If heavy metals accumulate in the body, they are involved in protein metabolism and cause disease. Youngchildren or adolescents who are overexposed can suffer from development disorders, atopic diseases,obesity, hair loss, depression or aggression. Through hair tissue mineral analysis, the effects of heavymetals that have accumulated in the body on mental and physical health can be estimated. While therehave been studies on their relationship with metabolism through mineral and serological tests, studies ofthe heavy metal content of nails or heavy metal residuals on the skin in Korean adolescents are few. Toprove the relevance of the heavy metal content in the body through nail analysis, this study performeda test on a total of 60 students (30 boys, 30 girls, aged 17-19) living in Seoul. For analysis of the heavymetal content in nails, arsenic, mercury, cadmium, lead, antimony, uranium, aluminum and beryllium weremeasured using an ICP emission spectrochemical analysis tester. According to the test, Be, Al and Pb weredetected in the nails of both boys and girls while U and Hg were found in the nails of girls only. In terms ofthe ‘Be’ content of nails, nails of boys (1.55±0.091) had higher content than girls (1.14±0.072***) (p<.001).
This study investigated the reference values of hazardous heavy metals accumulated in the nails of Koreanadolescents and confirmed differences in heavy metal concentrations through a comparative analysis of theheavy metal content of nails in both boys and girls. In terms of the heavy metal content of nails in the testabove, a statistically significant difference was observed. It has been shown that nails would be useful as atool to measure the heavy metal toxicity levels in the body of Korean adolescents. The study results can alsobe available as basic data for further study on diseases caused by heavy metal residuals in nails and hands.