Shou Wu is a nutritional supplement made by the UniScience Group under the Healthier You product lineup. Here’s our Shou Wu review.
What is UniScience Group Shou Wu?
UniScience Group Shou Wu is a nutritional supplement that promises to restore your thinning hair. Unlike most anti-balding supplements, you don’t apply Shou Wu topically to your scalp. Instead, you take it daily in the form of a capsule.
According to the makers of Shou Wu, their formula uses herbal ingredients to give you thick, lustrous, healthy hair. They describe the herbal ingredients as a “Chinese secret”. By taking it daily, you can get a “full head of youthful hair”.
That’s right: all you need to do is pop a pill daily to permanently improve your hair quality and thickness.
Does that sound too good to be true? Probably. Let’s take a closer look at how Shou Wu works.
How Does Shou Wu Work?
Shou Wu is a single 1000mg dose of an herbal root extract crammed into a tablet. You take the tablet, the active ingredients dissolve in your stomach, then enter your body through your intestines.
UniScience Group is vague about the science behind their Shou Wu supplement. Fortunately, other manufacturers make their own shou wu supplements, and they’re more open and honest about how these ingredients work.
The full name of Shou Wu is he shou wu root. The root has been used for centuries in traditional Chinese medicine.
If you’re a fan of western scientific medicine, then he shou wu root probably isn’t the right natural ingredient for you. The root relies on pulling “Qi” from the earth it grows in, and then storing this Qi in the root system.
Today, we know that he shou wu root works as a sort of blood tonic. It builds healthy red blood cells in your body, supporting healthy muscles, tendons, bones, and other systems.
Healthy hair is just one of many purported benefits of he shou wu root. Other shou wu supplements claim that it offers anti-aging benefits, helps maintain healthy sperm and ova, helps support your joint health, and helps maintain the youthful condition and color of your hair.
Ultimately, he shou wu root is the active ingredient in the Shou Wu supplement. It’s one of the most popular ingredients for longevity in ancient Chinese medicine. There are no other listed ingredients.
Scientific Evidence for Shou Wu
The official UniScience Group website posts no scientific studies or clinical trials showing that their Shou Wu supplement works as advertised to improve your hair quality.
Instead, their only “evidence” is asking you this question:
“Think about it: Have you ever seen a Chinese person whose hair wasn't thick, shiny and beautiful?”
Apparently, UniScience Group believes that every Chinese medicine not only knows about he shou wu root, but also takes the supplement daily to improve hair quality.
We know that ancient Chinese medicine practitioners are big fans of he shou wu root. However, what does western science have to say about it?
One of the best sources of information about he shou wu root was published in Pharmacognosy Research in 2015. Two researchers reviewed all major clinical studies of Polygonum multiflorum (also known as he shou wu or Fo-ti), including studies that isolated the bioactive compounds in he shou wu root.
Researchers described he shou wu as “one of the most popular perennial Chinese traditional medicines” and mentioned that “mounting pharmacological studies have stressed out its key benefice for the treatment of various diseases and medical conditions such as liver injury, cancer, diabetes, alopecia, atherosclerosis, and neurodegenerative diseases.”
To see whether or not there was any evidence supporting these benefits, researchers looked at 133 scientific studies that had been performed to date. Here’s what they concluded:
“Pharmacological studies have demonstrated that PMT. extracts and/or its isolated pure compound possessed various biological activities such as anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, anti-cancer, anti-oxidant and exerting preventing activity against neurodegenerative diseases as well. Clinical investigations have enlightened its claimed therapeutic action in anti-inflammatory, dyslipidemia, sleep disorders and neurodegenerative diseases.”
In other words, based on the studies that had been performed to date, these researchers found that he shou wu root generally lived up to its benefits, working as an effective anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, and even anti-cancer compound within the body.
What did these scientific studies have to say about hair loss? Unfortunately, it wasn’t good news. Chemical compounds in he shou wu root actually contributed to hair greying:
“Several cases of hepatotoxicity due to PMT have been reported in patients from Australia, China, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands and Slovakia taking the product for hair loss, chronic prostatitis and to boost the immune system.”
However, researchers in this study cautioned that there was limited knowledge about he shou wu root’s interaction with other drugs and herbal extracts, and that certain compounds in the root may be toxic.
As evidence of the toxicity of he shou wu root, you can read this study published in the Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine Journal in 2015. Researchers in that study claimed that he shou wu root was associated with liver damage to different degrees. However, this liver damage “in most patients is reversible”, especially after discontinuation of he shou wu root.
Ultimately, he shou wu root appears to work as advertised to improve your longevity. However, there’s limited evidence that it can specifically improve your hair quality. In fact, some studies mentioned that it can actually increase the greying of hair, especially when taken as a treatment for hair loss.
Additionally, WebMD.com reports that there’s insufficient evidence that he shou wu root can be used for any major health benefits.
Shou Wu Ingredients
UniScience Group Shou Wu has just one listed ingredient:
- 1000mg of Fo-Ti (Polygonium multiflorium) root 12:1 extract (He shou wu/Rosa multiflora coming from the People’s Republic of China)
There are no additional ingredients listed. There’s 1000mg of formula in each 2 tablet serving (30 servings per container).
Shou Wu Pricing
Shou Wu is priced at different rates depending on how much you buy:
- 1 Bottle: $24.95
- 2 Bottles: $45.95
- 4 Bottles: $83.95
- 6 Bottles: $113.95
Free shipping is only available on orders over $100.
Who Makes Shou Wu?
Shou Wu is made by a company named UniScience Group. That company has a doctor on their advisory board named David Blyweiss, MD, a doctor based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Dr. Blyweiss is listed on PlantBasedDoctors.com. He currently works at the Maximum Wellness Centers.
No other doctors are listed on the UniScience Group Advisory Board.
UniScience Group offers a wide variety of trendy nutritional supplements, including everything from testosterone support formulas (Monster T and Muscolon-Forte) to Joint Support (Arthrocet) to Sexual Health supplements (Monster T, REVIVE, Testo-Set).
The company’s about page describes that its supplements are “doctor formulated”, “pharmaceutical grade”, and “guaranteed to work”.
You can get in touch with the company using the contact information found on this page. The products listed above have a 90 day refund policy.
Should You Use UniScience Group Shou Wu to Improve Your Hair Quality?
He shou wu root is a Chinese herbal extract known for boosting your longevity. Modern scientific testing has shown some surprising benefits of the root extract. However, it has not been directly connected to many studies that show it definitively boosts hair quality. In fact, a few studies actually showed it can contribute to hair greying by damaging your liver.
Shou Wu (the supplement) uses 1000mg of he shou wu root extract to achieve its targeted effects. Like most other supplements offered by UniScience Group, Shou Wu has not gone through any clinical trials or scientific testing to confirm its benefits. In fact, the only “evidence” provided by UniScience Group is asking if you’ve ever seen a Chinese person with bad hair. Seriously.
For all of these reasons, Shou Wu is unlikely to work as advertised to improve your hair quality in the dramatic way that’s advertised. However, it may boost your longevity by providing anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-cancer effects throughout your body, as demonstrated in multiple scientific studies to date.
