Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2001, 195 (3)

Concentrations of Trace Elements in Sweat during Sauna Bathing

AKIO HOSHI, HIROMI WATANABE,¹ MASATOSHI KOBAYASHI,² MOMOKO CHIBA,¹
YUTAKA INABA,¹ NAOTO KIMURA³ and TAKASHI ITO³

Department of Health and Physical Education, Nippon Dental University, Tokyo 102-8159,
¹Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Tokyo 113-8421,
²Department of the Second Anatomy, Kurume University School of Medicine, Fukuoka 830-0011, and
³Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Nippon Sports Science University, Tokyo 158-0081

Trace elements in sweat during sauna bathing were assessed. Sweat collected by the whole body method was compared with that collected by the arm bag method. The sweat samples were collected from ten healthy male adults aged 22-26 years, by heat exposure in dry sauna bathing (60°C, 30 minutes). Concentrations of major (Na, Cl, K, Ca, P and Mg) and trace (Zn, Cu, Fe, Ni, Cr and Mn) elements in sweat tended to be lower in the arm bag method than in the whole body method. It was found that Ca, Mg, Fe and Mn concentrations in the arm bag method were significantly lower than those in the whole body method. The amount of trace elements in sweat measured by the arm bag method was less than that by the whole body method; significant differences were observed in Fe and Mn amounts. These observations suggest that excretion of trace elements by sweating induces trace element decrease. Therefore, athletes and workers who work in a hot environment and sweat much habitually should ingest adequate amounts of trace elements.

Keywords —— trace elements; major elements; sweat; sauna bathing; sweat collection

© 2001 Tohoku University Medical Press

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2001, 195, 163-169

Address for reprints: Akio Hoshi, Department of Health and Physical Education, Nippon Dental University, 1-9-20 Fujimi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-8159, Japan.

e-mail: ahoshi@tokyo.ndu.ac.jp