Broccoli and cauliflower may be helpful in the fight against hair loss

THEY'RE known as one of children's least favorite vegetables, and yet, it seems like broccoli and cauliflower continue to surprise us with unsuspected health benefits. Scientists have indicated that sulforaphane, an organic compound present in these two foods, could help prevent hair loss and even boost hair growth.

If we're not already consuming them at the kitchen table, they could become an essential in our beauty routine.

Sulforaphane could not only become an ingredient in hair cosmetics, but even an alternative pharmacological treatment for androgenetic alopecia, of which baldness is the ultimate stage.

This is the finding of a team of scientists from South Korean company Gragem Co. Ltd.

Published in the journal Cosmetics, their study showed that the organic compound present in broccoli and cauliflower induced an increase of nearly 7% in the number of hairs in participants suffering from androgenetic alopecia.

The researchers developed a prototype formulation of four active ingredients dexpanthenol, biotin, L-menthol and sulforaphane to conduct a clinical application test in men and women aged 18 to 54 with androgenetic alopecia.

The goal was to determine if the gel in question was able to relieve the symptoms of hair loss after 18 weeks of use.

Even before they began their trial, the scientists knew from previous studies that sulforaphane increased the expression of the enzyme that breaks down dihydrotestosterone (DHT), the hormone implicated in hair loss, thereby helping to inhibit hair loss in the animal model.

All that remained was to test the effect on men and women and report the results.

Something now done, since the study conducted on 23 patients "showed that parietal lines and bangs visually improved and the number of hairs increased by 6.71% from before using the test product to 18 weeks after using the test product," read the conclusions of the study.

These studies "strongly suggest that sulforaphane may be an active ingredient that significantly alleviates hair loss symptoms," the authors of the work write..

At a time when natural ingredients are taking precedence over long, complicated formulas, it would not be surprising to see the emergence of new shampoos, conditioners and other masks based on broccoli, cauliflower and other vegetables rich in sulforaphane, such as brussels sprouts.