If until now you hated gray hair, perhaps it is time to change your mind. Japanese scientists have shown that gray hair can protect us against cancer.
When we are under too much stress, the DNA in cells suffers and is damaged, which can lead to cancer . Some of the first cells to notice this are the stem cells that give rise to the melanocytes of the hair follicles, located at the root of the hair and responsible for giving it color. As Emi Nishimura and her colleagues at Tokyo Medical University have found, when these cells become damaged they massively transform into mature melanocytes and stop multiplying. In this way, the researchers explain in the latest issue of the journal Cell , dangerous potentially pre-cancerous cells are eliminated, preventing tumors from forming. The immediate consequence is that the hair loses its ability to produce pigments and becomes gray .
