h2o2, grey hair, raw food diet

[PamelaViktoria]

Read this article that shows that our hair goes grey because h2o2 builds up in cells. Here's the link:
http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/09031118-grey-hair-old-age-hydrogen-peroxide-inhibits-the-synthesis-melanin.html
So from my research, aging is a build up of toxins. So in theory, if a person can detox what toxins are already in the body, prevent as much as possible new toxins from accumulating, this buildup should not happen. I have detoxed so much on the raw diet, my skin is becoming translucent. This means much of the toxins in the cells are gone. I suspect hair would grey much much later in life. Since I can't use hair color chemicals, I have to age gracefully with my natural hair. What do you all think?

[spidermom]

I love how my golden blonde hair is going silver; don't much care how it happens.

ps - I tend to be suspicious of information that comes along with a product they want you to buy.

[ravenreed]

In all honesty, I don't think translucent skin is necessarily a good thing. I would make sure it isn't related to a medical problem.

[Amber_Maiden]

In all honesty, I don't think translucent skin is necessarily a good thing. I would make sure it isn't related to a medical problem.

Agreed. It generally isn't.

I also think that raw foodism has lots of dogma attached to it- and hardly any of it is truly scientific.

As for toxins, clean eating is best. It does not mean your diet has to be raw. You tai in little toxins if you eat cleanly. Also- your cells are replaced every 7 years.

[PixxieStix]

I don't think the article was meant to sell a product, it's just a paid for add placed by google because that product matched up with what the article is about. (At least, I didn't see any information on a product in the article at all, and I generally agree with Spidermom, articles for product selling tend to be iffy.)

Interesting. I wonder why some of us are born with a few white or grey hairs then?

[kitschy]

Gray hair isn't caused from toxins. I'm just a bit offended by this suggestion.

[Toadstool]

According to the article, "Hydrogen peroxide attacks the enzyme tyrosinase by oxidising an amino acid, methionine, at the active site. As a consequence, this key enzyme, which normally starts the synthesising pathway of the colouring pigment melanin, does not function anymore."
Erm..wouldn't that mean that if and the article is correct and your skin is translucent , it lacks melanin and therefore has too MUCH hydrogen peroxide ie toxins??

[Amber_Maiden]

According to the article, "Hydrogen peroxide attacks the enzyme tyrosinase by oxidising an amino acid, methionine, at the active site. As a consequence, this key enzyme, which normally starts the synthesising pathway of the colouring pigment melanin, does not function anymore."
Erm..wouldn't that mean that if and the article is correct and your skin is translucent , it lacks melanin and therefore has too MUCH hydrogen peroxide ie toxins??

Yep. :rolleyes:

Also, grey hair is caused by the body naturally aging- you don't have the same levels of certain things anymore, and it's not a bad thing!

See effects of aging an grey/white hair:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_hair_color#Gray_and_white_hair

[Maktub]

I agree with others and could personaly proove, also, that big doses of stress can cause some grey hair ! I have a spot of 6-8 grey hair on my head that is exactly the same lenght and aged exactly back to last july / august... the most stressful time I had in my life. I'm convinced it's linked to the kind of "trauma" I had then.

Of course, that's not the only cause of grey hair !

[amantha]

*putting my biology major hat on*

It is true that grey hair is caused by hydrogen peroxide building up in your hair follicles. However this is a natural process due to aging. How early this happens is merely due to genetics and possibly lifestyle habits (such as smoking).....not "toxins." This "toxins" ideology and the concept of "detoxifying" is blatantly false. Your body does not EVER need to go through some elaborate "detoxification" process by doing some crazy detox diet or whatever. Your liver and kidneys do that job for you. In fact, putting your body through that can actually be quite harmful.

I don't mean to suggest that a raw food diet is like this at all though. Raw diets can actually be quite healthy...but I see a lot of "detoxifying" diets and products being advertised and it makes me really angry because they can do a lot more harm than good.

[Amber_Maiden]

I agree with others and could personaly proove, also, that big doses of stress can cause some grey hair ! I have a spot of 6-8 grey hair on my head that is exactly the same lenght and aged exactly back to last july / august... the most stressful time I had in my life. I'm convinced it's linked to the kind of "trauma" I had then.

Of course, that's not the only cause of grey hair !

yep, same here. I had a patch of hair turn white when I was 17 when I had something traumatic happen to me.

[princessp]

*putting my biology major hat on*

It is true that grey hair is caused by hydrogen peroxide building up in your hair follicles. However this is a natural process due to aging. How early this happens is merely due to genetics and possibly lifestyle habits (such as smoking).....not "toxins." This "toxins" ideology and the concept of "detoxifying" is blatantly false. Your body does not EVER need to go through some elaborate "detoxification" process by doing some crazy detox diet or whatever. Your liver and kidneys do that job for you. In fact, putting your body through that can actually be quite harmful.

I don't mean to suggest that a raw food diet is like this at all though. Raw diets can actually be quite healthy...but I see a lot of "detoxifying" diets and products being advertised and it makes me really angry because they can do a lot more harm than good.

I'm glad you wrote this because I was under the impression it was mostly genetic too.

To the OP, I am a 20+ year vegetarian and I definitely look younger than my age (I do have some greys but I have good skin--no wrinkles). I also eat fairly cleanly. In addition my Mom has great skin. So while I can definitely credit my good skin a bit on my diet, sunscreen, and active attempts to alleviate stress, mostly I believe it is genetic. For good or ill, I don't believe we can really stop the aging process.

But hey if the raw diet is working for you then by all means keep it up. People like Dr. Ann Wigmore swore by it. In chinese medicine the outside appearance of the skin is supposed to represents what is going on inside your body (think liver spots) so if you mean clear skin when you say "translucent" then it probably is good for you. I notice I have clearer skin when I eat a lot of raw or cooked veggies (as in soup). I can't do a 100% raw diet though for some reason but there are folks here who do. In fact I think there is a raw food thread in the friendship section. Anyway, I'm glad it is working for you. Thanks for sharing. :flower: