We recently had the great pleasure of baking an apple pie in a wood cook stove and sharing it with our good friend and colleague Julianne Forbes, ND, who lives and practices in Bridgton, Maine. We traveled to Maine to check on a log cabin owned by the Schor family and were obligated to spend a cozy week there making sure the fireplace and wood stove were working adequately.
It’s apple season in Maine and Julianne was kind enough to help us eat a pie I had baked and polite enough not to complain that the crust was a bit burnt on one side. It takes a little longer to preheat a wood oven than it does our gas range at home. Dr. Forbes may be familiar to some of our readers as she writes for Natural Medicine Journal. Her most recent article was titled Small Particulates Associated with Lower Respiratory Infections.
I have a new excuse to bake apple pies. Several recent studies suggest that the polyphenols in apples may stimulate hair follicles to grow hair. Obviously in my case the effect must be slow acting.
The first mention of this hair growth stimulating action of apples that I’ve come across was in 2002. That year Kamimura and Takahashi reported in the British Journal of Dermatology that a procyanidin extracted from apples promotes hair growth. Well at least in hair epithelial cells being grown in a laboratory.1 Two papers have also been published this past year. The first, published in January 2018, reported that, “…. the procyanidin B2, a dimeric derivative extracted from apples, has demonstrated to be one of the most effective and safest natural compounds in promoting hair growth, both in vitro and in humans, by topical applications. By evaluating the polyphenolic content of different apple varieties, [the authors] have recently found in the apple fruits of cv Annurca (AFA), native to Southern Italy, one of the highest contents of oligomeric procyanidins, and, specifically, of procyanidin B2.” The authors tested a specific product called AppleMets and report that it was useful in promoting hair growth.2 The online advertising for the product has some compelling before and after photos, if you believe advertisements like that. Unfortunately, this product is not for sale in the United States at this time.
The second study published this year came out just last week and the authors claim “… that oral consumption of Annurca polyphenolic extracts (AAE) stimulates hair growth, hair number, hair weight and keratin content in healthy human subjects.”3 Earlier studies of Annurca extracts suggest they lower cholesterol4 and may protect against stress and aging.5 A 2017 clinical trial reported that chronic apple extract consumption normalizes blood sugar problems in those with early diabetes.6
These and other studies provide adequate rationalization to bake a few more apple pies this Fall.
