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A recent study from the University of Cairo in Egypt has suggested that the more gray hairs that you have the greater your coronary artery disease risk factors.

Dr. Irini Samuel, the cardiologist who led the study found that if at least half of the hairs on the head are gray, the likelihood of developing coronary artery disease increases regardless of the age and other cardiovascular risk factors. The study found that there are similarities on the basis of how fatty build-up in arteries and graying hair develop, like hormonal changes and messed up DNA repair, the Express reported.

The team of researchers gathered 500 adult men who were suspected to have coronary artery disease and were placed in groups according to the number of gray hair they had or whether they had artery disease or not. The participants were each assessed by independent observers which measured the level of gray hair they had on them on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 having y.pure black hair and 5 with pure white hair. The researchers also collected medical information on the men's other coronary artery disease risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, high lipid levels in the blood, smoking, and family history of the disease, Medical News Today reported.

When statistical analyses were done on the data, they found out that atherosclerosis can be predicted independently by age, high blood pressure and the lipid levels in the blood. They were also able to conclude that the graying hair is an indicator of biological age and the more tell-tale sign than the other coronary artery disease risk factors.

Dr. Samuel and her team hopes that a larger study will be conducted that includes men and women that do not have the other risk factors so they can confirm the connection of the disease to graying hair. Once confirmed, they will standardize the scoring system they used to evaluate gray hair to be able to use that method to predict heart disease in the future.