Sugar gel, fatty acids and hair follicle organoids: early-stage research on hair loss

What happened?

Between June 2024 and February 2026, three studies related to hair loss made the news: a sugar gel and fatty acids tested in mice, and hair follicle-like structures grown in the laboratory. All three were published in peer-reviewed journals (journals in which articles are checked by independent experts before publication); none of them is a treatment that has been tested in humans.

A gel containing sugar (June 2024)

In June 2024, researchers from the University of Sheffield and the University of Central Lancashire in England and from COMSATS University Islamabad in Pakistan published a mouse study. In earlier work, the team had shown that a sugar called 2-deoxy-D-ribose (2dDR), which occurs naturally in the body, supports the formation of new blood vessels. This time, they tested a gel containing this sugar for 20 days in mice in which hair loss had been induced with testosterone.

The authors described the hair growth seen with the gel in these mice as similar to that seen with minoxidil; using the two together brought no extra benefit. After a University of Sheffield press release in July 2024, the “sugar” headlines that followed went far beyond what this short animal study had shown.

Fat cells and stem cells (October–November 2025)

In a mouse study published online in late October 2025 and in print in November 2025, a team from National Taiwan University described the following chain of events: when the skin is irritated or injured, immune cells called macrophages trigger the breakdown of fat in the fat cells beneath the skin. The fatty acids released in the process activate resting stem cells in the hair follicle.

The team also applied two fatty acids (oleic and palmitoleic acid) to uninjured mouse skin, and hair was reported to grow in these mice within about 20 days. From late October into November 2025, the story spread with headlines such as “a serum that regrows hair in 20 days.” This wording came partly from the university’s own promotional material and went beyond the findings; the study did not test any serum in humans.

Hair follicle-like structures in the laboratory (February 2026)

In February 2026, a team from Yokohama National University in Japan published a study on hair follicle organoids. An organoid is a small, three-dimensional tissue structure grown in the laboratory that has some of the features of an organ.

The team derived ectodermal precursor cells from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs: cells that have been reprogrammed in the laboratory so that they can turn into many different cell types). The ectoderm is the cell lineage that gives rise to the upper layer of the skin and also to the part of the hair follicle that produces the hair shaft. The team combined these cells with supporting tissue cells (mesenchymal cells) taken from mouse embryos.

These mixed organoids, made of human and mouse cells, formed hair follicles both in the laboratory and after being transplanted into animals. As the supporting gel, the team used type I collagen instead of a substance obtained from mouse tumors.

What do they tell us, in plain language?

All three studies are early-stage research aimed at understanding the hair follicle. The sugar gel study looked at how a substance that supports blood vessel formation affects hair growth in mice. The fatty acid study investigated what reactivates a resting hair follicle. The organoid study focused on whether hair follicles can be produced in the laboratory.

Whether these findings will ever lead to a treatment is not known today.

How strong is the evidence, and what is not known?

Why don’t results in mice always apply to humans?

• The hair cycle works differently in mice than in humans; hair loss induced in an experiment is not the same as the genetic hair loss that develops in people over the years.
• A signaling pathway that works in mice may not work the same way in humans.
• Experiments lasting a few weeks do not show whether the effect lasts or how safe it is in the long term.
• According to the authors of the organoid study, using mouse cells raises safety concerns for clinical use; for a model made entirely of human cells, the supporting tissue cells would also have to be derived from iPSCs.

The path from the laboratory to an approved treatment

1. Cell and tissue studies.
2. Animal studies. All three studies are at this stage.
3. Clinical studies in humans: first safety in a small number of volunteers (phase 1), then effect and the right dose in larger groups (phase 2), and then comparison with a placebo (an identical-looking product with no active ingredient) or an existing treatment in a large number of patients (phase 3).
4. A separate assessment and approval by the drug regulator in each country.
5. Monitoring of side effects after approval.

A large share of ideas that look promising in animals do not deliver the expected results in human studies, or never reach that stage at all.

What should you look for when reading news like this?

• Who was it tested in, and for how long? In cells, mice or people; for a few weeks or for years? Headlines often don’t say.
• What is the source? A peer-reviewed article, a press release or a social media post?
• What is the comparison based on? Check which measurement words like “similar” or “as effective as” are based on.

There is no evidence that rubbing homemade mixtures of sugar, oil or fatty acids into the scalp works; these studies did not test anything like this in humans. Nor does the finding on irritation and injury in the mouse study mean that deliberately irritating the scalp is a way to grow hair.

What is the situation in Turkey?

We have found no information that there is an approved product or treatment based on these studies; at the time of writing, we could not verify the situation in Turkey either.

If you come across a gel, serum, oil or procedure offered with reference to these studies, you can ask whether it has been tested in humans and under what authorization it is offered, and get your doctor’s opinion.

What does this mean if you are considering a hair transplant or treatment?

Today, these studies do not replace a hair transplant or medical treatment. A hair transplant does not create new hair follicles; follicles that are less sensitive to hair loss are taken, mostly from the donor area at the back and sides of the head, and moved to the thinning area. We explain the structure of the hair follicle and where its stem cells are located in our article on the hair follicle.

The number of follicles in the donor area is limited, and today organoid studies are not a way around this limit. We explain why in our article on the donor area and donor dominance.

Procedures offered for hair loss under the name “stem cell” are not the same thing as this organoid study either; we explain on our autologous stem cell application page that the evidence for these procedures is limited.

• During the examination, you can talk to your doctor about the cause of your hair loss, your treatment options and any questions you have about news you have read.
• Do not start taking medications used for hair loss on your own, and do not stop a treatment you are using without talking to your doctor. You can find the general picture in our article on male pattern hair loss.

Whether you are suitable for a hair transplant is determined during the examination, and results also vary from person to person.