Hypothesis of Male Pattern Hair Loss

[CausticSymmetry]

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. Myself and my family have never been diagnosed with thyroid problems, yet some of them have had some symptoms of thyroid problems.

Before providing some plausibility to this hypothesis, first let's take a look what thyroid dysfunction causes (relative to hair loss).

Under performing thyroid is strongly correlated with elevated Lp(a) which is not only linked with androgenetic alopecia, but seems quite probably tied in with DKK-1, a highly negative protein associated with DHT triggered hair loss.

Both insufficient and excess levels of thyroid hormones T3 and/or T4 can result in hair loss. For example, T4 prolongs the duration of the hair growth phase (anagen) possibly due to the down-regulation of TGF-beta2.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18728176

Over active thyroid creates an environment of high reactive oxygen species (free radicals).

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19540741

Metabolic syndrome, which is a state of high free radicals and insulin resistance are highly correlated with hypothyroidism.

Low thyroid is strongly correlated with heart disease, so is hair loss.

Inflammation is widespread in thyroid diseases.

Low or over active thyroid can be influenced through iodine intake. There are a great many external influences that can negatively effect thyroid function. Some examples are fluoridation (By the way the EPA is finally considering a moratorium on municipal fluoridation nationwide), bromide (found in bread, soft drinks and some sports drinks), synthetic estrogens, heavy metal contamination, and anything hard on the liver is also thyroid suppressive.

Since it is estimated that as many as 70% of the world (perhaps more) has less than optimal levels of iodine it would not be a surprise considering the influences mentioned above. Iodine is required for proper conversion of T3 from T4.
Also many who are using synthetic T4 actually can acquire hair loss, mostly likely since synthetic T4 inhibits iodine.

I should mentioned that low iron (a problem generally rare in men, but not uncommon in women) can inhibit conversion T3 from T4 also.

Also note that thyroid disease can be caused from a deficiency of copper, which causes an excess storage of iron. A very high copper level can also cause thyroid problems and hair loss too.

This is far from a complete dissertation but am throwing it out there as I think it is odd that hair loss is just a "normal" process.

[curt504]

Hi CS,

I have an electronic book sold by http://www.thyroid-info.com/hair/ Thyroid guide to hair loss author Mary Shomon but today this site is down or is gone. It mentions both hypo and hyper-thyroidism as hair loss causes. My wife has experienced hair loss at both extremes. Her research also finds the low iron (ferritin) connections as well.

tnx for this overview post.

curt

[Espio]

I was about to say, this theory does not explain why the Japanese started going bald when they adopted the western diet (I figured it was because western diet has a lot more meat which causes heart disease).

Then I realized, Japs would eat a lot of seafood which would keep their iodine up.

[Misirlou]

Which tests would reveal the condition of thyroids?

[jdp710]

Great info CausticSymmetry!

What's interesting is if you apply lugol's iodine to your scalp, itching will 80 - 100% completely disappear in an hour or two, and lasts that way for a couple of days, IME.

"Every cell in the human body requires iodine for regulation to function." also "Every cell in the body contains and utilizes iodine" With the high prevelance of hypothyroidism I could see how the scalp would be one of the last places iodine would get to.

One of the heloise tricks is to apply iodine to your fingernails to thicken them and there are a lot of people that says it works. I'm going off memory but it's recommended after a couple weeks or months (I forget) that you only apply the iodine no more than once per week after otherwise can thin the nails.

Here is a quote of topical iodine for hair loss ""In Mexico, some people have used iodine as a means of preventing baldness. One woman used iodine for years as a preventive measure against baldness. She used it as a rinse after washing her hair. Another woman told me to "cure" a bald spot by dabbing iodine on the bald spot or area of thinning hair. After a while, a crust will form. Eventually, beneath the crust fine hairs will start to grow. She said it can take about three months to see the results" http://www.earthclinic.com/Remedies/iodine_questions.html#Question_526

I know you were mentioning taking iodine internally, but I thought this information would be useful for anyone that wants to experiment.

BTW, I've taken lugol's for over 1 1/2 years and I recently bought Nascent Iodine from here http://www.thyroidnascentiodine.com/comparison.htm and I also bought L tyrosine and I may buy some glandulars based on the information of hypothroidism on Lp (a) levels. I figured, I'm already attacking this with everything that I've got.

What's very reassuring is that I've developed these pimple like bumps on my scalp. In the past, when I've developed these red bumps on my scalp, regrowth occured. Again, not sure if it's from combating Lp (a), high doses of Serrapeptase/Nattokinase or everything else that I'm taking to combat heart disease but there is something to the regime I outlined on the DKK-1 thread.

[jdp710]

The influence of hypothyroidism on haemostasis is controversial; both hypocoagulable and hypercoagulable states have been reported. Hypothyroidism has been associated with atherosclerosis; a hypercoagulable state in addition might represent a risk factor for thromboembolic disease. The aim of the present study was to investigate the markers of endogenous coagulation and vascular endothelial cell function and to evaluate the relationship between serum lipid profile, thyroid hormones and haemostatic parameters in hypothyroid patients. We investigated various haemostatic parameters in 20 patients with hypothyroidism and compared them with 20 euthyroid controls. The relationship between serum thyroid hormones and the haemostatic parameters was examined. The plasma levels of fibrinogen, AT III and PAI-1 were significantly increased in hypothyroid patients compared with the control group, whereas factors VIII and X activity was decreased. We showed that free T3 levels correlated with factor IX activity. Free T4, FT3 and TSH did not correlate with fibrinogen, vWF, AT III, t-PA, or PAI-1. aPTT correlated inversely with t-PA activity and positively with protein C activity. Anti-Tg correlated inversely with FV. There was a positive correlation between triglycerides and protein C. Protein S correlated inversely with high density lipoprotein cholesterol. We found a hypofibrinolytic state in patients with hypothyroidism. Our results suggest that the risk of developing thrombosis and ultimately myocardial infarction via high PAI-1 levels may be increased in patients with hypothyroidism, a result in line with recent epidemiological data. However, thyroid hormones may play a role at different levels of the complex haemostatic system.

http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=14618667

[CausticSymmetry]

jdp710 - Thanks for posting that info! If hypercoagulation is a factor in hair loss, your current experiment with lumbrokinase and other should be pretty interesting. When I added Ecklonia to my regimen in '07 I noticed a positive change and had wondered since that time if coagulation was a factor and it seems in light of all the recent threads that it is.

If Dr. David Brownstein's research is correct and it probably is considering he has tested over 3,000 patients with iodine, it is a bit of an irony that it is so difficult to find good information on iodine in the scientific literature, but also not surprising given that most of the medical community considers iodine to be dangerous in the amounts I casually drop into my water every day.

In Dr. David Brownstein's practice he has found that over 95% of those tested have demonstrated low iodine levels.
Dr. Brownstein says, “In all my years of practicing medicine, I have yet to see one item provide such miraculous effects on the body as iodine does.”

[opeth88]

in terms of hair, is lower iron "good," and high amounts of iron "bad?"

[Espio]

in terms of hair, is lower iron "good," and high amounts of iron "bad?"

For a male, yes. According to Mercola.com you want to keep your ferritin under 100. The average male meat eater has about 160 ferritin.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2004/03/10/iron-diabetes-part-two.aspx

[CausticSymmetry]

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

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

[jdp710]

Hey CausticSymmetry,

"When administered together with ascorbic acid, lipoic acid changes the characteristic heavy to light chain ratio of ferritin makeup."

Does this mean we should take Vitamin C or foods that contain Vitamin C with stabilized R-Lipoic acid?

Thanks

[Misirlou]

Since it is estimated that as many as 70% of the world (perhaps more) has less than optimal levels of iodine

According to your best information, what would be a optimal daily intake for adults?

[CausticSymmetry]

jdp710 - I'm not sure, but lipoic acid will work without the vitamin C. Of course it will help keep vitamin C working longer, especially ascorbyl palmitate (fat soluble c).

Misirlou - I'm not really sure. I find that the general expert consensus on iodine is quite mixed. There are two other forms of iodine that are popular such as Prolamine Iodine and Iosol. David Bernstein says he gets the best results with those taking lugol's solution at 50 milligrams per day (8 drops) but those are notably thyroid patients. Dr. Buy Abraham suggests that the optimal daily intake of iodine is 12.5 milligrams per day.

[CausticSymmetry]

Historically iodine was once commonly used to cure polycystic ovaries, thyroiditis, hypothyroid, autoimmune thyroid problems, etc. And since high dose iodine effectively cures PCOS, the women equivalent of male pattern baldness would it not at least help with us? This is one thought I have had for a while.

[jdp710]

Misirlou,

Here is a good quote from Dr. David Brownstein, "I began to use smaller milligram amounts of iodine/iodide (6.25mg/day). Upon retesting these individuals 1-2 months later, little progress was made. I therefore began using higher milligram doses (6.25-50mg) to increase the serum levels of iodine. It was only with these higher doses that I began to see clinical improvement as well as positive changes in the laboratory tests."

If you develop detox symptoms, IME, it goes away when you do the salt loading protocol outlined here =

http://www.breastcancerchoices.org/iprotocol.html

If you still have a problem with iodine not making you feel well, you can try to experiment with strengthening your adrenals as you may suffer from adrenal fatigue. Something as simple as Maca might work. It did for one of my family members.

Here are some good quotes on iodine ...

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"It is a potent anti-infective agent. No virus, bacteria or parasite has been shown to be resistant to iodine therapy. I have found that providing adequate iodine to provide the body with iodine sufficiency markedly decreases the number and severity of infections in these patients."

"In the Type 1 diabetics that we have been following we have noted that if C-peptide is measurable, this would suggest that the individual is making their own insulin. I have been able to help this group of patients to get off insulin or to greatly reduce the amount they need for good glucose control with Iodoralâ at 4 tablets/day (50 mg). If C-peptide is absent then we feel there is no insulin being produced and we have not been able to help this particular group of patients to get off their insulin. We have been able to help these patients lower the total amount of insulin needed to control their glucose."

"When patients take between 12.5 to 50 mg of iodine per day, it seems that the body becomes increasingly more responsive to thyroid hormones"

"We have received many comments over the last two years. Following orthoiodosupplementation, patients have described vivid dreams, dissipated depression, no more cold extremities, more energy and less fatigue. Patients have noticed an overall feeling of well-being. Patients have noticed a loss of weight."

"In less than 1% of all the patients treated with I, have we seen an allergic reaction. More often than not, the allergic reaction is hives."

"Iodine induces apoptosis and inhibits cells from forming cancer."

'In the 1980s, ... iodine was replaced with bromine in the bread-making process."

The concept of orthoiodosupplementation 30is based on the self-evident fact that the whole body, not just the thyroid gland, needs iodine. The whole body needs this essential trace element, which plays different roles in different organs and tissues.

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, orthoiodosupplementation was administered with Lugol solution 0.1 - 0.3 ml containing 12.5 - 37.5 mg of iodine/iodide.

Other possible functions include: helping to regulate moods, preventing cancer (especially in breasts, ovaries, uterus, prostate and thyroid gland), preventing and treating fibrocystic breasts in women, helping to regulate blood pressure, helping to regulate blood sugar and prevent and treat diabetes, and helping to prevent abnormal cardiac rhythms

Of all the elements known so far to be essential for human health, iodine is the most misunderstood and the most feared. Yet, iodine is the safest of all the essential trace elements, being the only one that can be administered safely for long periods of time to large numbers of patients in daily amounts as high as 100,000 times the RDA.

iodine may have other benefits as well. Dr. Abraham has shown in his work that iodine promotes the excretion of toxic minerals, such as lead, mercury, and cadmium as well as the toxic halogens fluoride and bromide

Obesity increases the requirement for iodine (7) and up to 100 mg elemental iodine/day may be required to achieve and maintain sufficiency.

Quotes taken from here http://www.breastcancerchoices.org/iodineinfo.html