London:  Drinking coffee could help cure baldness as caffeine blocks the effects of a chemical known to damage hair, say researchers.

Tobias Fischer of the University of Jena in Germany took scalp biopsies from 14 men in the early stages of hair loss. He extracted hair follicles and placed them in test tubes with solutions containing different levels of caffeine.

The samples were left in the laboratory for up to eight days to monitor growth, reported the online edition of Daily Mail. At the end of the experiment, it was found that caffeine had boosted the length of the hairs by 33-40 percent.

Other test tubes containing hair follicles mixed with testosterone showed that they grew at a much slower rate.

The scientists believe caffeine affects hair cells in such a way that they are able to resist the damaging effects of dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a chemical that contributes to baldness.

Most baldness is caused when hair follicles are exposed to too much DHT, the researchers said.

"Hair follicles treated with caffeine showed a highly significant growth rate at 24 hours, and still showed further significant growth at eight days," said Fischer.