A team of researchers in Japan claim to have discovered that a chemical used to make McDonald’s famous french fries may provide the breakthrough needed to someday cure baldness.
An article published in Biomaterials journal documents a study conducted at Yokohama National University, where scientists were reportedly able to mass produce follicles and successfully grow hair from them by experimenting on mice. According to the study, researchers were able to produce up to 5,000 hair follicle germs at the same time by using the silicone-based dimethylpolysiloxane. Dimethylpolysiloxane happens to be the anti-foaming agent used in Mickey D’s cooking oil.
It is noted in the journal that such large-scale generation of follicles is “one of the more challenging obstacles to hair regenerative medicine.” However, fast-food lovers ought to know that while transplantation of the follicle germs onto the back of mice did generate the sprouting of black hairs, simply eating McDonald’s fries will not help to stimulate hair regrowth.
Still, those involved in the study are hopeful that the findings will serve as a foundation for later innovations. “This simple method is very robust and promising,” Yokohama University professor Junji Fukuda says. “We hope that this technique will improve human hair regenerative therapy to treat hair loss such as androgenic alopecia.”