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You may have tried lots of things before, but for those suffering from male pattern baldness, a simple daily dietary supplements of pumpkin seed oil could offer real hope.
In a 6 month study conducted by researchers at the Republic of Korea’s Pusan National University, 76 men with moderate androgenic alopecia – male pattern hair loss – were divided into two groups.
One group received supplements pumpkin seed oil (40 mg per day) in capsules, divided into a morning and an evening dose. The other group were given a placebo.
After 3 months and again at the end of the study patients were examined and any changes in hair growth rated on a scale from greatly reduced to greatly increased.
Each scalp was also photographed using a technique called phototrichography – which allows the hair loss region to be targeted and measured from the centre.
Results, published in the journal Evidence Based Complimentary and Alternative Medicine, showed that that 44% of the group taking the pumpkin seed oil slightly or moderately improved hair growth, while 51% were unchanged and 2.7% – actually just one patient – had slightly more baldness at the end of the six months.
Hair regrowth before (left) and after (right) pumpkin seed oil supplementation. Click to enlarge.
In comparison, among the placebo group, only 7.7% were slightly or moderately improved, while 64% were unchanged, and 28% had increased baldness.
In the phototrichographic analysis, the pumpkin seed oil group had significantly higher hair counts – over three times more. The pumpkin seed oil group saw 30-40% increased hair counts while the placebo group showed 5-10% more hair count on average.
Previous animal research into the use of pumpkin seed oil as a treatment for enlarged prostate has found that it can inhibit the enzyme 5-alpha reductase –which is involved with the conversion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone (DHT) which is one of the central mechanisms involved in alopecia.
High dihydrotestosterone levels produces damage among the hair follicles. This causes the hair to thin until the follicle becomes dormant and the hair falls out.
In contrast to conventional baldness treatments such as topical minoxidil – which can cause scalp itchiness and scaling – and oral finasteride – the adverse effects of which include erectile dysfunction and gynecomastia (enlargement of the male breasts) – the pumpkin seed oil was well tolerated with only one report of mild stomach upset during the trial.
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