Chocolate good or bad?

Found this posted at another site on hair growth, it seems inconclusive, but interesting:


The Incredible Secret--
hair loss and balding stopped in one
day, forever.

by Joseph M. Price, M.D.

Chapter 6

A Discussion



And there it is! So simple an answer that it has been overlooked for
centuries: the cause of male pattern baldness
("premature balding") is non-other but the ubiquitous caffeine
("coffee/tea/cola") "habit"!

What is it in coffee/(tea/colas) that produces baldness, mediated through
changes in apparent sex hormonal activity?
As stated in the previous section it is without doubt the caffeine contained
therein. Therefore it should be obvious
that other drinks containing caffeine or similar compounds must also be
indicted--tea, and cola drinks especially.

All literate people are aware of the presence of caffeine in coffee, but
fewer are aware of the large amounts of
caffeine purposely added (for their addictive "lift" properties, which
result in regular repeat sales) to the cola and
other caffeinated soft drinks. Some years ago a "cola" was by definition a
caffeinated soft drink; others were not.
Today there are caffeine-free "colas", but several apparently "regular" soft
drinks (eg. "Mountain Dew＿") have
especially large amounts of caffeine added. Did you ever wonder what they
did with the caffeine extracted from
decaffeinated coffee? Throw it away? No way! It is sold to the soft drink
manufacturers and put in "pop" for kids!
Soft drinks, including the caffeinated ones, are generally dismissed as
innocuous "kids" drinks. Not so!

Early in this dissertation we went into some detail discussing the
relationship between male pattern baldness and a
state of apparent sex hormonal imbalance. We suggested that such baldness is
"merely" an isolated end-organ
response to a more fundamental underlying alteration of the body's hormonal
activity balance. Starting with
observable facts, we tried to reason our way to the solution--not
successfully at all.

Although "science" tries to deny it, most really outstanding discoveries are
accomplished by means of a poorly
understood intuitive type of reasoning which leapfrogs over gaps in
established knowledge; a logical theory is
developed later to explain the proven facts. With the problem discussed in
this paper the situation was indeed of this
sorts also. Our careful reasoning, accurate as it was, could not give us the
sought-for answer. But with the ultimate
answer in our hands, we can now construct a logical explanation of all the
known facts and go on from there.

In the first edition of this book I could only state empirically that male
pattern baldness, benign prostatic disease and
several other entities were caused by coffee/tea/colas/caffeine, etc.
ingestion, and that the mechanism had to involve
an increased male hormonal activity caused by same. This actually told us
all we needed to know from a practical
standpoint, ie., the disease processes are caused by a specific entity
(coffee/tea/colas/caffeine, etc.) and avoidance of
such etiological/causative agents (coffee/tea/colas/caffeine, etc.) prevents
further pathological progression of the
disease ("premature" balding, benign prostate disease, etc.).

Since the writing of the first revision of this treatise I have been able
to, in a sense, "gild the lily" by describing (such
description being the first in the entire medical literature) the exact
biochemical mechanism by which
coffee/tea/colas/caffeine, etc. act at the ultimate cellular level in
producing its effects:
McCray et al (reference #1) stated that "the mechanism of balding is thought
to be regulated by local levels of cyclic
adenosine monophosphate (cyclic-AMP), which in turn is regulated by
dihydrotestosterone's influence on (the
enzyme that breaks down cyclic-AMP)". While dihydrotestosterone (a natural
male hormone) levels may be
responsible for the common very gradual hairline recession seen in most men
with ageing, it surely does not explain
real male pattern baldness, ie., "premature balding", of rapid nature in men
under 40 years of age.
With relation to benign cystic breast disease in women, a Dr. Minton
(reference #2) noted that cyclic-AMP has
hormonal (my emphasis) and growth stimulating activity; and that "normally
(cyclic-AMP) is broken down by the
enzyme phosphodiesterase as soon as it sends its signal into the cell.
Caffeine, theophylline and theobromine block
the enzyme and jam the cyclic-AMP signal in its 'on' position---". He was
concerned with "proliferation of sensitive
tissues" (presumably related to the growth stimulating activity of excess
local cyclic-AMP activity) and did not realize
that male pattern baldness could be related to such a biochemical process
(the hormonal activity of excess local
cyclic-AMP activity).

As just suggested, within the above-mentioned biochemical processes lies the
heretofore never discovered or
described specific biochemical explanation for male pattern or "premature"
baldness, proving the veracity of the
observations made originally now more than 50 years ago with regard to the
cause of balding!

The Explanation: in clinical ("premature") male pattern balding it is not
normal levels of the natural male hormone
dihydrotestosterone that is blocking the enzyme phosphodiesterase resulting
in increased levels of cyclic-AMP with
resulting loss of hair; instead it is caffeine and similar chemical
compounds called methylxanthines that block the
enzyme, jamming the cyclic-AMP signal in its "on" position with
consequential excess hormonal activity of the cyclic-
AMP at the cellular level. Therefore, while caffeine and related
chemicals/drugs are not male hormones in
themselves, by blocking the enzyme that destroys cyclic-AMP they result in
excess local (end-organ cellular) levels
of cyclic-AMP (jamming the cyclic-AMP signal in its "on" position) with its
known hormonal activity and resultant
balding.


At this point let us regress a bit to the more practical level to review the
entire gamut of undesirable effects of
coffee/tea/colas/caffeine, etc.:

As described in some detail earlier, male pattern baldness is an end result
of an increase in local male sex hormonal
activity at the end-organ cellular level, such derangement previously
thought to be entirely idiopathic, ie. primary, not
a result of other disease or agents. We now realize, a described in this
publication, that while natural
dihydrotestosterone most likely is the cause of the very slow and incomplete
loss of hair in men during the aging
process, true "premature balding" is the specific end-result of the effects
of caffeine and related compounds at the
cellular level of genetically susceptible end-organ tissues.
I implied rather strongly that certain other diseases could be alternative
end-results of the same hormonal activity
imbalance (now known to exist at the cellular level). We presently realize
that coffee/tea/colas/caffeine, etc. ingestion
is the previously unrecognized but now definitely understood cause of rapid
male pattern hair loss or "premature
balding" in younger men, on the basis of increased male hormonal activity at
the cellular level. Therefore we must
presume that any tissue responsive to sex hormonal activity may be affected
also.

While "androgenetic" male pattern or "premature" baldness is easily provable
to be caused by ingestion of caffeine and
related chemical compounds (the "real world" cause and effect experimental
proof having been obtained four decades
before the elucidation of the exact biochemical process became possible),
experimental proof of
coffee/tea/colas/caffeine, etc. causing benign prostatic hypertrophy ("BPH")
will probably never be able to be obtained
in a controlled fashion. One can see hair falling out or not as one drinks
coffee/tea/colas/caffeine, etc. or refrains
from same. The male prostate gland is hidden, evaluation by rectal
examination can give only the most gross estimate
of the general size of the gland and certainly cannot even begin to
determine the presence or absence of increase in
size over months or even years. So here we have a disease (benign prostatic
hypertrophy) of immense importance
both individually and in its impact on society as a whole, wherein the
specific avoidable cause
(coffee/tea/colas/caffeine, etc.) and the exact biochemical mechanism of
action of such is now known and described
here in print, but where experimental "proof" would take many decades to
accomplish, if ever possible. So should
we say that since we can't easily prove it experimentally via classical
medical "scientific" double-blind studies (ie., that
coffee/tea/colas/caffeine, etc. causes benign prostatic hypertrophy) in
human beings for technical/practical reasons, it
is therefore not true? I don't know about you, but as for me even if my hair
didn't fall out when I drink
coffee/tea/colas/caffeine, etc., the above explanation related to prostate
disease would make me avoid the stuff like
poison! Of course, if you want to take the risk of not being able to urinate
more than a dribble at a time 20 years
from now, having to have your prostate gland reamed out by a willing (but
expensive) urological surgeon, with the
chance of your sex life down the drain for good--well, it's your life. You
can always cry in your beer and say, "Well,
the researchers said they had no experimental proof of Dr. Price's claims".

In women the cause and effect relationship between
coffee/tea/colas/caffeine, etc. and benign fibrocystic disease
seems definite (reference # 2.) Breast cancer incidence is increased in
women with a history of fibrocystic disease.
At this point (realizing the pervasive effect of coffee/tea/colas/caffeine,
etc. at the basic cellular level) I do not think a
deleterious effect regards cervical or uterine cancer can be ruled out.
(These tissues are without question hormonally
responsive; coffee/tea/colas/caffeine, etc. blocks cyclic-AMP in its "on"
position with hormonal and growth
stimulating activity.) "Male pattern" balding is not uncommon in women
although the onset is later (usually
postmenopausally) and the clinical presentation somewhat different (a more
diffuse loss of hair, never complete.)
Finally, when you are dealing with a potent agent with definite hormonal
effects at the cellular/tissue level, could
some menstrual abnormalities or infertility problems be an effect of
coffee/tea/colas/caffeine, etc. at least some of the
time, in some women? I think so.

In children we could consider the possibility of premature onset and
progression of sexual maturation as a possible
effect of coffee/tea/colas/caffeine, etc.--in this case the caffeinated and
heretofore presumed "innocuous" soft drinks
being the prime culprit. How many parents who would consider it unwise or
even abusive to let their children drink
strong coffee think nothing of the same offspring swilling down bottle after
bottle of "soda pop" with each bottle of
pop containing more added caffeine than does their "adult" cup of coffee?

This all sounds pretty horrible, doesn't it? However, I'm sure you're saying
"But I know hundreds of men who have
drunk coffee/colas/caffeine, etc. for decades and never went bald or had
prostate trouble", or "But know hundreds of
women who have drunk coffee/tea/colas/caffeine, etc. for many, many years
and never developed thinning hair in
their old age or cancer of the breast or female organs". And you are
absolutely right! Something that has been rather
slighted by modern medical science and thinking is the all-important concept
of biological individuality. To the
present, the best work on this concept has been accomplished by Dr. Roger
Williams (Ph.D.), the discoverer of the
essential vitamin, pantothenic acid. While Dr. Williams has been mainly
concerned with biochemical individuality as
applied to essential nutritional requirements, the basic concept is much
wider in scope and much more far-reaching in
its ramifications. For example, it has been discovered that about 10% of
American black people are deficient in their
ability to produce an important enzyme in their bodies, and as a result
suffer hemolysis (breakdown of red blood
cells) when exposed to certain very common chemicals, eg. common mothballs,
certain medicines like sulfa drugs,
and even on eating the usually innocuous and otherwise valuable Fava beans.
Occurrence of unexpected or rare
reactions to widely used, oftentimes very useful, drugs are seen almost
daily by most practicing physicians--again a
result of biochemical individuality. Some have carried this concept so far
as to even suggest that development of
certain cancers may be influenced by inherent biochemical variations. And it
is exactly the same with male pattern
baldness occurring as a result of hormonal activity derangement at the
cellular level from coffee/tea/colas/caffeine,
etc. drinking. Undoubtedly certain individuals are immune to obvious
deleterious aberrations from such caffeine
intake. Differing overt effects of coffee/colas/caffeine etc. intake may be,
and probably definitely are, a result of
"end-organ susceptibility". This is to say that one sees evident only those
overt effects which the persons' genetic
(inherited) make-up "prime" them for. For example, a man with no inherited
predisposition whatsoever to baldness
may drink two dozen cups of strong coffee each day for years and yet never
show any of the evidences of the
syndrome of male pattern baldness; but this does not rule out the
possibility of his developing benign prostate disease
if this happens to be an end-organ in him particularly susceptible to such
cellular level hormonal activity aberrations.
Regarding biochemical individuality, genetically determined but manifested
only in the presence of a contributing
agent, we have no better example than the castrated male. A castrated male
given male hormone shots will develop
male pattern baldness only if he has inherited the balding tendency!
Likewise a normal man, even with the genetic
predisposition to balding, will not develop rapid loss of hair unless he
drinks coffee/tea/colas/caffeine, etc., such
drinking being the equivalent at the cellular level of giving the castrate
male hormone shots.

Just above, I have pointed out that the reason that every man who drinks
coffee/colas/caffeine, etc. does not lose his
hair or develop benign prostatic hypertrophy is a consequence of the
principle of biochemical individuality, with
differing specific overt effects being the result of "end-organ
susceptibility." May I expand on this present
explanation of the biochemical mechanism of caffeine in causing male pattern
baldness (the specific version we are
talking about now is sometimes called "premature balding", or "androgenetic
balding", as contrasted with the very
slow loss of hair in the "male pattern" in older men with ageing which may,
indeed, be the result of naturally-
developed dihydrotestosterone [DHT] over many decades of life) by pointing
out the genetically-determined
"biochemical individuality" regarding susceptibility to caffeine causing
baldness in a specific young man (or BPH in
older men) is determined by the number of inherited dihydrotestosterone
(DHT) receptor sites in the target tissues
which caffeine or other methylxanthines latch onto just like natural DHT
does! The specific mechanism of caffeine
causing balding and BPH was described in prior pages as being by means of
the caffeine (methylxanthines) blocking
the enzyme phosphodiesterase, resulting in the cyclic-AMP being locked in
the "on" position in the cell. But this
biochemical mechanism does not explain the differences in men as to
susceptibility to the actual disease processes, ie.
the "biochemical individuality." This "biochemical individuality" is now
being explained by me as a matter of
end-organ susceptibility, such susceptibility being the result of inherited
numbers of dihydrotestosterone (DHT)
receptor sites in specific tissues to which exogenous methylxanthines like
caffeine can latch onto to accomplish their
dirty deeds. This matter of differing specific numbers of DHT receptor sites
in different tissues of different men can
be used to explain why one young man drinking colas is losing his hair
rapidly while another is experiencing no hair
loss whatsoever, while some older (maybe even bald!) men never develop
benign prostatic hypertrophy despite a life-
long coffee addiction!


Now, then, to sum up: in certain human beings there exists a peculiar
biochemical susceptibility to hormonal
balance/activity aberrations, such activity at the cellular level being
directly caused by ingestion of
coffee/tea/colas/caffeine, etc. These changes in hormonal-type activity at
the cellular level, caused by drinking these
concoctions, result in definite, observable effects, the exact end result
being a function of inherited end-organ
susceptibility. As our prime example, we have the syndrome of "premature
balding" or male pattern baldness. The
man with an inherited predisposition to this affliction drinks
coffee/tea/colas/caffeine, etc. and as a result because of
the inherited susceptibility develops permanent scalp baldness accompanied
by increase in body hirsutism or
hairiness. The other most significant disease that is a direct result of
coffee/tea/colas/caffeine ingestion is the
common benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) of older men.

What, again, are the overt symptoms caused by coffee/colas/caffeine, etc.
drinking in susceptible persons?

A. Adult men:

1. male pattern baldness

2. benign prostatic hypertrophy


(The author is convinced that what most physicians regard as "normal-sized"
prostate gland is not truly normal by
any means. This particular end-result of coffee/tea/colas/caffeine, etc.
ingestion--increase in the size of the prostate
to at least some degree--is so common that the abnormal has become the
"normal" standard.)

B. Adult women:

1. fibrocystic breast disease

2. promotion of breast cancer

3. possible promotion of cervical or uterine cancer

4. "male" pattern balding, usually postmenopausally

5. increase in body hirsutism, eg. requiring shaving legs frequently

5. possible menstrual abnormalities

6. possible infertility problems

C. Children:

1. premature puberty and precocious sexual development
eg. average age of girls at menarche is known to be several
years earlier than it was around the turn of the last century.

2. possible decreased breast development in some girls