ArticleFrontiers in nutrition2023
Single hair analysis by X-ray fluorescence spectrometry detects small changes in dietary zinc intake: A nested randomized controlled trial.
Article in Frontiers in nutrition, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Methods of Assessment of Zinc Status in Humans: An Updated Review and Meta-analysis.Nutrition reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of Zinc-Biofortified Wheat Intake on Plasma Markers of Fatty Acid Metabolism and Oxidative Stress Among Adolescents.Nutrients · 2024Trial
- Type 2 diabetes mellitus and zinc dysregulation: From basic and epidemiological evidence to interventions.Journal of trace elements in medicine and biology : organ of the Society for Minerals and Trace Elements (GMS) · 2025Review
- Human hair as a diagnostic tool in medicine.Biochemistry and biophysics reports · 2025Review
- The Arcana of Zinc.The Journal of nutrition · 2025Review
- Ways to Measure Metals: From ICP-MS to XRF.Current environmental health reports · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors at 5 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The aim of this study was to determine whether X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF) could be used to detect changes in hair zinc concentration in response to a modest daily increase in zinc from the consumption of zinc biofortified wheat flour. This study was conducted as part of an effectiveness trial (BiZiFED2) exploring the potential for zinc biofortified wheat to alleviate zinc deficiency in adolescent girls aged 10-16 years in Pakistan (trial registration ID ISRCTN17107812). A randomized controlled design was used. Participants received either control flour or zinc biofortified flour for 6 months. Consumption of biofortified flour resulted in an average daily increase in dietary zinc intake of 1.5 mg per day above that of the control flour. At baseline and at the end of the intervention, individual hair samples (control: CONTROL: baseline = 119.87 ± 20.33 and endpoint = 121.58 ± 23.58/intervention: baseline = 122.67 ± 24.19 and endpoint = 131.60 ± 21.34); (Zinc counts. CONTROL: baseline = 50.88 ± 14.33 and endpoint = 54.82 ± 14.61/intervention: baseline = 49.61 ± 10.77 and endpoint = 58.79 ± 12.20). For these parameters, there were also significant increases from baseline to endpoint in the intervention group but not in control. Furthermore, for Zn:S count ratio there were no differences in terms of the magnitude of the change from baseline to endpoint in the control group, although significant increases from baseline to endpoint were evident in the intervention group (Zn:S count ratio. CONTROL: baseline = 0.42 ± 0.10 and endpoint = 0.45 ± 0.08/intervention: baseline = 0.41 ± 0.08 and endpoint = 0.45 ± 0.08). A modest increase in dietary zinc over 6 months resulted in a detectable increase in both sulfur and zinc counts in individual hairs measured using XRF. This offers a sensitive, non-invasive method to monitor changes within subjects in response to dietary zinc interventions.
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