Mumbai: In an era where personal worth and social group fit are directly linked to appearance, losing hair quickly can be a source of anxiety. People view thick and healthy hair as an integral part of their personality, while baldness or severe hair fall is something they wish to conceal. This is precisely why the recent news of hundreds of people going bald overnight—more than 300 reports of sudden baldness have emerged from Maharashtra’s Buldhana district—is concerning, especially given that the phenomenon has primarily affected young people. It turns out that the cause of this kind of hair loss was contaminated wheat with drastically high selenium levels, and the worst thing is that it is a widespread refrigeration practice.
Last month, the sudden hair loss of hundreds of thousands of people in Buldhana triggered an investigation by experts and government officials. The ones that were harmed the most were young women and youngsters going to college; while some did not go out, others went to the other… shaving their heads entirely.
Dr. Himmatrao Bawaskar, a well-known Padma Shri award-winning researcher who has worked extensively on the effects of scorpion stings, carried out a thorough investigation into the issue. He then investigated the wheat provided by the Public Distribution System (PDS) and fingered the wheat from Punjab and Haryana with high, abnormal levels of selenium.
An Introduction to Selenium and How It Works
Selenium is an important trace mineral that is needed for human health. It’s important for helping with the prevention of oxidative damage as well as thyroid hormone function regulation. Excessive selenium consumption can be toxic, leading to a condition called “selenosis.” High levels of selenium can lead to toxicity, as symptoms include excessive hair loss, fragile nails, skin disease, and other issues.
Dr. Bawaskar indicated that in the wheat samples tested, selenium was found in 14.52 mg per kg in unwashed wheat and 13.61 mg per kg in washed wheat. It is a whopping 8 times the permissible limits, much above the safe limit of 1.9 mg per kg.
What caused the high selenium content in wheat?
Punjab wheat is contaminated. Selenium In Hoshiarpur and Nawanshahr districts, soil selenium is naturally high. Selenium-laden rocks in the Shivalik hills that stretch into Punjab and Haryana also leach into agricultural lands during the rain, resulting in increased concentration of this element in wheat and other crops.
Another study exacerbated the situation by revealing zinc deficiencies in those affected. Zinc is an essential nutrient for hair growth and overall health; thus, the combination of elevated selenium and low zinc resulted in the high severity of the hair loss.
Suggested Preventive Measures
Other experts provided suggestions to prevent this kind of thing from happening again. These include:
Gypsum application to reduce soil alkalinity, which can help with controlling selenium uptake.
Restricting the use of phosphate fertilizers, especially diammonium phosphate (DAP), (1) raises soil alkalinity and promotes selenium uptake by crops.
The practice involves altering cropping patterns by intercropping selenium-accumulating crops such as sesame, mustard, and sunflower within wheat. Sunflowers are known to absorb between 10 and 50 ppm of selenium, and mustard is even better at getting rid of it from soil.
The government should pass the wheat of Punjab through very high-quality checks before passing it into the PDS, Dr. Bawaskar suggested. He further added that if selenium is found in high quantity, the wheat should go through a treatment process before it is supplied to the public.
The role of governments and experts
Dr. Amol, the chief medical officer of Buldhana, stated that the investigation is being repeated by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) into the incident and will be released shortly.
With a view to avoiding recurrence of such cases in the future, experts have mandated the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to pay serious attention to quality control of grains being distributed through PDS. This case underscores the need for exceptionally stringent monitoring and testing protocols throughout the food supply chain process.
However, those who were affected have reported hair starting to grow back after five to six weeks, encouraging the fact that selenium toxicity does not have to be permanent if caught in time.
Food Safety Wake-up Call
The incident serves as a crucial reminder for government-run food distribution networks to prioritise food safety and quality checks. According to India Today, the issue of maintaining the purity of staple grains is not only the issue of consumer trust but also an important public health issue. The takeaways from Buldhana need to lead to an increase in vigilance so that similar events can be averted in the future.