Washington, July 7 Are you tired of compulsively pulling your hair? Well, now a common anti-oxidant, easily available as a health food supplement, may curb this habit.

Patients with the disorder, known as trichotillomania, reported an improvement after taking the supplement.

“Trichotillomania is compulsive in the sense that people can’t control it. People feel unable to stop the behaviour even though they know it is causing negative consequences,” said Jon Grant, professor of psychiatry at the University of Minnesota (U-M).

“Some people don’t even know they are doing it,” said Grant. The condition is most commonly associated with women, but men can also be affected, and pulling can occur anywhere on the body, he added.

Grant believes two to four percent of the population is affected by trichotillomania.

Fifty people enrolled in a double-blind 12 week study; half were given N-Acetylcysteine, an amino acid commonly found in health food supplements.

Patients were given 1,200 mg of N-Acetylcysteine every day for six weeks. For the following six weeks, the dosage was increased to 2,400 mg per day, said a U-M release.

After nine weeks, those on the supplement had significantly reduced hair-pulling. By the end of the 12 week study, 56 percent reported feeling much better, while only 16 percent on the placebo reported less pulling.

The study was published in the July issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.