Intermittent fasting could reduce hair growth, study reveals

If your hair is growing slower than you’d like, your diet could have something to do with it.

A new study from Westlake University in Zhejiang, China, found that intermittent fasting could significantly reduce hair growth in humans.

The intermittent fasting method involves a shortened period of eating throughout the day, most commonly an eight-hour window for eating and 16 hours of fasting.

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Research has shown that intermittent fasting can help with weight loss and management, heart health and memory, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.

But researchers have discovered that it may have some unwelcome side effects, as the Chinese study stated that some intermittent fasting regimens were shown to “inhibit hair follicle regeneration” in mice.

The mice analyzed in the study were shaved and followed different intermittent fasting schedules.

The group that followed a normal eating schedule grew back their hair after 30 days, according to a breakdown by BBC Science Focus. The group that fasted exhibited only partial hair growth after 96 days.

The study, published in the journal Cell by Cell Press, concluded that extended fasting activates the adrenal glands, which then stops tissue regeneration during “periods of unstable nutrient supply.”

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This is also caused by stress on hair follicle stem cells, the BBC reported. These follicles “died off” in the intermittent fasting group after long periods of fasting.

While the study found that the mice experienced improved metabolic health and slower hair regeneration, the effects might not be the same in humans, who have a slower metabolic rate and different hair growth patterns.

In a follow-up human clinical trial, the researchers studied 49 healthy young adults who followed a regimen of 18 hours of fasting per day.

This timing was found to reduce hair growth by an average of 18%.

Dr. Brendan Camp, New York-based board-certified dermatologist at MDCS Dermatology, reiterated how the “small animal-based study” suggests that fasting can affect the growth cycle of hair follicles.

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“The metabolic changes associated with fasting may impart a type of stress on hair growth that causes it to slow,” Camp, who was not involved in the research, told Fox News Digital.

“It is hypothesized that oxidative stress that develops during fasting — when the body shifts from metabolizing fat instead of glucose — impedes hair growth.”

To promote hair growth, Camp suggests making a few shifts in diet, with a focus on vitamins and nutrients like iron, selenium, zinc, biotin, folate and vitamin D.

“[This] can prevent nutritional deficiencies that can potentially contribute to hair loss,” he said.

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The dermatologist warned that “crash” or fad diets, or even illnesses that result in significant weight loss in a short timeframe, can trigger the development of a condition called “telogen effluvium.” 

“In this condition, a significant amount of hair shedding occurs in response to some type of health event, be it a physical illness or a significantly stressful life event,” he said.

The study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Key R&D Program of Zhejiang, the Westlake Laboratory of Life Sciences and Biomedicine, the Research Center for Industries of the Future (RCIF), and the Center of Synthetic Biology and Integrated Bioengineering at Westlake University, according to a press release.

Fox News Digital reached out to the study authors for comment.