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Fingernail Test for Alcohol

  • 30-03-2013 5:02pm
    #1
    Eric1234
    Registered Users Posts: 2 ✭


    Hello Everyone,

    Just curious on this subject. I've looked at alot of the test lab sites and I am still none the wiser on how the test results are measured. Most say that to be considered a cronic alcohol abuser, your results must come back with a reading of over 60g of alcohol consummed on average every day.

    Where i'm confused is to how they can determine the ammout of days that the sample is for. This baffles me more so when the finger nail is too short to be clipped. A shaving is done in these senarios. How can they tell how many days a shaving of the nail equated to?

    If anyone can answer this, I'll have a follow on question. TY


Comments

  • #2
    josey_whale
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 284 ✭✭josey_whale


    The test is for ethyl glucuronide, which is a by-product of ethanol metabolism. Ethyl glucuronide accumulates in the hair (and in nails). This compound is typically measured by Gas Chromatography followed by Mass Spectrometry.

    Hair/nails grows at a fairly predictable rate. For example, hair grows at a rate of approx 1.25cm/month. So if you were a very heavy consumer of alcohol in the past, all you would have to do is take a hair sample, and analyse each segment of hair to go back in time. Similarly, hair grows at approx 1mm/10 days.

    Incidentally, hair and nails can be used to test for other illicit substances such as marijuana (THC).


  • #3
    Eric1234
    Registered Users Posts: 2 ✭Eric1234


    josey_whale wrote: »
    The test is for ethyl glucuronide, which is a by-product of ethanol metabolism. Ethyl glucuronide accumulates in the hair (and in nails). This compound is typically measured by Gas Chromatography followed by Mass Spectrometry.

    Hair/nails grows at a fairly predictable rate. For example, hair grows at a rate of approx 1.25cm/month. So if you were a very heavy consumer of alcohol in the past, all you would have to do is take a hair sample, and analyse each segment of hair to go back in time. Similarly, hair grows at approx 1mm/10 days.

    Incidentally, hair and nails can be used to test for other illicit substances such as marijuana (THC).

    Thanks Josey. So if I'm getting this correct, this is my understanding. Fingernails are scrapped and sample is tested in Gas Chromatography followed by Mass Spectrometry. Total ethyl glucuronide in sample are determined. In this example we say 1500g are detected. The length of your nail is measured. Again in this example we say 13mm, which = 130 days growth. We divide 1500g by 130 days to get average daily intake, which is 11.54g each day.
    Am I correct in working this out?


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