① Mechanism of gray hair Excessive gray hair has become a symbol of aging, and many people dye their gray hair to look younger. Gray hair is more noticeable and more common as you get older, so it's no wonder people think it's a sign of aging, but in reality, it's not known that there is a connection between gray hair and physical aging. yeah.
If you dig a little deeper into the mechanism behind gray hair, the black color of your hair is actually made up of a pigment called melanin. If this pigment is properly applied, the hair will be black. The cells that produce this pigment (melanocytes) are located in the hair root, and it is the function of these cells that maintains the black color of the hair. However, if the function of these cells, which function as melanin factories, deteriorates for some reason and they are unable to produce melanin properly, white hair begins to grow.
It has been reported that the characteristics of people who are more likely to get gray hair are related to their genetic background (i.e., parents who get gray hair at a young age are more likely to have their children gray hair as well), vegetarianism, drinking alcohol, and smoking. It is also known that deficiencies in the vitamins found in meat and fish, as well as thyroid diseases , can cause gray hair at a young age. This shows that aging is not everything. ②Is it true that stress causes gray hair? Also, it is often said that ``stress causes gray hair,'' but what does this mean? You may have heard people say to people who have a lot of gray hair at a young age, ``That's because they're having a hard time.''
However, there is actually no scientific evidence that stress and gray hair are related. The person's gray hair may simply have a genetic background. Or, for those who say that their hair turned gray due to stress, it may not be stress itself that causes their hair to turn gray, but smoking or drinking alcohol to relieve stress. As you can see, there are many different opinions about gray hair, but there is often no established scientific basis for this.
From the perspective of preventing gray hair, it may be difficult to prevent gray hair as there are genetic factors involved, but behaviors such as smoking cessation and drinking less can also help maintain other health conditions, so it is well worth a try. There will be. On the other hand, although it is sometimes touted that wakame seaweed is effective in preventing gray hair, no specific food has been scientifically proven to be effective in preventing gray hair. There are some plausible explanations based on a ``hypothesis at the cellular level,'' such as ``the iodine contained in wakame activates the function of melanocytes and prevents gray hair,'' but in that case, the If so, it is necessary to conduct a test to compare the incidence of gray hair between people who ate seaweed and those who did not. If there is no such proof, we have no choice but to say that we do not know the effectiveness.
In fact, consuming excessive amounts of certain foods poses a risk of harm to your health. Excessive intake of seaweed may also be harmful. Because it contains a lot of iodine, if you continue to consume excessive amounts, you may develop thyroid diseases where iodine affects its function. Thyroid disease may actually cause more gray hair. In this way, information related to "food and health" must always be viewed with caution. Aging, which everyone experiences and wants to avoid, can easily lead to business. Unfortunately, most of these are excessive advertisements when viewed from the perspective of scientific evidence.
③ To avoid being fooled by the aging business Speaking of aging and business, let's briefly touch on NMN supplements , which have been attracting attention recently . NMN, whose official name is Nicotinamidemononucleotide, is known to be efficiently absorbed in the small intestine. When it is then delivered to cells throughout the body through the blood, a substance called NAD+ (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) is created within the cells. Since a decrease in NAD+ is said to lead to cognitive decline and inflammatory diseases, NMN supplements are touted as next-generation anti-aging care that will lead to longevity.
On the other hand, this NMN supplement certainly seems to have potential, but it remains unknown how much and how long it should be taken, and with what probability it will improve what diseases (or aging itself). . There are also reports that supplements that increase NAD+ other than NMN have caused kidney and liver damage. It doesn't seem like it would be a good idea to increase NAD+ willy-nilly. The safety of long-term use is also unknown.
When reading ``scientific stories'' that appear in health information, it is important to check whether they have actually been verified through human-level clinical trials. If you are citing experiments at the mouse or cellular level, the evidence is still immature. Advances in various social media have made it much easier to access the information you want, but it may also be said that it has become more difficult to access the correct information. In a world overflowing with information, how to gather information, health literacy is becoming an increasingly essential ability to survive in a healthy way in this era.
by: Yuji Yamada: American geriatric medicine/internal medicine specialist
