A recent study has shown that the juice from an apple can prevent baldness and in most cases is likely to restore hair loss when applied topically. This would be cure for baldness is contained in a natural chemical found in apples known as procyanidin B-2, a type of proanthocyanidin. The benefits of proanthocyanidins have been well documented as having a broad range of health benefits.

In this study, authors from the Tsukuba Research Laboratories and the Watanabe Dermatological Clinic in Japan investigated the hair growth and side effects of a 1 percent procyanidin B-2 solution extracted from commercially available apple juice. For 6 months, 19 men received a daily topical dose of 30 mg of the procyanidin-B2 hair tonic, while another 10 received a placebo that looked and smelled the same. Hair growth--including hair density and diameter--were measured using microscopes and photographs. Results revealed that men who received procyanidin B-2 grew more total hairs and more dense hairs than the placebo group. Unlike prescription drugs, procyanidin B-2 produced no side effects such as itching or irritation.

What does this mean for the tens of thousands of men who are already engaged in their own brand of hair loss remedy or restoration? Well, to begin with, inert chemically-based products such as minoxidil (Rogaine) and finasteride (Proscar) have been known to produce the aforementioned side effects. What about the rest of us who suffer from male pattern balding and who have forsaken the use of prescription medication to remedy this problem? Now there may be hope!

The scientists involved speculated that antioxidants in procyanidin B-2 defeat male baldness by decreasing the scalp swelling that may cause hair loss. "The suppression of inflammation mediated by procyanidin B-2 returns the scalp to a healthy condition, consequently leading to a cure for baldness," they said. The authors are now planning further research on the length of time and the dose at which procyanidin B-2 is most effective. And they've figured out a way to get this natural chemical to bald men without using apple juice off the grocery shelf--by extracting it from green apples.