Smoking and hair dye ‘increase risk of progressive liver disease’

Using hair dye and smoking increase the risk of progressive liver disease, according to new research.

The study of 5,000 people, which has been published in the journal Gut, looked at what increases the risk of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) – an early form of liver cirrhosis.

It was found that subjects who had been diagnosed with PBC are 63 per cent more likely to have smoked at some point in their lives than a randomly selected control group, as well as being more likely to have started smoking before their diagnosis.

Moreover, studies among female patients showed that PBC sufferers are also 37 per cent more likely to use hair dye products than those in the comparison group.

The authors said: “Previous research has indicated an association between PBC and chemicals found in cosmetics, particularly octynoic acid, which is used in hair dye and nail polish.”

They added that it remains unclear as to which component of hair dye is responsible for this effect.