With the spread of "hair anxiety" to young people, in recent years, the market demand for black sesame pill, which is considered to be "black hair" and "hair care", is very strong. To say, the taste of black sesame is not so popular, but businesses take the health care route, and the marketing direction is aimed at people's pursuit of dark hair. So, can you really get black hair after eating black sesame balls? Does it have a health care effect on hair? 1. What nutrition does black sesame have Black sesame, also known as black bluish dogbane, flax, Jusheng, etc., is the dry and mature seed of bluish dogbane in the family lipomataceae. It is flat oval, with black surface, smooth or reticular wrinkles, and a brown punctate hilum at the tip. In the "notice on further standardizing the management of health food raw materials" published by the National Health Commission, black sesame is included in the "list of articles that are both food and medicine", that is, it is often said that "medicine and food have the same origin". What health care effect does black sesame have? From a traditional point of view, according to the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, black sesame can be used for tonifying the liver and kidney, benefiting essence and blood, moistening intestinal dryness, dizziness, tinnitus and deafness, early white beard and hair, hair loss after illness, intestinal dryness and constipation. According to the data of the table of Chinese food nutrients, the main nutritional component of black sesame is fat, accounting for 46.1%, which can be said that nearly half of it is oil; Followed by carbohydrates, accounting for 24%, including 14% of dietary fiber; Then protein, accounting for 19.1%; In terms of micronutrients, it is rich in vitamin E, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, folic acid, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, zinc, copper and manganese. In addition, black sesame contains lignans, including sesamin, sesamin, sesamol, episesamin and other physiologically active substances. Based on the above ingredients, a number of modern studies have shown that black sesame mainly has the functions of anti-oxidation, regulating cholesterol, protecting liver and stabilizing blood pressure. In general, black sesame has its unique characteristics, whether it is the homology of medicine and food, or the nutritional characteristics and efficacy. Therefore, it is often made into a variety of foods, such as black sesame paste of paste soup and lumpy cakes, candy and so on. However, it should be noted that there is a layer of dura mater outside the black sesame kernel. Only when the membrane is crushed can the nutrients be released and absorbed by the human body after eating. Therefore, if you only eat black sesame, it is recommended to stir it with a food processing machine or grind it with a small stone mill after frying. 2. "Black to black" can't do it Traditional medicine sometimes pays attention to "supplementing shape with shape" and "supplementing color with color". For example, it is believed that red food can supplement blood and black food can make hair darker and brighter. Black sesame is naturally considered to be beneficial to hair health because of its black skin. So some shampoo manufacturers have launched shampoo containing black sesame essence. However, from a scientific point of view, it is not desirable to place hope on black sesame black hair. Melanin in the epidermis of black sesame is a polyphenol compound, which is generally considered to have antioxidant activity. Melanin in hair is an amino acid derivative synthesized by melanocytes with tyrosine as raw material under the action of tyrosinase, which is mainly used to resist ultraviolet rays. Although they are both black, their compositions are quite different, and there is no relationship of mutual transformation. In other words, melanin in human hair and skin are amino acid derivatives. If black sesame can blacken hair, why not blacken skin? With the increasingly fierce competition of black sesame foods in the market, including black sesame pill, its ingredients are gradually integrated into more black ingredients, such as black beans, black rice, black medlar and mulberry, constantly suggesting that "black is used to supplement black". Although most dark plant foods contain antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and other physiologically active ingredients such as anthocyanins, polyphenols or flavonoids, which are beneficial to health, they can not directly play a role in hair blackening. 3. It may be beneficial to nutritional hair loss As for the black sesame recorded in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, it can be used for "deficiency of essence and blood, dizziness, tinnitus, deafness and hair loss after illness". Because such people have malnutrition symptoms caused by dietary imbalance or disease consumption, it can play a certain role. For long-term malnutrition, such as lack of iron and zinc intake, or increased consumption of trace elements or vitamins caused by disease consumption, the synthesis of hemoglobin will be affected, which will eventually lead to blocked absorption of nutrition by hair follicles, slow growth of hair, and nutritional hair loss. At this time, eating an appropriate amount of black sesame is also symptomatic. It can timely supplement trace elements iron, zinc and a variety of vitamins to assist the normal growth of hair. Black sesame can improve nutritional alopecia, but it has no effect on androgenic alopecia. Modern people have autonomic nerve and endocrine regulation disorders caused by staying up late, working overtime, high work pressure, emotional tension and anxiety, and the sensitivity of hair follicle cells to androgen increases, resulting in androgenic alopecia with sparse and thin hair. In addition to prescription drugs, effective treatment can only rely on hair transplantation. 4. Not health products, more like snacks Although black sesame medicine and food are of the same origin, the black sesame pill sold by businesses on the market now can not be equivalent to health food. Regular health food needs to be marked with "blue hat", that is, the batch number of "Guoshi Jianzi". According to the regulations on the implementation of the food safety law, if it is not a health food, it cannot claim or publicize the health function. Most of the implementation standards of black sesame pill food on the market are the production license number starting with "SC", that is, the food production license, and some implement the product standard number starting with "GB / t20977", that is, the general rules of pastry. In fact, the black sesame pill uses honey or other sugars as the adhesive to bond the ground black sesame with other black ingredients to make it look like a traditional Chinese medicine pill, so that the human brain can supplement the treatment scene and look forward to the curative effect. But in essence, it is not much different from snacks such as Wuren moon cakes. Some manufacturers publicize the production process of "nine steaming and nine drying" and other selling points. As mentioned above, it only promotes the release of nutrients in black sesame kernel and maximizes the role of nutritional supplement. The record of this process in the Chinese pharmacopoeia is very simple, that is, removing impurities, washing, drying and mashing when used. In short, to put it bluntly, if black sesame pill really has the functions of "black hair" and "nourishing hair", it can go through rigorous scientific experiments and apply to the relevant national departments for the batch number of health food. But at least for now, it's just an ordinary food similar to ordinary cakes. (author: Doctor of Nutrition Department of China Japan Friendship Hospital) Nutritional recommendations How to eat black sesame balls better Although black sesame pill is difficult to realize the "hairdressing" desire of consumers, it is also nutritious and safe as a snack. Generally speaking, you can eat about 2 pills a day. It is suggested to eat in the middle of two meals, such as morning or afternoon, that is, it is more appropriate to add black sesame balls as snacks. According to the recommendations in the dietary guidelines for Chinese residents (2016), about 10 grams of nuts should be eaten every day. If you seldom eat nuts, eating black sesame balls can play a similar role. However, it should be noted that while eating black sesame balls, other foods containing added sugar should be reduced, such as candy, cakes or sugary drinks. In addition, considering the high calories of nut foods, it is not suitable to eat too much. (outlook new era)