Researchers from Trinity College Dublin and St. James’s Hospital report that human hair can be used to measure vitamin D. This is important, as traditional blood analysis captures only a moment in time, while hair can reflect vitamin D status over several months capturing the large seasonal differences in vitamin D status. Study co-author Dr. Martin Healy explains, “The finding that vitamin D can be measured in hair samples potentially opens up a new approach to epidemiological studies relating the vitamin to bone and non-bone related medical conditions which have been associated with its deficiency.”

Nutrients, February 2019