Fries and a full head of hair to go please
Maccy D chips ‘bald cure’
A CHEMICAL used in the cooking of McDonald’s fries helped to cure baldness in mice.
The groundbreaking discovery could be the key to reversing hair loss for millions of people around the world.
For the first time, scientists produced follicles capable of sprouting hair. The secret to the success of the Japanese team was culturing human stem cells in the cooking aid. They grew 5,000 “hair follicle germs” simultaneously.
When the HFGs were transplanted into bald mice the animals had furry backs and scalps within days.
Preliminary tests suggest the technique will work in people.
Creating HFGs is the “Holy Grail” of hair loss research. The secret was to use dimethylpolysiloxane in the vessel in which the cells were grown.
The silicone is added to cooking oil at the fast food chain to stop bubbling and spitting.
It was effective in the lab as oxygen easily passes through the chemical, so enabling hair to grow. Prof Junji Fukuda, of Yokohama National University, said: “This simple method is very robust and promising. We hope this technique will improve regenerative therapy to treat hair loss such as androgenic alopecia.” Billions of pounds are spent treating hair loss.