Study reveals popular diet may seriously stunt hair growth

Experts are warning that one particular diet could be causing your hair growth to slow down.

Diet culture is ever evolving, but one in particular has been encouraged for helping with weight loss, blood sugar and inflammation.

However, without realising, it could have a really unpleasant side effect.

The diet could cause an unknown side effect (Oscar Wong/Getty Images)

Intermittent fasting has been praised for so many reasons, and the health benefits are undeniable.

However, hair growth could be paying the price, after a number of scientific experiments reveal the true effects.

A new study, that was conducted on mice subjected to the diet plan, had better metabolic health but slower hair growth.

This was compared to the mice that had access to food constantly.

Intermittent fasting works by limiting eating to a certain daily window - usually for an eight hour period per day.

Speaking with the New York Times, biologist Bing Zhang said: "We don’t want to scare people away from practicing intermittent fasting because it is associated with a lot of beneficial effects - it’s just important to be aware that it might have some unintended effects."

The shaved mice followed a daily meal schedule that allowed only eight hours of food access, with 16 hours of fasting, or an alternate-day feeding plan.

And the results were fascinating.

After 96 days, the mice on the diet programme only had partial hair growth.

This is while the mice with access to food continuously, nearly regrew most of their hair within 30 days.

Hair growth could suffer (AndreyPopov/Getty Images)

The researchers came to the conclusion that intermittent fasting eliminates activated hair follicle stem cells - which are crucial for hair growth.

However, all hope is not lost.

Scientists found that applying vitamin E, an antioxidant found in hair growth products, twice a day to the back skin of mice, helped the hair follicle stem cells survive fasting.

The researchers wanted to consolidate their findings with humans, and conducted a small clinical trial with 49 adults.

And the results revealed that fasting had a milder effect on hair regrowth in humans.

The expert said: "The human population is very heterogeneous, so the effects might be different for different people.

"Mice also have a very high metabolic rate compared with humans, so fasting and metabolic switching have a more severe effect on the hair follicle stem cells of mice."