New research from Johns Hopkins Medicine has shown promising results for the trial of an experimental compound which can reverse hair loss and grey hair. Scientists believe the drug can also help skin inflammation that arises from a typical Western diet, high in fat and cholesterol.
Recruiting mice for the trials, researchers put them on a diet high in fat and cholesterol. Interestingly, the rodents' hair turned grey or white from black or they suffered hair loss. They also saw skin inflammation in the mice.
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However, when the scientists gave them the experimental compound, which they believe stops the production of a group of fats called glycosphingolipids (GSLs), hair was restored while skin cleared up.
“Our findings show that a Western diet causes hair loss, hair whitening and skin inflammation in mice, and we believe a similar process occurs in men who lose hair and experience hair whitening when they eat a diet high in fat and cholesterol,” says professor of paediatrics and medicine at the John Hopkins University School of Medicine, Suboroto Chatterjee.
However, more testing is required to see if the compound would work safely and effectively on humans.
"Hopefully someday in the future this can mean faster, more effective recovery from baldness, hair whitening in ageing populations and wound healing,” adds Chatterjee.
