Hair samples may help determine the risk of a child developing mental and other chronic illnesses later in their life, research led by the University of Melbourne has found.
Researchers assessed the level of cortisol in the hair of 70 nine-year-old children from primary schools across Victoria. Cortisol is known as the “stress hormone” because it is released in response to acute stress to help the body react and cope.
The greater number of traumatic events a child had experienced, such as divorce, injury, moving house, severe illness or the death of a family member, the higher the hair cortisol concentrations were, the researchers found.
[For more of this story, written by Melissa Davey, go to http://www.theguardian.com/soc...e-mental-health-risk]
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