Some conclusions to scientific studies sound tailor-made to make desperate people look like buffoons. For instance, scientists have discovered that the same plant that sweetens your sugar-free soda might also help revive your ailing hairline. Just don’t start rubbing Stevia from the grocery store on your head. That’s not how it works.
A team of researchers that spanned China and Australia published their findings in Advanced Healthcare Materials. They have developed a dissolving microneedle patch made from Stevia, the zero-calorie sweetener, and used it to enhance the performance of minoxidil, the primary ingredient in over-the-counter hair loss treatments.
Minoxidil on its own can help folks mitigate natural hair loss. But it’s not without its faults. It doesn’t absorb well enough into the skin. It also requires dedicated daily use to see even modest results.
Even worse, it’s often mixed with other chemicals that can leave your scalp feeling like it’s on fire. These are all issues that the Stevia patch is claiming to solve. It’s dozens of painless, teeny tiny microneedles made of stevioside that act like a Trojan horse, minoxidil deeper into the skin while also helping the drug dissolve better in water.
Stevia Might Help Cure Baldness
As you may have heard at some point in the past 10 years, hair loss isn’t from a lack of testosterone but rather from a surplus of it. So, to test their invention, the researchers gave mice testosterone to mimic human pattern baldness and then treated them with either the Stevia patch or regular old unsweetened minoxidil.
A little over a month later, the mice with the sweet and tasty patch were sprouting fur again. 67 percent of the treated area hair grew back, compared to just 25 percent of those who were only treated with minoxidil.
The early tests are promising, though there is a long way to go. The researchers admit that human scalps are in a completely different league than mice. However, mice are used in scientific research because we share many genetic and physiological similarities, despite their vastly different appearances.
If it pans out, the stevia patch could make hair regrowth a lot easier and much more painless than it currently is.
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