Scientists can tell what you eat, how much you earn, and how healthy you are by analyzing your hair, research finds

Hair Cut Reuters
Hair Cut Reuters

Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters

  • New hair growth is built on amino acids from foods, which leave markers of the types of protein you consume and can reveal patterns in your eating habits, a study found.

  • An analysis of 684 hair samples showed patterns in communities' socioeconomic status so accurately, researchers could predict the cost of a hair-cut based on protein markers in the hair samples.

  • Scientists say hair could be used in future studies to better track diet, instead of asking people to remember what they ate.

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Your hair could shed new light on what you eat, how much you earn, and what health risks you might face, according to a study published August 3 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Researchers from the University of Utah looked at hair samples collected from barbershop and salon trash bins (with permission) in 65 communities in the US, including 29 ZIP codes in Salt Lake Valley, Utah.

Those hair clippings proved to be a rich source of data about dietary patterns in those communities.

By analyzing amino acids present in hairs, the team could identify where people sourced protein in their diet. As previous research has found, corn-fed meat and plant-based protein produce unique and distinct records in hair samples.

In turn, the researchers used these dietary patterns to accurately predict the ballpark price of the hair-cut that provided them with these hair samples. Lower levels of carbon in the hair indicated higher costs of living, which generally meant a pricier hair-cut, and vice versa.

Finally, the researchers found these dietary patterns derived from hair samples could generally predict the health risks of people in each community. For example, people whose hair betrayed a meat-based diet were more likely to live in areas with higher rates of obesity and cardiovascular disease, as previous research has shown.

Hair samples could be used in future studies to track people's diets

The results could have broad implications for science research, the team concluded.

Hair samples could be a better way to accurately track what people eat than traditional methods like surveys, which rely on people's ability to remember their every morsel of food and drink.

"This measure is not biased by personal recollections, or mis-recollections, that would be reflected in dietary surveys," said Jim Ehleringer, professor of biological science at the University of Utah, said in a press release.

"As an integrated, long-term measure of an individual's diet, the measurement can be used to understand dietary choices among different age groups and different socioeconomic groups."

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