Correlation between the iron, magnesium, potassium and zinc content in adolescent girls' hair and their academic records.

BACKGROUND The aim of this study is to investigate the correlation between school academic records and the iron, magnesium, potassium, and zinc content in adolescent girls' hair. METHODS The iron, magnesium, potassium, and zinc content in hair samples from 148 adolescent girls was determined by atomic absorption spectrometer. Their academic records from 2 school semesters were interrelated. RESULTS There was a positive correlation between magnesium (r = 0.20; p = 0.016), and zinc (r = 0.31; p = 0.001) content in the hair and academic records. Conversely, the academic records had an inverse correlation with the potassium content (r = -0.23; p = 0.019). CONCLUSION The content of magnesium, potassium, and zinc in adolescent girls' hair has a certain correlation with their learning performance. The exact effects of these three trace elements on adolescent learning performance warrants further study.