quote:

Originally posted by gearhounds:
As an aside, I wonder what "chemicals" are involved, and what other ones might also be in McD fries? No one in my family will eat there.

quote:

The Japanese team's breakthrough came after they managed to mass produce 'hair follicle germs' (HFGs) in the lab for the first time.

These are the cells that fuel follicle development. They are the 'Holy Grail' of hair loss research, as they have never been regenerated before.

And the secret was to use the 'McDonald's fries' chemical dimethylpolysiloxane in the vessel in which they were cultured.

This is added for safety reasons to prevent cooking oil from foaming. It was particularly effective for the HFGs because oxygen easily passes through.

Professor Junji Fukuda, of Yokohama National University, said: 'The key for the mass production of HFGs was a choice of substrate materials for the culture vessel.

'We used oxygen-permeable dimethylpolysiloxane (PDMS) at the bottom of culture vessel, and it worked very well.'

The method described in Biomaterials created up to 5,000 HFGs simultaneously - which led to new hair growth after they were transplanted into mice.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by gearhounds:
As an aside, I wonder what "chemicals" are involved, and what other ones might also be in McD fries? No one in my family will eat there.

According to the article, it's dimethylpolysiloxane, a chemical added to the cooking oil used to cook McD's fries, which prevents the oil in the fryers from foaming.

The chemical itself doesn't cure baldness. Instead, it's used as a material for culturing "hair follicle germs". (Like the gel in a Petri dish.)

quote:

The Japanese team's breakthrough came after they managed to mass produce 'hair follicle germs' (HFGs) in the lab for the first time.

These are the cells that fuel follicle development. They are the 'Holy Grail' of hair loss research, as they have never been regenerated before.

And the secret was to use the 'McDonald's fries' chemical dimethylpolysiloxane in the vessel in which they were cultured.

This is added for safety reasons to prevent cooking oil from foaming. It was particularly effective for the HFGs because oxygen easily passes through.

Professor Junji Fukuda, of Yokohama National University, said: 'The key for the mass production of HFGs was a choice of substrate materials for the culture vessel.

'We used oxygen-permeable dimethylpolysiloxane (PDMS) at the bottom of culture vessel, and it worked very well.'

The method described in Biomaterials created up to 5,000 HFGs simultaneously - which led to new hair growth after they were transplanted into mice.

quote:

Originally posted by walkinghorse:
Everybody I have ever seen eat fries in McD's uses there hands. Wonder why it doesn't cause hair to grow on their palms?
Maybe that is caused by something else?

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Originally posted by 12131:

quote:

Originally posted by walkinghorse:
Everybody I have ever seen eat fries in McD's uses there hands. Wonder why it doesn't cause hair to grow on their palms?
Maybe that is caused by something else?

There are no hair follicles on the palms of your hands.

quote:

Originally posted by Angus the Kid:
As I age, I'm less concerned about the lack of hair on head and more concerned about the increasing amount of hair in and on my ears.