According to the World Population Review’s 2024 stats, the UK is Earth’s 12th-baldest nation.
Just over 40% of UK men experience male pattern baldness, they say, though they add that hair loss affects women and other genders too.
Some love the look; others, like those who helped anti-hair loss medication Minoxidil to reach a $1.5 billion market share in 2022 (it’s predicted to have grown since), may not be such a fan.
Regardless of how you feel about balding, though, scientists’ discovery ― namely, that a naturally occurring sugar could help to restore hair ― is pretty exciting.
How does it work?
In a paper published last month in Frontiers in Pharmacology, researchers from the University of Sheffield and COMSATS University Pakistan found that topically-applied pentose sugar 2-deoxy-D-ribose (2dDR) seemed to encourage hair regrowth.
The sugar is naturally present in our bodies. The scientists had spent eight years looking into its potential wound-healing capabilities, as it helps to create new blood vessels.
But as the researchers wrote in the introduction to their paper, “New blood vessel formation can restore blood supply and stimulate the hair regrowth cycle.”
They thought this because they noticed hair grew more quickly around the wounds that had been treated with 2dDR than around those that hadn’t.
After testing their theory on mice, they found the results were similar to those from Minoxidil.
So ― can I buy it?
Still, Professor Sheila MacNeil, Emeritus Professor of Tissue Engineering and co-author of the study, seems hopeful.
“The research we have done is very much early stage, but the results are promising and warrant further investigation,” she told the University of Sheffield.
“This could offer another approach to treating this condition which can affect men’s self-image and confidence.”
Her fellow researcher, Professor Muhammed Yar, added, “This pro-angiogenic deoxy ribose sugar is naturally occurring, inexpensive and stable and we have shown it can be delivered from a variety of carrier gels or dressings.”
“This makes it an attractive candidate to explore further for treatment of hair loss in men.”
I’m excited to see where this grows goes...