In mice, a small dose of 2dDR made hair grow quicklyozgurdonmaz / Getty Images
A sugar that occurs naturally in people and animals could be a new ally in the fight against baldness, according to a recent study by scientists from the University of Sheffield, UK. In rodents in which hair loss had been stimulated to mimic the effects of human baldness, the British team found that a small dose of 2-deoxy-D-ribose (2dDR) encouraged the formation of new blood vessels and made hair grow more quickly. The discovery was made by chance when researchers were studying the role of 2dDR in healing wounds in animals. They noticed that the fur around the wounds of rodents treated with the sugar regenerated more quickly than those that did not undergo the procedure. “The research we have done is very much early stage, but the results are promising and warrant further investigation,” said Sheila MacNeil, a physiologist from the University of Sheffield, in promotional material for the study (Frontiers in Pharmacology, June).
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