ELEMENTAL COMPOSITION OF HEAD HAIR AND FINGERNAILS OF SOME NIGERIAN SUBJECTS

In this article, we present the elemental concentrations determined by INAA for 30 elements measured in some or all head hair samples of 100 Nigerian subjects and 20 elements in the fingernails of some of the s ame subjects. Measurements of the skewness of the distribution of each element in both tissues confirm previous reports that many tend towar d a log-normal distribution. Thus, their concentrations in the tissues may not be under any homeostatic control. The ranges of elemental con centrations together with the medians, and the arithmetic and geometri c means, with their respective standard deviations are presented and c ompared with literature values for other populations. Correlations bet ween elements detected in hair are also sought.