Minerals in the hair and nutrient intake of autistic children.
Hair mineral testing is a dead end; check what kids actually eat.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Kydd et al. (1982) compared hair and diet in autistic kids and matched controls.
They clipped hair, ran mineral tests, and logged three-day food records.
The goal: see if hair minerals flag nutrient trouble in autism.
What they found
Hair levels of iron, zinc, magnesium and others looked the same in both groups.
Daily food logs also showed no big nutrient gaps.
Bottom line: hair testing gave no useful clinical signal.
How this fits with other research
De Palma et al. (2012) repeated the idea with newer gear and a meta-analysis.
They also found nothing meaningful, backing the 1982 null result.
Fido et al. (2005) seems to disagree: they saw higher lead, mercury and uranium in autistic hair.
The clash fades when you note Abdullahi focused on toxic metals, not nutritional ones, and used smaller, unmatched pairs.
Esteban-Figuerola et al. (2019) moved the lens from hair to actual food.
Their meta-analysis showed autistic kids do eat less calcium, vitamin D, omega-3 and dairy, a nuance the 1982 paper missed.
Tsujiguchi et al. (2023) tracked the same kids for three years and confirmed steady shortfalls in calcium, iron and vitamin D, updating the 1982 “adequate” verdict.
Why it matters
Skip hair mineral tests; they waste money and tell you nothing.
Do a quick diet screen instead.
Ask about milk, fish, beans and greens.
If intake looks low, refer to a dietitian and log food for a week.
This simple swap moves you from outdated lab hype to real-world nutrition care.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The concentrations of calcium, magnesium, zinc, copper, lead, and cadmium were determined in scalp hair samples from a group of 12 autistic children and a group of 12 nonautistic control children. The only statistically significant difference between median concentrations of minerals in the hair from the two groups was a 62% decrease in the concentration of cadmium in the hair of autistic children. This decrease was probably not physiologically significant. The nutrient intake of autistic children as a group was found to be adequate and typical of well-fed American children. It was concluded that the children in neither the autistic nor the nonautistic control group showed evidence of toxicity or deficiency of the minerals or nutrients studied, but because of food idiosyncracies nutrient intake should be monitored.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 1982 · doi:10.1007/BF01531671