Excessive selenium levels in wheat supplied through the government’s public distribution system may be responsible for mass hair loss in Maharashtra’s Buldhana district, an investigation has claimed.
In recent weeks, residents of Bhongaon, Kalwad, and Hingna villages in Shegaon tehsil of Buldhana district, around 377 km west of Nagpur, have reported an unusual outbreak of sudden hair loss, affecting at least 30 people in seven days.
Both men and women developed bald patches, with hair falling out in clumps.
Dr Himmatrao Bawaskar, a Padma awardee physician known for his work on scorpion-bite treatment, collected wheat samples from the home of the Bhongaon village sarpanch, who was also affected by hair loss, Pune Mirror reported.
Laboratory analysis by him revealed selenium concentrations far exceeding normal levels. Unwashed wheat contained 14.52 mg/kg of selenium — eight times the upper limit of the normal range — while washed wheat had 13.61 mg/kg, according to the report.
Dr Bawaskar conducted blood tests on six affected individuals. His findings also revealed reduced zinc levels, which is an essential nutrient for hair growth, from the samples.
Officials from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences had also investigated the phenomenon.
A study by the ICMR, reported on February 1, had detected excess selenium in the blood of those affected but did not confirm wheat from fair-price shops as the source.
The ICMR officials reportedly said they had submitted their report to the Union health ministry, but did not establish a direct link between the wheat supply and the outbreak.
Dr Bawaskar traced the wheat supply to ration shops stocked with gunny bags marked with the Punjab government’s seal, according to the Pune Mirror report.
In the early 2000s, a similar pattern of hair loss was reported in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur and Nawanshahr districts, where selenium-rich floodwaters from the Shivalik Hills had affected crops.
Dr Bawaskar had earlier investigated and linked toxic metals in the water supply to widespread kidney ailments in Buldhana in 2010.