| "NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Measuring the amount of melanin in a hair sample independently predicts an individual's risk for melanoma, according to a report in the May 15th issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology." "Melanin is a natural substance that gives color to the hair, skin and iris of the eye, and also protects the skin from damaging rays of the sun." "Determining the amount of melanin as an indication of an individual's skin type could be used to advise patients how often they should be screened for skin cancer and to also provide individualized patient advice, Dr. Stefano Rosso told Reuters Health. " "Rosso from the Piedmont Cancer Registry, Turin, Italy and associates note that hair concentrations of melanin can be measured by various means. " "They used different methods to determine the melanin content in the hair of study participants in Europe and South American (2001-2002) who were enrolled in a large, multicenter skin cancer trial. The study included 98 subjects with melanoma, who were matched with a comparison group of 98 without melanoma." "The researchers found that measuring 2,3,5-pyrroletricarboxylic acid (PTCA) levels, which forms after the oxidation of the pigment eumelanin, provided the strongest results. " "After accounting for the effects of hair color, eye color and number of moles, the researchers found that the subjects with a PTCA concentration below 85 ng/mg had more than four times the risk of developing melanoma, the team reports. " "Near infrared spectroscopy, which the researchers describe as "a less precise but faster and cheaper type of measurement
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