ABC Online Artice
So it helps for chemotherapy, but I wonder if this can be applied to hair loss from androgenetic alopecia...Modified soybean could offer hair loss cure
A team of Kyoto University researchers says it has developed a soybean containing a substance that promotes hair growth and helps prevent hair loss caused by chemotherapy.
The researchers, led by Masaaki Yoshikawa, professor of food science and technology at Kyoto University, used genetic engineering technology to incorporate an anti-hypertensive substance derived from egg whites into the soybean.
"If we can confirm the safety of the soybean, we may be able to promote hair growth or stop hair loss just by eating them," Professor Yoshikawa said.
During the research, the team identified an anti-hypertensive substance named ovokinin in an amino acid compound found in ovalbumin in egg whites.
In order to enhance ovokinin's anti-hypertensive property, the team created a substance named novokinin by modifying some amino acids in ovokinin.
Confirming that novokinin is about 100 times more anti-hypertensive than ovokinin, the team continued the study on the assumption that novokinin may promote hair growth as it expands blood vessels and promotes circulation.
The team fed shaven mice with one-thousandth of a milligram of novokinin per one gram of their body weight and found that their hair grew back faster.
When the team increased the dose by three to 10 times, it also stopped hair loss caused by chemotherapy.
The team believes that novokinin may also be used as a hypertension drug as it lowers blood pressure within the normal range.
Sam