Do you have graying hair? Attentive to heart health!

According to new research, men who have graying them may be at a higher risk of suffering from cardiovascular disease.

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Hair and heart: the men who have them grizzled could run a increased risk of suffering from cardiovascular disease. That's right, silver-haired knights: if your hair has the fascinating salt and pepper, your heart doesn't necessarily burst with health.

This is the curious result that comes from a study by the Cairo University presented at "EuroPrevent 2017", the annual congress of the European society of cardiology, according to which those who have begun to having gray hair a little earlier with age it could take into account an "early cutaneous signal" of cardiovascular danger.

The researchers assumed that atherosclerosis e graying of the hair it seems follow similar biological paths, which include impaired ability to repair DNA, oxidative stress, inflammation, hormonal changes and cell aging.

"Our findings suggest that, regardless of chronological age, gray hair indicates biological age and could be a signal of increased cardiovascular risk," explains Irini Samuel, research coordinator.

The researchers decided to check whether having a lot of white hair could be linked to an increased risk of heart disease and to find out they subjected 545 adult men to coronary angiography with Tcms (multilayer spiral computed tomography) for suspected coronary heart disease. Then, they divided them into five groups, based on the degree of graying of their hair: those with only dark hair were in level 1; who had most dark hair with some whites in level 2; who had the same number of dark hair and white hair in level 3; who had more gray hair in level 4; who had only gray hair in level 5. Finally, data on cardiovascular risk factors were collected.

At the end of the tests, it proved to be a 'association between a degree of graying of the hair equal to or greater than 3 and an increased risk of coronary heart disease. This phenomenon occurred regardless of the chronological age of the participants and other cardiovascular risk factors. Specifically, what came out is the correlation between the high presence of white hair and greater coronary calcification.

The findings could help scholars to identify in the future patients most at risk of heart disease simply by analyzing their hair color. But, as the authors of the study write: “Further investigations are needed on the cutaneous signs of risk that allow us to intervene from the earliest stages of the development process of cardiovascular diseases”.