Sulforaphane can alleviate hair loss symptoms
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Sixty percent of men around the world lose their hair before the age of 25, and 83.9 percent of men lose their hair by the age of 30. The biggest cause of hair loss across all ages is "androgenetic alopecia", which accounts for more than 90 percent of hair loss. A number of studies have shown that sulforaphane can be used to combat androgenic alopecia.
Androgenic alopecia (AGA) is the most common type of hair loss, in which dihyrotestosterone (DHT) plays a crucial role via modulating androgen receptors in hair follicles. Sulforaphane can up-regulate the cytokeratin gene expression in HaCaT cells, prevent the increase in Bax gene levels induced by testosterone in DP, and promote the growth of hair follicle of mice and can be used as potential treatment agents for androgenic alopecia.
Activation of Nrf2, the "master regulator" of genes controlling cellular redox homeostasis, is advocated as a therapeutic strategy for diseases with severely impaired redox balance. Preactivation of Nrf2 by sulforaphane reduced oxidative stress-stimulated (H2O2 or menadione) premature catagen and hair growth inhibition, significantly ameliorated the H2O2-dependent increase in matrix keratinocyte apoptosis and reversed the ROS-induced reduction in proliferation.
An 18-week clinical trial was conducted to further determine whether sulforaphane-containing hair products reduced hair loss symptoms. Researchers from Korea performed a visual evaluation of the parietal and frontal lines of 23 patients before and after using the product, and then calculated the total number of hairs. This clinical study showed that the parietal lines and bangs visually improved and the number of hairs increased by 6.71% from before using the test product to 18 weeks after using the test product.
Taken together, these cellular and clinical studies strongly suggest that sulforaphane may be an active ingredient that significantly alleviates hair loss symptoms.
