Fast food lovers, we have good news for you! It looks like eating all that junk isn’t as bad as it seems, based on a recent research by a group of Japanese scientists.
A Japanese stem cell research team from Yokohama National University may have finally be well on their way to discovering the cure for baldness, according to their studies. The breakthrough to their research actually came from an ingredient found in the food of many fast food chains, including McDonald’s famous french fries, KFC, Wendy’s and many more.
No, really! Their studies led them to discover that the chemical dimethylpolysiloxane, a silicone used in fast food chains’ fry oil to prevent splashing, might just be the key to improved hair regrowth therapies. The research shows a promising start, and was actually used to produce hair on bald mice.
The team says that the chemical was a key ingredient in their ground-breaking experiment as it has been proven to be widely successful in creating thousands of “hair follicle germs” (HFG) that aid in growing hair follicles. More hair! As the dimethylpolysiloxane is highly permeable to oxygen, it creates vessels for the HFGs to grow easily.
The scientists transplanted the HFGs to the backs of hairless mice and monitored them as new black hairs began to grow in these areas. This technique was able to “create 5,000 HFGs simultaneously, and report[ed] new hair growth from the HFGs after transplantation into mice.”
Before you start making a hair mask out of leftover frying oil from fast food restaurants, do take note that the experiment is currently successful in mice but hasn’t been tested on humans yet. However, Professor Junji Fukuda says that this is a promising start and similar results are expected on humans. Now you know what to say when someone criticises your fast food choices!
“This simple method is very robust and promising,” Fukuda said. “We hope this technique will improve human hair regenerative therapy to treat hair loss such as androgenic alopecia (male pattern baldness). In fact, we have preliminary data that suggests human HFG formation using human keratinocytes and dermal papilla cells.”
In short, this means that someday soon, we may just be able to buy over-the-counter baldness treatments! No more baldness!
Also read: Woman Forced to Go Bald After Dyeing Hair 4 Times in Salon