Hair Alcohol Test
Hair Alcohol Test by the UK's leading hair testing laboratory
Significant development in alcohol screening
Research reveals that there is a growing demand for more effective alcohol testing, screening, and detection methods. As the price of alcohol falls and accessibility easier than ever, alcohol testing will almost certainly become more important to society as a whole, and especially with family matters and custody cases. When considering the implementation of an alcohol testing programme, we offer you four options:
1. EtG Hair Strand Analysis
2. CDT and LFT Blood Sampling
3. GCMS Urinalysis
4. Evidential Breathalyser
Detecting alcohol in hair
Hair alcohol tests are relatively recent. Until 2004, a hair test could not detect alcohol and thus only used for detecting other drugs. Technological advances mean that a hair test can accurately and reliably establish an individual's alcohol consumption and used evidentially in social and medico-legal cases.
Noviche BioScience provides hair alcohol (EtG) tests to the legal system, social services, rehabilitation institutions, employers, and concerned individual members of the public. When making clinical judgments, histories are made more certain where results are obtained from multiple sources including hair alcohol (EtG) tests, Carbohydrate-Deficient Transferrin (CDT) tests and Liver Function Tests (LFT).
With hair strand collections performed by our chain-of-custody Collection Officers and blood harvested by our team of phlebotomists, Noviche BioScience's alcohol assessment package is the most comprehensive, reliable and holistic set of results available in the UK.
CDT and LFT Blood Screening
CDT is a laboratory blood test used to help detect heavy alcohol consumption. In people who consume significant quantities of alcohol (more than 4 or 5 units per day), the proportion of CDTs is increased. They are considered an important marker for alcohol abuse and can be a useful tool in identifying problem drinking, such as alcohol abuse or alcoholism. Elevated levels of CDT suggest recent alcohol abuse, especially if other liver-associated enzymes are elevated.
Liver Function Tests (LFTs), which involve liver enzymes, are groups of clinical biochemistry laboratory blood assays designed to give information about the state of an individual's liver. Testing is performed on serum or plasma. Some tests are associated with functionality; some with cellular integrity, and some with conditions linked to the biliary tract. Several biochemical tests are useful in the evaluation and management of hepatic dysfunction and are used to (1) identify alcohol abuse, (2) detect the presence of liver disease, (3) distinguish among different types of liver disorders, (4) gauge the extent of known liver damage, and (5) follow response through treatment.
Making the distinction
As hair grows out from its follicle, it absorbs indicators or "markers" from the bloodstream. A hair alcohol test measures a marker called ethyl glucuronide (EtG). EtG markers remain in the hair indefinitely as long as a person doesn't cut it. Due to EtG markers only being produced when there is alcohol in the bloodstream, the more markers that exist, the greater the quantity of alcohol has been consumed (though the correlation is not necessarily a linear one). Extensive studies on EtG testing have established a reliable base line for EtGs and drinking patterns. It is worth noting that hair alcohol test results are averages for month-by-month periods and therefore cannot make a distinction between frequent/daily intake and binge drinking.
Concentration of blood to body hair fails to elicit reliable results, thus only head hair leads to an accurate alcohol assessment and it should be noted that a test cannot be performed reliably if an individual has extremely short hair or a shaved head. A notable positive aspect of a hair alcohol test is that they are non-invasive and can provide an accurate record that dates back many months.
Characteristics of hair alcohol testing
Hair alcohol tests have the following characteristics:
• Alcohol hair tests are many times more costly than urine or breath tests.
• They are relatively non-intrusive.
• Traditionally, hair tests were exclusively used to detect drugs other than alcohol.
• Alcohol hair tests detect alcohol use over a longer period of time than any other test.
• They require a 1cm sample of hair the diameter of a pencil (one month's growth).
• They can accurately detect alcohol, drugs, and combined use of both.
• No adulterants have been found that disrupt hair tests for alcohol.
• Accurate results classify non-drinkers, social drinkers, and heavy drinkers.
• Alcohol hair tests can reduce the need for recurring random alcohol testing.
Hair Alcohol Test Pros
• Alcohol hair tests have a relatively long window of detection of many months.
• They offer greater stability (samples do not deteriorate).
• They provide accurate results for non-drinkers, social drinkers, and heavy drinkers.
• Alcohol hair tests are a non-intrusive form of alcohol testing.
• They provide convenient shipping and storage, since they do not require refrigeration.
• Alcohol hair tests offer a collection procedure that is not invasive or embarrassing.
• They are almost impossible to adulterate.
• Hair test technology detects combinations of alcohol and other drugs.
Hair Alcohol Test Cons
• Alcohol hair tests are relatively expensive.
• They are so recent that many employers are unaware they exist.
• Alcohol hair tests will not work on hair that is less than 1cm long or recently shaved.
• Alcohol hair tests are not reliable on body hair and therefore limited to head hair.
• Irrespective of length, they cannot be performed on a single hair strand.
- Click here to download the Noviche BioScience Hair Alcohol Test Service Agreement
- Click here to download the Noviche BioScience Hair Alcohol Test Information Sheet
Contact Us
For drugs testing, alcohol testing, drug screening, alcohol hair testing, mobile phlebotomist, drugs training, or Drager recalibration in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Chester, Derby, Exeter, Hull, Ipswich, Leeds, Leicester, Lincoln, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Northampton, Nottingham, Norwich, Preston, Shrewsbury, Stafford, Swansea, Swindon, and York, please CONTACT US
