Only 2 FDA-approved drugs exist for treating male pattern baldness, but a third may have just been found inside our own bodies.
A naturally occurring ribose sugar has already been used to successfully stimulate hair growth in mice, say scientists, and can be applied to a variety of carrier gels inexpensively.
Scientists in the UK and Pakistan say that the “promising” discovery offers hope in the search for a cure for male pattern baldness, known as androgenic alopecia, which affects up to half the men in the world, many as early as 30 years of age.
The study, published in the journal Frontiers in Pharmacology by scientists from the University of Sheffield and COMSATS University Pakistan, identified 2-deoxy-D-ribose (2dDR), as a hair regrowth stimulant.
This sugar plays a “fundamental” role in several biological processes both in animals and humans.
The research team had been studying how the sugar can help to heal wounds by promoting the formation of new blood vessels over the past eight years, but during the research, they also noticed that hair around the healing wounds appeared to grow more quickly compared to those that hadn’t been treated.
To explore further, the researchers established a model of testosterone-driven hair loss in mice—similar to the cause of pattern baldness in men.
They found that applying a small dose of the naturally occurring sugar helped to form new blood vessels, which led to hair regrowth.
Findings from the study show that the sugar is as effective at regrowing hair as Minoxidil—an existing drug used to treat hair loss.
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“Male pattern baldness is such a common condition, affecting men all over the world, but at the moment there are only two FDA-licensed drugs to treat it,” said Professor Sheila MacNeil, of the University of Sheffield in a statement.
“Our UK/Pakistan collaboration unexpectedly turned up a small, naturally occurring sugar that stimulates new blood vessel formation, and we were delighted to discover that it not only stimulates wound healing, but [also] stimulates hair growth in an animal model,” she wrote in a statement sent to Fox News Digital.
“The research we have done is very much early stage, but the results are promising and warrant further investigation.”
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“This could offer another approach to treating this condition which can affect men’s self-image and confidence,” said Professor Muhammed Yar from Pakistan, who noted in the statement that the sugar was carried well in a variety of gels, and therefore stands as an attractive potential treatment.
“This makes it an attractive candidate to explore further for treatment of hair loss in men.”
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