这样吃，一周就能让头发中的同位素发生变化｜科学60秒

科研圈 · 公众号 · 科研 · 2025-01-03 17:22

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5根头发，就能测出饮食变化

长期以来，医生都苦于对饮食失调进行诊断和治疗，部分是由于患者可能对自己的行为守口如瓶。但是，正如年轮可以揭示一棵树的树生大事一样，美国杨百翰大学（Brigham Young University）的研究人员发现，只用测试几根头发，就能揭示一个人的饮食习惯变化。

利用质谱分析法，研究人员可以识别出碳同位素和氮同位素重量的微小差异。当人们急剧减少肉类和牛奶等食物的摄入时，一种同位素会发生变化；而当身体真正开始感到饥饿时，另一种同位素也会发生变化。

只需五根头发，这项测试就能……[查看全文]

Eating Disorders Caught By A Hair

Doctors have long struggled to diagnose and treat eating disorders, in part because sufferers can be so secretive about their behavior. But just like looking at the rings can show events in the life of a tree, researchers from Brigham Young University have found that testing only a few strands of a person's hair can reveal changes in eating habits.

They use mass spectrometry to identify tiny differences in the weight of carbon and nitrogen isotopes. The changes occur in one isotope when people sharply reduce intake of foods like meat and milk, and in another, when the body actually begins to starve.

The test, which needs only five strands of hair, predicted with...[full transcript]

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