If your hair grows slower than you’d like, your diet may have something to do with it.
A new study from Westlake University in Zhejiang, China, shows that intermittent fasting can significantly reduce the amount of food consumed hair growth in people.
The intermittent fasting method involves a shorter period of eating during the day, usually an eight-hour eating period and 16 hours of fasting.
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Research has shown that intermittent fasting can help with this weight loss and managementheart health and memory, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.
But researchers have found that it can have some unwanted side effects the Chinese study stated that some intermittent fasting regimens in mice “inhibited hair follicle regeneration.”
Researchers have found that intermittent fasting reduced hair growth in both mice and humans. (iStock)
The mice analyzed in the study were shaved and followed different intermittent fasting schedules.
According to an analysis by BBC Science Focus, the hair of the group that followed a normal eating schedule grew back after 30 days. The fasting group showed only partial hair growth after 96 days.
The study, published in the journal Cell by Cell Press, concluded that prolonged fasting activates the adrenal glands, halting tissue regeneration during “periods of unstable nutrient supply.”
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This is also caused by stress hair follicle stem cells, the BBC reported. These follicles “died” in the intermittent fasting group after long periods of fasting.
Although the study found that the mice experienced improved metabolic health and slower hair regeneration, the effects may not be the same in humans, who have slower metabolisms and different hair growth patterns.
Delayed hair regeneration is due to metabolic changes during intermittent fasting that place stress on the hair follicles. (iStock)
In a sequel human clinical trialresearchers studied 49 healthy young adults who followed a regimen of 18 hours of fasting per day.
This timing was found to reduce hair growth by an average of 18%.
Dr. Brendan Camp, a New York-based board-certified dermatologist at MDCS Dermatology, reiterated how the “small animal study” suggests fasting can affect the growth cycle of hair follicles.
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“The metabolic changes associated with fasting can put a kind of stress on hair growth that slows it down,” Camp, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital.
“It is hypothesized that oxidative stress that occurs during fasting – when the body switches from metabolizing fat to glucose – hinders hair growth.”
In a human clinical trial, fasting for 18 hours per day reduced hair growth by an average of 18%. (iStock)
To promote hair growth, Camp suggests making a few dietary changes, focusing on: vitamins and nutrients such as iron, selenium, zinc, biotin, folic acid and vitamin D.
“(This) can prevent nutritional deficiencies that could potentially contribute to hair loss,” he said.
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The dermatologist warned that “crash” or fad diets, or even diseases that result in significant weight loss in a short period of time, can cause the development of a condition called “telogen effluvium.”
“In this condition, a significant amount of hair loss occurs in response to some form of hair loss health eventWhether it is a physical illness or a significantly stressful life event,” he said.
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The study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Key R&D Program of Zhejiang, the Westlake Laboratory of Life Sciences and Biomedicine, the Research Center for Industries of the Future (RCIF) and the Center of Synthetic Biology and Integrated Bioengineering. at Westlake University, according to a news release.
Fox News Digital has contacted the study authors for comment.
