If there's a glitch in a gene called Mitf, it might cause the cells that give hair its color to go haywire too early, making animals gray faster as they age.

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Pro

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Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

20

Community contributions welcome

20

Mechanisms of Hair Graying: Incomplete Melanocyte Stem Cell Maintenance in the Niche

Cross-Sectional Study

Human

2005 Feb 4

The study shows that when the Mitf gene is mutated, pigment stem cells in hair follicles turn into pigment cells too soon, which speeds up graying. This matches the claim exactly.

Contradicting (0)

0

Community contributions welcome

No contradicting evidence found

Gold Standard Evidence Needed

According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Source Study

Mechanisms of Hair Graying: Incomplete Melanocyte Stem Cell Maintenance in the Niche

Score: 20

DOI: 10.1126/SCIENCE.1099593

Similar Assertions

As we age, pigment cells in our hair can go haywire and stop working properly — this might be sped up if there's a glitch in a key gene called MITF that controls how these color cells develop.

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As we age, the stem cells that give color to our hair can start acting up — they might turn into pigment cells too soon or in the wrong place, which could be why our hair turns gray.

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As we get older, the stem cells that keep our hair colored might stop working properly because of problems in their internal repair system, and once they're gone, our hair turns gray for good.

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Going gray might happen because the stem cells that keep your hair colored stop working properly as you age, according to studies in people and specially tagged mice.

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Going gray might happen because the stem cells that keep your hair colored aren't working properly as you age.

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