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Pumpkin Seed Oil: Hair Loss Remedy?
When I think of pumpkin my mind immediately thinks of fall...Waiting in line at Starbucks for that pumpkin spiced latte.... Or scouring the pumpkin patch in search of one that will make a delightfully diabolical Jack-o'-Lantern. But alas...These squashes that we know to be both decorative and the most critical ingredient for our pumpkin pie may also have another use...Combating hair loss.
Before we jump into pumpkin seed oil and its effects I want to call out that just because something is “natural” doesn’t necessarily mean that it is safer than a synthetic or “unnatural” drug.
Natural treatments often come with their own potential side effects. Some may even be serious. These natural products are globally marketed as dietary supplements and do not require Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval. Additionally, not all natural products are shown to be effective. Be sure to consult with your physician before starting, stopping, or changing any of your treatment regimens.
In this blog post we'll cover the following:
What pumpkin seed oil is
How pumpkin seed oil is thought to work against hair loss
Review some of the scientific studies that investigate pumpkin seed oil as a hair loss treatment
Discuss potential side effects
What is pumpkin seed oil?
Pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.) seeds have a considerable amount of oil with nutritional and medicinal importance. (1).
Pumpkin seed oil chiefly consists of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, including myristic acid, palmitic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid and linolenic acid (1). It also contains beta-sitosterol which actively inhibits 5a-reductase enzyme (more on this below).
Pumpkin Seed Oil: Hair Loss-How's it thought to work as a potential treatment?
Pumpkin has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, cytoprotective, and antidiabetic effects (1).
The mechanism by which pumpkin seed oil is thought to work as a complementary or alternative treatment for alopecia is by the phytosterols it contains which are known to inhibit 5α-reductase, preventing the conversion of testosterone to active dihydrotestosterone (DHT) (2).
(Remember DHT is thought to a key player in hair follicle miniaturization...So inhibiting the enzyme that converts testosterone to DHT is a major therapeutic target for androgenic alopecia.)
Talk Data to Me--Pumpkin Seed Oil: Hair Loss Treatment
Below we will review some of the scientific studies that have investigated pumpkin seed oil and its effectiveness in treating androgenic alopecia. Keep in mind I'm just pulling a few of the studies and I encourage you to perform your own research.
The first study we'll take a look at is a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study which was designed to investigate the efficacy and tolerability of pumpkin seed oil for treatment of hair growth in male patients with mild to moderate androgenic alopecia.
You can stalk the study HERE.
The study period was 24 weeks and participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups:
The Pumpkin Seed Oil Group: 37 participantsreceived 400 mg of Pumpkin Seed Oil (Octa Sabal Plus®) per day in the form of capsules.
Two capsules (100 mg per capsule) of pumpkin seed oil were taken by participants 30 minutes before breakfast and dinner (total of 4 capsules per day) for a period of 24 weeks. (When you add up the dose it equals to 400 mg per day.)
Control group: 39 participants received a placebo. In the control group the participants were given the same quantity of placebos two times per day for 24 weeks.
How was efficacy being assessed?
They evaluated hair growth by 4 outcomes: Clinical photographs of the scalp were taken and were evaluated by an investigator who was not made aware of who was on what treatment, patients assessed themselves with a scoring system, and scalp hair thickness and scalp hair counts were also looked at (3).
What did the results show?
After 24 weeks the individuals in the pumpkin seed oil had higher self-rated improvement scores and self-rated satisfaction scores than the placebo group (P = 0.013, 0.003).
The pumpkin seed oil treated group also had more hair after treatment than at the start of the study, compared to the placebo group (P < 0.001).
At 24 weeks, mean hair count increases of 40% were observed in the men in the pumpkin seed oil group, compared to increases of 10% observed in placebo-treated men (P < 0.001).
Things you may want to consider: The pumpkin seed oil Korean supplement (Octa Sabal Plus®; Serona Company, South Korea) used in this study contains additional ingredients derived from mixed vegetables, primrose, red clover, and tomatoes... This makes it difficult to determine whether the results on hair growth are due mostly to the pumpkin seed oil because there were all these other additional ingredients in the supplement...
This next study was conducted in WOMEN! Wooooooooooooo!
It aimed to investigate the clinical efficacy of pumpkin seed oil in the treatment of female pattern hair loss (FPHL) and compare its effects with minoxidil 5% foam (4). after the initial visit patients were followed up using clinical and dermoscopic evaluation at 1.5 months and at 3 months following the start of treatment.
You can stalk the study HERE.
The study included 60 female patients with type 1 or type 2 Ludwig classification.
These female patients all had androgenic alopecia (Patients were diagnosed clinically and dermoscopically in order to be included).
Treatment groups:
Group A: (30 female patients) apply 1mL of topical pumpkin seed oil applied once daily for 3 months
Group B: (30 female patients) apply 1mL of minoxidil foam 5% once daily for 3 months
Some Results That Stood Out To Me:
Group A showed (pumpkin seed oil): Showed a significant decrease in hair shaft diversity before and after treatment, as well as in the vellus hairs Upright regrowing hairs significantly increased from before treatment to after treatment (P < .001).
Group B (minoxidil applying) displayed, a significant decrease in hair shaft diversity before and after treatment, as well as in the vellus hairs. Upright regrowing hairs significantly increased before treatment to after treatment (P <0.001).
Sum it all up:
The authors concluded via dermoscopic evaluation that a more significant decrease in hair shaft diversity occured among the minoxidil applying group compared to the pumpkin seed oil group (P = 0.004) as well as significantly increased the number of regrowing hairs (P=0.005), and showed a more significant decrease in vellus hairs compared to those applying the pumpkin seed oil (P=0.004).
So I think it's important to call out that there was significant improvements seen in both groups...in regards to hair shaft diversity, vellus hair, and upright regrowing hair. But 5% minoxidil is the winner since it exhibited a higher significant efficacy to pumpkin seed oil...
More data?
A single blinded comparative study in patients with alopecia areata demonstrated that sesame and pumpkin seed oil are new and effective treatment modalities for alopecia areata, with no statistical superiority to one another (5).
In this study the pumpkin seed oil group applied this topically twice per day for a 3 month duration.
The sesame seed oil group applied this treatment topically to patches twice per day for a 3 month duration.
Pumpkin Seed Oil Treatment By Topical Application:
Pumpkin seed oil is a carrier oil and does not need to be diluted before application. Pumpkin seed oil can be massaged into the scalp directly... I've linked my favorite scalp massager below. For more information on scalp massage alone as a way to combat hair loss check out my post HERE which also includes how I use this scalp massager.
Pumpkin Seed Oil: Hair Loss Treatment Side Effects....What was seen in the studies?
In the first study we discussed....Most of the participants completed the protocol without adverse symptoms. One subject in the pumpkin seed oil group and one subject in the control group complained of a whole body itching sensation. One participant in the pumpkin seed oil treatment group complained of mild abdominal discomfort (3).
The second study did not report adverse events. I do want to call out that an exclusion criteria for this study was women who were pregnant and lactating (4).
The third study in alopecia areata patients reported scaling which was seen in 4(20%) patients in each group that was observed during first 2 weeks and then subsided gradually (5).
Please be sure to discuss with your physician before making any changes to your treatment plan.
Some Thoughts On Pumpkin Seed Oil...
In my opinion it does appear that there is some efficacy to pumpkin seed oil as a treatment for female pattern hair loss.
However, these studies are super small. I also could not find info on the topicals that were applied for pumpkin seed oil. Ex: Was this pumpkin seed oil alone or were other oils part of the formulation?
I think more research is needed to identify the concentrations required for active ingredients to see therapeutic effects and also determine the mechanism of action of these active ingredients.
When reading the first study I think it was easy to get super psyched about those results. But because (Octa Sabal Plus®) contains so many other ingredients besides just pumpkin seed oil its difficult to attribute the efficacy of this treatment to just the pumpkin seed oil ingredient.
I hope this post has helped you in your own assessment of pumpkin seed oil as a treatment for hair loss. Thank you for reading!
References:
1. Hajhashemi, Valiollah et al. “Beneficial effects of pumpkin seed oil as a topical hair growth promoting agent in a mice model.” Avicenna journal of phytomedicine vol. 9,6 (2019): 499-504. doi:10.22038/AJP.2019.13463
2. Hosking, Anna-Marie et al. “Complementary and Alternative Treatments for Alopecia: A Comprehensive Review.” Skin appendage disorders vol. 5,2 (2019): 72-89. doi:10.1159/000492035
3. Cho, Young Hye et al. “Effect of pumpkin seed oil on hair growth in men with androgenetic alopecia: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.” Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM vol. 2014 (2014): 549721. doi:10.1155/2014/549721
4. Ibrahim, IM, Hasan, MS, Elsabaa, KI, Elsaie, ML. Pumpkin seed oil vs. minoxidil 5% topical foam for the treatment of female pattern hair loss: A randomized comparative trial. J Cosmet Dermatol. 2021; 20: 2867– 2873. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocd.13976
5. Khalifa E. Sharquie, Adil A. Noaimi, Muna S. Abass, Sesame and Pumpkin Seed Oil are New Effective Topical Therapies for Alopecia Areata, American Journal of Dermatology and Venereology, Vol. 8 No. 2, 2019, pp. 28-32. doi: 10.5923/j.ajdv.20190802.03.