The hair shaft contains minerals and proteins, lipids, hormones, melanin pigments, etc. It has been reported that ingredients contained in hair change with the onset of diseases. Thus, there is a tendency that the concentration of iodine in the hair of cancer patients tends to be high, and the hair of diabetic patients tend to be rich in glycine, glutamic acid and isoleucine. Health data are accumulated in hair and there is a possibility that they can be used as a health indicator. Organ Technologies, a Tokyo venture company, is serving as secretariat of a consortium which indlucdes Kyocera, Shimadzu, Daikin, Tosoh and 16 other members.

Organ Technologies news release, December 27, 2017