A patent from Italy claims hair growth stimulation and other anti-aging effects from an oral combination of Resveratrol and Curcumin.

      Given Resveratrol’s multiple mechanisms of action in regards to longevity, inflammation, cardiovascular health, aromatase inhibition, and cancer treatment/prevention, and the established ability of Curcumin to inhibit TGF-B, (an inflammatory cytokine inexorably associated with balding), this comes as no great surprise.

      Of additional interest is Curcumin’s apparent stimulatory effects on Substance P. Here are some excerpts from the patent itself.

PHARMACEUTICAL COMPOSITION COMPRISING CURCUMIN AND RESVERATROL AND USES THEREOF IN MEDICAL FIELD
      The present invention deals with a pharmaceutical composition comprising curcumin and resveratrol and uses thereof in medical field. More specifically, the composition object of the invention can be advantageously employed for retarding ageing, for the prevention of vascular diseases, for the treatment and prevention of cancers as, for example, prostate carcinoma, skin diseases as psoriasis, and diseases of the piliferous system as hair loss.

      Resveratrol is a polyphenol present in grapes, especially in its peel and in its seeds.

      Curcumin is an extract of the root of the Curcumea Longa, a plant well known since a long time for its pharmaceutical properties. Nowadays curcumin is well known for its power of reducing cholesterol, its diuretic, choleretic, anti-inflammatory ability and for ameliorating the general conditions of patients treated with chemotherapy for neoplasia.

      Particular feature of Curcumin is to belong to the capsaicinoids family, substances characterized by a pungent taste, similar to the one of pepper. From a point of view of molecular biology, the presence of a vanilloid receptor on the cell membrane and close to the mitochondrial structures can explain the induction of apoptosis or planned death of cells that would have become neoplastic. Moreover, in the Central Nervous System there are various receptors of capsaicinoids and this could explain the enhancement of the anti-aging action of resveratrol by curcumin.

      The group of patients that has assumed only resveratrol didn’t show any modification on the PSA, while the group treated with resveratrol and curcumin showed with great surprise a reduction, sometimes also relevant, in variable time periods. Moreover, during this testing, the patients treated with resveratrol and curcumin surprisingly showed positive improvements in the treatment of psoriasis and the attenuation and even a stop of the hair loss, a reduction of the hair graying and the rebirth of hair in bald areas sometimes even of the original color too. 

      Regarding its action on hair growth, even if not yet known, it is probably linked to the release of P substance. The growth and the pigmentation of the hair follicle would depend on mesenchymal-epithelium-neiroderic interactions not very well-known yet, where the P substance would stimulate the hair growth in vivo (RaIf Paus et al Investigation Labs, VoI 71, No 1 , p.135, 1994).

      According to the invention, the pharmaceutical composition can comprise also vitamin E and/or wheat germs containing vitamin E. In fact, the powdered wheat germs are one of the richest natural resources of vitamin E (or tocopherol) and are one of the most effective antioxidants against free radicals, the aggressive substances that proliferate in our body because of the action of pollution, inaccurate diets, sun or just age. 

      According to another embodiment of the present invention, the pharmaceutical composition can also comprise Capsaicin and/or the fruit of capsicum annum, which contains capsaicin. Capsicum annum, its powdered fruit in particular, is rich in important nutritional substances as flavonoids, vitamins (C, E, PP, and K), lecithins, mineral salts and capsaicin, an alkaloid responsible for its particular taste and for its activating properties. The extract of capsicum seems to be very effective in stimulating the vitality of the tissues and in activating the venous and capillary circulation.

      In particular, in the composition according to this invention, the content of resveratrol can range from 3 to 6 mg; of Curcumin from 15 to 30 mg; of vitamin E from 50 to 100 mg; of vitamin C from 10 to 30 mg; of capsaicin from 2 to 5 mg; of powdered wheat germs from 50 to 450 mg.

      The composition according to the invention can be presented in capsules, pills, solution and emulsion. If in capsules or pills, the suggested dosage is one or two units, before meals.

      Further object of the present invention is the use of the composition for the cancer treatment, in particular the treatment of prostate carcinoma. Moreover, the composition according to the invention can be advantageously employed for the treatment of skin diseases, in particular of psoriasis, for the treatment and the prevention from ageing, for the treatment and the prophylaxis of diseases .of the piliferous system, in particular of alopecia.

      Another object of the present invention is a combination comprising resveratrol and curcumin for the simultaneous, separate or sequential use in the treatment of cancer, as for example, the prostate carcinoma, in the treatment of skin diseases as psoriasis and for the prevention and the treatment of alopecia.

      The invention in fact can vary in its dosages and in its components, adding other components similar to the one suggested, but without altering the conceptual basis of the invention.

      In this testing, apart from a relevant anti-cancer action on hormone-insensible prostate neoplasia, an effect on some patients has also been the stop of the hair loss and the growth of hair, sometimes of the original color too. Therefore patients without any neoplastic disease, but affected by alopecia or hair loss, have been included to the testing. 

MATERIALS AND METHODS
      The group treated only with resveratrol didn’t show any relevant variation, except from two cases that showed a slight decrease.

      Capsures of 4 pills a day let to a reduction in the level of PSA after 60 days to 7.4 and then to 6.80. The patient suffered also of psoriasis of the scalp, that disappeared after the treatment and that by now, after 8 months has not reappeared. Case 6: 64 years old man affected by prostratitis that tried various treatments. After the treatment with Capsures, 6 capsules a day, after 30 days had no more perineal pain and had a hair growth.

      Case 14: 75 years old man, operated 4 years before for radical prostatectomy, intolerant to hormonal treatment he has been treated with Capsures, 4 pills a day for 60 days. His PSA value reduced from 4.5 to 2.4.

      As far as its action on hair is concerned, some patients, especially women that were considerably loosing their hair, after 20 days of treatment confirmed to have had a reduction in their hair loss. In bald patients, the hair, sometimes of the original color restarted to grow even after the ablation of the white hair. 

CONSIDERATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
      The compound containing just resveratrol as active agent (Resverage) didn’t cause a reduction of the PSA value and this can be due to the low bioavailability of the molecule. In the cases of prostate carcinoma the efficacy of the association of resveratrol with curcumin can be due to a higher concentration in the circulation and therefore in the tissues explained by the lipophilia of the active elements of curcumin.

      The association of resveratrol and curcumin seems to have a synergic effect that enhances the anti-inflammatory power of the two active elements. It is an essential activity because in the prostate carcinoma there is a phlogistic action caused by hyperincretion of enzymes as the cyclooxygenase 1 and 2.

      As far as the action on hair is concerned, it is unquestionably due to the administration of the two combined active elements, since in the compound with just resveratrol no result has been shown and in the many cases in India and in Europe where Curcumin has been employed, any effect on hair has never been reported. The most important aspect rarely highlighted is that curcuminoids are capsaicinoid substances. 

      Those fibers, whose nerve cell is in the posterior roots, once stimulated release neuropeptides like the P substance, Neurokinin A and the Calcitonin Gene Related Peptide (CGRP). Experimental researches demonstrated that the desensibilization of those fibers leads to skin lesions localized in the cervical region of the rat. These experiments indicate the existence of a tropic function. It is probable that the loss of hair is a result of the deficit of neuropeptides released by the fibers that innervate the scalp.

      Therefore it is possible that the administration of a substance that has as activity similar to capsaicin, as the Curcumin that metabolizes like an active curcumoid, can stimulate the sensorial fibers that have a tropic function, and that resveratrol has a vehicular function on the tissues. Therefore, the composition of the present invention is active on cases of hormone-insensible prostate carcinoma but in particular on hair, as our research has proven. The efficacy of the composition according to the present invention also depends on the great lyophilic properties of a capsaicinoid, curcumin on the anti-inflammatory effect of the two substances.

      The interference of the hormonal action on hair loss is unquestionable, even if capsaicinoid-sensible sensory innervations are an ancestral phenomenon that does not depend on the hormonal mechanisms, but through a metabolic way different from the ordinary one. The growth and the pigmentation of the hair follicle seem to be controlled by epitelius-mesenchimoneuroechtodermmic interactions not very well known, but with an important role of the P substance on the hair growth in vivo.

Editor’s Comment- It would appear that based upon the data presented here , that a Curcumin/Resveratrol combo would be well worth integrating into one’s treatment regime. The beauty of the patent registry is that allows you to access usable information years ahead of commercial availability. In this case you don’t have to wait for Capsures to hit the market. You can easily put together and use a much higher dose and bio-available combination of Resveratrol and Curcumin at a fraction of the cost.