Little is known about hair minerals in cancer patients, and serum iron level has been shown to be elevated in breast cancer
patients. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate hair iron and hair minerals’ level related to hair iron in breast
cancer patients compared to controls. We compared hair mineral analysis data of 40 breast cancer subjects with age and body
mass index-matched normal control data (
n = 144) by cross-sectional analysis. All breast cancer patients were newly diagnosed at one Breast Cancer Center in Ajou University
and had their hair cut before anti-cancer chemotherapy, and the normal controls (without breast cancer) also had their hair
cut for various reasons in out-patient clinics of the Department of Family Practice and Community Health. Breast cancer patients
had low calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, manganese, and zinc, whereas they had high arsenic, sodium, and potassium compared
with the normal control. The hair iron level was positively correlated with hair calcium (
r = 0.761,
P < 0.001), magnesium (
r = 0.643,
P < 0.001), and manganese (
r = 0.550,
P < 0.001) and negatively correlated with arsenic (
r = −0.537,
P < 0.001). The hair iron level was significantly associated with the hair calcium (
β = 0.778,
P < 0.001) and manganese (
β = 0.240,
P < 0.001) by using multiple linear regression analysis. We observed different hair mineral patterns in breast cancer patients
compared to normal controls. Especially, hair iron level was significantly reduced and associated with hair calcium and manganese
levels.
Keywords Hair mineral analysis - Iron - calcium - Breast cancer