earticle

영어

If heavy metals accumulate in the body, they are involved in protein metabolism and cause disease. Young children or adolescents who are overexposed can suffer from development disorders, atopic diseases, obesity, hair loss, depression or aggression. Through hair tissue mineral analysis, the effects of heavy metals that have accumulated in the body on mental and physical health can be estimated. While there have been studies on their relationship with metabolism through mineral and serological tests, studies of the heavy metal content of nails or heavy metal residuals on the skin in Korean adolescents are few. To prove the relevance of the heavy metal content in the body through nail analysis, this study performed a test on a total of 60 students (30 boys, 30 girls, aged 17-19) living in Seoul. For analysis of the heavy metal content in nails, arsenic, mercury, cadmium, lead, antimony, uranium, aluminum and beryllium were measured using an ICP emission spectrochemical analysis tester. According to the test, Be, Al and Pb were detected in the nails of both boys and girls while U and Hg were found in the nails of girls only. In terms of the ‘Be’ content of nails, nails of boys (1.55±0.091) had higher content than girls (1.14±0.072***) (p<.001). This study investigated the reference values of hazardous heavy metals accumulated in the nails of Korean adolescents and confirmed differences in heavy metal concentrations through a comparative analysis of the heavy metal content of nails in both boys and girls. In terms of the heavy metal content of nails in the test above, a statistically significant difference was observed. It has been shown that nails would be useful as a tool to measure the heavy metal toxicity levels in the body of Korean adolescents. The study results can also be available as basic data for further study on diseases caused by heavy metal residuals in nails and hands.