Unexpected relationship between gray hair and cancer: Harvard research clarifies the truth

Gray hair appears more often with increasing age, due to aging. Depletion of antioxidants can damage melanocytes leading to reduced hair pigmentation.

However, not only the elderly but also young people today have gray hair. And this causes a lot of trouble in life, because just a few white hairs can make you look a few years older.

Therefore, many people will look for dyeing solutions to cover this part of their hair.

Gray hair appears due to aging.

However, dyeing your hair regularly will bring harmful effects to your health. Because dyes contain toxic chemicals.

There is information that people with gray hair are not susceptible to cancer, so how true is this?

According to the Daily Mail, researchers at Harvard University's Department of Dermatology believe that white hair is a self-protection mechanism of the body . Cellular genes that prevent melanin from being destroyed and removed will reduce the risk. chance of getting cancer.

It's unbelievable that many people worry that premature gray hair is not good, it not only affects aesthetics but can also affect health. However, in reality, people with gray hair are considered health "treasures".

Currently, the cancer burden in Vietnam is estimated to have tripled in 30 years. According to GLOBOCAN 2020, in our country, the cancer incidence rate ranks 90/185 countries and the cancer death rate ranks 50/185 countries.

By 2023, the Oncology Hospital will continue to receive more than 30,000 new cancer cases.

The numbers are terrible, so in the face of cancer, gray hair is really not a big deal.

In fact, this research on the connection between white hair and cancer comes from experiments on mice conducted by Japanese researchers in 2009.

Initial research shows that when DNA is damaged, melanin stem cells in hair follicles do not "die" but transform into mature melanocytes. However, it will no longer be able to produce melanin, so the mouse's fur will turn gray.

However, the results of the study did not lead to a conclusion : People with a lot of gray hair have an increased or decreased risk of cancer. Therefore, the conclusion that people with a lot of gray hair are less likely to get cancer still does not have an exact scientific basis.