Hypothesis of Male Pattern Hair Loss

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.

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.

CausticSymmetry wrote: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.

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"

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

CausticSymmetry wrote: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.

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.

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."

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.

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


https://immortalhair.forumotion.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

how do you know after only two days that you are allergic to gluten? it takes atleast two weeks for any remianing gluten to leave your system after you cut off the intake.

Interesting stuff jdp710

It's been mentioned on this forum before, but BioCore DPP IV (Dipeptidyl peptidase IV) may also be useful.

I tried this out shortly after the product was first introduced, maybe around 2007 if I recall. I don't remember
noticing anything, but my wheat intake has been quite low for some years.

http://www.iherb.com/Now-Foods-Gluten-Digest-60-Vcaps/12364?at=0

Thanks CausticSymmetry, I'll have to try those out.

Espio,

That's what surprised me too as I've also heard that it takes weeks if not months to find out. It was also surprising that I never realized I was until I went "100%" off.

The best analogy I can give is say you have allergies and you start sneezing everytime you mow the lawn. Now say you have do this for a living and you mow lawns everyday of your life. Well, sneezing will just become a normal part of your life. But if one day you change careers and you no longer mow lawns you'll realize almost immediately that you aren't sneezing and you'll realize that all this time you've had allergies. Well, gluten sensitivity is the same thing. You don't need to spend 2 weeks away from mowing lawns to realize you have allergies ... at least I don't.

What's interesting and what isn't mentioned on the internet regarding symptoms is that my normal deep voice has already returned ... I use to start to lose my voice, especially after eating. Shortly after eating I would usually get irritable but that's 100% gone so far. Also, I wake up refreshed now and not so sleepy anymore but too early to tell on this one. I use to have a problem slouching but that's better. I've always suffered from very dark circles under my eyes for most of my life but that's getting better now. So again, IME you don't need to wait a couple weeks/months for your stomach to heal itself to notice relief like they say.



Here's an interesting quote Gluten sensitivity and Celiac disease are a known cause of scleroderma and dozens of other autoimmune diseases. Even if tests for gluten sensitivity and Celia disease are negative or inconclusive, trial of a gluten-free and casein-free (GFCF) should be considered.

http://sclero.org/medical/symptoms/associated/celiac-disease/a-to-z.html

Here is another intersting quote and would probably help with Stephen Foote's theory of MPB = lymphedema "Any sustained accumulation of proteins delivered to the body tissue by the blood capillaries, and not removed by the lymphatic system, will cause a swelling of fluid in the interstitial areas of the body tissues. The oxygenation of adjacent tissue is thereby reduced and the healing process is retarded. A localized accumulation of proteins further compounds this situation by directly stimulating chronic inflammation."

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5976099.html

thanks jdp, i'm going to try cutting out bread 100% and see if that helps at all, I have sunken eyes and dark circles as well, so i'll see if they go away.

I found this site the other day, it lists a number of foods and supplements that may contain wheat or gluten that are hidden.

I even saw Brewer's Yeast on this list, so I checked the kind that I'm using. Fortunately, mine doesn't contain any wheat or gluten but anyway it's hard not to be too careful.

http://www.celiac.com/articles/182/1/Unsafe-Gluten-Free-Food-List-Unsafe-Ingredients/Page1.html

jdp710

great found! this somehow links the hypothesis i presented together

Prague - I was thinking the same thing. You've been analyzing the Scleroderma connection for quite a while. Another autoimmune condition which is has very prevalent hair loss is Lupus. One of the best treatments for Lupus is to leave off wheat and gluten.

I agree: the allergy/autoimmune connection is profound, perhaps one of the best things you can do just to improve your life over all is get a handle on allergies. You can get a blood test done to see if you're immune system is being compromised.

Is flatulance a good way of judging food intolerances? This summer I have been hanging out with a lot of people who are gardeners so I have been eating a lot of their fruit, and I've noticed that whenever I eat a lot of fruit I get gas all day. I was thinking this may mean I have fructose intolerance? Or does a high fiber diet cause more gas naturally?

Espio - Fructose is major cause of gas.

Ah, so that's normal then, okay nevermind

Hey JDP that excerpt you posted from that book on google was pretty interesting. I liked how he was able to return to a gluten diet, presumably after the healing was done. Perhaps all of this is because of intestinal permeability (leaky gut) stemming from some infection or lack of healthy bacteria in the past. The gluten just helped to further the problem. I think it will be interesting to see if after awhile you will be able to tolerate certain gluten sources in small doses. With my history of allergies and what not I am thinking about giving this a good run. Like you, I have done a "low gluten" diet but have never been 100% free. This is going to be rough, especially when eating out. But I think it can be done.

So I've noticed that my immune system may be in overdrive, I only get sick like once a year, and that is caused by a food intolerance, right? So the reason why my thyroid may be underactive is because I'm eating a food I'm sensitive too, and that is putting my immune system into overdrive, so the immune system is attacking things that should not be attacked, like the thyroid.

Espio--

I'm not sure what your thinking is, but if you're immune system is overworking, you would be getting sick more often, not less. Also, recovery would take longer. Basically, anything strenuous could max you out. Chronic swollen glands is a good indicator of an over-worked immune system.

Hey hapyman,

Yeah, like you I've also tried going off gluten and didn't notice much as gluten is found in almost everything. I even read that vitamin enriched white rice from overseas (not US) contains gluten via the vitamin coating that the rice is sprayed with.

Here's what I'd recommend. Cut all normal foods from your diet. Also cut dairy as a lot of gluten sensitive people are also sensitive to dairy as well ... I believe I am as well. The easiest foods to eat for this experiment would be just plain old white rice that says gluten free. Mine says gluten free that I bought at Walmart. And then you'll want some meat like a piece of chicken or steak or whatever. Don't put seasoning on it just yet as gluten/wheat can even be hidden under "natural flavors." Also, don't put anything in your rice like butter, etc..

Yeah, this food will be very blah as it's just rice and a piece of meat, lol, but I noticed a huge benefit within a couple days and I'm sure anyone that's sensitive to gluten and/or Casein/dairy will notice a difference very quick. I'm already starting to add regular foods in and later I'll add my vitamins. Beyond reading the labels of everything you eat I believe this is a very good way of checking if your gluten and/or Casein sensitive.

BTW, I noticed when I have a reaction it starts about 2 hours after eating the meal and starts to dissipate I'm guessing 8 hours later ... I noticed this when I added garlic salt to my steak. The garlic salt had "natural flavors" under ingredients ... UGHH. Again, this shows how just the smallest amount of gluten triggers a reaction. I also tried butter while not as strong of a reaction as gluten, I believe I'm sensitive. I can't stress enough that it really has to be "100%" gluten and casein/dairy free. 99% free won't cut it to see if your gluten sensitive.

hope this helps