Black sesame pills may not save your hair loss! What is the real secret to growing hair?

Recently, the topic #How can young people prevent hair loss# has continued to occupy the hot search position! Hair loss is a major pain point for contemporary young people.

"I'm still young, and I really don't want to be extremely smart!"

For today's office workers, black sesame balls are a must-have snack in their drawers, not because they are delicious, but because people think eating them can help them grow hair. However, I have already eaten a whole basket of them, and since I haven't seen any changes, should I continue to eat them?

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Black sesame pills are made with black sesame as the main ingredient. There is a rumor that "black replenishes black", so many people choose to eat black sesame pills to achieve the purpose of dark hair, hair growth, and preventing hair loss. Some advertisements selling black sesame pills also promote it this way.

So, are black sesame pills just a waste of money? In this article, we will talk about black sesame pills and growing hair, and finally share with you the little secret of growing real hair, and how to judge whether you are losing hair.

1. Can eating black sesame pills make your hair darker?

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Most of them are useless!

Many advertisements for black sesame pills claim that “black nourishes black, making hair black and thick”. This is the theory of “like replenishes shape, color replenishes color”, which has no evidence to support it and is unreliable.

▲Picture: E-commerce platform

The “black” color of food comes from the polyphenols such as anthocyanins , while the black color of hair comes from the melanin in the hair follicles [1]. If the melanin in the hair follicles decreases or the melanin cannot be transported to the hair normally, the hair will turn white.

The two are two different things. The "black" of food cannot be directly added to hair. Don't think that if you eat black food, you will have black hair. Besides, many businesses' black sesame pills are not all black sesame, but may also contain black bean powder, honey, and white sugar... Before your hair grows, you will definitely get fat! Don't count on it too much~

Although ancient medical books record that black sesame has the effect of promoting the production of body fluids and blackening hair, some current research literature also mentions that black sesame water extract has an effect on intracellular melanin content and tyrosinase activity. It was found that black sesame water extract has a strong effect on activating mushroom tyrosinase and promoting melanin production in vitro; sesamin in black sesame can promote the production of melanin in mouse melanoma cells and has a significant coloring effect. [2]

However, this is not a human experiment, and the extract used is from black sesame, which does not mean that eating black sesame directly can achieve the same effect. As for whether eating black sesame for a long time can really make hair darker, from a nutritional point of view, further research is needed.

2. Can eating black sesame help promote hair growth and prevent hair loss?

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A former colleague of mine suffered from hair loss and chose to seek help from "black sesame pills and black sesame paste". The result was: after eating a pound of black sesame pills and several bags of black sesame paste, not only did his hair not grow, but his fat increased significantly.

Some people may have questions: Can't the vitamin B2 contained in black sesame prevent seborrheic alopecia?

The vitamin B2 content of black sesame is only 0.25 mg/100 g. [3] The daily vitamin B2 requirement for an average adult woman is 1.2 mg/day. If you want to meet this requirement by eating black sesame, you would have to eat 480 grams of black sesame ! This amount is a bit scary, isn’t it?

First: Can you eat it? Second: 480 grams of black sesame contains 2683 kcal!

You taste it, you taste it carefully~

Black sesame also belongs to the category of nuts and seeds. According to the recommendations in the "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents", it is recommended to eat 10 grams per day.

3. The secret to really growing long hair

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If you usually lose a lot of hair, the most important thing you should consider is to change your diet and lifestyle habits and do these 4 things!

The essence of hair is keratin, which is a type of protein. Lack of keratin can lead to poor hair quality, easy breakage, and increased hair loss.

At the same time, the melanin in the hair follicles that provides black color to the hair requires an amino acid called "tyrosine" as raw material to be synthesized. This raw material also comes from the decomposition of protein. If it is lacking, white hair will appear.

Tyrosinase is the key rate-limiting enzyme in melanin synthesis, and its activity plays a decisive role in the synthesis of melanin. Modern medicine believes that an important cause of premature graying of hair is the reduction or loss of tyrosinase activity in melanocytes, which leads to the disappearance of pigment in the hair. [4]

In addition, lack of iron, zinc, B vitamins, etc. can also affect the quality of hair.

Therefore, if you want your hair to be black and thick, the most important thing is to eat enough nutritious food. How to eat it specifically?

① Protein: If you want to get enough protein, you need meat, eggs, milk and beans. For example, eat 1 egg in the morning, eat palm-sized fish/seven or eight large shrimps/half fist of lean meat at noon, eat 5 mahjong-sized northern tofu in the evening, and drink 300-500 ml of milk.

② Iron: Hair loss caused by iron deficiency is very common among women [5]. To supplement iron, it is recommended to eat animal blood or animal liver 2 to 3 times a month. You can also eat razor clams. Eating about 50 grams (about 10 clams) can meet 84% of a woman’s daily iron needs.

③ Zinc: Zinc deficiency can cause hair to become brittle and dull[1]. Shellfish are rich in zinc, with scallops, ark shells, and oysters containing the highest levels of zinc.

④ B vitamins: If B vitamins are deficient, hair will become dry and easy to fall out. In particular, a deficiency of biotin (vitamin B7) can lead to skin and hair abnormalities. [6, 7] This nutrient is found in most foods, such as cereals, nuts, egg yolks, and animal offal.

4. How to determine whether you are experiencing hair loss?

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When it comes to hair loss, there are many types, the three most common ones are:

① Androgenic alopecia: Hair loss is often accompanied by excessive oil secretion on the scalp, which is often related to genetics. [8]

② Alopecia areata: patchy hair loss, which is usually round or oval in shape with clear edges. It is related to genetics and is an autoimmune disease. [7]

③ Telogen effluvium: Pathologies of the hair follicles lead to the synchronous shedding of a large number of telogen hairs, but this can be improved by adjusting lifestyle and diet.

However, many people have misunderstandings about hair loss and hair loss. The two are different. 50 to 100 hairs fall out naturally every day, which is a normal phenomenon. Most people are actually just shedding their hair, not losing their hair, so there is no need to be too nervous. How to judge whether you are "losing your hair" or "losing your hair"? You can use the "hair pulling experiment" to see.

Hair pulling experiment: Do not wash your hair for 5 days. Use your thumb and index finger to gently pull up a bunch of 50 to 60 hairs. Count the number of hairs pulled out (be gentle, don't use too much force). If the number is more than 6, it is positive, indicating active hair loss. This means you are starting to lose hair. Pay attention! [8] If there are only two or three hairs, then it is normal hair loss and there is no need to worry.

In addition, don’t stay up late!!! Instead of worrying about becoming bald, you might as well worry about how to make your hair grow better and lose less.

So, would you rely on taking black sesame pills to prevent hair loss, or rely on a balanced diet to prevent hair loss?

References:

[1] Zhao Guang, Yang Wenxin. Recent research on melanocytes[J]. Southwest Military Medical Journal, 2013, (2): 177-181. DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1672-7193.2013.02.023.

[2] Jiang Zequn. Study on the mechanism of several effective ingredients of traditional Chinese medicine in promoting melanin production[D]. Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 2009.

[3] Yang Yuexin. Chinese Food Composition Table 6th Edition Volume 1[M]. Peking University Medical Press, 2018

[4] Ju Junjun. Study on the active ingredients and mechanism of action of sesame melanin for darkening hair[D]. Zhengzhou University, 2020. DOI: 10.27466/d.cnki.gzzdu.2020.003046.

[5] Sheng Youyu, Guo Xia, Xu Feng, et al. Study on the effect of iron deficiency on female pattern hair loss[C]. // Proceedings of the 2013 National Annual Conference on Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine for Dermatology and Venereology. 2013:113-113.

[6] "Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of alopecia areata in China (2019)"

[7] Gu Jingfan, Du Shouyin, Guo Changjiang. Modern Clinical Nutrition, 2nd Edition[M]. Science and Technology Press, 2009

[8] “Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of androgenic alopecia in Chinese people”