- The eight
month randomized,
placebo-controlled trial
involved 28 volunteers with
androgenetic alopecia (male
pattern baldness), and was
performed at the School of
Pharmaceutical Sciences at the
University of Science Malaysia.
-
- “This
is the first ever study to
report such benefits for
tocotrienols,” Dr Sharon
Ling, regional sales manager for
Carotech, told
NutraIngredients.com. Dr Ling
will present the findings at
next week’s Vitafoods
International Conference in
Geneva.
-
- The study
findings have yet to be
submitted for publication in a
peer-review journal due to some
of the finer points of patent
law, said Dr Ling.
-
- Male
pattern baldness
-
- According
to the American Medical
Association, about 95 per cent
of all cases of hair loss are
due to male pattern baldness, a
condition that affects about 40
million American men.
-
- The
balding is reported to start by
the age of 30 in 25 per cent of
men, and in two-thirds by the
age of 60. According to the AMA,
there is a 4 in 7 chance of
inheriting the baldness gene.
-
- New
data
-
- According
to data provided by Dr Ling, the
Malaysian researchers conducted
a double blind
placebo-controlled clinical
trial on volunteers with
androgenetic alopecia using
Carotech’s Tocomin SupraBio, a
patented tocotrienol complex
reported to increase oral
absorption of tocotrienols by
300 per cent.
-
- The
eight-month study included 28
volunteers aged between 18 and
59 with a hair loss problem for
approximately two to five years.
During the course of the study,
instructions were given to not
alter their hairstyle, hair care
products (shampoo, conditioners,
etc) or dye their hair.
- Volunteers were randomly assigned to the palm tocotrienol complex (total tocotrienol intake of 100 mg) or the placebo (soft gelatin capsule containing 600 mg soy bean oil).
-
- Hair counts, measured by the counting the number of hairs in a pre-selected 2x2 cm area, were found to significantly increase by an average of 41.8 per cent in the tocotrienol group, with eight volunteers experiencing greater than 50 per cent hair growth. In the placebo group, however, no statistically significant differences in the number of hairs were detected before or after the study period, and only one volunteer showed more than 20 per cent increase in hair count.
-
- The vitamin E family
-
- There are eight forms of vitamin E: four tocopherols (alpha, beta, gamma, delta) and four tocotrienols (alpha, beta, gamma, delta). Alpha-tocopherol is the main source found in supplements and in the European diet, while gamma-tocopherol is the most common form in the American diet.
-
- Tocotrienols (TCT) are only minor components in plants, although several sources with relatively high levels include palm oil, cereal grains and rice bran.
-
- While the majority of research on vitamin E has focused on alpha-Toc, studies into tocotrienols account for less than one per cent of all research into vitamin E.
Articolo completo sulla Vitamina E