Capsules

HAIR TODAY, GONE TOMORROW

For brooding baldies who have spent fortunes on useless hair-growing potions and lotions, hope seems to recede as steadily as their hairlines. But now comes word that a respected pharmaceutical firm, the Upjohn Co. of Kalamazoo, Mich., is investigating a chemical that could lead to development of the first successful hair restorer. The drug's name: minoxidil.

Upjohn, which developed minoxidil as a treatment for severe high blood pressure, stumbled on its potential gold mine when clinical trials indicated the drug had a peculiar side effect: growth of hair on the body, face and scalp. Most intriguing, the hair-raising effect extended to the pates of men supposedly irreversibly bald. The drug is too powerful to be taken internally by people not suffering from severe hypertension, so Upjohn is now experimenting with a topical lotion. The first tests, with balding inmates at the state prison in Jackson, Mich., proved inconclusive. Further studies are being done at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and by the Orentreich Medical Group in New York City. Says Dr. Ron Rizer of the New York team: "The aim is to control skin absorption in order to limit the drug's systemic effects, while retaining the hair-growing properties."

Researchers stress that the work is in the preliminary stages and a surefire treatment for baldness a long way off. Says Dr. Anthony Zappacosta of Bryn Mawr, Pa., who prescribed the drug for several patients, some of whom were bald: "In most cases hair grows on the scalp for about eight weeks, attaining normal thickness and a length of around three-quarters of an inch. Then it falls out, and the growing process begins again." Such hair today, gone tomorrow results do not bother some medical students. They reportedly have been rubbing a crude minoxidil lotion on their thinning peaks.

SMOKE SIGNALS

Determined to have their weed and smoke it too, many tobacco aficionados have been switching to low-tar, low-nicotine cigarettes. As long as they do not smoke more or inhale more deeply, these converts may be better off--but not much. The U.S. Surgeon General in his annual survey of smoking reported last week that low-yield brands reduce the risk of developing lung cancer only slightly, and heart disease, emphysema and bronchitis not at all. There is also a new worry. To enhance the cigarettes' weaker flavor, manufacturers have been using additives, some of which, like cocoa, turn into cancer-causing substances when burned. More bad news was contained in the British Medical Journal. A 14-year study of 265,000 Japanese men and women concluded that a husband who smoked 20 cigarettes a day doubled a nonsmoking wife's chance of dying of lung cancer.

But there was some good news, too. Surveying about 17,000 high school seniors every year since 1975, University of Michigan researchers found that the number of students smoking daily has dropped by more than one-fourth in the past three years. Reasons: heightened peer disapproval and increasing concern about health.

WEIGHING DIETS

Popular wisdom has it that diets that are relatively high in protein are nonfattening. But that assumption may be wrong, suggests a study from the University of Virginia. Two groups of adult rats were fed the same number of calories for nine weeks. One group received 25% of its calories from protein, the remaining 75% from fats and carbohydrates; the other group got only 5% of its calories from protein. The surprising finding, reported in Science: the rats receiving the high-protein mix gained twice as much weight. Moreover, fat accounted for nearly 24% of body weight in the high-protein rats, compared with only 16% in the low-protein group. --

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