McDonald’s Fries Chemical May Cure Baldness, Study Says | Hacker News Reader

McDonald’s Fries Chemical May Cure Baldness, Study Says

msn.com

29 pointsgamechangr18 comments

Wow, what a horrible article.

First off, the chemical is used as a substrate for growing "hair follicle germs", not as a direct treatment. If the hair follicle germs had been grown in glass Petri dishes, would the headline be "Chemical Used in Baby Food Jars May Cure Baldness"? No, of course not.

(BTW, I suspect "hair follicle germs" is a bad translation from Japanese -- "stem cells" is probably nearer the mark).

Secondly, this stuff is used for all sorts of purposes (see the Wikipedia article that someone else linked), so drawing a connection to McDonalds is...questionable. Ethanol is used as a disinfectant, and is also found in Jack Daniels, but you don't see articles like "Chemical Found in Jack Daniels may Prevent Infection, Study Says".

It's atrociously bad science journalism, even by the lousy standards that exist in that field.

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polydimethylsiloxane#Foods

> PDMS is added to many cooking oils (as an antifoaming agent) to prevent oil splatter during the cooking process. As a result of this, PDMS can be found in trace quantities in many fast food items such as McDonald's Chicken McNuggets and french fries,[25] and Wendy's french fries.

Pretend it's a fact....

Would you rather eat Mcdonalds fries or be bald?

In a small but thorough study of mine (N=1) results are so far negative. If anything the subject gets balder over time despite exposure to McDonald’s fries.

I was going to say the exact same thing... it probably hastened my ride to baldness.

You don't eat it, but apply it. Cheap to try. Any takers?

https://www.amazon.com/MicroLubrol-Silicone-Polydimethylsilo...

"Skin PDMS is used variously in the cosmetic and consumer product industry as well. For example, PDMS can be used in the treatment of head lice on the scalp[19] and dimethicone is used widely in skin-moisturizing lotions where it is listed as an active ingredient whose purpose is "skin protection." Some cosmetic formulations use dimethicone and related siloxane polymers in concentrations of use up to 15%. The Cosmetic Ingredient Review's (CIR) Expert Panel, has concluded that dimethicone and related polymers are "safe as used in cosmetic formulations."[20]"

If I were to try to buy PDMS by itself, would I then be asked, "do you want fries with that?"

You know what else might cure baldness? A healthy diet and exercise. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Nope.

Almost completely no.

Stress can accelerate baldness, and a healthy diet and exercise can reduce stress, but I've read no scientific literature shows diet and exercise prevents male pattern baldness.

That is dumbest fucking thing I've read this morning. [Disclosure: I'm bald.]

I would rather go bald then eat McDonald's fries often.

You wouldn't have to eat them you would just regularly rub them on your head

So even if it doesn't work, you'll still be popular with the ladies.

Even worse.

> I would rather go bald then eat McDonald's fries often.

So instead of being treated by what article describes, you prefer to get bald and then eat fries at McDonald? Did I got that right?

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