While decreased hair loss is more of a cosmetic benefit than a health benefit, it is a topic near and dear to my heart. And it’s a benefit, from a science standpoint, that I think is pretty cool. Growing up, I always heard that if your mother’s father is bald, then you (as a male) will likely be bald. This is partially true do to the primary balding gene being on the X chromosome, which men receive from their mothers. My mother’s father was bald and my hairline definitely receded over time. And my hair loss increased dramatically after Mara died – so much so that I thought I’d be bald in several months. Anecdotally, the hair loss stopped when I began taking the first batches of BrocElite.
In digging into the peer reviewed research, I found a paper from researchers in Tokyo Japan on sulforaphane and balding. In this paper, researchers used mice who were genetically bred to have an increased plasma concentration of the form of dihydrotestosterone (DHT), which is known to impair hair regeneration. They gave to the mice sulforaphane every other day for six weeks. Hair regeneration was noticed in these mice after 3 weeks, versus no hair regeneration in the controls who were given DMSO. In these mice who were given sulforaphane, there was 50% regeneration of hair grown at after 6 weeks.
Additionally, the DHT levels in the mice given sulforaphane dropped from 150 pg/ml to 50 pg/ml after six weeks. Again, DHT is the form of testosterone known to inhibit murine hair growth. So, the higher the DHT levels, the less hair that grows.
The exact mechanism for how sulforaphane decreases DHT is not known. A leading hypothesis is that sulforaphane increase NADPH (Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide Phosphate) by inducing NADPH producing genes. NADPH, in turn, increases the amount of the enzymes that degrade DHT.
Increased hair growth and decreased hair loss is not a primary benefit of the sulforaphane in BrocElite that we hear about through testimonials. We, however, do have a report from Dr. Katz of a woman in her early 60’s who had a significant increase in hair growth from a regular daily dose.
While hair regeneration is not a health benefit, the reduction in DHT may be linked to prostate health in men.
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