Stable isotope ratios of carbon, nitrogen and selenium concentration in the scalp hair of Crohn's disease patients who ingested the elemental diet Elental®

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Elental® is an elemental diet widely used as a nutritional supplement for Crohn's disease (CD) patients in Japan. Elental® contains amino acids as nitrogen sources and does not contain selenium (Se), and the δ13C and δ15N values of Elental® are markedly higher and lower, respectively, than those of a normal diet.
We compared the δ13C and δ15N values and Se concentration in the scalp hair of CD patients with those of control subjects who ate a regular diet, and estimated the amount of Elental® ingested as a supplement. The δ13C and δ15N values and the Se concentrations were quantified using isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP‐MS), respectively.
An increase in Elental® ingestion increased the δ13C value in the hair of CD patients (p <0.05), while it reduced the δ15N value (p <0.05) and tended to reduce the Se concentration in female patients.
The amount of Elental® ingested could be estimated by the δ13C and δ15N values in the hair of CD patients. Furthermore, the Se deficiency in female patients may be predicted from the δ13C and δ15N values.