In a year filled with so much new hair growth treatment related good news, sugar has taken an undeserved victory. In the past two weeks, I have received five e-mails related to this ridiculously overhyped story. In addition to a number of reader comments in recent posts. There is a good reason that sugar is the most addictive substance on earth.
Sugar (2-deoxy-D-ribose) and Hair Growth
The original story was based on a June 2024 study, whose summary was published on July 16 by the University of Sheffield. A naturally occurring sugar in our bodies called 2-deoxy-D-ribose (2dDR) seems to help hair growth in mice. However, the above official summary had the clickbait title: “Cure for male pattern baldness given boost by sugar discovery.”
The scientists behind this work are based at the University of Sheffield (UK) and at COMSATS University (Pakistan). Interestingly, Pakistan has the highest rate of diabetes in the world.
There are two major problems with the findings of this work:
- The hair growth was only proven in mice. See before and after images here.
- The 2dDR treatment proved to be 80 to 90 percent as effective as FDA-approved drug minoxidil in promoting hair regrowth. So this means that 2dDR is not a hair loss cure, even in mice. Minoxidil is not even remotely considered to be a cure for hair loss.
A huge number of articles have since been written about naturally occurring sugar being a side effect free cure for hair loss. Even the BBC got in on the game today with an article titled:
“Scientists may have finally found a cheap, natural cure for baldness.”
I reiterate that this is not a cure, despite all the exaggerated headlines. The topical “sugar” gel only modestly benefitted hair growth in mice.
This reminds me of 2018 when the global media distorted a study’s findings and started using the title: “French fry cure for baldness“. Everyone loves the idea of fries, sugar and beer curing hair loss or making hair thicker.
According to the study co-author Dr. Sheila MacNeil from the University of Sheffield:
“Our research suggests that the answer to treating hair loss might be as simple as using a naturally occurring deoxy ribose sugar to boost the blood supply to the hair follicles to encourage hair growth.”
Over the years, we have read about numerous drugs and products that proclaim to grow hair by improving blood flow. In all such cases, the benefits are very minimal. You will not bring back dead hair just by improving scalp blood flow.
To be fair to the BBC, they end their clickbait article with some warnings from Dr. Claire Higgins.
“Their theory stems from the urban legend that increased blood flow promotes hair growth. The link between blood flow and hair growth has not been conclusively demonstrated. I’d want to see the effect on human hair growth, bulb size and hair shaft thickness before I got too excited about the results.”
VEGF and Angiogenesis
I should also note that in 2020, these same scientists from the UK and Pakistan found that 2dDR upregulates vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and stimulates angiogenesis (now blood vessel formation). Both of these side effects can also benefit hair growth. In fact Minoxidil upregulates VEGF, and platelet-rich-plasma contains VEGF, which can stimulate hair growth.
Hopefully, these results can be replicated in humans in the near future. The sugar delivery mechanism is via a convenient topical gel that will not be expensive. Moreover, any side effect free natural hair growth promoter is always welcome.
On a somewhat related note, a 2023 study from China became famous because of its conclusion: high sugar-sweetened beverage consumption is associated with a higher risk of male pattern hair loss.
Is there a product or gel on the market that contains 2-deoxy-D-ribose?
I searched and did not find anything.
Nope. You can make it yourself with 2-deoxy-d-ribose, Sodium Alginate, Propylene Glycol, and Phenoxyethanol (which I stupidly left out and then realised the bacteria will eat the sugar, so got some on the way).
@admin: thanks for this article – on reddit the posts are way too optimistic and as you correctly write, many products just should improve blood flow.
But you can have a similar effect with a massage or doing a headstand. Will this cure baldness? No.
There might be an easy solution out there and I hope it will be as natural as possible.
But a cure needs better results than the drugs on the market.
Too much reason and rationality, Admin!
I want to believe the sensation.
The sugar is the same as the (D) in DNA. I was wondering if the readily available D ribose which is the same sugar found in RNA would be of any benefit?
d-ribose and 2-deoxy-d-ribose are not the same.
As I mentioned in my post.
It’s known to have benefits on skin and is added to skin care products so it might.
Is this where we are as a species? Falling for this stuff? It’s right along side the cure for diabetes – cinnamon lol. Also, healing crystals that will take away all your pain.
Read the actual paper, James, not the “cure” clickbait articles. Still very interesting and promising news.
Any of these small advances are a good thing. It broadens understanding, and that can one day lead to a real cure. Small advances are better that stagnation.
Although I get the scepticism, and we’ve seen such high and mighty claims as these time and again, plus the clickbait articles are off the charts on this one, but I do find too much scepticism is disappointing and counterproductive without actually waiting for people to try it and report back.
How can it not impress if it turns out to be on the same level as Min? I’ll take the ‘natural’ sugars with likely no side effects over anything we currently have.
Personaly, I’m always up for trying natural, topical solutions in the name of experimentation and my own curiosity. I’m already trying a variation of this and I’ll see what happens. If it doesn’t work, nothing lost but a little money. Certainly cheaper than buying a laser cap.
Agreed. I tried to be more open minded at the end of the post.
80-90% of Minox efficacy in mice…hope we get at least 50% in humans.
I must admit that I read your post twice because my first take was you were having a dig at your readers for emailing you. I was one of them, checking in to see if you’d yet seen the paper. Kinda felt put out for bothering. Which is why I always read things like that twice with a clear head. You have more reason than most to be sceptical, I get it.
The actual science paper, not Reddit, is interesting. Let’s see. The small particle size makes sense. People don’t seem to understand it’s a class of sugar, not the big particle size you put in coffee.
Yes of course and thanks for any useful emails! Was most annoyed that even U of Sheffield went for engagement via their title clickbait. Then I added some sugary facts too, even though it’s the wrong kind of sugar.
FYI — I might be the only writer of these findings that used the word “mice” in the title.
If mice don’t have severely truncated arrector pili muscle at the hair bulb as humans do from dht mediated hair loss, I don’t see much that’s relevant. But hey, let’s see what happens.
I get what you’re saying but I can name many “cures” that came out (actual products) in the last decade that turned out to be scams. Add in the lasers and nonstop ads for “natural” cures and the industry is a mess/joke. That’s not even considering the cures that never reach the market (not scams but potential cures that don’t get funding or results are crud).
What are the odds this will end up being anything? I’m hopeful at times but the clickbait screams scam. I actually think, at times at least, people are too gullible (vs too skeptical). The proof is the millions upon millions spent on obvious scams every year.
Of course it’ll not amount to much, all these treatments that are ‘equivalent to minoxidil’, like latanoprost, will be essentially useless for at least a significant minority of AGA patients. As another poster wrote even if you have a 20% increase, this means where you have 10 hairs, you’ll get 12 and most people here I’d wager would hardly benefit from a percentage increase double that.
It seems quite clear that only Pelage or possibly Amplifica are the serious bets in the mid term, anything else is just shuffling deck chairs on the titanic. Same goes for AA treatments, they’re irrelevant.
Tried all three already. Beer, fries, and sugar. No new hair. Lots of gas though.
Too bad “bw”! Where is SummyKim with his take?
Does anybody test topical NMN here ? I started 0.1% diluted in physiological serum 2 months ago but no result so far.
Launching the first cosmetic product to treat gray hair and hair loss in 2026. Potential uses of these pigmentation peptides include: Increased overall skin pigmentation (for example in sunless tans, scars and stretch marks), Increased local skin pigmentation in cases of hypopigmentation (eg vitiligo). Restoring natural hair pigmentation (eg treating gray hair), Reducing skin pigmentation (eg warts and age spots). It is a Swedish biotechnology company with several innovative medicines and dermatological cosmetic products
Bekoo, what is the cosmetic treatment being launched for gray hair in 2026 called or company name?
Some more sugar …
https://www.foxnews.com/health/cure-male-pattern-baldness-sugar-stored-bodies-study-claims
Someone moved fast (h/t John Doe):
https://www.accesswire.com/905429/2ddr-healthcare-introduces-innovative-hair-growth-serum-inspired-by-accidental-scientific-discovery
https://www.2ddrhair.com/
What a load of crap! How could this be extensively tested in such a short time since they found the treatment grew hair in frickin mice? Seems like yet another money grab.
:-)
Hopefully people read this post before the comments.
Thanks Admin, I read the post along with your cautionary note, my comment was specifically aimed at https://www.2ddrhair.com/ and the product they are peddling.
Yeah I know. I meant hopefully people read the post first, before trusting new “sugar” vendor links in the comments.
Well, I’m glad I ingored all the usual naysayers and blinkered BS.
You may remember my story from my CBD trials, admin – 48m, been balding since my twenties, completely bald at back, very thin on top.
I’d prefer a more ‘natural’ approach, if there is such a thing, and topical is a must for me. I’ll try anything I think may have some merit, no matter how much of a long shot. If everyone called “snake oil” at every turn, we’d get nowhere.
I’ve only been experimenting with D-ribose, and not 2-deoxy-d-ribose so far, and only aplying it to the completely bald patch at the back, not top. Any change there would indicate a cure, and not just wishful thinking.
20 days in, now I have vellus and a few light terminal hairs growing there, where there was absolutely nothing but shiny skin before.
Obviously, still a long way to go, and almost impossible to take pictures of vellus there myself, so I’ll wait until it’s more obvious before provding proof – if it indeed gets that far. Could be more minor results.
But I can say it’s a promising start. And if it does indeed work with D-ribose over 2-deoxy-d-ribose, anyone can make it at home with the right ingredients (all listed in the study) for very little money.
I’ve only been applying it at night, waiting for it to dry, and then going to bed. I wash it out in the morning, which is a pain with it being alginate. Now I’ve seen some action, I’ve just applied it during the day too.
When this jar runs out, in about 7 days, I may double the sugar content and see what happens. Of course, too much may have a reverse or negative effect, but that’s what experimentation is for.
Quietly optimistic on this one. Not counting chickens until I have definitive proof to satisfy my continued scepticism because CBD/Emu/Peppermint recoverd some of my loss and then plateaued (I still think it only thickened my very thin hair), with it just maintaining for the last year or so, which in of itself is still quite an acheivement, but we want a cure.
I know on Reddit there are others trying it, hopefuly with the correct ingredients, including 2-deoxy-d-ribose.
I deleted your second similar comment FYI. Due to time difference, it might take me 12 hours to approve a comment at times.
Ah, no, it wasn’t that. Normally, a comment will show as pending, but nothing happened. It stuck in place. So I hit send again. Nothing happened a second time, so I emailed you.
Thanks. I added a new ad platform this month and maybe it is causing some browser lag due to the slow annoying video ad? Not sure.
Please keep us updated with your progress with some before/after pictures.
Please read my post: I already said I’ll provide images once there’s enough to show a real difference. So far, it’s very minor.
Anyway, no noticible progress to report in the last week, so will stick to my plan of doubling the D-ribose concentration for 3-4 weeks, once the jat has run out.
If no luck there, I’ll move on to the actual 2-deoxy-d-ribose used in the study. And try that for a few weeks.
Even if it’s only at Minoxidil levels of performance, that’s a hude leap, IMO. Not only would the cost be a fraction of Minoxidil, but Cat owners could use it without fear of killing their pets. It’s even toxic to dogs. I have dogs. Would never use it.
Someone on Reddit is having promising early results. There’s a clearer image comparison in the comments where they line up moles for proof. The only thing is they’re not following the original formula, but a colossal 10% wt which is brave/crazy, along with a moisturiser and antioxidants – they’re ignoring requests to share what those are in particular.
https://www.reddit.com/r/HairlossResearch/comments/1f8rsu2/new_update_side_by_side_2ddribose_1_month/
Adding to this – he’s updated with another week’s progress. Definite gains now. He’s 40, so not just about youth and hyper-responder. In fact, he mentioned trying all the usual treatments with no luck. Certainly a promising start.