90% Hair Regrowth? (New “Sugar Gel” STUNS Scientists)

There was an old saying that started spreading in the 1970s, designed to make men with thinning hair feel better.

Bald is beautiful.

But trust me – it never caught on with us ladies.

For many women, losing their hair is more than a cosmetic issue. It’s traumatic.

It can undermine your self-confidence… leave you feeling depressed… and even prevent you from doing the things you love.

But help may FINALLY be on the way.

Scientists may have found a way to help your scalp remember how to grow hair again—and recent testing has produced jaw-dropping results.

And the best part? Their breakthrough relies on some simple principles you can start putting to work TODAY.

In a groundbreaking preclinical study, researchers discovered that a simple sugar molecule—the same one that forms your DNA—can reawaken dormant hair follicles.

The compound, called 2-deoxy-D-ribose (2dDR), was turned into a soft, biodegradable gel and applied to the scalps of aging, balding mice.

Within two short weeks, those mice showed robust regrowth—about 80 to 90% restoration—with new, thicker hairs sprouting across once-bare patches.

In that same experiment, researchers compared the sugar gel directly with minoxidil, the most common drug used for hair loss.

And here’s the surprise… the sugar gel worked just as well—without the harsh side effects.

You see, minoxidil forces hair follicles into a growth cycle by chemically “pushing” them to produce hair. That’s why it can sometimes cause irritation, flaking, or even dizziness when it gets absorbed through the skin. In rare cases, it’s linked to swelling, rapid heartbeat, or unwanted facial hair growth.

The sugar gel, on the other hand, didn’t rely on chemicals or hormones. It acted like a natural scaffold that encouraged new blood vessels to grow around each follicle—bringing oxygen and nutrients back to hair roots that had gone dormant.

By jump-starting blood flow and nourishing the tiny vessels around each follicle, the sugar gel helped the scalp do what it was designed to do—grow healthy hair on its own.

Scientists at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore call this a “vascular-regeneration approach” to hair loss—a completely new way of thinking about aging follicles.

I suspect this sugar gel will be hitting the market soon (and I’ll let you know the minute it does).

In the meantime, you can put the same principles behind it to work today, and start supporting your follicles’ blood vessels.

Studies on beetroot extract and juice show benefits at around 300–500 mg of standardized beetroot extract per day, or about 250 mL (one cup) of beetroot juice daily.

This amount has been shown to safely raise nitric oxide levels—helping blood flow more easily through your arteries and to the tiny capillaries that feed your scalp. In other words, what’s good for your heart is often good for your hair.

As always, check with your doctor first, especially if you take blood-pressure medication or blood thinners.

You can also consider topical circulation-boosting treatments like microneedling or gentle niacinamide serums that help strengthen the scalp barrier.

These natural tools can help bring your follicles back to life—one root, one breath of oxygen, one strand at a time.

To revived roots and fresher shade,

Rachel Mace
Managing Editorial Director, e-Alert
with contributions from the research team

Sources:

• Anjum, Z., Zulfiqar, H., Chaudhary, R., Rehman, S., Bullock, A., Yar, M., … MacNeil, S. (2024). Stimulation of hair regrowth in an animal model of androgenic alopecia using 2-deoxy-D-ribose gel. Frontiers in Pharmacology. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pharmacology/articles/10.3389/fphar.2024.1370833/full
• Muhammad Awais Anjum, Saima Zulfiqar, Aqif Anwar Chaudhary, Ihtesham Ur Rehman, Bullock, A. J., Yar, M., & MacNeil, S. (2024). Stimulation of hair regrowth in an animal model of androgenic alopecia using 2-deoxy-D-ribose. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2024.1370833
• Choi, Y.-H., Shin, J. Y., Kim, J., Kang, N.-G., & Lee, S. (2021). Niacinamide Down-Regulates the Expression of DKK-1 and Protects Cells from Oxidative Stress in Cultured Human Dermal Papilla Cells. Clinical, Cosmetic and Investigational Dermatology, Volume 14, 1519–1528. https://doi.org/10.2147/ccid.s334145
• Raposo, A., Saraiva, A., Ramos, F., Carrascosa, C., Raheem, D., Bárbara, R., & Silva, H. (2021). The Role of Food Supplementation in Microcirculation—A Comprehensive Review. Biology, 10(7), 616. https://doi.org/10.3390/biology10070616
• English, R. S., Ruiz, S., & DoAmaral, P. (2021). Microneedling and Its Use in Hair Loss Disorders: A Systematic Review. Dermatology and Therapy, 12(1), 41–60. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13555-021-00653-2
• Jones, Dunn, Macdonald, Kubis, McMahon, & Sandoo. (2019). The Effects of Beetroot Juice on Blood Pressure, Microvascular Function and Large-Vessel Endothelial Function: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Pilot Study in Healthy Older Adults. Nutrients, 11(8), 1792. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11081792
• Tawa, M., Nakagawa, K., & Mamoru Ohkita. (2023). Effects of beetroot juice supplementation on vascular functional and structural changes in aged mice. Physiological Reports, 11(12). https://doi.org/10.14814/phy2.15755