Eating black sesame paste = black sesame? If baldness strikes suddenly, how should we deal with it?

Young people nowadays generally have "hair anxiety". They are either already "bald" or on the way to "becoming bald". The first reaction when seeing their hair falling out is: It's over... BBQ...

Recently, an auntie in a university library in Chongqing swept out a dustpan full of hair#. It might be because the library was full of students preparing for their postgraduate entrance exams, and they were under a lot of pressure, so they lost a lot of hair.

▲Photo: Sina Weibo

#What is placed on the computer desk is no longer potato chips, spicy strips, and small desserts, but black sesame paste, black sesame balls and other "health-promoting and hair-growth-promoting magic tools". #

Speaking of black sesame paste, it is rumored that its most powerful "power" is to darken hair, promote hair growth, and prevent hair loss.

Can the "black sesame paste" that is always in the drawer really help your hair grow and become black? Some people even say that eating it can nourish the kidneys and help you lose weight... Don't worry, let's talk about "black sesame paste" and see if it is really a "health-preserving magic weapon"?

1. What nutrients does black sesame contain?

Black sesame belongs to the category of nut and seed foods. Its main nutritional value lies in the fact that it is rich in unsaturated fatty acids, which helps to increase the proportion of unsaturated fatty acids in the diet and reduce the risk of chronic diseases.

For example, cooking oil (sesame oil) made from sesame seeds is rich in linoleic acid and monounsaturated fatty acids.

Linoleic acid is an essential fatty acid. Deficiency can affect immunity, wound healing, vision, brain function and cardiovascular health.

In addition, black sesame contains excellent nutritional value such as vitamin E and minerals such as calcium and magnesium.

According to the recommendations of the Chinese Dietary Guidelines, the daily intake of nuts is 10 grams. If you eat 10 grams of black sesame seeds, you can take in 5 milligrams of vitamin E, 78 milligrams of calcium, and 29 milligrams of magnesium, which can meet 36%, 9.7%, and 8.7% of the daily needs of an average adult, respectively. In addition, you can also supplement 1.4 grams of dietary fiber, which is equivalent to the content of a fist-sized millstone persimmon. [1]

However, although black sesame is very nutritious, it does not have the effect of blackening hair! The black color of black sesame is due to anthocyanin, while the black color of hair is due to melanin in hair follicles. Therefore, eating black sesame will not make your hair black at all.

2. Is black sesame paste nutritious?

Eating black sesame does not equal black sesame paste, because black sesame paste does not only contain black sesame, but also generally contains added sugar and other foods. For example, the commonly eaten black sesame paste in the picture below contains not only black sesame, but also white sugar, maltodextrin, glucose, rice flour, walnut powder, red date powder and other ingredients.

▲Picture: E-commerce platform

In addition, my country's "General Rules for Pre-packaged Food Labeling" stipulates that the order of the ingredient list needs to be arranged from most to least, so in this black sesame paste, the highest content is rice flour and white sugar, followed by black sesame.

However, "GB/T 23781-2009 Black Sesame Paste" stipulates that the amount of black sesame added should not be less than 10%.

▲Photo: GB/T 23781-2009 Black sesame paste

In addition, the calories in black sesame paste are not low. After calculation, the calories of 40g (1 small bag) of the same black sesame paste are 159 kcal, which is higher than the calories in a small bowl of rice.

▲Picture: E-commerce platform

If you keep your usual eating habits and add a bowl of black sesame paste every day, the risk of becoming obese will increase over time. Obesity also means an increased risk of chronic diseases, such as high blood sugar, high blood lipids, and high blood pressure.

3. Hair loss ≠ hair loss

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 it, 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.

Pulling experiment:

Don’t wash your hair for 5 days. Use your thumb and index finger to gently pull up a bunch of 50 to 60 hairs and 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 your hair, so pay attention! [2]

If there are only two or three strands of hair loss, it is normal hair loss and there is no need to worry.

4. To prevent hair loss and maintain health, do these 4 things

If you usually lose a lot of hair, the first thing you should consider is changing your diet and lifestyle habits.

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.

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 [3]. 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[4]. 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. [5, 6] This nutrient is found in most foods, such as cereals, nuts, egg yolks, and animal offal.

Summary: Don't be anxious when you see your hair falling out. Instead of worrying about becoming "bald", you should be concerned about how to make your hair grow better and fall out less. Start eating properly now, change bad eating habits, and refuse to diet to avoid malnutrition and hair loss.

As for black sesame and black sesame paste, the nutritional value of the two cannot be compared, so it is better to eat less black sesame paste.

References:

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

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

[3] 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.

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

[5] Yang Yuexin, Ge Keyou. Chinese Nutrition Science Encyclopedia 2nd Edition (Volume 2)[M]. People's Medical Publishing House, 2019

[6] Wang Hongmei, Wu Husheng. Clinical study of 18 cases of biotin deficiency[J]. Chinese Journal of Practical Pediatrics, 2010(11):66-68+71.