Women who dip into the dye bottle may increase their risk of liver disease, according to study findings published in the journal Gut and reported by Science Daily.

For the study, researchers in the United Kingdom looked at two sets of patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), a disease in which the liver’s system of bile ducts becomes inflamed, scarred and blocked, leading to tissue damage and irreversible and fatal liver cirrhosis.

Scientists sent detailed questionnaires about possible environmental and genetic risk factors to more than 2,500 PBC patients. They also sent the same questionnaires to almost 2,500 other people who were randomly selected and matched for age and sex and used as a comparison group.

Findings showed that the study’s female participants who used hair dye were 37 percent more likely to develop PBC than women in the control group.

While the women weren’t asked how often they dyed their hair and scientists weren’t sure which hair dye component was responsible for the findings, study authors said that previous research suggested a link between PBC and some common cosmetic chemicals, such as octynoic acid, most often found in hair dye and nail polish.

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