Re: Hypothesis of Male Pattern Hair Loss

[CausticSymmetry]

Most processed foods that state on their label, "Cholesterol free food" actually increase cholesterol in the body.

Starch, sugar and refined grains raise cholesterol, yet foods that contain cholesterol generally have a very negligible effect on cholesterol levels. Besides that, the liver manufactures 80% of our cholesterol. But in any case only oxidized cholesterol is bad. Death increases when cholesterol counts drop below 200.

[MMAfighter]

MMAfighter - Contrary to what was once believed and is still thought by many, eggs do not increase cholesterol.

This all started when the Cereal Institute of America financed a study using dehydrated egg yolk powder (not real eggs). The process of dehydration oxidizes it, completely changing its effects on the body.

Thanks CS for your answer, i have been thinking yourself the it will some advertising by over harmfulness egg. For example, my friend start Atkinson diet and he ate lot of eggs, butter, olive oil..... after month he went on blood test and he had raises HDL and reduced LDL. He ate a lot saturated fats and cholesterol.

[Espio]

Most processed foods that state on their label, "Cholesterol free food" actually increase cholesterol in the body.

Starch, sugar and refined grains raise cholesterol, yet foods that contain cholesterol generally have a very negligible effect on cholesterol levels. Besides that, the liver manufactures 80% of our cholesterol. But in any case only oxidized cholesterol is bad. Death increases when cholesterol counts drop below 200.

CS, I've never heard of this before, can you point out some links so I can learn more about this? Thanks

[CausticSymmetry]

Espio - Here's a great link on cholesterol information.

http://www.ravnskov.nu/cholesterol.htm

The reason refined grains, starch and sugar can adversely affect a cholesterol profile is because when insulin is raised
due to a glucose spike (this occurs during that tired feeling after a meal) this forms triglycerides and when there is excess triglycerides in the blood, the amount of HDL (good cholesterol as they called it) shuttles the those blood fats back into the liver, effectively reducing the amount of HDL, and while that action increases the LDL, the free radical effect from glucose combustion can oxidize cholesterol in a manner similar to how a fried food or rancid fat can.

In the case of cholesterol, when fractionated off as LDL (Low Density Lipoprotein & HDL High Density Lipoprotein), these are actually protein molecules. These particles do not become a problem unless they are oxided or effected by free-radicals.

Another matter that really trumps of the issue of cholesterol is glycation. The process of glycation or cross linking of simple sugar molecules such as fructose or glucose become attached to proteins or fats and this is basically a rapid way for collagen to harden, such as in atherosclerosis.

[MMAfighter]

OBJECTIVE: Several different epidemiological studies have examined the association between the consumption of tea and coronary heart disease. Some, though not all, support the view that tea or flavonoids reduce the risk of cardiovascular heart disease. The aim of this study was to determine the short-to medium-term effect of a green tea extract on vascular function and lipid peroxidation as compared with placebo. METHODS: The study was undertaken with 14 healthy women, none of whom were receiving any medical treatment. Measurements were made of antibodies and immune complexes by ELISA, endothelial dependent vascular function by Doppler ultrasound, and the concentration of oxidized LDL by TBARS. RESULTS: The mean diameter of the brachial artery following the post-compression hyperaemia phase rose significantly (p < 0.0001) after treatment with green tea extract. Flow-mediated brachial artery vasodilation ranged from 5.68% for the placebo phase to 11.98% after the green tea extract (p = 0.02). The consumption of green tea extract was associated with a significant 37.4% reduction in the concentration of oxidized LDL (TBARS) (p = 0.017). The levels of anti-oxidized LDL IgM antibodies fell significantly after treatment (p = 0.002). CONCLUSION: This study found that consumption of green tea extract by women for five weeks produced modifications in vascular function and an important decrease in serum oxidizability.

Here is link to fulltext: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18689551

[Espio]

CS, how do you account for all the studies that show people who eat more meat as having higher LDL as compared to vegetarians? Vegetarians generally eat a lot of bread and starches, and I have yet to see any studies that shows they have higher cholesterol?

Do you think that the answer could possibly be in iron overload? Meat eaters build up more iron, causing higher insulin levels, which would cause higher cholesterol? So perhaps someone like yourself, who eats a high meat diet to prevent insulin spikes and also controls iron levels, is getting the best of both worlds, having your cake and eating it too? WHat do you think?

Thanks

Plasma lipids and lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations in people with different diets in Britain.
M Thorogood, R Carter, L Benfield, K McPherson, J I Mann

Department of Community Medicine and General Practice, Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford.

Concentrations of total cholesterol and cholesterol in the various lipoprotein fractions were measured in vegans, vegetarians, fish eaters (who did not eat meat), and meat eaters. Total and low density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations were higher in meat eaters than vegans, with vegetarians and fish eaters having intermediate and similar values. High density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration was highest in the fish eaters but did not differ among the other groups. There were striking trends with age in total and low density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations, which differed between men and women: women showed a steady increase in concentration with age, whereas concentrations in men did not increase appreciably after the age of 40, which may partly explain sex differences in the prevalence of coronary heart disease. The differences in total cholesterol concentration suggest that the incidence of coronary heart disease may be 24% lower in lifelong British vegetarians and 57% lower in lifelong vegans than in meat eaters.

[CausticSymmetry]

Espio - I agree with you that vegetarians have lower cholesterol levels than meat eaters. What I'm not really sure about is how or if iron has a role in this. At first glance it would make sense, but I have failed to make any connection.

However some cholesterol containing foods lower cholesterol and some do not. Most seem to agree that saturated fat increases cholesterol. Ultimately, I've become quite convinced that eating the correct food for your type is essential, whether it is low fat, high carbohydrate (15% of the population fall into this category), a mixed type and a protein type of high fat, protein and low carbohydrate.

In Dr. Mercola's book, "Take Control of your Health" he is very revealing in his multiple failures along the way, seeking to find the correct diet. All the along the way he believed it was correct. At the time he was on a low fat, high carbohydrate diet his cholesterol was only 70. He discovered rather quickly that this diet was unhealthy for him since his triglyceride level was too high. Depending on who you ask, a normal cholesterol level could be anywhere from 175 to 250.

I believe it is unfortunate that cholesterol is a target at all, since in the study implied that heart disease rates would plummet a certain percentage if a vegetarian diet was adopted. If cholesterol really had anything to do with heart disease it would be important. Most integrative physicians (95%) at least believe now that cholesterol has nothing to do with heart disease, including one who once worked for Nathan Pritikin for years.

In Mercola's book he details various patients who did better when switched from one type of diet to another.

Regardless of the type of diet that works, it seems there is a few universal rules that do work. Avoiding refined starches and sugars, and avoiding trans-fats (hydrogenated oils), transesterified fats, and fried foods. I would also had to avoid cooking with vegetable oils, since these oils truly were not meant to be heated, suffer from very high free-radical production and increase 5-alpha reductase enzyme.

[Warren]

With regular use of stabilized R-Lipoic acid, I have no worries about iron overload.

http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=14576606

CS: Have you measured your ferritin recently? Is it low like under 100 or 50? I'm curious if R-ALA or ALA truly does reduce iron or not.

[CausticSymmetry]

Warren - I should state that Lipoic acid will not so much lower iron or ferritin, but it will reduce the oxidative damage from it: Here is the last line of the abstract: "Therefore, Lipoic Acid may reduce the risk of Fe induced oxidative damage and also might be useful as a treatment of Fe overload"

[CausticSymmetry]

I should also mention that Resveratrol helps protect against iron oxidative damage, such as this an in other studies:

http://molpharm.aspetjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/mol.109.058479v1

[Warren]

For several years at one time or another I thought that it would make sense if the thyroid is significantly involved in most forms of hair loss. But if so, why wouldn't the medical establishment acknowledge it?

I believe the answer is that thyroid problems (under and over active) are overwhelmingly undiagnosed, despite frequent and routine testing saying otherwise.

What you say here makes total sense. Let's look at it from a gender perspective. Thyroid issues are apparently much more frequent in women than men. But, other than diseases relating to specific gender body parts (ie breast cancer), I can't think of many health issues that women have more than men. In fact, I would say usually it's the other way around. (Please correct me or give some examples if I am wrong as I know my health knowledge is rather limited.)

A caveat before reading further: At this point in my research, I don't know much about hyperthyroidism so whenever I refer to thyroid issues, assume I'm talking about hypothyroidism.

Going with the above premise, maybe men do have as much - or perhaps even more - thyroid problems than women. For women, other than pregnancy or menstruation problems, isn't rapid hair loss one of the main symptoms that cause doctors to look into their thyroid? Whereas since men do not give birth, and hair loss is so accepted in males as being natural, the medical establishment is possibly overlooking the thyroid erroneously.

My own doctors have pretty much ignored me when I said hair loss was a problem because it is not considered essential. You don't die from hair loss. And from what I have learned about thyroid problems, it doesn't seem to lead to death very quickly either unless you have a severe case.

[Espio]

Warren, if your hairloss has a male pattern to it (like mine, thin on top but still thick on the sides and back) the doctor will just write it off as male pattern baldness. If my hair loss was all over or on one side of my head only or something strange, then he might look some thyroid blood tests, but other than that he will ignore it.

[jdp710]

I've spent just a couple days but it turns out I'm sensitive to gluten. Interestingly, I never realized until I went "100%" off gluten. I'm sure I'm not the only one considering the link between thyroid dysfunction and gluten sensitivity.


Here's some interesting info on how gluten sensitivity & hair loss and also how gluten sensitivity may relate to thyroid problems.

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"Hypothyroidism is not uncommonly found in patients with celiac disease (CD);7 for example, 8% of patients with CD were found to be hypothyroid in one study.8 The prevalence of autoantibodies to the thyroid is significantly higher in patients with undiagnosed celiac disease than in celiac patients on a gluten–free diet.9,10 These autoantibodies appear to be gluten–dependent, disappearing after adoption of a gluten–free diet.9 Although evidence is limited, clinical trials found that most patients who strictly followed a gluten–free diet for one year experienced a normalization of subclinical hypothyroidism11 and reduced need for thyroxine."

http://www.nutritionmd.org/health_care_providers/endocrinology/hypothyroidism_nutrition.html

"It has been shown that many people who develop hypothyroidism also have a sensitivity to gluten. If you have hypothyroidism give yourself a month off of gluten products and see how you feel."

http://stanford.wellsphere.com/weight-loss-article/10-things-you-must-know-about-hypothyroidism/793551

"There is actually a great deal of research to demonstrate a connection between gluten intolerance and abnormal thyroid function [1,2,3,5]. This means that individuals with a history of symptoms of poor thyroid function should automatically be considered as candidates for gluten elimination."

http://www.purehealthmd.com/nutrition/food-intolerance/gluten/the-gluten-thyroid-connection.html


http://www.celiac.com/gluten-free/lofiversion/index.php/t10606.html

"I lost over half my hair volume, you could see my scalp, and my hair was rapidly turning snow white. Within 3 months gluten-free it was starting to grow back. It is now almost 3 years since diagnosis and my hair is so thick now I had to give up my natural bristle brush, it won't go through it anymore. Oh and what has grown back is brown,"


"I noticed it coming out in chunks about a year ago - the same time that my previously mild GI problems started to get really bad. Now that I've been gluten free for 8 months, my hair loss is much less. It actually seems to be growing back in the spots where it was thinning out. I have a friend whose sister is Celiac, and she experienced tremendous hair loss prior to her diagnosis. I definitely think it is related."

"I didn't noticed any patches except a little bit in front at my hairline, where it thinned out a lot. That area now seems to be filling back in w/ wispy baby fine hair. I didn't totally eliminate anything except gluten from my diet, but I did cut down on dairy - maybe 1-2 servings a day."

[CausticSymmetry]

jdp710 - Very interesting, this has been my thinking too. So far, I've found that I am quite sensitive to wheat germ oil.

Aside form the gluten factor, any wheat product will keep glucose levels up for much longer than other foods.

[jdp710]

Yeah, I really can't believe I missed it this whole time that I'm gluten sensitive. I know Prague has mentioned this before but I thought I was safe as I cut 95% of gluten and dairy out of my diet without much change in the past. It wasn't until I cut 100% out is when I noticed an immediate difference.

BTW, I don't believe my breath stinks nearly as much when I wake up in the morning as before. It's only been a couple days so it could be my imagination though. The reason why I bring this up is because of Espio's thread on sulfur gas


http://immortalhair.forumandco.com/natural-hair-regrowth-forum-f1/associations-among-hair-loss-oral-sulfur-containing-gases-and-gastrointestinal-and-metabolic-linked-diseases-t1229.htm?highlight=sulfur

So I'm guessing it would go gluten sensitive ---> hypothryoid & enzyme deficiency.

Here's some information





http://books.google.com/books?id=6_BPQKPlYzcC&pg=PA174&lpg=PA175&ots=YSVVkGg6ee&dq=gluten+papain&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html



http://books.google.com/books?id=6_BPQKPlYzcC&pg=PA175&lpg=PA175&dq=gluten+papain&source=bl&ots=YSVVkGg6ee&sig=njWYvICxJO4S0Os0XUwVqj5VABU&hl=en&ei=wPG_SvC2Jo3IsQPRss1A&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#v=onepage&q=gluten%20papain&f=false