Vitamin arsenic poisoning

Iron is widely used in over-the-counter vitamin preparations and is a leading cause of childhood poisoning deaths. As few as 10-12 prenatal multivitamins with iron may cause serious illness in a small child. Poisoning with other metals (lead, mercury, arsenic) is also important, especially in industry. See Chapters 33, 56, and 57 for detailed discussions of poisoning by iron and other metals. 

In summary, while hair analysis has been used to detect certain types of heavy metal poisoning (e.g., lead, arsenic, mercury) in populations, its value on an individual basis remains to be established. There are a number of limitations to hair analysis both in terms of analytical procedures and in interpretation of results. For example, the relationship between hair concentration of a trace element or of a vitamin and the concentration of other body tissues is unknown. Basically, hair analysis is of limited value for assessing mineral status and questionable for assessing vitamin status. 

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