Researchers focus on hair for health analysis

January 2, 2018

Tokyo- A Japanese group including government-affiliated research institute Riken has started a joint study to develop technology to analyze human health from changes in hair shape and components.

The group hopes to develop such technology in two years to improve people's lifestyles and propose appropriate supplements.

With the future participation of a medical institution, it will aim to apply the technology to efforts for the early discovery of diseases including cancer and dementia, officials said.

The research group also includes wig maker Aderans Co., Yahoo Japan Corp. and precision instrument maker Shimadzu Corp..

Hair is currently used to detect traces of narcotics and other drugs. According to Takashi Tsuji, leader of Riken researchers in the group, some research papers suggest hair component changes that are unique to sufferers of ailments such as cancer and diabetes.

It is known that stress and exhaustion are factors behind graying or loss of hair, but there is no benchmark to correlate qualitative changes in hair and health deterioration and to quantify the relationship.

Blood and urine tests indicate current health status. As hair grows about one centimeter per month, some 12 centimeters of hair allows checks on an individual's health condition over the past year.

In the initial phase of its study, the research group plans to ask about 10,000 healthy people across Japan to provide 20 to 30 hairs each and answer questionnaires on their health condition and lifestyle, in order to create a database, the officials said.

If analytical technology is developed in two years, the group will enlist the help of a medical institution in work to identify substance or component changes in hair that will contribute to the early diagnosis of cancer and other illnesses. Jiji Press