L-Carnitine may stimulate hair growth

It takes a special kind of head to look good bald. Michael Jordan pulls it off, as do Vin Diesel, Bruce Willis, and Michael Chiklis. But for many guys, myself included, we know that our pates look much better with hair, which is why we dread the mere idea of losing any. Thankfully, German scientists may have recently uncovered a potential link between the amino acid L-Carnitine with hair growth.

According to the study, which was conducted at the University of Hamburg and results of which were published in the journal Experimental Dermatology, carnitine stimulated hair growth by increasing energy supply in the hair follicles. "Our findings suggest that l-carnitine stimulates human scalp hair growth by up regulation of proliferation and down regulation of apoptosis in follicular keratinocytes in vitro," stated K. Foitzik, lead researcher on the study.

There is still a great deal of research to be conducted on this potential carnitine/hair loss connection, but the researchers seem confident that this is a solid link. Who knows -- maybe in a few years, baldness will be a thing of the past.