If you have watched or read the news lately you probably saw some headlines that read “McDonald’s French Fries Cure Hair Loss!”. While that headline is attention grabbing and sounds delicious, sadly, it is not true. So what is everyone talking about?
There was a recent study conducted in Japan where a research team was able to regrow hair on mice by creating hair follicle germs, which are the reproductive source of hair follicles, and seeded them into the mouse’s body. Amazingly, the hair follicles generated hairs on the back of the mice. The hope is this may one day lead to similar success with humans, but there is still much testing to be done.
So you are probably still asking what this has to do with McDonald’s french fries? Dimethylpolysiloxane is a silicone compound that McDonald’s uses in its french fries to prevent the oil from foaming. The research team also used Dimethylpolysiloxane in this study. In order to produce the hair follicle germs in a lab, the research team needed “oxygen-permeable dimethylpolysiloxane (PDMS) at the bottom of the culture vessel”. Therefore, while it is true that this ingredient in McDonald’s french fries was used in a successful hair loss study, it was not a contributing factor to the hair growth, but rather was necessary for conducting the study.
Unfortunately, this type of breakthrough treatment is still a ways off from becoming a reality, however, there are still lots of great treatments available for hair loss, even if eating french fries is not one of them!
Posted by Your Medi Tresse Team
