If Charlene wears short hair today, it is not by choice. After intoxication with squash, this resident of Grenoble (Isère) began to lose her hair in bundles, so that she ended up cutting everything as reported the Parisian.
Last December, Charlène bought a butternut squash in supermarkets that she roasted for dinner. After a few bites, the bitterness of the vegetable prevents it from finishing its plate. “30 minutes later I had stomach aches and have never been as sick as that night. I had cramps, cold sweats, the beginnings of hallucinations. I even passed out. J ‘thought it was a big gastro after the holidays, “she confides to the Parisian.
Then comes the hair loss, after a week, that neither vitamins nor corticosteroids prescribed by his doctor can stop. “At the end of a month, they left as if I had put on depilatory cream. When I washed them, I heard a cracking, they broke to the surface. I was distraught, panicked,” recalls the young woman. 30 years old.
A pollinating insect would be involved
However, Charlene was far from making a link between her alopecia and the consumption of cucurbits. She also first accuses her new hair mousse bought the same day from her hairdresser. Dr Philippe Assouly, dermatologist at Saint-Louis hospital in Paris, had already listed two other serious cases which earned him to publish an article on this subject in the scientific journal. Jama.
“I had an intuition with a patient which was confirmed with another. Very important to know, the intoxication causing hair loss occurs with pumpkins, squash, zucchini, which are particularly bitter”, explains the doctor at the Parisian. A pollinating insect is believed to be involved, transferring toxic cucurbitacin to cultivated squash. It is thanks to the article of Dr Assouly that the young woman will make the connection.
If Charlene has struggled to get used to her new hairstyle, her hair should have grown back the way she wants it to for her wedding next year.
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