Stable isotope analysis of modern human hair collected from Asia (China, India, Mongolia, and Pakistan)

Abstract

We report isotopic data (delta(2)H, delta(18)O n = 196; delta(13)C, delta(15)N n = 142; delta(34)S n = 85) from human hair and drinking water (delta(2)H, delta(18)O n = 67) collected across China, India, Mongolia, and Pakistan. Hair isotope ratios reflected the large environmental isotopic gradients and dietary differences. Geographic information was recorded in H and O and to a lesser extent, S isotopes. H and O data were entered into a recently developed model describing the relationship between the H and O isotope composition of human hair and drinking water in modern USA and pre-globalized populations. This has anthropological and forensic applications including reconstructing environment and diet in modern and ancient human hair. However, it has not been applied to a modern population outside of the USA, where we expect different diet. Relationships between H and O isotope ratios in drinking water and hair of modern human populations in Asia were different to both modern USA and pre-globalized populations. However, the Asian dataset was closer to the modern USA than to pre-globalized populations. Model parameters suggested slightly higher consumption of locally produced foods in our sampled population than modern USA residents, but lower than pre-globalized populations. The degree of in vivo amino acid synthesis was comparable to both the modern USA and pre-globalized populations. C isotope ratios reflected the predominantly C(3)-based regional agriculture and C(4) consumption in northern China. C, N, and S isotope ratios supported marine food consumption in some coastal locales. N isotope ratios suggested a relatively low consumption of animal-derived products compared to western populations.

Expanding the Isotopic Toolbox: Applications of Hydrogen and Oxygen Stable Isotope Ratios to Food Web Studies

“…This suggests that the dual-isotope system (Hobson et al, 2004;Myers et al, 2012;Hobson and Koehler, 2015). Some potential contributors to the relatively poor relationship in δ 18 O values may be due to the exchanges of O in body water with O in the CO 2 of dissolved body water (McCluney and Sabo, 2010), or that in aquatic organisms, organically bound oxygen, particularly Ehleringer et al, 2008) and Asian cities (n = 25, Thompson et al, 2010) as well as mid-twentieth century indigenous populations (n = 26, Bowen et al, 2009). A strong correlation exists between the H and O isotope ratios of these globally distributed samples.…”

“…Theoretical models derived for predicting the isotopic composition of human hair based on drinking water and dietary inputs explain 85% of the variability in observed variations of samples from the United States (Craig, 1961), ranging from 5.0 to 8.3 in humans (Fraser et al, 2006;O'Brien and Wooller, 2007;Ehleringer et al, 2008;Bowen et al, 2009;Thompson et al, 2010); 6.4-7.2 in birds (Wolf et al, 2011);and 3.8-5.8 in insects (McCluney and Sabo, 2010). The shallower slope may be a result of differing and separate controls on δ 2 H tissue and δ 18 O tissue values, such as proportion local diet fraction and fraction of tissue H fixed in vivo (Bowen et al, 2009).…”

Carbon and Nitrogen Stable Isotope Values for Plants and Mammals in a Semi-Desert Region of Mongolia

“…Makarewicz & Tuross (2006) also explored the difference in livestock and wild ungulate isotopes due to diet. Thompson et al (2010) focused on the variation in human isotope values across Asia, including central Mongolia.…”

Stable isotope analysis of soft tissues from mummified human remains

“…As water also enters the body through the food we eat, there is also the possibility that δ 2 H and δ 18 O can serve as a paleodiet proxy (Thompson et al 2010;Bowen et al 2009). However, the potential for investigating palaeodiet and location remains.…”