Hair-loss prevention with Korean Seaweed?

[maxhair]

This 2012 study...

http://pdf.medrang.co.kr/BT/2012/020/BT020-01-16.pdf

claims a seaweed called Grateloupia elliptica can stop hairloss. Has anyone here tried to get hold of some yet? What do you think of the science?

[NotBelievingIt]

bleh.

I skimmed a great deal of it. Its suspicious only in that it seems to cover all the bases.

5ar reduction. inflamation. PGE pathway stuff. dermal papilla cells....

however a few other pubmed articles like http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20443209 specifically call out some of the same things.

Grateloupia elliptica, ..., were potent inhibitors of the production of pro-inflammatory mediators such as nitric oxide (NO), prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha). Based on these results, the anti-inflammatory effects and low cell toxicity of these seaweed extracts suggest potential therapeutic applications in the regulation of the inflammatory response.

[maxhair]

The article seems to be scientific, well researched, well written, and reports some amazing effects, like the multiplication of dermal papilla, along with the suppression of PD2, and increase in PE2s etc - all things thought to increase hairgrowth - and the paper even gives instructions on how to turn this seaweed into the compound they've investigated- so I don't understand why there isn't a big rush to get hold of this stuff yet, and a big discussion on the baldness blogs on whether it is found effective or not.

Baldness researchers should be wanting to get hold of some of this seaweed too to add to their protocols. Obviously, seaweed is not a patentable substance, so maybe the big companies will be slow to pick up on this potentially plentiful and cheap hairloss treatment.

Can anyone speak Korean, and order some of this specific seaweed?

[johnnyboots]

can't find any supplement or hair product containing it.

[maxhair]

And the main Korean supermarket in London does not stock this variety, and says that even if they were prepared to order some, it would take 4 months to arrive. Maybe it is not a commercial seaweed, with other varieties being more preferred for culinary uses - but the research paper mentions they tried other seaweeds, which were found not to be effective in regards to conditions for hair growth.

This seaweed only grows around Jeju Island off the Korean peninsula.

Anyone with any ideas?

[clandestine]

Kobren Seaweed.

[maxhair]

Presumably, one or more of these invididuals or companies sponsoring and conducting the study will know where to get either the raw product or compound:

Hair-Loss Preventing Effect of Grateloupia elliptica
Jung-Il Kang
1
, Sang-Cheol Kim
1
, Sang-Chul Han
1
, Hye-Jin Hong
1
, You-Jin Jeon
2
, Bora Kim
3
,
Young-Sang Koh
1
, Eun-Sook Yoo
1
and Hee-Kyoung Kang
1,
*
1
Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Institute of Medical Sciences, Jeju National University, Jeju 690-756,
2
Aqua Green Technology Co., Jeju Bio-Industry center, Jeju 690-121,
3
Enprani Co., Ltd. R&D Center of Skin Science and Cosmetics, Incheon 400-103, Republic of Korea

[maxhair]

Originally Posted by johnnyboots

can't find any supplement or hair product containing it.

Maybe that's because they've just discovered its hairloss treatment potential.

In the paper, they said they just collected it by walking along a coastline on the island of Jeju - so it can't be that difficult to get hold of.

Would it be a topical, or would we have to swallow the extract?

[Thinning@30]

What is the Korean name for this seaweed and what are its common names in English? There are quite a few Korean supermarkets near my home that sell different kinds of dried seaweed. I'll look for it the next time I visit one of them.

[maxhair]

According to this greenpeace document, it's called Tambanori in Japan, and is a local speciality dish...

http://www.greenpeace.de/fileadmin/g...japan_1205.pdf

Happy reading!