Sweet potato shochu oil is one of the by-products of sweet potato shochu production. We investigated the functionality and industrial use of shochu oil as a food-derived raw material. Because of the increased incidence of self-consciousness in people owing to thinning hair, in this study, we examined the hair growth-inducing effects of shochu oil. Minoxidil, the only topical medication approved for hair growth treatment in Japan, was used as a control for the evaluation of hair growth-promoting activity of shochu oil. Human follicle dermal papilla cells treated with shochu oil showed upregulated expression of vascular endothelial growth factor in a concentration-dependent manner, indicating that shochu oil induced the activation of the hair growth cycle. In vivo, epidermal treatment with shochu oil also promoted hair growth in C3H mice. More than 35 components were detected in shochu oil via gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The main components, accounting for 98.5% of shochu oil, were as follows, in order of decreasing concentration: ethyl palmitate, ethyl linoleate, ethyl oleate, ethyl stearate, ethyl caprate, ethyl laurate, ethyl myristate, and ethyl α-linolenate. Among these, ethyl palmitate, ethyl linoleate, and ethyl α-linolenate promoted hair growth in C3H mice. These results indicate that shochu oil can be used as a hair restorer. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to demonstrate the hair growth-promoting activity of shochu oil.

红薯烧酒是红薯烧酒生产的副产品之一。我们研究了烧酒作为食品原料的功能性和工业用途。由于头发稀疏会增加人们自我意识的发生率，因此在本研究中，我们研究了烧酒对头发生长的影响。日本唯一批准用于头发生长治疗的局部用药米诺地尔（Minoxidil）被用作评估烧酒促进头发生长活性的对照。烧酒处理的人卵泡真皮乳头细胞精油以浓度依赖的方式显示出血管内皮生长因子的表达上调，表明烧酒可诱导毛发生长周期的激活。在体内，用烧酒进行的表皮治疗还促进了C3H小鼠的毛发生长。通过气相色谱-质谱法在烧酒中检测到35种以上的成分。主要成分，占烧酒的98.5％油，按浓度递减顺序如下：棕榈酸乙酯，亚油酸乙酯，油酸乙酯，硬脂酸乙酯，癸酸乙酯，月桂酸乙酯，肉豆蔻酸乙酯和α-亚麻酸乙酯。其中，棕榈酸乙酯，亚油酸乙酯和α-亚油酸乙酯促进C3H小鼠的毛发生长。这些结果表明烧酒可以用作头发修复剂。据我们所知，这项研究是第一个证明烧酒促进头发生长的活性的研究。