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Curry is available everywhere in Japan, from kids’ restaurants to fast food places to high-end restaurants. Many grocery stores even have whole aisles devoted to instant curry of all different flavors, just like cereal aisles in the U.S. For whatever reason, this originally Indian dish underwent a Japanese transformation, and is now super popular all over the country.
But there’s one other thing Japan and India have in common besides a love for delicious curry: a low percentage of male baldness.
According to a survey carried out by a major Japanese wig maker, Japan ranked 14th in the list of countries with the highest percentage of male baldness. Western countries littered the top slots, with America’s baldness rate more than double Japan’s, and India didn’t even crack the top 20.
The reason behind this? Japanese nutritionist Yoshiko Nakagawa says that the cause is curry. The mixture of spices found in curry such as turmeric, saffron, nutmeg, and capsaicin are good for the body’s metabolism and blood circulation, which is known to encourage hair growth.
The spices found in curry are essentially the same as Eastern medicine, which is what curry originated as in Japan. Alternative medicines have proven to be effective in many situations, but have also been pretty ridiculous in others, so take that for what you will.
Here’s what Japanese netizens had to say about this spicy news:
“Eat curry three times a day! Got it!” “I’m not convinced. There are so many bald Japanese/Indian people.” “Does it count as being bald if you hide it really well?” “I don’t like curry OR having hair, so I guess I’m all set.” “Wait a second. Ghandi… Dhalsim…. They’re all bald!”
We’re not 100% convinced of the findings either, but hey, another excuse to eat more curry can never be a bad thing.
Sources: Asagei plus via My Game News Flash, AGA
Read more stories from RocketNews24. -- Japan’s biggest curry chain now offers a true vegetarian curry -- 4 Japanese beauty fads that Westerners just don’t understand -- Curry-nai! Legendary X Japan story births new line of instant curry
© Japan Today
12 Comments
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theeastisred
British people eat a lot of curry. And the baldness rate is relatively high. Therefore I can scientifically prove that this theory is a big steaming pile of nonsense.
presto345
It's worth a try :-)
Deep Forest
The article forgot to mention that the curry has to be directly applied to your scalp. ; )
MrBum
I'm skeptical, but no one can possibly consume more curry than India. I don't think it's overgeneralizing to say that they probably consume some form of curry every day, maybe more than once a day.
descendent
If casual connections are now to be taken as proof, then surely we can attribute it equally so to the fact that both countries share a Buddhist historical connection? Or maybe their shared history of sexual liberalism? Or maybe even because both countries have wild monkeys that live in close proximity to humans? Yes, gotta be the last one. Monkey's definitely prevent baldness. Prove me wrong.
Laptop_Warrior
What are the incidences of baldness in India and Pakistan? If there's anything to this claim, they should be much lower.
Canuck35
Stories like this is why I sigh and roll my eyes whenever a Japanese medical "expert" appears on TV.
ben4short
As any self-respecting medical/nutrition "professional" should know, Asian males produce far lesser amounts of testosterone than their Western counterparts, thus accounting for their (Asian) lower sex drives, fewer cases of prostate cancer, less facial and upper-body hair, and more hair on their domes, among other things.
MsDelicious
ben: If they have lower sex drives as you posted, then why are there so many more billions of them than the rest of the world populace?
A few years back an expert claimed that aloe juice squeezed from aloe fronds mixed with shouchu and rubbed into the scalp made hair grow.
ben4short
MsD . . . because sex drive in very low on the list of factors determining population size (i.e., economic, social, political, geographic factors, and others).
As for fresh aloe, I tried it myself years ago and can attest to its inefficacy. Bowling ball Ben.
Nemrut Dagi
They also drink too much which probably negates any benefits fo the relatively recent introduction of curry into their diet ;-)