Apple tree substance stops growth of unwanted hair

Controversial & Unproven Methods Nonprescription Topical Preparations
#1

Harry Leveen of Charleston, South Carolina, Usa has found a way to stop unwanted hair growing back. Based on a compound found in apple trees, Leveen´s lotion starves the cells that produce the hair. Hair follicles are the fastest growing cells in the body. Like all cells, they obtain their energy from glucose, but in alightly diferent way. The follicles convert glucose into lactic acid, wich they use as building blocks for the hair. Therefore, Leeven reasos that if glucose is stoped from reaching the follicles the hair. Therefore Leveen reasons that if glucose is sttoped from reaching the follicoles the hair won´g grow. This can be done because the bloodstream carries glucose. But it can be stopped from crossing the follicle membrane. As glucose is insoluble in the lipid membrane, it can be blocked very effectively by a substance called phloridzin, found in the bark of apple roots and immature apple pips. However, phloridzin also blocks glucose transport into the kidneys, wich can lead to renal failure. the aglucone derivative of phloridzin, called [color:#000099]phloretin[/color], does not have this effect, but still prevents glucose from entering the follicles.Acording to Leveen a 5 tu 7,5 percent solution of phloretin in propylene glycol, ethyl alcohol or timethyl sulphoxide can be rubbed into hairy area tu ensure smooth results.

I found this information here:
Apple tree substance stops growth of unwanted hair

You can download the patent here:
Use of glucose blockers for inhibiting hair growth

#2

I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you too!

#3

Michael sorry but I do not understand what you mean. I do not know much English. Is it irony? Or a USA cliche?

#4

It’s a humorous saying that says if you believe this hypothesis that an ingredient in apples can stop hair growth, then you believe that I have the power to sell you an iconic bridge in New York City that doesn’t belong to me.

The Brooklyn Bridge is like electrolysis.

Did you know that the Brooklyn bridge was being built by a guy who had an accident at the site? His toes were crushed and he had to endure an amputation. Sadly, he developed tetanus and later died. His son took over and he too became sick, related to the work. So, his very capable wife, led the way, collaborating with her husband to complete the bridge eleven years later. Soon after its completion, rumors starting spreading that the bridge was going to collapse. A stampede started and twelve people died. To prove that the bridge was safe, Jumbo the elephant and the elephant family from the nearby circus, were led across the bridge to prove it was perfectly safe.

After over one hundred years later, the bridge remains strong and intact, same as electrolysis for permanent hair removal.

The information about an ingredient in apples stopping hair growth is bogus. I read the patent information. I saw dates like 1992. Is this old information? Have there been clinical trials? What do you know?

#5

Wow, Brooklyn bridge a metaphor for electrolysis? I LOVE this! Perfect! Bravo!

There’s a wonderful documentary on the building of the bridge that is truly amazing. A story of faith and tenacity.

I was especially interested in the “caisson illness” (I think that’s what they called it?), that we now call “the bends.” Basically nitrogen dissolves in the blood and then expands when the pressure is less. (I think that’s it, if I remember correctly.) Amazing that they discovered this before Scuba Diving. Of course, I had to learn all those horrible “diving charts” before I could get my certificate. I was worth it.

#6

I have no more information than I have written and posted on this page from phloretina. I read about plant cytotoxic components in clinical trials have provided positive results in hair removal. Specifically LECYTHIS OLLARIA.
Here are the clical trials (are in spanish):

Part 1:
The Hair Removal effect of “COCO de MONO” (Lecythis Ollaria)

Part 2:
The Hair Removal effect of “COCO de MONO” (Lecythis Ollaria)

I read a patent using another cytotoxic component (Ricin) to disable the hair follicles. Which is not toxic spread on the skin, unless it is accompanied by a solvent that will help penetrate the skin, inside the body, that would be lethal.

The patent:
AGENT FOR INHIBITING THE GROWTH OF MAMMALIAN HAIR

If one works Why can not function the rest?
Actually these cytotoxic components cause the death of any cellular process, or simply block it. The problem I see with phloretin is that it would need to use daily to keep the process blocked.

P.D.:
Lecythis Ollaria needs to grow in selenium-rich soils to create the component depilatory cytotoxic properties

SUMMARY (1st part)
In Venezuela the term “coco de mono” (“monkey’s coconut”)is used to designate plants of the genus Lecythis which are characterized by a woody urn -or pot- shaped pericarp covered by an operculum, inside of which the seeds are found.
The family Lecthidaceae is composed of nearly 45 species in tropical South and Central America distributed throughout a vast area running from Brazil to Costa Rica. In the flatlands of Venezuela, where this plant is found, there is a popular belief among the natives of the region that the ingestion of the seeds of this tree causes hair loss from the scalp as well as from the body. According to observations already published, all the individuals who have suffered from intoxication and subsequent hair loss were strangers to the zone and at least in two instances the potential victims were warned of the danger that involved the ingestion of these nuts and the expected consequences in relation to hair loss. Nine cases of intoxication due to the seeds of coco de mono are known, six of them already reported in the medical literature.
In multiple experiments carried out in mice, rats and hamsters “coco de mono” has been administered by mouth at 5 % concentrations and intraperitoneally (aqueous fraction
1:1000 ml. per kg.) in order to study the inhibitory properties of these nuts on hair growth.
A rounded zone of 1.5 cm. in diameter on the dorsal region of the animal was depilated with tweezers thus allowing the pilosebaceus follicles to enter the active growth phase
(anagen) which determined in the control animals a complete repopulation of the depilated area in a 7 day lapse. During the same period, there was observed a complete inhibition of the hair growth in animals subjected to the action of “coco de mono” administered raw as well as in aqueous fraction or purified saline.
After a prolongued exposure to raw coco de mono or active extracts, a variety of histopathological alterations were found in the sacrificed animals, besides the hair growth
inhibition. Among them : atrophy and disappearance of the sebaceous glands, marked atrophy of the epidermis, dema and intraveolar hemorrhage of the lungs, necrotic foci of the
iver and spleen and intense sinusoidal congestion of the adrenals.
The active pharmacological factor turned out to be a hydrosoluble subtance, thermostable, dializable (and therefore of low molecular weight, adsorbable by certain
exchange resins (Dowex 1 and Dowex 50), and finally it was determined that it was the selenium-containing analog of the sulfur amino acid, cystathionine, whose formula is
HOOC-CH (NH2) -CH2 -Se -CH, -CH (NH2) -000H

SUMMARY(2nd part)
Extracts of nuts of “coco de mono” (Lecythis ollaria) were tested for cytotoxic activity, in view of the hair-loss produced by its ingestion in several cases reported in the
medical literature in Venezuela. Mammalian cells growing in vitro were used as the test system, adding a purified crystalline material from extracts of coco de mono, identified as seleno-cystathionine (cystaselenonine), or L-2-amino-4-(L-2-amino-2-car-boxyethly) selenylbutyric acid. Biological activity of this material was exactly equivalent to the aqueous extract used previously, in that the concentration necesary for 50yc inhibition of growth was also 3-5 micrograms per ml. The present studies would seem to indicate that the cytotoxic factor in water extracts of these nuts is entirely due to cystaselenonine. The toxic effects of both crude extracts of nuts as well as highly purified samples of crystalline seleno-cystathionine are
equally reversed by the addition of 1-cystine to the culture medium. Moreover, apparently all of the biological activity in crude water extracts of the nuts seems to be able to be quantitatively accounted for by the amino acid seleno-cystathionine.
Regarding the mechanism of action of seleno-cystathionine, it seems likely that the material interferes with the utilization of the sulfurcontaining amino acid 1-cysteine for protein synthesis. In our cells growing in vitro, this restriction in the amount of utilizable cysteine means that cell growth comes to a halt. However, the hair loss observed after ingestion of nuts of coco de mono is probably not due to a cytotoxic effect of selenocystathionine on the hair follicle cell, so much as to an interference in the utilization of cysteine by the hair folicle cell in the formation of hair. It is well known, of course, that cysteine is present in high concentration in hair, and is of vital importance for the
keratinization process.

#7

Okay. I quit. I am not a molecular scientist. I am out of my league to even discuss this and my time is very limited. I do know that if someone invents a product that is safe, effective and proven, the world will know about it, use it and then the market place will decide how far it goes from there. If it goes far, that is when my bunny ears will perk up.

#8

Something with Ricin is not going to be available over the counter. It would probably have to be applied by a medical professional. The coco de mono sounds pretty toxic also. Even if these do work, they will probably not be available for general use, because the availability will be restricted to medical settings.