Stable isotope composition of human fingernails from Slovakia
2014
Grolmusová, Zuzana | Rapčanová, Anna | Michalko, Juraj | Čech, Peter | Veis, Pavel
Stable isotope composition of human fingernails has proven to be useful for documenting human dietary information and geographical patterns in archeological, forensic, anthropological and biological studies. Therefore, it is of interest to detect all factors influencing the stable isotopic composition in the certain regions in the world.Carbon and nitrogen isotope data of human fingernail keratin from 52 individuals from Slovakia were reported in this study. The online combustion and continuous flow isotope-ratio mass spectrometer Delta V Advantage was used for δ13C and δ15N analysis of fingernail keratin samples from 24 vegetarian and 28 omnivorous individuals.A group of people with frequent meat consumption showed enrichment in 13C and 15N isotopes in fingernails. A similar trend was observed with increasing seafood in an individual's diet. Moreover a significant difference was revealed between smokers and nonsmokers for both δ13C and δ15N values. These data were compared to previously published δ13C and δ15N fingernail values from across the globe.This study brings new information on the stable isotope signature of individuals from Slovakia and characterizes the Central European region for the first time. The stable isotope composition of fingernails is influenced by the frequency of meat and seafood consumption as well as smoking.
Show more [+] Less [-]AGROVOC Keywords
Bibliographic information
This bibliographic record has been provided by National Agricultural Library