the human body. You can go to the hospital for examination and measurement. So how to check trace elements? The most important method of detection is blood, followed by the patient's hair. The results of the examination also have obvious differences. Patients can only use it as a reference. To diagnose the disease, it is necessary to combine the physical symptoms to make a judgment.

Trace element inspection method:

1. Blood

Blood samples can be collected from venous blood or peripheral blood.

The content of trace elements in the human body is low and is easily contaminated by various factors during the sample collection process. Therefore, special care must be taken when collecting trace element blood samples. In addition to the requirements for sample collection set out in the Ministry of Health's Technical Specifications for Clinical Testing of Blood Lead, special trace element test tubes that have passed regular spot checks must also be used, and the test tubes should be immediately sealed with inert and non-contamination materials to prevent the container itself from affecting the test results.

Blood tests are easily contaminated, causing cross-infection, and are inconvenient to sample. They reflect the body's trace element status over a short period of time and are greatly affected by diet and disease. They are only used as clinical guidance.

2. Hair

Human hair includes head hair, armpit hair, beard, chest hair, etc., among which hair testing is the most widely used:

(1) Hair samples are easy to collect and preserve.

(2) As for trace elements, the content in hair is higher than that in other parts of the human body such as blood, saliva, and urine due to accumulation, and it is more stable and easier to analyze.

(3) Hair can reflect the nutritional status of trace elements in the past few weeks to months, and thus can truly reflect the storage status of trace elements.

(4) The protein structure of hair can combine with elements in the environment such as water and atmosphere. The binding force varies with various trace elements. Therefore, trace elements in hair can also serve as an indicator of environmental pollution. It also shows that hair testing cannot represent the true level of trace elements in the body. Medical institutions generally do not use hair testing.

It is generally stipulated that hair samples should be taken no more than 2 cm away from the scalp using stainless steel scissors so that the measurement results are comparable, unless in a retrospective survey, long hair is taken and measured in sections to understand the trace element levels at different periods in the past.

Hair has low activity and a stable content of trace elements. Hair testing is safe, fast, convenient, and less polluting. It will not cause cross infection and is easy to sample. Many elements can be stored or bio-concentrated in hair, which usually reflects the level of elements within cells.

The typical growth rate of hair is 0.35mm, which is called the "recording thread" of trace elements. The trace element content of hair in different parts and lengths is not the same. Therefore, hair can only reflect changes in a certain period of time, but not changes. It reflects the changes in the body's uptake and metabolism of trace elements in different periods and is an ideal indicator that directly reflects the state of the human body.

How to check trace elements? This article introduces two ways of checking. Hospitals mainly use blood for examination. The choice of blood will be different for different ages. Blood will be affected by diet, mood, etc. and will also have certain fluctuations. It is recommended that patients do not eat on the day of examination and adjust their emotions to prevent abnormal test results that will affect the doctor's accurate judgment.