Mineral Status, Toxic Metal Exposure and Children’s Behaviour

This study investigates the relationship between hair element status and problem be-haviour in a sample of 237 children attending grades K through four in Victoria, British Co-lumbia schools. Children were classified on the basis of behavioural status using the Walker Problem Behavior Identification Checklist. Logistic regression analyses were used in order to assess the degree of associa-tion between hair element status and behav-iour. Two analyses were performed for each Walker scale, both of which used behavioural status as the response (dependent) variable. In the first analysis, dummy variables corre-sponding to hair element status were forced into the model in order to identify elements which were significantly associated with be-havioural status as measured on each scale. In the second analysis, these same variables were forced into the model along with social and family factors. Comparison of the results from each analysis allowed for the identifica-tion of elements which were associated with behavioural outcomes before and after consid-ering the effects of the other factors. Amongst all of the elements considered, calcium in par-ticular appears to be of importance, with sig-nificant positive associations observed be-tween ‘low ’ hair levels of this macro-mineral and problem behaviour as measured by the Acting-Out, Withdrawal, Distractibility, and Total scales. With respect to specific behav-ioural problems, ‘distractibility ’ may be the most affected by mineral status, with signifi-cant associations observed (both before and after consideration of the other factors) be-tween problem behaviour of this type and ‘low’ calcium, ‘high ’ manganese, and ‘high ’ cad-mium